Brethen 03 - Temptation & Twilight

by Charlotte Featherstone

“What do you want to do, Lizzy?” he whispered. “Go, or stay with me?”

  She didn’t know what she wanted. Again, her thoughts were muddled. And then it was taken out of her hands, when Julian pressed forward, lowered his head and brushed his lips over hers in a soft kiss.

  “Lizzy,” he murmured. She did not protest, nor did she when he kissed her again, this time parting her lips, brushing his tongue along the moist seam of her mouth.

  It was a very lovely kiss. A kiss any woman would be glad to be given by a man such as Julian.

  “It’s no good, is it?” he murmured, and she wondered if he was looking down at her with eyes that shone with regret, or anger. “It’s not what you want.”

  “It is not that at all, Julian.” Gripping the sleeves of his coat, she held on to him. Tried to steady her gaze, and diffuse the blush in her cheeks. “It’s not that it wasn’t good, far from it.”

  “It’s not my lips you desire.”

  It was said in such a way that Elizabeth knew without a doubt that he suspected there was a rival for his attentions.

  “May I speak honestly, Julian?”

  “You may. I have come to depend upon your honesty, Elizabeth.”

  She forced herself to speak the words she had tried to run from. “I don’t want to hurt you, but…” Licking her lips, she pressed her eyes shut and sought deep within for the courage to be honest with him. “I like you. Very much. Another time, perhaps…”

  “We might have been lovers?” he supplied for her.

  Nodding, she scraped her teeth across her lips. “I’m afraid that I have given my heart to someone else. I thought… Well, that is, I thought I had taken it back BOUND GALLEY EDITION March 23, 2012

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  years ago, but it seems I have not. I cannot give you more, under false pretences. Perhaps later,” she whispered. “But that isn’t fair to you, to wait to see if I could offer more.”

  “And does he know he still has your heart?”

  “No, and he never will. He isn’t the sort of man to care for a woman’s heart. I would be a fool to tell him.”

  “Lizzy, you would be a fool not to. Most men, you know, are rather terrified of the female heart. Perhaps he is just waiting for a sign from you. Let him know it’s okay for him to come to you.”

  “You don’t understand.”

  “You would be surprised,” he murmured.

  “I don’t want to lose your friendship, Julian.”

  “You won’t. There is more to my interest in you than the sexual. You’re a bold, interesting woman, Elizabeth, and I find I enjoy spending time with you. That will not change simply because your feelings are not the same as mine. I will relish your friendship, and perhaps, in time, your feelings will change. If they do not, then I shall be happy to call you friend. I only hope that I have not ruined our open conversations with that ill-timed kiss.”

  “Of course you haven’t.” Leaning forward, she pressed her lips against him. His cheek, she thought. It was a warm kiss. A kiss designed for a dear friend.

  A bark from behind them made her jump. Julian reached for her, held her. “Jack, what’s this you’ve got?”

  “What is it?”

  “He’s dragging something.”

  “Let us investigate, shall we?” Taking her hand, Julian placed it on his arm and steered them to where Jack waited for them, panting with excitement and exertion. He licked her hand after releasing his hold on whatever he had found.

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  “A man’s shirt. Linen. Fashionable. Most certainly not in keeping with the age of these crypts.”

  “Strange, you said you hadn’t begun excavating down here.”

  “I haven’t. Stay here, Lizzy. I will be right back.”

  “Certainly not!” she argued. “I’m coming with you.”

  “I don’t know what is around that corner. There could be danger.”

  “No, Jack would have alerted us to that. If there was someone else in this crypt with us, we would have known it. There would have been a sound when Jack came upon them.”

  “True. Well, against my better judgement, come along.

  But don’t let go of my arm.”

  They made their way along the corridor, where the scent of earth and stone became stronger. It was fresher smelling, not musty as it had been when they first entered the crypt.

  “Someone has been digging,” Julian announced, and Elizabeth felt him bend down, heard Jack’s excited yelp.

  “It’s fresh.”

  “It is a hole?” she asked.

  “Yes. Big enough to put a body in.”

  “Do you think someone has found a Templar coffin?”

  “No. I think it far more sinister than that. Come, let’s go.”

  Jack barked again. “I think he wants to show you something else,” Lizzy suggested.

  “No, I want you out of here. I can come back and investigate the matter later.”

  Jack barked and ran off, making Julian curse. “We had better follow him. There’s no telling where the devil this tunnel leads to.”

  They walked for what seemed like forever before they BOUND GALLEY EDITION March 23, 2012

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  came to where Jack stood quietly growling. The clank of metal against metal as the dog nosed about in the dirt drew Elizabeth’s curiosity.

  “Tools. Excavating tools,” Julian murmured.

  “But how?”

  “I don’t know, but the tunnel bends around a corner.

  It must lead somewhere.”

  “How far do you think we’ve walked? It seems like forever, and it’s damper here. Colder. The sound of water tapping is louder with a faster rhythm.”

  “Tributaries from the Thames, perhaps.”

  “Where do you think we are, Julian?”

  “We’ve traveled nearly half a mile, I think. We must be beneath the Strand.”

  A sense of foreboding wrapped around her. “This is no coincidence, Julian.”

  “No, it’s not. Come, let us make our way back to the church. It will be getting on now, and we don’t want you to be late for Sussex’s wedding.” Lizzy reached out and halted him. “What are you not telling me?”

  “I’m not hiding anything from you, Lizzy. But I mean to investigate this, and who might have come down here, and for what purpose.”

  “Do you smell that?” she asked suddenly. “It smells like…perfume.”

  Julian inhaled deeply. “I can’t smell anything but the dirt. And mould.”

  “It was a delicate scent, as if it just floated past.”

  “Jack went by with the damn shirt in his mouth. Perhaps there’s cologne on it.”

  “No, not cologne,” Elizabeth insisted. “Perfume. And I have smelt that particular scent before.” Frowning, she tried to locate the memory.

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  “What a remarkable nose you have, Lizzy.” He squeezed her hand. “But let us not dally here. My senses tell me that someone might be on their way back to this spot, and we do not want to be discovered.” He led her away from the tools Jack had found. Their progression was slow, and Julian’s gait was funny.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “Covering our tracks. We don’t want anyone following our path.”

  Shivering, Lizzy whispered, “I feel like someone has just walked over my grave.” Ominous. Disturbing. And so very, very real.

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  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “YOU WILL SEND WORD around if you need anything? Anything at all.”

  Elizabeth felt herself smiling faintly at the urgency she heard in Black’s voice. He was determined to win, and she was just as determined that he wouldn’t, despite the fact she was weary tonight. It had been a long day, what with the morning at Temple Church and the afternoon with Adrian and Lucy. Lizzy had been distracted during the wedding, thinking of those strange moments in the crypt when she had felt another there with them…

  watching. Waiting. Her thoughts had travelled back and forth, from the strange notion that someone had been digging in the crypt, to Julian’s kiss and the confession she had made.

  She had not expected herself to admit the truth to either Julian or herself about her feelings. She most certainly had not thought that Iain Sinclair owned anything of hers anymore, least of all her heart. But that realization had come swiftly, a most unwelcome one. She knew that Iain did still have her heart. If he didn’t, if he truly meant nothing to her, as she professed, then what he did, what he had offered in her bedchamber when he had held her in his arms, would not have tempted her so much, or haunted her. If she felt nothing for Iain, Julian’s kiss would have affected her much more profoundly.

  Yes. It was the truth. Despite his actions, his appall-BOUND GALLEY EDITION March 23, 2012

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  ing behaviour, his abandonment, the devil still owned her heart, and most likely her soul. It was a realization that at once astounded her and terrified her. One thing that had come out of her long contemplation was that Iain must never learn the truth. He must never know, or have that power over her.

  “Lizzy?”

  The deep voice pulled her from her worries. “Yes, yes of course, I will. You know I will let you know if I need you, Black.”

  “Have a care, Elizabeth, and make certain the servants double-check that all the windows are locked, and all the doors. We cannot be too careful.”

  “I will. You may rest easy about leaving me tonight.” Black released a long sigh. “I really wish you would reconsider our offer, and come stay with Bella and me.”

  “I will be fine here. This is my home. Really, there is no need for worry.”

  “You’re all alone.”

  “I have two dozen servants to share this house with!” she said with a laugh.

  “I don’t like this, Elizabeth. You should be coming home with us. Really, I should demand it.” Elizabeth heard the crinkle of Isabella’s taffeta gown brushing against the marble floor. “My love, don’t be a pest,” she chastised her husband. “Lizzy will be perfectly safe here. Besides, we will be calling on each other daily, won’t we, Elizabeth?”

  “Indeed we shall. See now, Lord Black, I will be perfectly fine. I’ve never been ill at ease with my own company, and rather relish the idea of having the house to myself.”

  There was a low grumble from the earl, followed by a little laugh from his wife. “Come now, off we go,” Isa-BOUND GALLEY EDITION March 23, 2012

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  bella murmured, ushering him out. “Do sleep well, Lizzy, and expect me tomorrow afternoon. I wish to go to the new bookseller, and the confectioner’s. I have been wanting more of that chocolate he sells.”

  “Of course, tomorrow afternoon it is. Until then. Good night.”

  When the door closed behind them, Lizzy felt herself sag just a bit.

  “Looks like snow, my lady,” Charles murmured as he reached for her hand and placed her fingers on his forearm. “Grey as slate the sky is.”

  “Is it?” She thought of how she had told Julian it would snow. She wondered if he remembered, and if he was even now looking out at the sky, marvelling at her abilities.

  “Skies like that don’t bode well. Me mum says she can feel the snow coming, that her bones ache with it.

  And the rain, too.”

  “How interesting. I could smell the coming snow in the air yesterday. Your mother and I could be weather forecasters,” Lizzy teased.

  Charles laughed at her jest, then turned her and together they walked slowly down the hall to the salon.

  The house was very quiet, and Lizzy wondered how she would survive weeks of solitude, when she had become used to the bustle of the house in the past month or more.

  “I’ve prepared the hearth in the yellow salon, if that suits my lady.”

  “That will do very well, Charles. And tea, will you see that a tray is brought in?”

  “Indeed I shall.”

  She felt as if she needed something to revive her.

  Strange how she felt so out of sorts. It was Adrian’s wedding day and she should be happy for him. She was happy, BOUND GALLEY EDITION March 23, 2012

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  in fact. Still, something didn’t feel quite right. It went beyond Sheldon’s kiss, and the discovery in the crypt. It was a restlessness, an inability to calm her thoughts, or even focus them. Perhaps it was the secret knowledge that she had thought that business with Iain all those years ago over and done with, only to learn that she had never forgotten him, or taken her heart back.

  “Here we go, miss. Shall I walk you to the settee?”

  “I can manage from here. Thank you, Charles.”

  “I’ll send Miss Maggie to you, then, shall I?”

  “No, don’t disturb her. Let her have a few more hours to herself. I will be quite happy here until I am ready to retire.”

  “Very good, miss.”

  The click of the door echoed in the quiet, and although Elizabeth could not see, she still closed her eyes and listened to the gentle crackle of the logs in the hearth, and the howl of the wind outside. Rubbing her arms, she listened to the sounds of life outside her window, the carriages rolling past, the clopping of horses’ hooves. The distant crow of blackbirds roosting in the leafless trees.

  A sense of calm seemed to settle over the house.

  Adrian and Lucy had been gone for hours now. Hopefully, they had already stopped at an inn and were warm and cozy, on this their wedding night. She also hoped that Lucy would soon realize, as Lizzy did, how perfect she and Adrian were together. She prayed they were not spending their wedding night apart, their pride ruling their actions. When they returned from Yorkshire, she expected to see two people very much in love, and very happy with one another. That had been her wish, that they soon realize how much they loved each other, as she pulled the wishing well charm, secured with its white string, from their wedding cake. Iain had pulled BOUND GALLEY EDITION March 23, 2012

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  the heart, and she found herself wondering what he had wished for.

  It was just a silly custom, as old as time. The charms were a medieval amusement and did not really carry any special powers, or deliverance of wishes. And yet she knew that Iain had studied the charm, had closed his eyes and made his wish, and carefully wrapped the string around the heart and deposited the charm for safekeeping deep in his pocket.

  She had both Lucy and Isabella to thank for that visual, which they had very eagerly whispered to her.

  “You’ll miss them, won’t you?”

  Elizabeth jumped at the intrusion into her thoughts, and she found herself whirling in the direction of the voice. She did not need sight to know who stood before her.

  “Iain? But you left. Hours ago.”

  “I did. And now I am back.”

  “How?” Lizzy found herself frowning. “How in the world did you get in?” She knew for certain that he
had not come in through the common route—the front door.

  “Ah, you forget I have had special training, thanks to the tutelage of my father.”

  Lizzy couldn’t help but arch her brows in annoyance.

  “It is not likely Brethren Guardian training that assisted you in breaching my home, and more likely years of scal-ing walls to avoid irate husbands.” He chuckled, the sound dark and devilish to her ears.

  “You think me an unconscionable sinner?”

  “I don’t think you to be. I know you to be.” Folding her arms beneath her breasts, she glared. Whether it was in his direction or not, she did not particularly care. Her heart was beating far too fast for her comfort. It wel-BOUND GALLEY EDITION March 23, 2012

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  comed him, the lure of his presence. It wanted him here.

  Traitorous organ. “What do you want?” There was a beat of silence, followed by the quiet movement of his footsteps across the room. “I thought we might share the evening together.”

  “Out of the question.”

  His voice was soft as a sensual whisper. “I wasn’t asking, Beth. I was informing you.”

  “What right have you to do such a thing?” she gasped.

  She was annoyed. Perturbed. Excited.

  The sound of his boots on the floorboards told her he was making his way slowly toward her, and her pulse skipped a beat.

  “Your brother gave me the right when he requested that I watch over you while he’s journeying on his honeymoon. I gave him my word I would protect you with my life. In the past, I haven’t been very good about honouring my word, Beth. But in this, I mean it. With every ounce of my being.”

  “You would pick this moment to turn honourable,” she grumbled. She was livid with Adrian for doing such a thing, and behind her back. But she could not condemn him for it. He was merely seeing to her safety. He was her brother, her loving brother. She knew that Adrian would have felt it his duty to set a plan in place for her well-being. And he would not have wanted to request it of Black, who had a new wife.

  The fates, it seemed, were conspiring to keep her in the presence of Alynwick.

  “Very well, you have seen to my safety. I am safe, as you can see. You may leave.”