A thought suddenly occurred to Ruby. “I need a boat.”
“Mr. Barone took the boat,” Stiles piped in, glancing at the darkened window by the door.
Ruby followed his gaze, listening to the wind howling outside. “Do you know where I can find another one?”
Stiles paused as if thinking. “My brother-in-law has a little jon boat. He left for Mississippi to ride out the storm.”
“Can you go get it for me?” Ruby pleaded, moving to stand next to him at the window.
Stiles paled slightly. “You aren’t thinking of going out in this weather, are you? Mr. Barone would kill me if something were to happen to you.”
“I doubt that,” Ruby responded with a lift of her chin. “Can you get the boat or not?”
Still, Stiles hesitated.
“Please!”
With a sharp nod, he jerked the door open and disappeared into the night.
“Are you really going out in this storm to look for Lincoln?” Mrs. Tuff breathed.
It was the first time Ruby had ever heard her use his first name. “I am. If this storm gets as bad as I think it will, he’ll never survive out there.”
Mrs. Tuff’s eyes grew round. “You don’t know the master very well. He can survive anything.”
“Why do you call him master?”
The housekeeper shrugged. “It was what Lincoln’s father preferred we address him as. I reckon it made him feel better about the boy.”
Anger flew through Ruby. “Old man Barone must have been a real asshole.”
“Oh, he was, miss.”
Twenty minutes later, Stiles came barreling through the front door, water dripping from his hair. “The boat is tied up down by the boathouse. It’s started to rain, Miss Atwood. Are you sure you want to go out there?”
“I’m sure. If I’m not back in an hour, make sure Cameron is safely in the basement.”
Mrs. Tuff followed her to the door. “Please be safe out there.”
Ruby ran down the hill to the boathouse, large drops of warm rain blurring her vision.
She climbed into the boat, stumbled to the back, and pull-started the motor. It fired up on the second try.
Taking a seat in front of the motor, Ruby steered the boat down the choppy waters of the Mississippi with one destination in mind. The cabin.
A light flashed over the front of the boat, sending Ruby’s heart into her throat.
She peered behind her, squinting through the pouring rain into the darkness beyond. But there was no sign of someone following her.
Ruby gave the motor more gas, speeding down the river as fast as the winds would allow.
“Why didn’t I grab a damn flashlight?” she muttered aloud, searching for the dock in the dark.
She slowed her speed and drove the boat closer to the right-side bank.
There’s Lincoln’s boat, she thought, guiding the vessel up next to his. Ruby tied her boat to his and climbed onto the dock.
The wind whipping through her hair, she ducked her head and crept in terror along the dock. Alligators could be anywhere.
Lightning flashed, illuminating the cabin before her.
Ruby had never been more scared yet elated in all her life. Lincoln was only a few feet up the hill.
Gathering her courage, she waited for the next flash of lightning and then ran toward the hill like the hounds of hell were following her.
She nearly fell over the bottom step in her haste to reach the cabin.
“Lincoln?” she called, pounding on the door.
It abruptly opened, and a cloak-covered Lincoln stood in the entrance. “Ruby?”
“Thank God I found you! We have to go. The hurricane is about to hit.”
“You shouldn’t have come here.”
A strong gust of wind blew through the area, sending a chair slamming into Ruby’s side. She fell off the porch in a tumble of arms and legs.
“Ruby!” Lincoln bounded down after her and had her in his arms before she could suck in a breath.
“Are you all right?” he growled, already moving back toward the porch.
An explosion rent the night, piercing Ruby’s eardrums with a deafening sound.
Lincoln jerked forward, but didn’t drop her.
It took her a moment to realize he’d been shot.
Another ear-piercing sound rang out, sending Lincoln staggering forward.
He dropped to his knees with Ruby still in his arms. “Run.”
“Nooooo!” Ruby cried as his arms went limp and he toppled over to his side.
Tears spilled from her eyes to mix with the rain slapping against her face.
Ruby scrambled to her knees, her gaze searching the darkness for any sign of movement.
“Leave us alone!” she screamed, hovering over Lincoln’s body to protect him as best she could.
When no more shots rang out, Ruby placed her arm behind Lincoln’s head and lifted. “Lincoln? Please wake up.”
He moaned, his voice raspy from pain. “Get out of here.”
“I’m not leaving you,” she choked out, lifting his head higher against her chest. “We have to get you to the boat, Lincoln. Do you hear me? You have to help me. I can’t carry you.”
Another moan slipped past his lips.
He struggled for a minute to get to his knees, the constant lightning showing his hood had come off.
Ruby jumped to her feet, bent, and pulled his arms around her neck. “You can do it, Lincoln. Come on.”
His great weight nearly took her back down, but she managed to stay upright. Barely.
Lincoln stumbled and staggered alongside Ruby, falling several times on their way to the dock.
The winds had picked up, making it ten times more difficult to walk.
After several minutes of struggling, an exhausted Ruby helped Lincoln into the jon boat. She would have taken Lincoln’s, but she doubted the keys were in it.
Covering his face with the hood of his cloak, Ruby pull-started the engine and drove the small vessel through the wind and rain back to the mansion.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Ruby managed to reach the boathouse without capsizing. She tied the boat to the dock and lifted the edge of Lincoln’s hood. “I’m going to go get some help. I’ll be right back for you.”
When he didn’t respond, Ruby lowered her ear to his mouth. No air could be felt.
“Lincoln?” she cried, laying two fingers against his neck. His pulse could barely be felt.
“Oh God. Don’t you die on me.”
Scrambling from the boat, Ruby ran against the forceful wind to the side door of the house and jerked it open. “Stiles!”
“Miss Ruby?” Stiles gasped as he rounded the corner to the kitchen. “What on earth?”
“Bring help to the boathouse. It’s Lincoln. And hurry!”
Without waiting for a response, Ruby ran as fast as her legs would carry her back to the boathouse. She sailed over into the boat and pushed back Lincoln’s hood. “Help is on the way. Can you hear me?”
She checked his pulse again, tears of relief and fear dripping down her cheeks.
“Where is he?” Stiles called, barreling into the boathouse with Lincoln’s doctor and Mrs. Tuff right on his heels.
Ruby scrambled back to make room for the two men. “He’s been shot. Twice!”
Stiles and the doctor managed to heave Lincoln out of the boat and lug his great weight into the house.
Mrs. Tuff ran ahead to get the door.
“Take him up to his room,” the doctor wheezed, turning toward the stairs.
Ruby hurried up in front of them, frantic with worry. She sailed into Lincoln’s room and yanked the covers back on his bed.
Stiles and the doctor awkwardly placed Lincoln’s massive body on the oversized bed.
“Get me my bag,” the doctor barked at no one in particular.
Stiles scrambled from the room, nearly tripping on a rug on his mad dash for the door.
“Is he going to
be all right?” Ruby whispered as the doctor opened Lincoln’s cloak and ripped his shirt down the front.
The doctor spoke without pausing. “I don’t know, but I’ll do everything I can to save him. I need hot water, alcohol, towels, and plenty of bandages.
“I’ll get them,” Mrs. Tuff announced from the open doorway she’d just arrived in.
Stiles came rushing back inside holding a black bag in his hand. He quickly set it on the nightstand next to the bed.
The doctor immediately began gathering what tools he needed. And started an IV. “He’s lost too much blood. Where is that alcohol?”
“Here,” Mrs. Tuff gasped, running back into the room with an armful of supplies.
The next two hours seemed to drag by with Ruby pacing along the foot of the bed, tears dripping from her chin. The hurricane had arrived and brought with it one-hundred-twenty-mile-an-hour winds. But the storm outside paled in comparison to the storm battering Ruby’s heart.
Branches slapped against the windows, and the lights began to flicker. What could be taking so long? she wondered for the hundredth time.
“I’m losing him,” the doctor suddenly snapped, starting chest compressions.
The room tilted beneath Ruby’s feet. Her legs began to shake so hard she could barely stand.
“Lincoln, please!” Ruby cried, crawling up on the other side of the bed next to him. “Please don’t leave me.”
The old grandfather clock downstairs chimed, announcing the first stroke of midnight. Lincoln’s birthday. Chime.
“Tell me what to do!” Ruby sobbed.
Lightning cracked, and the lights flickered off and on once again. Chime.
Ruby couldn’t breathe, so great was the pain in her chest. She couldn’t lose Lincoln. Not like this and not on this night. Chime.
“Pinch his nose closed, tilt his head back, and breathe into his mouth,” the doctor ordered, loading a syringe and injecting it into Lincoln’s IV. Chime.
“What is that?” Ruby whispered, adjusting Lincoln’s head. She pinched his nose closed and closed her mouth over his.
“It’s atropine.”
The doctor continued with the chest compressions while Ruby breathed every ounce of life and love she had into Lincoln’s mouth. And she did love him, she realized, praying for some sign that he still lived. Chime.
“I have a pulse,” the doctor announced seconds before the lights went out, throwing the room into total darkness.
Ruby lifted her head, tears of relief dripping from her chin. The twelfth chime sounded.
She shifted her gaze toward the table in front of the window as another flash of lightning illuminated the room. The last petal of the rose had fallen.
The room began to vibrate with the thunder of a train. A sonic wave erupted through the air, blowing out the windows in its wake.
Ruby covered her head and leaned over Lincoln’s face to protect him from flying glass.
Another sonic wave blew through the room, shattering the mirror that stood against the wall near the head of the bed.
“What the hell?” the doctor cried from somewhere in the dark.
Stiles came rushing into the room, a lantern in hand. “What the hell was that?”
Ruby opened her mouth to speak, but the words died on her lips.
The light from the lantern touched on Lincoln’s face. His amazingly beautiful face.
“Lincoln?” Ruby whispered, stroking his cheek with trembling fingers.
His eyelids slowly lifted to reveal those electric blue eyes. “Ruby?”
A strangled sound burst from Ruby’s throat. She leaned in and brushed her lips across his. “Yes, Lincoln. It’s me. You’re all right. Everything is okay now.”
“You came for me,” he whispered weakly. “In a hurricane.”
“Yes.” Ruby half laughed half cried. “I love you, Lincoln Barone. I would brave the fires of hell for you.”
A suspicious moisture appeared in Lincoln’s eyes. “I love you too.”
Ruby kissed him again before he succumbed to sleep once more.
“Bring that light closer,” the doctor demanded, already returning to his job of working on Lincoln.
Stiles did as he was told before meeting Ruby’s gaze. “Who shot him?”
“I don’t know,” Ruby confessed, reaching down to take hold of Lincoln’s hand. “But I have a good idea.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Lincoln winced as he attempted to sit up in bed.
“You shouldn’t be up yet,” Ruby scolded, entering the room with a tray in her hand.
She set it on the nightstand. “Besides, I might have wanted to crawl in there and cuddle with you.”
Lincoln’s chest constricted with emotion. Ruby, beautiful, stubborn Ruby had broken his curse. She loved him. He still couldn’t believe she actually loved him.
It had been two days since the hurricane’s devastation. Two days since Lincoln had returned to the man he was meant to be. And a two-day lead for the person who’d shot him.
Ruby held a cup of tea to his lips. “Drink.”
Lincoln drank as much as he could stand before indicating he’d had enough. “I’d much rather look at you than drink tea.”
“I like looking at you too, my handsome prince.”
Handsome. It was still hard to believe that he no longer wore the face of a beast. “You have no idea how much you mean to me.”
“Show me,” she teased, returning the tea cup to the tray.
Taking hold of her hand, Lincoln tugged her forward and covered her soft pink lips with his.
He loved how she sighed into his mouth.
She broke off the kiss and pulled back a little. “Detective Hall called this morning. They arrested Spencer Wright for your shooting.”
Lincoln’s brows lifted. “What led them to him?”
“Me,” Ruby admitted with a shrug. “I told them about his visit here, and how he accosted me outside my house on the day of the hurricane. They got a search warrant and found the weapon in his possession.”
Fury burned through Lincoln. His voice came out deadly soft. “He attacked you?”
Ruby shook her head. “No. He just grabbed on to my arm to try and stop me from leaving.”
“What did you do?”
“I hit him.”
Lincoln’s lips twitched. “So, you actually accosted him?”
“It’s not funny, Lincoln. He shot you. You nearly died.”
He reached up and tenderly cupped her cheek. “But I didn’t. I’ll never leave you again, Ruby. How’s Cameron?”
Ruby smiled. “He’s doing so much better. He has Mrs. Tuff wrapped around his pinky finger.”
“Good. She needs something more than Stiles.”
A giggle escaped Ruby. Lincoln found himself returning her grin.
He suddenly sobered. “I don’t want you to go back to the city, Ruby.”
Gritting his teeth against the pain, Lincoln reached over and opened the nightstand drawer. He felt around until he found the box he searched for.
Ruby tilted her head. “Lincoln?”
Lincoln slowly opened the box and held it up for Ruby’s inspection.
There, tucked inside, lay his mother’s diamond engagement ring. “Ruby Atwood, would you do me the honor of being my bride?”
“Yes,” Ruby whispered through her tears. “Yes. A thousand times yes.”
The sounds of clapping and cheering could be heard outside the door.
“You might as well come in,” Lincoln called to the trio now standing in the doorway. He pulled the ring from the box and slid it onto Ruby’s finger.
Cameron hobbled over to the bed using his crutches. “You’re getting married?”
“Yes,” Ruby breathed, holding her hand up to the light.
“So, does that mean we can stay here?” Cameron asked with a little too much excitement.
Lincoln leaned back against the pillows and watched as his staff hugged and welcomed Ruby into th
e family with open arms.
Mrs. Tuff, of course, hovered close to Cameron in case he needed her.
Stiles winked at Lincoln as if he were a normal man. And Lincoln supposed that he was. Though a part of the Beast would always live inside him, the man he was born to be, lay in that bed, surrounded by the people he cared most about. And Ruby, ah Ruby. She’d stood by him through it all.
What a pair we make, Lincoln thought, nearly choking on emotion. Beauty and the Beast…
Epilogue
Six Years Later
Ruby lay in bed next to her five-year-old son, Lincoln Charles Barone, telling him a story about a beautiful princess who’d fallen in love with a beast.
She loved nighttime stories with Charlie, after his bath when his little body smelled of lotion and innocence.
“Timmy at school says there’s no such thing as monsters, Mommy.”
“Ah,” Ruby whispered, kissing his sweet, soft face. “I never said anything about monsters.”
“Well, beasts are monsters.”
Ruby smiled over the top of his head. “Not all beasts. Take Satan, for instance. He’s not a monster, but he sure is a giant beast.”
“Satan’s not a beast,” Charlie squealed, his little eyes crinkling at the corners.
Lincoln stepped into the room, instantly turning Ruby’s insides to mush. If she lived to be a hundred, she’d never grow tired of looking at his handsome face.
“What are you two talking about?” Lincoln whispered, easing his big body onto the bed next to Ruby.
“Mommy says there really are beasts, but Timmy’s mom told him there’s no such thing.”
The corner of Lincoln’s mouth lifted. “Really? Timmy’s mom said that?”
“Yes.” Charlie nodded with an importance that belied his small stature. “She said that’s just stuff parents tell kids to scare them.”
Lincoln picked up Charlie’s hand and kissed his small fingers. “Oh, I don’t know, son. Sometimes, when the moon is full and the wind blows just right, I can swear I hear the howl of a lone beast, somewhere in the distance.”
“You do?” Charlies eyes grew as large as quarters.
Ruby sent her husband a wink before meeting her son’s gaze. “I think we all have a little beast in us, Charlie… Even you.”
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