by Nancy Gideon
Come. I’ve seen to the demon’s underlings. They’ll trouble us no more. I’ve a carriage waiting. We must get you home, Master Louis.
Already feeling the discomfort of daylight heating through him, Louis nodded and let them lead him out. The distress worsened outside, and he groaned from it as they bundled him inside the carriage and drew down the shades. He huddled beneath the cloak, held tight in Arabella’s arms, as fever and chills shook through him.
They reached the house and Louis was barely able to walk as they guided him inside. There, Bessie Kampford greeted Arabella with a cry of happiness and a teary embrace. She even had a kiss to press against Louis’s bloodied temple. Within the cool, familiar caverns of his home, he recouped his strength and gave out terse orders.
“We must leave here. Takeo, arrange for movers to pack up the house and for my solicitor to settle my affairs. I won’t underestimate the danger by delay. We must be away before the authorities come with questions about the fire and Doctor Howland’s... death.” Suddenly, he couldn’t face the anguish in Arabella’s gaze, not with his heart so filled with blame. He strode into the deeper shadows of the parlor, saying, “Takeo, bring me a change of clothes. I will not lie down in these.”
ARABELLA WATCHED him from the comforting circle of Bessie’s embrace. And she worried over his reaction. Gently, she slipped from the elder woman’s cosseting attention.
“Mrs. Kampford, I know the events of this eve have worn upon us all, but if you are not too weary, would you see my belongings are gathered and packed away? There is much wisdom in his lordship’s words. We must not tarry here.”
Bessie straightened with her admirable courage. “Yes, ma’am.”
Slowly, Arabella advanced toward the remote figure in the study. Louis stood with his back to her, and she could read his tension in that stiff, straight line. She could tell the brightening hues of daylight were hurting him, yet he lingered. And her apprehension mounted.
“Louis?”
He turned. The sadness etched upon his face alarmed her.
“I have brought ruin to your life, Bella. I have allowed my arrogance to overcome my caution and embroiled you in the curse I live. I would release you from it now.”
“Release me? Louis—”
He held up a slender hand to silence her protest. “I am sorry, Bella. All those grand promises I made you, and I cannot keep a one of them. Your father is gone, and now I have no future to offer you.”
Fighting down the immediate pain of loss, Arabella crossed the separating space to hug him about the shoulders. He was stiff and still within her embrace. “Shhh! That’s not true, Louis. I love you. We have more future together than you know.”
“What I am is what I will always be. How can you love me?”
She laughed softly. “There is no logic in love, Louis. Love is like the beauty of the heavens. It needs no reason to exist. Do not deny me the glimpse of paradise we’ve made between us.”
“I can never be the man you deserve.”
“Then perhaps I do not want that man. Don’t ask me to settle for less than I have found with you, my lord. I won’t.”
She rode out his tremendous sigh. “You are too brave, little one. You’ve seen what our future holds. Think of it, Arabella.”
“I am,” she murmured, as her palms rubbed up and down the powerful length of his forearms. “And I am impatient for that future.”
His chuckle vibrated beneath her cheek. “You are a bold piece of work, wife.” His lips brushed across her brow and his voice lowered to a husky rumble. “And I love you madly. I could not go on without you beside me.”
“Then I shall always be there with you.” She pressed a kiss to the unnatural warmth of his throat, sketching those kisses up to his jaw, then turning his face with the touch of her hand so she could claim his mouth. He returned her kisses with an insuppressible ardor, breaking away at last with a soft curse and the wish that the sun would delay its rise long enough for him to explore the moment further.
“You must rest, my lord, and recover your strength. While you sleep, I will see everything is packed, and we shall be away before nightfall. I want to leave London and its bad memories behind. There is no reason to stay, and every reason to go. I would like to begin our lives over, someplace where the threat of your past can’t reach us.” At least for a time.
Silence. For a moment, she feared he meant to argue, but all he said was a quiet, “You will stay with me?”
“I will always be there with you when you wake, my love. Always.”
He caught the hand she’d pressed to his cheek and kissed it tenderly before pillowing his head upon it. “Vienna,” he said to her. “We will go there. There is much activity, and we can lose ourselves in the crowds and color. You’ll like it. It has a cluster of great minds and culture.”
“All right. Vienna it is. And amongst those great minds, perhaps we can find one with the knowledge to continue my father’s work. I refuse to give up on that hope and I refuse to give up on you. I do not fear the future so long as I am with you. Trust in my strength as I trust in your love for me.”
“I do.”
Takeo arrived to interrupt further discussion. Arabella stepped back so Louis could strip off his soiled garments. With a faint smile, he withdrew the heavy black stone from the pocket of his bloodied coat. He gave it to Arabella with the words, “Keep this. It may come in handy again.”
She shared in his bittersweet smile and clutched the obelisk to her as her eyes adored the sight of smooth immortal flesh moving over a powerful inhuman form. Her husband. Her love. Whatever else he was didn’t matter. She wouldn’t let it matter.
“Takeo, arrange for transportation to carry me to the country house within the hour. I needn’t press upon you the importance of being circumspect.”
Takeo bowed to him, then took up Arabella’s hand to press the back of it briefly to his cheek before he left them.
Louis looked on with a fond bemusement. “It would seem you’ve made a conquest of my young friend.”
Arabella smiled up at him. “We’ve found we have much in common, my lord. Come. We must go below. It’s not wise to push fate by remaining.”
Louis allowed her to lead him down into the cool chambers where his daylight bed awaited. When he climbed into his box, he was surprised when Arabella came in with him, stretching out in close companionable warmth, as if they were beneath their big upstairs canopy.
“Might I rest with you, my lord?”
“It’s cold—”
“I have this cloak, and I am content to stay with you a while.”
She nestled against his shoulder, sighing softly. She had no desire to be apart from him until all the danger of the past night was far behind them. For now, Bianca and Gerardo were vanquished, but she would feel better when they were a continent away. Where Louis could grow strong again.
“There is no place I’d rather be,” she vowed with a quiet passion.
“Then I am pleased to share my accommodations.”
His hand curved about her cheek, turning it so he could claim her lips in a lengthy and expressive perusal. But even the strength of his love could not best the pull of his weariness. He smiled as his eyes closed and his hand stilled against the warm contour of her face.
“Sleep well, Louis, for when I wake you at dusk with my kiss, we will be on our way to another life. And we will be a family. You, me, Takeo, and Bessie, the five of us. Sleep, and know that I love you.”
Puzzlement brought his eyes open again. “Five?”
She moved his hand to her flat abdomen. “I carry our future, Louis.” And she waited with breath suspended for his reaction. It was subtle at first, his eyes darkening with wonder to a deep jade green, his lips parting in amazement then bowing slightly upward in a smile.
“
Our child.”
Her features warmed with pleasure at the thrilled way in which he spoke those words.
“The promise of eternity that you once gave to me. You see, my love, you have kept all your promises.”
And with that, she kissed him and he returned it with all the tender passion he possessed to the limit of his waning strength. His eyes didn’t reopen when she lifted away, but his smile remained. Arabella touched the contours of his face lovingly.
“If you dream while you sleep, dream of a future for the three of us, and when you wake, we will make those dreams come true.”
With those words to caress and comfort him, Louis Radman sank into slumber.
Arabella sighed in her contentment, drawing the cloak closer about her shoulders for warmth as she rested alongside her husband. Within the quiet of her mind came a soft, crooning whisper, the accented tones those of Gerardo Pasquale.
Buon giorno, cara. Il piacere e stato mio. The pleasure was mine. Love him as I loved him.
Her head resting above her husband’s heart, Arabella smiled and pledged, “I will.”
The End
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