by Wendy Vella
“I’ve never been able to put it in words, but what you said fits perfectly.” There had been longing in her words, and Wolf wondered if there’d been times that she’d wanted to feel safe and secure but hadn’t.
“I could not leave; it was as though I was held in place by some force.”
“But not a dangerous force, Rose, remember that.”
She nodded, then tried to pull out of his arms. Wolf held her shoulders, made her look at him.
“I-I don’t know what happened.” The words were whispered. “And I’m not sure I want to.”
She was still pale, her eyes large in her face.
“I don’t want you to get a pistol—”
“About what I saw—”
They spoke at once.
“I mean it, Rose. Guns are dangerous in the wrong hands.”
“You want to discuss that now? After what took place in that room?”
“Is there a right time?”
“How do you know I am not an expert? I may be the right hands.”
“Are you?”
She huffed out a breath. “No. But I’m not discussing it any further with you, as it does not concern you.”
They would be discussing it, Wolf vowed. But for now he’d leave it alone.
“It is not easy to explain what you saw in that room, Rose, and in truth had I known you were in there, I would have made you leave, but as you did not you saw something that is a secret to my family alone. A secret that if others heard would not be believed.”
“What secret?”
“It is a long story, I fear, and I will need the permission of my family to tell it.”
She shook her head again and tried to step back. Wolf couldn’t make himself release her.
“I don’t want to know. I do not need to know. Let me leave, and I shall never return, and promise never to mention what took place. No one would believe the ramblings of one such as I anyway. My word against the names in that room, it is not something I care to contemplate. No, your secret, whatever it is, is safe with me.”
The thought of never seeing her again made him feel off-balance once more.
“Wolf?” James appeared in the doorway. “Will you bring Miss Abernethy to the study, please?”
“Of course.”
“No.” She looked down at her dress. “I am not fit company to be in the presence of these people.”
“Some of them are likely in a worse condition, and I’m sure by now you have realized that this family rarely lives by the rules the rest of society adheres to, Rose. In fact, you seem more concerned with them than us,” Wolf said.
“Spoken like someone who has never known what it is like to live belowstairs”
“I do not, but I have lived in squalor and woken wet and cold and wanting my home.”
“Forgive me, I had no right to speak to you as I did. Of course you know hardship and suffering.”
“Rose, because you were not raised in a noble household does not mean you are unworthy of respect. It does not mean you are any less than us, only different.”
Her laugh was bordering on hysterical. “My aunt used to speak in such a way.”
“She sounds a sensible person.”
“I miss her. She made sense of everything.”
“I’m sorry for your loss. Is there no one else—”
“I need no one else.” She had shut herself away from him now. As Wolf often did the same to protect himself, he could not fault her, no matter how much he wanted to.
“Tell me about this perfidious, insipid man who is your cousin. Why do you believe he would stoop to such behavior to get you back in his life?”
“My cousin is an unpleasant person who cares only for himself, and there is little else to discuss on that matter.”
“And he wanted you for himself after your aunt passed?”
“I am not discussing this with you.”
“I only want to help you, Rose.”
“I don’t need your help.”
So strong, Wolf thought, and determined. Yet he saw the vulnerability that she fought hard to hide.
Wolf could do nothing to stop his hands cupping her cheeks. He wanted to taste her again and feel what he had when last they kissed.
“Let me go home. Please.”
“I have promised no one will hurt you. Just come and listen to what is said; nothing more taxing that that.”
Her eyes held his, and the look they shared had him lowering his head, and taking those soft lips beneath his. He needed to kiss this woman almost as much as he needed his next breath.
Chapter 16
His kiss was soft, achingly so. And sweet, Lord it was sweet, and so much more than the last one. This kiss held raw emotion. She was surrounded by him. His large body cradled her in his arms once more, and it was wrong, she should leave, but had no will to do so. The day had been long and fraught with emotion, she had little resistance left, yet knew she must find some.
“Rose.” He breathed her name against her lips, then kissed her again, and she wanted to wrap her arms around him and hold him close. “You feel so good.”
She could do nothing to stop the moan as his hand roamed her body, stroking her back, touching her ribs. Could do nothing to stop the hand that cupped her breast.
“I want you.”
Rose had never experienced passion, not like this. The gut-churning need to have a man possess her. It robbed her sanity and had her rising to her toes to take more of what he gave.
“Yesss,” she hissed as her hands stroked his hair. Softer than she’d thought, and thick. The curls at his nape urged her to sift them through her fingers.
His thumb brushed her nipple. Through the layers of clothing she should feel little, but the shaft of desire that spiked through her was exquisite.
“God, we have to stop.” His voice was hoarse.
Rose jerked back. What had she just done? Dear Lord, to have behaved so wantonly, and in the Duke of Raven’s house of all places. Shame washed through her.
“I’m sorry, I should not have done that.”
She watched those wonderful green eyes shut away the emotions that their kiss had created. Rose tried to collect her scattered wits.
“I-I should not have allowed it.”
“It has been an emotional time,” he said, looking at her. Now composed, the fire in those amazing eyes had doused. It was almost as if they changed with his emotions.
She managed to nod.
She’d let him touch her breast.
He made her lose reason, and that would not do. Rose could not afford to have dreams or hopes that were not grounded in reality. Her reality. This was his life, Captain Sinclair, not hers.
“Come.”
He walked to the door, and held it open.
“I should simply leave.”
“Just listen, Rose. That is all we are asking of you.”
How did he sound so composed when she was anything but? Inhaling, she fought for control.
“You look beautiful.”
The gruff words came from the man at her side as they walked along the hall. Rose hadn’t realized until that moment she was tidying her hair.
“I doubt that, but I am about to speak with a duke, and while I have done so before, it was about his sister. This is another matter entirely. The man has the power to crush me should he choose too.”
“He will not choose to, and is, as I have explained, no different from others, except he has more money.”
Rose could do nothing to stop the snort. “Surely you are not serious. The differences between all of you and me is wider than the English Channel.”
“We put our boots on one foot at a time.”
Rose shot him a look. His jaw was clenched and looked harder than oak.
“After today we shall spend no more time together.”
He opened his mouth to speak, but Rose did not want to hear, so she stepped through the door they stood before.
It was the domain of the ma
ster of the house, was her guess, and a place he came to talk to his steward or other people important men that dukes talked to.
Inside were the duke and duchess and Lord Sinclair. Also Mr. Huntington, and now she and Captain Sinclair. Each of them had many things Rose did not. Wealth and power, and family; only the latter did she long for. She was nothing like these people, even if they did put their boots on one foot at a time like her.
“Miss Abernethy, please come in,” the duchess said.
All through those long hours in the birthing room, Rose had envied the women in that room their closeness, listening to them talking, comforting, and yes, even teasing each other. The connection between them was obvious.
The despair had touched each deeply as time ticked away and Emily grew weaker. When finally the babe was born, the duchess had thrust it at Rose as they attempted to stem the flow of blood from the weakened mother.
“Tea, Miss Abernethy?”
She waved aside the duke’s request, her mind returning to the birth as around her the staff set a tray on the table and began filling cups with steaming hot tea, or snifters with brandy.
Rose had swaddled the babe and watched, praying for a miracle she’d known would not come. Then when all hope was gone, the duchess had called for the men to be brought to the room. Rose had thought this was to say goodbye, so she’d moved to the furthest corner and stood silently rocking the babe.
She’d watched Captain Sinclair take in the blood, and he’d appeared almost to enter a trance. It had taken his cousins to rouse him. And then the miracle had happened.
Pushing those thoughts aside to concentrate on what was about to happen to her, she watched the captain dump sugar in his tea and add a splash of milk. He then loaded a plate with a huge wedge of fruit cake.
She’d let him touch her breast. Did that make her a woman with loose morals?
“Firstly, I thank you on behalf of my brother and our family for your care of Emily, Miss Abernethy. She is very special to us.”
Lord Sinclair was most like Captain Sinclair. The other one, Mr. Sinclair, had the same coloring but was not as big. His eyes were vivid like the captain’s also.
“Drink and eat, it will help you regain your strength.”
“I am not weakened.” Rose looked up at the man who now stood before her. The man who had been so gentle as she grappled with what had taken place in that room.
His smile was gentle. “That we already know. However, you are tired and have received a shock, so you need to eat and drink.”
He forced the cup and saucer into her hands and lowered the plate to her lap before moving away to take up his place leaning against the fireplace.
“It was an honor to help Mrs. Sinclair, but I really must go.” She suddenly did not want to hear what they were going to tell her, because Rose thought that after she did, her life would be different.
“Drink your tea and eat the cake. We will not keep you too long then, but we wish to discuss what you witnessed today, Rose.” The duchess took the seat to her right. “What you witnessed in that room must have terrified you, and for that we are sorry. As you can imagine, our focus was solely on Emily, and we gave little thought to checking the room first.”
“I was not terrified, as I told Captain Sinclair. I felt nothing to fear in that room.”
“That makes us feel better.” The duke looked relieved. “The first time I witnessed it I went to bed for a week.”
The others laughed. Rose just sat and watched... waiting for what would come next.
“I know you have met my wife and me, yet I do not believe you have been formally introduced to my brother-in-law, Lord Sinclair, or my brother, Mr. Huntington.”
Rose tried to rise with her hands full, but the duke waved her back down. “There is no need for a curtsey, please sit.”
“Mr. Huntington is Essie’s husband, and the duke’s brother,” Captain Sinclair said.
This man was the biggest of all of them, his hair lighter, and to her he had the tawny eyes and coloring of a lion.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Miss Abernethy.”
“And now we must discuss what you saw,” Lord Sinclair said.
“Oh, there really is no need. I will never speak of it, and who would believe the ramblings of a piano teacher if I did. Please, I will just leave and not return.” Rose even got to her feet in preparation.
“Sit down, Rose,” Captain Sinclair said.
“Please,” the duke added.
She sat once more.
“I understand what you say, and yes, likely you are right, but we wish for you to at least understand some of what you saw. Wolf trusts you, as do we.”
“He does? You do?” She shot the captain a look, but his face was not easy to read.
“We do,” the duke added.
“Thank you.” Why did that thought humble her? Lord, her head was all over the place. So much emotion had been wrenched from her today, and she could make no sense of it.
The duke acknowledged her words with a nod.
“Our family is different, Miss Abernethy.” Lord Sinclair gave her a gentle smile.
“That’s a polite way of putting it,” Mr. Huntington muttered.
“We have exceptionally strong senses.”
“I don’t understand?” She sought the captain’s eyes for no other reason than he was the one she turned to.
“Where you can hear, see, touch, smell, and taste as others do, Rose, we can do so a thousand times stronger.”
Captain Sinclair’s words struck her silent. The revelation was not what she’d expected... although what had she expected?
“It will be extremely hard for you to comprehend, Rose. We struggle to, and have lived with this knowledge our entire lives,” Captain Sinclair added.
“Your eyes—”
“Yes, I, along with my cousin”—Lord Sinclair raised a hand to indicate he was the cousin in question— “have the heightened sense of sight. We are gifted, for want of a better word, with the ability to see great distances and colors.”
“I’m not sure I can ever begin to understand what it is you speak of.”
His smile was just a tilt of one side of his lips, but it transformed him. Why did he above all the others in the room make her heart beat faster?
“I assure you I speak the truth, though there is a great deal more to it than that, but I have no wish to complicate the matter for you.”
“Good Lord,” Rose whispered. “Begging your pardon,” she hastily added. One did not speak that way in front of nobility.
“Think nothing of it.” The duke waved her words away. “If ever there was moment for such words, now is it.”
“My strong sense is hearing,” the duchess said from beside her. “I can hear everything and anything, thus I wear earplugs to shut out the noise.”
She lifted the side of her hair and showed Rose the small plugs of wax inside.
“It is almost incomprehensible,” Rose whispered, grappling with the knowledge. “I know something happened in that room, I felt it, I just could not understand what.”
“My wife, Lilly, has the heightened sense of touch,” Lord Sinclair said.
“She can heal?” Rose said softly. “I watched it happen. Mrs. Sinclair.... I had thought she....”
“Thankfully that did not happen,” Lord Sinclair stated. “My wife wears gloves constantly because she can feel everything. The healing takes its toll on her, Miss Abernethy, so she cannot do it often. At this moment she is sleeping and will for some time.”
She saw the worry in him. The love for his wife was obvious to everyone in the room.
“Are you all right, Rose?” The duchess patted her hand.
She managed a jerky nod.
“Cam, my brother, can smell. Essie has the gift of taste. Our younger siblings, who I believe you have met, also have heightened senses.”
“I doubt there was anywhere to hide as children.”
Rose’s words had them laughing.
“You have no idea,” Lord Sinclair drawled. “You are not as shocked as I thought you would be.”
“I cannot yet fully comprehend what you’ve told me, but I am in no doubt you all have a wonderful gift.”
“Wonderful how?” the captain asked her, his eyes locked onto her face.
Swallowing a large mouthful of tea, she thought about her reply.
“Each day is the same, and people within it no different than I for the most, and to know this is not the case, and in fact there are those who are different, gives one hope. I am making a mess of this,” Rose said, attempting to get the words right. “I rise at 5:00 a.m. and always have, but tomorrow I will rise knowing that not everything is as it was. The mundane that I greet when opening my eyes is now tempered with the knowledge that there is difference out there.”
She found Wolf’s eyes; their color seemed to glow now.
“That came out wrong.” Rose waved her hand about for no other reason than she could find nothing else to add. “You have a wonderful gift,” she finished lamely. Getting to her feet, Rose placed the plate and saucer on the small table. “I am honored that you shared it with me, and I give you my word that your secret is safe with me.”
Rose bobbed a curtsey and then left the room before they could stop her. She needed to leave this house, because while she was in it she felt something. A need, an ache for what she could never have. Unity, and connection. This was not her life and never would be; she could never hope to have such a roof over her head or be surrounded by those people.
Walking out the front door seconds later, she vowed to get back to her life, and never return.
Chapter 17
Wolf sat eating his morning meal and staring at the wall opposite with Hep resting on his left foot. Eleven days had passed since Rose witnessed what he and his family were capable of, and she’d thought them wonderful. That thought alone had stayed with him. That thought, and how much he wanted her.
But did she mean it?
Would she really keep their secrets, or had she told someone? But then she’d been right when she’d asked who would believe her. In fact, she’d probably be put into an institution if she forced the point.
