by Wendy Vella
“Are you sure?” James could not take it in. How had someone entered his house and poisoned his brandy?
“We will take the decanter and glass, James, and dispose of them,” Cam said, nodding to Essie to follow him. “We shall return shortly to discuss what should be done next.”
As Eden prepared to follow her siblings he gripped her arm, halting her.
“I think not,” James said, hauling her back to his side.
“I-I must return to our sisters.”
“They will be well cared for with Jane, Samantha’s maid, watching over them.”
“I must go to Cam and Essex, they may need my help.”
James could feel the tension inside her.
“A glass and a decanter will not tax their strength, Eden, and I have a few questions for you, which you will answer.”
James pulled her with him deeper into the room, until they stood before the windows.
“It is a wonderful room, James. H-have you read all these books?” Eden was looking around, determined to distract him. “I love reading—in fact, if I may I will have a look around—”
“Be quiet, Eden.”
She did, biting her lip. Her eyes shot to the door, hoping no doubt for her siblings to return and save her. Something clenched in his chest as he looked at the top of her head and suddenly all the questions he had wanted to ask were replaced with a desperate need to touch her. He took hold of a curl, rolling the satin between his fingers.
“Look at me,” James tugged the curl. She lifted her head and he saw the longing that he knew she would read in his eyes too. One more tug and he had her in his arms, his lips upon hers, her body pressed to his. This kiss was fierce, a clash of mouths and teeth as they fought for more. He swallowed the soft noises she made and pulled her closer; it wasn’t enough. He wanted her skin in his hand and the layers of clothing between them removed.
“Eden, God, what you do to me.” He shuddered as he dragged his lips from hers to run them down her neck.
She smelled like the most alluring flower in any garden, arousing him further. Sliding one hand up her waist he stroked her ribs then cupped her breast, dipping his finger inside her bodice and tracing the edge.
“Oh, James.”
Her throaty cry nearly undid him completely. He grabbed a handful of her skirts, but as he lifted them, the one small rational thought he still retained told him to stop or be prepared for the consequences when her siblings returned. Claiming her lips in one last savage kiss, he then eased back. Stepping away from her, he fought for composure.
“James.”
God, it was only one word, but the throaty purr nearly had him reaching for her again. Instead he started asking questions.
“How did your brother know there was poison in my glass?” Still in the grip of a fierce lust for the woman before him, the words came out harsher than he intended.
“Pardon?” She blinked.
“Your brother, how did he know there was poison in my glass unless it was he who put it there?”
“No!” She gasped, stumbling back a step. “Cam would never hurt you, or anyone, surely you cannot believe otherwise.”
He didn’t, actually. The thought had never entered his head before today, yet now he had said the words he would use them to get answers to the questions that niggled at him about the Sinclair family. They were a closemouthed lot and would protect each other to the death. James needed some leverage to get the answers he sought and it seemed he had found it.
“Essie also knew it was poison after one taste, surely that is too much of a coincidence?”
“No, we—my family, we protect you, have protected you?” She was shaking her head and stumbling toward the door.
It hurt his chest to see the fear replacing passion in her eyes, but he could not back down now. He and his sister were close with this family, no matter how he had tried to deny it. Therefore, he had to know Samantha was safe in their company.
“I-I must go, my brother is calling me.”
“I hear nothing, Eden.”
She shot a look at the door. “Please, I beg of you do not question me further.”
“It was definitely belladonna, James,” Essie said, entering the room with her brother on her heels.
“Eden?” Cam questioned as he noticed his sister’s distress. “Why is she upset, Raven?”
James wanted to be the one to comfort her. Running a hand through his hair, he bit back a frustrated sigh. He could not afford to back down now if he wanted answers, but seeing her distress was like a knife to the chest.
“How did you know there was poison in my glass, Cam?”
James watched the three Sinclair siblings grow still, each eyeing him warily. Essex moved to Cam’s other side, and he lifted his arm and pulled her close. It was a telling gesture that told James they felt threatened by his questions and were seeking strength in each other.
“Are you accusing me of something, Raven?”
Cam seemed to grow several inches before James’s eyes, and looked more like his elder brother with every second that passed—right down to the furious glint in his green eyes.
“You had no way of knowing what was in that glass, Cam, unless you had either tasted it or put it there. The same must be said of Essex, for that matter.”
“You will not accuse my sister!”
Lifting his hands in a gesture meant to reassure as Cam roared at him, James shrugged. He hated questioning them like this because he knew instinctively they were innocent; had they not saved his life already several times? Yet he also knew there was something strange going on, and he wanted to know what. He looked at Eden, but she would not meet his eyes. Instead she huddled close to her brother.
“Then tell me how you both knew what was in that glass?”
The Sinclairs looked at each other for several seconds and then as if by silent vote Cam spoke.
“We must first speak with Devon before answering your questions. Therefore, I would ask that you wait until this evening for your answers.”
Nodding, James realized it would be unfair of him to pursue the matter. Devon was the eldest and therefore their leader, if they needed his consent before speaking then he would wait, but the suspense would near kill him. There was little doubt that what he was to learn was something of great importance to this family.
“I suggest we then adjourn to the nursery to take tea with our sisters.”
They did not refuse him as he had thought they would, instead it was a solemn group that trooped up to the nursery, yet when the door opened everyone was all smiles. Soon cakes were devoured by James and the little girls; the others, including Cam, who could devour an entire cake in one sitting, merely nibbled theirs.
Eden took great pains to hide her distress from her sisters. It was a testament to how closely he watched her that he could see the tension in her body. Her gestures had lost their elegance and her smile its brilliance, and James contemplated retracting his accusations. He had hurt her, and that to his mind was unforgivable. Yet something stopped him.
“Have you given Dorrie and Somer their dolls, Samantha?”
“No! Oh why did I not remember we had purchased them, James?”
“Don’t do this to us.”
He heard Eden’s words as Samantha ran to a cupboard.
“Do what?” He looked into her lovely gray eyes. “Tell me something that will make me understand.”
She shook her head and looked away, and James wondered if he had just achieved what he had once believed he wanted: to distance himself from this woman indefinitely.
Chapter Sixteen
Dear Lord, she felt sick. The tea Eden had swallowed was trying to make a reappearance, and her hands felt clammy. How would they deal with this situation? What would Dev say when he heard what the Duke suspected? Her eyes followed Samantha as she ran to a cupboard. Flinging the door open, she pulled two boxes from inside.
“James and I brought you these, Dorrie and Somer!”
/> Why had he done this to her? Surely she could not have been wrong about him, wrong about his character? She wanted to believe in her heart that James did not truly think them capable of the deeds he was accusing them of, but if not then why was he pursuing this? It was terrifying; the risk of exposure would have them run out of London and into hiding if their secrets got out. How could this have happened after what they had shared? How could he have kissed and caressed her as if she were precious and then turned on her? It was everything she had always feared. Everything her father had told her would one day come true. Did he really believe they were capable of murder?
“We can’t allow you to purchase our sisters such extravagant gifts, Raven. We will of course reimburse you,” Cam said in a quiet voice as the three little girls began to laugh and jump around the room in excitement.
“This is from Samantha, Cambridge, not me. I merely supplied the funds,” James said in the same tone. “Your sisters are her first friends and she wished to celebrate the moment with matching dolls, as she also has one.”
Eden knew it would be churlish for Cam to refuse, yet for her also, the gesture did now not sit easily, as it would not with Dev. Especially considering the accusations the Duke had just thrown at them.
“After what you have just accused us of, I think you would understand our reluctance,” Essie said, her tone cold.
“That does not concern them,” the Duke said, looking at the little girls. “And I merely—”
“I disagree.” Eden cut off his words. “It affects all of us.”
With a curt nod Cam then rose, and Eden knew only relief. She could not keep up this pleasant pretense for a second longer.
“Well, sisters, if you are ready, we will return as our aunt and uncle will have missed us. Please thank the Duke for his kind gifts, girls.”
Somer and Dorrie were used to expressing themselves with gestures, having been raised in a loud boisterous family who cuddled and kissed regularly. Eden watched as Somer grabbed James’s hand and pulled his head down to her level. She then planted a loud smacking kiss on one cheek while Dorrie did the same on the other.
Eden would have laughed at his expression had she not been sick to her stomach. His cheeks heightened with color as he straightened, clearly uncomfortable. However, he thanked the twins politely and told them to return soon.
Farewells were said, Somer securing a promise from James that he would take them to Astley’s next week. Cam did not shake James’s hand and Eden and Essie walked away from him without a backward glance.
As she was walking down the stairs to the front entrance with her family, she heard Samantha talking to her brother.
“I am not sure I would like quite as many siblings as the Sinclairs, James.”
“Indeed, peace and privacy would be rare, I think.”
“But there is something about the Sinclairs, they sort of—”
“Encompass you,” the Duke said.
“Yes,” Samantha agreed. “I like it.”
From the Duke there was no reply.
The silence hung heavily over them as they walked from the Duke’s house. Eden sent Dorrie and Somer to run ahead of them, as she knew they had much to discuss. Dev would be angry when they told him, but what would he suggest they do?
“I do not want him to know about our gifts.”
“None of us want that, Eden, but I can see no way out of this. The man is persistent and knows something is not right. We cannot chance that he will accuse us of attempted murder,” Essie said.
“I don’t believe it would come to that,” Cam added. His hands were thrust in his pockets and his eyes were on the path before him. “The man I have come to know is fair, and he would not accuse us without solid evidence. Plus there is the small matter of what lies between us, and the fact you have already saved his life.”
“Solid evidence,” Eden said. “He either believes we are freaks or that we are murderers, there is no other option. For him to believe one we must lie about the other, and neither option is appealing, brother.”
As they were at the Wynburg residence moments later, no one spoke again, and Eden knew the next few hours would pass on leaden feet until they had a chance to speak with Dev in private.
...
“Can we trust him with the truth, Dev?”
“I fear we have little choice, Essie,” the eldest Sinclair said, looking out the carriage window.
Eden and her siblings had told Devon every word of their encounter with the Duke of Raven, tumbling over each other in their anxiety to get the story straight. He had calmed them and told them it would be all right, as the Duke, for all his stuffiness, was a fair man. But Eden had seen the worry in his eyes.
The four siblings had decided to drive around the streets while they worked through what they would tell the Duke.
They had no wish for their aunt, uncle, or younger siblings to overhear the conversation, so after the evening meal they had put the children to bed and told their aunt they were visiting the Duke to view his library. Lord and Lady Wynburg hadn’t questioned them, although the Earl had lifted one bushy eyebrow, as his own library was fairly extensive and they had not yet exhausted that. Cam had muttered something about treasure maps and the Sinclairs had said their good-byes and fled the room.
“He could have us locked up or deported, couldn’t he?”
“He is an honorable man, Essie,” Devon said, and Eden hoped he was right. “If I know nothing else about him I know that his men would have followed him to the ends of the earth, and that makes me trust him,” Dev added. “And let us not forget the fact that we have saved his life; that must surely count for a great deal.”
“But our secret, Dev. It is such a terrifying thought that someone other than us know of it. What if he chose to use it against us, after all our parents did to make sure that never happened?” Essie said, the anguish in her voice felt by them all.
Father used it against me, Eden wanted to say, yet she remained silent.
“We have no other choice; if he pursues the matter of the poison then he must be told the truth,” Dev said, the strain showing on his face. “We are agreed then?”
“Aye.”
“Aye.”
“Aye,” Eden whispered last.
“I will keep us safe,” Dev vowed, but Eden was not sure anyone could do so once their secret was out.
The rest of the journey was completed in silence as each of the siblings came to terms that the night may bring an end to their secrets.
Eden felt unsteady when she stepped from the carriage and walked up to the front door. The door she had walked through with her giggling sisters not many hours before. The butler opened it to Cam’s hard knock. Discarding their outer clothing, they followed him to where the Duke awaited them in his study.
James watched the small somber procession file into the room, eldest to youngest.
“Raven,” Devonshire Sinclair said, speaking first, the others remained silent. Eden did not glance his way, instead moving to the sofa farthest from where he stood. Gone was the passionate woman he had kissed earlier. This one was coiled in on herself, her arms wrapped round her waist as she huddled in the seat. It was as if someone had extinguished the light inside her.
“Sinclair,” James said in the same cool clipped tones. There had always been reserve between he and Lord Sinclair; it had now intensified.
Three of the siblings sat and Devonshire remained standing. James elected to stand also.
“My sisters and brother have told me what happened today and of your accusations. First let me say I am deeply offended that you would believe this of my family when weeks ago my sister saved you from certain death, as did I two years ago, and it appears Cambridge did this very day.”
James did not flinch. He knew the words were just, yet this had been a means to an end, and now that end was about to declare its hand. Nodding, he remained silent.
“I would like to ask you before I continue if there is any way y
ou will let the matter drop and take it no further, thus letting my family leave here this night with their secrets still their own.”
James watched a muscle in Sinclair’s jaw tick as he clamped his teeth together. The silence in the room became stifling as everyone waited for him to speak, and cad that he was, he simply held the eldest Sinclair’s gaze for several seconds before silently shaking his head.
“It seems my original belief that you were a man of honor was well short of the mark, Raven.”
“I understand your need to protect your family, Sinclair, but be warned that I will not tolerate another slur upon my honor,” James said, feeling his temper tweak, even if it appeared to be just in the eyes of the man before him.
“If you were honorable you would not be forcing my family to reveal something that shakes the very foundation they live upon.”
He didn’t speak, just held Devon’s gaze.
“So be it,” Sinclair muttered, running a hand through his already ruffled hair. “But before I continue I must have your word that what is spoken in here tonight can never leave this room. If it did it would cause me and my siblings great and unimaginable harm. In this I am resolute, Raven. And I must trust that you will hold true to your word once given.”
What the hell were they about to tell him?
“You have my word, which I assure you is my bond.”
Nodding, Devon then looked to where his siblings sat. They in turn nodded.
“It will be hard for you to understand or believe, Raven, but I would ask you to wait until I finish before questioning what you see or hear.”
James nodded, his eyes focused on Devonshire Sinclair. He could feel the tension in the room, taste it and touch it, so palpable it nearly choked him.
Devon began in an even tone, almost as if he read aloud from the newspaper.
“You are aware of the pact between our families, and that we were chosen to protect the Ravens, your ancestors, by King Edward III?”
“I am.”
“What you don’t know is that we discovered at a young age that we have heightened senses. Mine is sight, Eden’s is hearing, Cam’s is smell, and Essie’s is taste.”
