The Elusive Bride

Ferrar’s closest friends were in England, and then check if any of them feature in the letter.”

“And that,” Royce says, “makes Kilworth our best bet.” He considered, then grimaced. “Let’s see what happens with Monteith tomorrow, but if the Cobra keeps striking, then we should certainly put more effort into learning who were Roderick Ferrar’s erstwhile friends.”

An hour later, Emily preceded Gareth into the bedchamber she’d been given. He had his own room down the hall, much smaller, more a place to leave his bags than anything else.

No one in this household bothered with pretense.

All but dancing, she whirled, fetching up before the fireplace in which a lovely fire crackled and burned. Outside it was freezing, but inside…she’d never felt so relaxed, so triumphant, in her life.

Arms spread, she swung to smile at Gareth. He’d closed the door and had followed close behind her. “We’re here!” Bringing her hands in, she locked them about his lapels and drew him close; smiling, he came. She beamed up at him. “I can barely believe it. After all those miles, all those attacks, all those horribly dangerous times-here we are, hale and whole.” She met his eyes, let herself fall into the tawny hazel. “And we’re together.”

Hands closing about her waist, then sliding further to hold her in a loose embrace, he nodded. “We are. But I have a confession to make.”

Taken aback, she searched his eyes but saw nothing beyond the warmth she’d grown so accustomed to shining back at her. Reassured, she made her tone encouraging. “What?”

“Yes, well, that’s the thing.” His lips curved, rueful yet still relaxed. “I was determined never to let the words cross my lips, had sworn I would never utter them, but after today, after sitting in that carriage, blind, out of sight of you, not knowing if you were in danger, if some terrible fate was threatening you…” His expression changed, all warmth falling away, leaving an emotion far more stark and powerful etched over the chiseled lines of his face.

Her heart thudded as, amazed, she recognized what that emotion was.

“I nearly broke. Nearly overthrew all caution, all sense, nearly flung open the carriage door and came after you.”

Locked in his dark gaze, she released one lapel, placed that hand on his chest, over his heart. “But you didn’t.”

“No. I didn’t. It was a close run thing-but I didn’t.” He nodded, lips firming, his eyes on hers. “So yes, Emily Ensworth, we’re going to have a life partnership-we’re going to have the trust, the sharing of all life’s challenges. Before, when we spoke of this, I wasn’t sure how far I could go-how much of what you wanted I could give you-but now I know. Today showed me. Not that you were up to the task-that I never doubted, not from the instant I met you in Bombay after you’d ridden in with the letter from James. I was so proud of you-I admired you, your strength and character, from then. I knew long before today that you could handle anything, including the challenge of sharing your life with me. But today I discovered that I was up to the task, too-that I could, if pushed, trust your strength and put my faith in your abilities as you, so often on our travels, put your faith in mine.”

He drew a huge breath, his chest swelling beneath her hand. She didn’t say a word, too enthralled, too eager to hear what next he would say.

Gareth looked into her shining eyes, the moss-green bright, shimmering with encouragement and a love he’d never thought to find. “Having you go into danger without me at your side is never going to be something I will willingly countenance, but today I learned that I could live through the vulnerabilty, so there’s no longer any point in not saying the words I’d sworn I never would.”

“What words?” She all but quivered in his arms, so alive, so vibrant, and all his.

He smiled, and let the words fall freely, let them come of their own accord and simply be, testament to his reality. “I love you. You are the sun, the moon, and the stars to me-I can’t imagine a life without you at its center. Yes, I want to marry you-quite desperately want to marry you-but that want owes nothing to anything but my need.

“I need you-I need your love. I need you to be my future. We started, before, to paint in my blank slate, but I can’t finish the picture of my future without you at its center.”

She pressed closer, pushed her hands up over his shoulders, winding her arms about his neck. Sheer happiness bubbled in her voice as she said, “I was so proud of you today-when you let me do what I could do. I was never so much as vaguely attracted to MacFarlane, but women can have honor, too, and I wanted to-needed to-do something, something real, to help catch the Black Cobra. And now I have, I can leave it to you and all the other men here to catch the fiend, whoever he is, and bring him to justice.

“Now”-she stretched up on her toes, bringing her lips to within a whisker of his-“I can turn my attention- all my attention and energy-to us. To our partnership, our future-our marriage.”

Her eyes all but glowed, shimmering with emotion as she stared into his. “You are my one-the one I’ve been waiting to find for so long, the one I went to India to seek, the one I love with all my heart. Now I’ve found you, I will never let you go.”

He felt his lips curve. “Good.”

He kissed her-or she kissed him. Between true partners, it didn’t matter which it was. All that mattered was the heat that instantly sprang to life, that flared and curled comfortingly all around them.

That drew them in and seduced them.

Then flamed.

Clothes scattered, discarded with abandon.

They barely made it to the bed.

And then there was nothing beyond the flames and the passion, the desire and the need to be one.

Together.

Linked, twining, merging.

Giving and taking and striving for more.

Possessing, then surrendering.

She had a saying she was fond of, that actions always spoke louder than mere words. If he’d doubted the veracity of that claim, she would have convinced him that night.

She took him in with a joy that eclipsed all he’d ever known, embraced him and gave him more than he could fathom.

She was his all, his everything, then and evermore.

Emily could imagine no greater joy than when she shattered beneath him and, looking up through awestruck, love-struck eyes, saw his face in that instant when he lost himself in her.

Saw all he’d until then tried to shield.

Saw vulnerability acknowledged, accepted, and held close.

Saw love and abject devotion in his eyes.

Finally saw him, all he was, clearly-her warrior with an unshielded heart.

They slumped together, arms tight, possessive even in aftermath, waiting for their thundering hearts to slow, waiting for reality to reclaim them.

When he finally eased from her arms, withdrew from her and slumped on his stomach beside her, she was already planning. “We’ll wait here.” Turning her head, she caught his eye. “I’m happy to wait here until the other two-Monteith and Carstairs-arrive. Until they’re safe.” Sliding around, down into the bed beside him, she raised a hand and traced one heavy shoulder. “You won’t be able to concentrate on our future until then-and in truth, neither will I.”

The one eye she could see held hers, then he humphed and turned his head fully her way. “They’ll be here soon. Logan tomorrow, and although Royce has said nothing about when Rafe is due, I’m sure it’ll be no more than two days.”

She smiled, a slow smile of anticipation. “Good.”

She continued to smile, but her gaze grew distant. Her hand continued to stroke Gareth’s bare shoulder. After a minute had ticked by, curious, he asked, “What are you thinking of?”

She refocused on him, and her smile deepened. “I was just thinking: If only my family could see me now.”

He looked at her in mock horror, then lifted his head and dropped it back into the pillow. “Thank God they can’t.”