Beloved (38 page)

“I see you understand me very well,” he said. “That’s a good girl. If you did allow a man to claim you, we’d have to take
steps to make sure he didn’t want you afterwards. Anyway, I’ll send you back to your fancy house now. All you’ve got to do
is remember what you’ve been told—and be ready to oblige my customer.” He opened the door to the curious faces of several
women wearing few clothes.

Throbbing with embarrassment and fear, Ella turned her head away.

“Blushing flower we’ve got here, ladies,” Milo said. A round of raucous laughter followed. “Yvette, give the coachman the
word, there’s a good girl. Outside the back door.”

“And what if I refuse?” Ella said without looking at him.

“My customer’s already thought of that. If you resist, then we’ll have to think of some different way to deal with you. I
was told to tell you to think about that.”

The horses were being brought around.

“I should never have interfered,” Grandmama said. “I shall never forgive myself if something has happened to Ella.”

Saber’s eyes met Devlin’s. What else could they think, other than that something had happened to Ella?

“Where shall you look?” Margot asked. She had been at Devlin’s when Bigun went to ask his help in searching. “Surely the staff
here knows
something
. Ask them who they spoke to.”

“My fault,” Grandmama muttered. “I only thought to give the two of you time together. Doing ordinary things expected of a
courting couple. But I should not have written those notes.”

Saber pressed his lips together.

“It was my fault too,” the little maid, Rose, said in a quivering voice. “But I thought it was ever so romantic to help two
people who love each other.”

“You merely did as you were told, you foolish girl.” Grand-mama’s snap returned.

Bigun and Max were helping with the horses. Later there would be time to discuss what exactly Bigun had thought he was helping
by delivering forged notes.

The man in question rushed into the room. “Ready, my lord—Mr. North. Max is with the horses. Crabley also insists upon accompanying
you, and of course I shall—”

“You shall, indeed,” Saber said, pulling on his gloves. “Margot, I should much appreciate your keeping company with my grandmother.”

“I can ride, Saber,” she said, moving toward him. “Let me search too. I should feel so much more useful.”

“No—”

“I’ll take care of Her Grace,” Blanche Bastible said. She’d been utterly silent since she entered the room amid the uproar
following the discovery that Ella was missing. “The countess is right. You’ll need everyone. I don’t ride very well, so—”

“Thank you, Blanche. Please remain here also, Margot,” Saber said. “Enough time has been wasted. Let’s go.”

He led the way into the cold vestibule to be confronted by the extraordinary vision of Crabley wearing a cape and with boots
over his stockings. The man stood before the open front door.

“We must choose directions,” Devlin said.

Saber said, “Agreed. And when the constables decide to arrive, someone should tell them the entire story—such as it is—and
explain what we’ve set out to do.”

“Leave that to me,” Grandmama said, joining them. “Oh, my goodness!”

Saber frowned at her, then turned to see what had made her stare so.

Devlin grabbed his arm and said, “Steady, man, steady.”

Ella, exquisite in deep violet and black, walked slowly into the vestibule. Her eyes sought and found his briefly.

“Ella!” He surged to take her in his arms. “Where have you been? We’ve been beside ourselves.”

She felt limp and insubstantial. Dread alerted every muscle and nerve within Saber. “My sweet,” he said quietly. “Say something,
please.”

“I’m tired.”

He looked from Devlin to Margot. Margot’s lips were parted, her eyes wide.

“Ella—”

She pushed firmly against his chest until he dropped his arms. “What a fuss,” she said, gathering her shawl about her. “I
simply went for a little ride in a coach to clear my head. Now I’m tired.”

Grandmama made to go to her, but Saber motioned for her to remain still. “We were about to search all of London for you,”
he told Ella, his heart still thundering. “And I will have an answer from you now. Where have you been?”

Ella looked at him. “I am not your child. Or your possession. When I’m ready—if I’m ever ready—we’ll talk.” Her gaze moved
to the others. “Without an audience.”

H
er bed was empty.

Saber knew panic as intense as any he’d ever known.

The casements were open. Wide open. A tree limb scratched the panes and he heard leaves rustle.

An intruder could have climbed that tree.

He started for the window.

“I’m here, Saber.”

He halted and buried his face in his hands. “My God, Ella. I thought… Praise be, you’re safe.”

She sat on the window seat, all but hidden by a drapery. “There’s nothing to be concerned about. You should be sleeping.”
She appeared to wear only a shift.

“I watched your room until your maid left.”

“Please don’t concern yourself with me further.”

“Ella—”

“I’ve thought about this a great deal. I have pressed you and I have been wrong. Forget everything that has passed between
us.”

He went to her, braced a hand each side of her on the windowsill, and kissed the top of her head. “We must talk to each other.
Really talk.” She wore something white.

“Such an unusual man.”

“Unusual? How so?”

She touched his jaw fleetingly. “Perhaps not unusual in your family. Men who talk to women. Men who care what women have to
say. Little wonder you bend our hearts to your will.”

Saber smoothed her hair. “I can only speak for myself. Your words are the words I hear when I’m alone.” The words he wished
were all he heard when he was alone.

“I believe you. But I also believe you have wanted nothing more than you want to be free, Saber. You never asked me to follow
you around, to pester you with my foolish demands.”

“What has happened?” he asked, very softly. “What happened this evening? Where did…? Crabley and Rose spoke of a carriage.
Where did it take you?”

“Nowhere!” Her dark hair streamed over her shoulders. She sat, curled into a ball. “Leave me, please. For your own good, just
leave
.”

Saber stroked her hair again. “No.”

She sighed. “I will not enter into one of your infuriating word battles, Saber. I wish to be alone. Please go away.”

“No.”

“This is my bedchamber. It isn’t appropriate for you to be here.”

“Rubbish. If you truly wish to be rid of me, you’ll have to do much better. I never intend to leave you alone again. I have
just decided. From now on I shall never allow you from my sight.”

“That’s ridiculous!” She swiveled sideways on the seat and turned her face toward the windows.

“We’re going to be married. Husbands and wives are often inseparable. Side by side at every moment. There’s nothing ridiculous
about that.”

“Every person requires some privacy.”

“I shall do my best to become invisible from time to time. Perhaps a certain ghost could give me lessons.”

“Perhaps.” She thought a moment before saying, “You certainly cannot be with me when I dress.”

He almost laughed, but coughed instead. “I think I could manage to endure that.”

“Well, not when I bathe.”

When she bathed?
Saber found it necessary to sit beside her. “That would be a great trial, but I’d manage that too.”

“It would be impossible for you to make certain I didn’t leave while
you
were bathing.”

Mmm.
The lady didn’t know her power to distract a man. “An interesting dilemma. I shall simply have to take you into my baths
with me.”

“Oh! Oh, Saber, you are outrageous. Go away.”

“No.”

“I shall call for…”

“For whom? I believe I am the man in charge here.”

She fell silent.

Saber waited, listening, watching. When she didn’t move, he touched her cold hands, slowly ran his fingers up her bare arms,
bent until he covered and surrounded her. And then he rocked.

He heard her swallow, and swallow again—heard the sound of a choked sob, felt her body quake.

“We cannot be together,” she told him, her voice muffled. “Not ever. I am…I am what I am. Nothing can change that. I thought
it possible to start an entirely new life, but I was wrong. Please, Saber, for the sake of our friendship, return to your
bed now. As soon as, as—as soon as Papa returns, I shall beg him to take me away to Scotland. Then all I can do is pray.”

Saber grew still. “All you can do is pray?” He raised his head. “Will you tell me what happened to you this evening?”

“No.”

Saber stood up. “Very well. You have decided to be strong and bear this—whatever it is—alone. How noble—and how foolish. I
shall simply have to take command. You have been left in my care, and I must care for you.”

She didn’t move, didn’t look up at him.

Just as well. Saber took off his coat, wrapped it around her, and picked her up.

“Saber!”

He’d shocked her, he noted with satisfaction. A good beginning. At least she’d been forced to react.

“Put me down at once.” She wriggled—to no avail, except to press a breast into his hand, and to cause him to grip her bottom
more firmly through insubstantial cotton. “Saber! Put me down now! I am tired of men forcing their wills on me.”

“Really,” he said grimly. He would soon find a way to make her tell him what she meant by that. “These rooms are cold and
I do not care for them. Mine are much more to my liking. We shall go there.”

“You cannot take me to your rooms! Put me
down
.”

He strode to the door. “You found nothing wrong in entering my rooms in Burlington Gardens, miss. My bed also, if memory serves.
And now you will be silent or the entire house will be awakened.”

Ella squirmed and waved her feet. “Good! I shall awaken them and bring them to my rescue.”

“By all means bring them.” Meanwhile, he would enjoy the twisting of her supple body against his. “I’ll explain that you are
in danger and must be watched over. I’ll tell them that your rooms are too easily accessed from outside.”

“Saber, what are you thinking of? You know you cannot—”

“I know I can, and I will.” As he opened the door, he lowered his voice. “You told me you wanted no more secrets between us.
There shall be none. You said you wished to lie with me all night. So you shall. Every night—starting now.”

“Saber—”

“Hush. I want to take you where there will be no interruptions. Will you trust me, Ella?”

“What you propose is madness. The entire household will hear of it. The entire
ton
will hear of it.”

She was fragrant, smooth, innocently sensual.
Innocent!
Yes, he could no longer convince himself otherwise. “There will be no talk,” he told her.

“What of Bigun? And Rose?”

Saber laughed, a laugh that sounded as lacking in amusement as he felt. “Bigun and Rose have been told they will see nothing,
and speak of nothing unless I tell them they may. They are both in a less than enviable position of late.”

“Great-Grandmama was responsible for—”

“Grandmama is the Dowager Duchess of Franchot. She feels her own guilt at her part in what happened. For the rest, she has
apparently been our ally from the outset. That will not change.” He laughed again. “In fact, I pity anyone who gets in my
way in this. I’m sure you haven’t forgotten the sword in Grandmama’s cane.”

Ella chuckled too. “She is my inspiration.”

“A grim thought. Will you let me guide you—at least for the present?”

Her arms, stealing slowly around his neck, were his answer.

He carried her into the hall and up three flights of stairs. The rooms he had chosen were in a separate wing high above the
gardens and stables, at the back of the house. Some long-ago Franchot male had made those rooms his very private sanctum.

Saber produced a key to unlock the door that closed off the entire area. Once inside, he locked it again. The first room he
reached was his bedchamber. “I’ll make you comfortable in here and light the lamps.”

“I am not a child, Saber. And I’m not a weak, foolish woman.”

He threw back the counterpane and sheet, removed his coat from her shoulders, and settled her in the middle of his bed. “You
aren’t a child, or a weak, foolish woman. But you have suffered at someone’s hands. That shall not occur again. I will not
allow it.”

“You cannot control the world.”

“I can control my part of it. You are a part of my part of the world.” He looked down upon her. She lay on her side, her knees
drawn up to her chest beneath a thin, white gauze shift. Her hair spread like black silk upon white sheets. She kept her eyes
tightly closed. “I do not wish to control you, Ella, only to look after you.”

“So you think you can lock me away here forever? That will keep me safe?”

He laughed without mirth. “It would certainly offer you a measure of protection, but what a waste. No, beloved, we shall bring
the secrets into the light between us, and then we shall see.”