Her Every Pleasure (40 page)

He heard a garbled shout from below as Suleiman suddenly slipped and tumbled off the side of the stairs. He hung there for a moment by his hands.

The bearded man sent Gabriel a wild look, but before he could think to do anything in response, a slab of rock about the size of a tombstone came crashing down and smashed into the sheik, ripping him away from the wall.

Gabriel glanced down in shock as the sheik disappeared under the water’s surface, the boulder on top of him. He breathed an expletive and looked up again at the wall.

It was a split decision, but that wall was still deteriorating, and with the violent shaking still causing it to crumble, he knew that he had to jump clear of it all before the rest came down.

Sliding his back up the wall so that he was standing at his full height once more, he glanced out desperately at the water.

Some fishing boats approaching caught his eye. Kavros locals no doubt, come to crane their necks at the battle.

Bloody hell.

“Stay back!” he yelled at them, but the clamor of falling rock was too loud.

When another chunk of stone plunged down past him, Gabriel knew his time was running out. He gathered himself, still clutching his cavalry saber; then he pushed out away from the wall with a sudden heave, taking as much of a running step as possible and leaping out as far into the blue as he could launch his body.

Down and down he plunged, his arms up over his head. Feet first, he was nearly at the water when a fist of rock about the size of a grapefruit hit him the back of the head and knocked him cold.

Sophia screamed when she saw him fall.

Timo shouted, too, standing at the rails with her.

With a wild look around, her quick-thinking bodyguard jumped into one of the jollyboats and gestured frantically to the crew to lower him down.

When Sophia climbed into the boat with him, Timo gave her a startled look. He started to protest, but when she stared fiercely into his eyes, understanding dawned. He nodded. “Very well. Let’s go get him,” he murmured grimly as the boat descended on its clattering chains down to the water.

They each unhooked their end as soon as the rocking rowboat was set down among the waves. Then they both grabbed a pair of oars and worked together to get to Gabriel before it was too late.

Gabriel was falling, floating down through the water, flung into another realm, the mystic blue. Light rays penetrated deep into the azure waves as he went sinking slowly, weighted down by all of the weapons he carried.

His body’s instincts maintained enough dim awareness to preserve his breath, but his mind had been knocked into a twilight state.

His cavalry saber, lost from his grip, went falling and falling down into the deep.

Bubbles rose up past him, sparkling like tiny pearls. Peaceful silence filtered through the waving seaweed after all the deafening noise and strife of battle, the screams, the guns’ report.

Fish of every shape and color went shimmering past him about their business. Farther below, columns of lost temples stood at the bottom of the sea; a marble Athena wore corals for a crown.

Still floating, his whole body gone limp, Gabriel dreamed that he opened his eyes and saw a light. He knew this light. He stared at it serenely, so soft and pure and white. He only knew that in its presence, everything was fine.

Where am I?
he whispered.

You know this place,
it replied.

Am I dead? But I can’t be.
He panicked, struggling.
I need to go back!

Last time, you wanted to stay,
it reminded him gently.

No, it’s all changed now. Please—let me go back. Is my debt not paid?

Gabriel.
The soundless voice drew him nearer.
There never was a debt, my son. There is only Love.

That’s why I must go back. For love’s sake. Please, she needs me.

Behind the light, a little angel shape went flitting past, light as air.

She’s not the only one,
the voice replied. He could feel it smiling.

Gabriel stared in astonishment, trying to see the bubbly little spirit.
You mean—?

Your destiny isn’t fulfilled yet. Go back, my boy. Your life is waiting. We won’t be seeing you here for a very long time…

He felt a pull on his arms but did not yet have command of his body. The falling sensation was being reversed. This time he was going up.

“Please wake up, come back to me! God, do not take him from me!” As if from a distance, he could hear Sophia screaming, sobbing “Timo—do something! Gabriel, please don’t leave me, darling. Please, I can’t do this without you!”

Sophia shook him vehemently, pumping on his chest; he came slamming back to the world of the living with a violent cough.

His throat choked for air while his lungs seized up in protest at the large amount of salt water he had swallowed.

“Turn him over! Cough it out, Colonel. That’s right, breathe!”

Timo was dripping wet like him, and now rolled him onto his side in the jollyboat. Gabriel was not sure where he was or what was going on, but his head hurt, and his lungs were on fire. He writhed as his body convulsed, ejecting the seawater from his chest. He coughed it up, his body racked with the effort.

Then he hung his head, wearily gasping for air.

Sophia sobbed.

“Am I dead?” he whispered, still a bit confused from the blow to his head.

“No, my love, you’re safe now and very much alive.” She gathered him into her arms, crying as she rocked him. He laid his head on her lap in exhaustion, then he noticed Timo looking on anxiously.

Feeling as weak as a newborn, Gabriel summoned up the strength to speak. “Did you just save my life?”

“Something like that,” Timo said. “I had help.” He nodded at Sophia.

Gabriel followed his glance and stared at her as though seeing her for the first time.

Perhaps, in truth, he was. And she was a wonder to behold. The morning light glimmered in her hair, her skin glowed, and the bright spangles of pure heaven shone in her eyes.

He realized then that it was already here, all around them, the light, a million glistening pieces, like the sun’s brilliance dancing on the water. Beautiful, inescapable. It always had been, and it always would be.

All you had to do was look.

“You silly man,” Sophia whispered in a shaky voice, tugging him back to the mortal realm. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again, do you understand?”

She was so wonderfully real, so solid and vibrant and warm. He found the strength to lift his arm, and reached up wearily to touch her face. “I love you,” he replied, still in a bit of a daze. “Thanks…for saving me.”

“Oh, Gabriel—I’m happy to return the favor,” she choked out. Then she hugged him to her with tender protectiveness, cradling his head against her bosom.

It was the best place on earth for him. He was right where he belonged—fully alive at last in her arms, his destiny still waiting to be born.

         EPILOGUE         

T
he whole Knight family had arrived in Kavros for the week-long feast that began with Sophia’s coronation and proceeded on to the royal wedding. Since winter had now descended on England, nearly three months having passed, no one was in a particular hurry to get back home.

They had waited just long enough to send word to Gabriel’s favorite cousin, Lord Jack Knight and his wife, Eden, to arrive from the West Indies, but considering Sophia’s pregnancy, it would not have been prudent to wait much longer than that.

Now they were married, the wedding bells having rung all over Kavros to celebrate their union. When the fishermen of Kavros had spread the word of Gabriel’s heroism in leading the fight against the Order of the Scorpion—and how their tenacious princess had wept in despair, thinking she had lost him—the people of Kavros had embraced the Englishman as one of their own.

He had converted to the Greek Orthodox church, as required, and accepted the title of Prince Consort to Sophia’s Queen.

This, of course, raised eyebrows all over Europe—so much for Gabriel’s distinction as the one nonscandalous member of the Knight family. Perhaps some people thought that he was an adventurer on the make, and that she had been duped by a schemer, but neither of them cared what anyone thought, for they were happy. Their future and that of Kavros was wonderfully bright.

The Order of the Scorpion had been destroyed. Their leader, Sheik Suleiman was dead, his bones pinned to the sea floor under a huge hunk of stone from the old fort that had crumbled away in the earthquake.

Though Ali Pasha had denied any involvement in the rebel Janissaries’ scheme to overthrow Kavros, his overlord, Sultan Mahmud, was deeply displeased with the Terrible Turk and would be keeping a close eye on him for the foreseeable future.

Once the tide had turned, the changes needed on Kavros took place with startling speed. The money and resources promised by generous Britons at Sophia’s Grecian Gala had arrived. Repairs were underway throughout the island chain.

With a great deal of patience and a little advice from Lord Griffith, Sophia managed to broker a truce between the warring factions who had been at each other’s throats in recent years. She also held a joint meeting with the women from the feuding families to remind them of the important role they played in the home, and encouraged them to use their power to preserve peace among all parties for the good of their husbands and sons.

One of the first things she did as queen was to knight her loyal bodyguards—Timo, Yannis, Niko, Markos, and Kosta. It was her way of thanking them for their years of staunch service. For their part, the men had new concerns now that they had come home to Kavros. With a private nod from Sophia, they lent their support to the quietly growing efforts of patriots all over occupied Greece to begin to rise up against Ottoman rule. Again, Great Britain proved its friendship to her countrymen when the notorious English poet, Lord Byron, made the freedom of the Greeks a cause celebre and spoke of personally entering the fray.

Closer to home, the various members of the Knight family, while visiting Kavros, took an active part in improving life for the local citizens. Georgiana’s wedding gift to Gabriel and Sophia was to found an English–style academy for girls. Lizzie and her husband, Lord Strathmore, wanted to help by having all the antiquities catalogued and protected for posterity as best they could. Between the earthquakes and damages inflicted by the war, many of the remnants of ancient Greece on Kavros were in jeopardy. Strathmore arranged to have a crew of classical scholars and antiquities experts brought in.

Indeed, these were exciting times for Kavros. The marriage of such a glamorous couple made it a place where all of European high society suddenly wanted to go.

Lord Alec Knight remarked in a rather offhand way, that it was a pity there was nowhere for the tourists to stay, and with a cavalier stroke of genius, he tossed out the notion that a Grand Hotel with a fine casino ought to be built so that visitors could sojourn in style; they could come for entertainment as well as to enjoy the fine climate. Hearing this, second-born Knight brother, Lord Jack, instantly seized upon the idea as an excellent investment opportunity, and began making arrangements at once to rent a stretch of beachfront land from the government. He and Robert went in on the project together—two brothers who once did not even speak to each other.

As for Gabriel’s own brother, Derek’s reaction to the outcome of all this was a sly sort of knowing amusement.

“That you should end up a prince, brother, does not surprise me at all,” he had drawled, clapping Gabriel on his now royal back. “Hang me, you gave up all your money and rank and somehow ended up with a crown and country.”

“Yes, but more important, I ended up with her,” he had replied, nodding in Sophia’s direction.

Derek had grinned at him. “Now you know.”

As for Sophia, her new role as queen did not intimidate her half as much as she had feared it would, now that she had Gabriel to steady her and counsel her when she needed it. Life was so much nicer now that she did not worry anymore about people trying to kill her. No one seemed inclined to try these days, and with her husband on hand to protect her, those worries were long gone.

She noticed that his near-drowning that day at Agnos had affected him in a rather peculiar way. Ever since he had come back from his second brush with death, he wore a mysterious, knowing, little smile that both intrigued and perplexed her. He seemed to know something she did not.

The cobalt sparkle that she had glimpsed only occasionally in his eyes before that day was now there all the time. He seemed settled and at peace now, but of course, Gabriel was a man who needed to be needed. He found such fulfillment in his new life on Kavros because it wasn’t just Sophia, but her people, who looked to him for wisdom and protection. She was not surprised at how easily he glided into his new role as her co-ruler.

A born leader, he had no trouble taking charge whenever he was needed, but he never made her feel as though he would encroach upon her authority as queen.

Each day, they went about their royal duties, but every evening without fail, they got away from it all by taking a slow, private stroll along the beach, much as they had at Perpignan, when Sophia had attempted to propose to him. This simple shared ritual gave them time to be just a man and a woman together, like they had been at the beginning, in Gabriel’s farmhouse.

That was what she needed more than anything. These simple moments, serenaded by the lulling surf with her love by her side, kept her grounded and true to herself. Gabriel was her rock, and she, well, she kept his life interesting.

Barefoot in the sand, they walked off down the beach, hand in hand in the glowing light of sunset, soaking in the enchantment of each other’s company, and laughing as they argued over what to name their child….