Lacybourne Manor (53 page)

She stared at him and then
brought her hands up to her face, pressing her fingers into her
forehead and beginning to count to ten.

He interrupted her at
three.

“Put your hands down,
Sibyl.”

She did, quickly, and just as
quickly she shot upright, making him rear back to avoid her
smashing into him. She hauled the sheet up to her chest, even
though she was still wearing her father’s robe but somehow she felt
vulnerable and needed its protection.

She wasn’t comfortable and she
wasn’t happy.

She was scared.

More scared than when she
walked to her front door and saw Mallory’s motionless body, more
scared than when the knife was at her throat, more scared than
anytime in her life.

Part anger and part desire to
have her cards on the table and find out what he felt for her drove
her to say, “Okay, Colin, you want to know, I’ll tell you.”

She turned to him and found
that he’d sat up in the bed as well and she had to tilt her head up
to look at him. Something made her pause, something that was
missing, something that made her fear she couldn’t trust him with
this, her deepest secret.

But she’d started and now, she
couldn’t stop.

“All my life,” she began, her
voice soft, “I knew in my heart, knew without a doubt, that I was
destined to be with someone. That some great force, bigger than any
human or deity, was going to guide me to that man. I told my family
and all my friends. I had boyfriends but I knew none of them was
him so I didn’t get attached, couldn’t, because I had to be free
when he found me or when I found him.”

She took in a ragged breath and
realised she was having trouble breathing. She pulled in all her
courage and forged ahead.

“
The years passed and he
never came. Then I realised he probably wouldn’t. Every day he
didn’t come, it broke my heart a little more. That’s why I moved to
England. Because I was always at peace here, at Brightrose
especially, I knew somewhere deep inside me that this was my place.
And if I couldn’t have him at least I’d be
home
.”

She realised she was relating
all of this to Colin’s bare chest and she glanced at him and saw he
was utterly still and, even at her glance, he remained completely
silent.

His eyes, however, were very
alive, so active she felt they were reaching out absorbing her.

She tried to ignore it, shifted
her gaze to the bed and continued.

“A part of me still believed
but I was beginning to lose faith.”

She stopped.

This was the hard part. Her
breath was coming rapidly and she pulled one in deeply and let it
out through her nose.

“Go on,” Colin urged, his voice
back to velvet and her eyes flew to his to find them warm and
searching.

“Then I dreamed of you.”

His eyes darkened and his hand
instantly lifted to cup her jaw tenderly.

“Sibyl,” he murmured.

She shook her head but didn’t
dislodge his hand as it slid into her hair, lifting some of its
massive weight away from her shoulder.

“
I was sure, after that
dream, that you were the man I’d been looking for all my life, even
though I’d never met you. But it was terrifying because, Colin,
in
my
dream,
your
throat is slit.”

His hand gently fisted in her
hair, he leaned into her and rested his forehead against hers. “You
never told me that.”

“
It’s true,” she
whispered. “I called Mags the minute I dreamed it.
She
thought it meant I desperately needed a lover.”

She watched his lips turn
up.

“Then I met you, Colin, and you
were so angry with me, you hated me and I didn’t know why, all I
wanted to do was see your house.”

His lips turned down, his hand
moved from her hair to glide down her back and pull her to him but
she resisted, leaning slightly away, she tilted her head further
back to look at him.

“
The next time I saw you,
you were lovely, you were…
wonderful
.”

The smile came back but froze
at her next words. “Then you offered me fifty thousand pounds to
sleep with you and I lost all faith that I’d ever find that
man.”

“God, Sibyl,” he groaned, his
voice full of regret and she felt tears begin to prick the backs of
her eyes.

“
And all that time and
after, I dreamed of Royce.
He
was Beatrice’s true love, her
soulmate, he looked at her as if the world shined through her. I
wanted that for me and, in the dreams, I had it. And in the Summer
House that afternoon, I saw it in his eyes as he looked at
me.”

This time, his whole body
froze, as did the hand at the small of her back. Then, she felt it
clench into a fist.

Still, she kept speaking.
“It was our private moment, his and mine, the only one we’d ever
have and, even though he wasn’t kissing
me
but the memory of
Beatrice, it was still the most beautiful thing I’d ever
experienced and I was happy to have that fleeting moment than
nothing at all. And
that’s
why I didn’t share it with
you, because it was mine… his and mine.”

He stared at her, his face and
frame barely controlling some emotion she couldn’t fathom and then
he looked away as if he couldn’t bear the sight of her anymore. His
arm moved away from her and she felt his awful retreat and the
first hint of panic.

And she realised that now was
the time, perhaps the only time, and no matter what his response,
she had to take it. Anything but have him pull away.

Her voice so low, so quiet, it
was hardly even a whisper, she said, “Then I fell in love with
you.”

His head snapped back around
and she took a fragmented breath and looked him in the eye.

“
If you can believe, it
was that damned minibus,” she said on a shaky grin. “I watched you
dealing with the driver and your… you… it was just magnificent.
Maybe it was before then, I know it
started
before then but it was
then when I knew. And everything since clicked into place, piece by
piece. I realised after every moment I spent with you,
you
were
the one I’ve been waiting for my whole life, not some long-dead
warrior.”

When she told him he was the
one she’d been waiting for, the rest of her words were said through
his swift, gentle, violent snatching of her into his arms. A
movement that nearly stole her breath and, as she finished
speaking, he shoved her roughly back on the bed.

And then, Colin made love to
her and it was like nothing they’d ever shared. It was full of
fierceness and pounding intensity as if he wanted to use his hands,
mouth and body to brand her as his, as if, since he couldn’t make a
physical mark on her body, then he’d make one on her soul.

And he did.

Proving her right, moments
before they both climaxed, he growled, “You’re mine.”

She nodded, lost in her
love for him and the desire throbbing through her body.

“You belong to me.” His body
pounded deeper inside her than he’d ever been and tears of love
sprang to her eyes.

She nodded

“Yes,” she breathed then she
said it again as the pleasure he was giving her washed over her,
crying it into his ear as she heard him topple over the edge with
her. “Yes, Colin, I’m yours.”

Then after they both came down
and she felt Colin’s breath against her neck, the weight and warmth
of his body on hers, him still planted deep inside her, knew she
loved all of that too.

* * * * *

Later, when he’d pulled her to
his side, his arm came around her like a steel band, she realised
he didn’t tell her he loved her in return. He made love to her with
a ferocity they’d never experienced but he hadn’t said the
words.

She wanted to slide away, to
find some privacy on the other side of the bed because she felt
certain his not saying it meant he didn’t feel it. As she was
preparing to do so, Bran delicately walked up the length of them,
zig zagging across their bodies, his little kitty feet remarkably
weighty. The cat jumped to the small of her back and curled there,
his warm, furry body keeping her imprisoned in Colin’s arm.

And that was when the depth of
Sibyl’s emotions and her lovemaking with Colin finally stole over
her and she relaxed against him, letting sleep take her. She didn’t
notice before she fell into slumber, Colin’s iron arm had not
loosened.

* * * * *

Colin lay awake and stared at
the dark ceiling, listening to Sibyl’s soft breathing.

Having all of Sibyl now laid
bare to him and the additional gift of her love drove all ideas of
peace and rest out of his mind.

Her love was by far the finest
possession he owned.

And someone was trying to kill
her.

He felt an insidious, hated
sense of fear steal over him and realised that, above all else, he
had to focus all of his considerable energy on making certain that
didn’t happen.

Or die trying.

Magic Dust

Colin glanced out the rear-view
mirror and saw the familiar car following them.

The car had slid out behind
them when they left Lacybourne that morning, stayed with them after
their brief visit for Scarlett to check Mrs. Byrne and continued
behind them all the way to Heathrow.

And now, coming back to
Clevedon, it was still there.

Colin could see the black hair
and alabaster face behind the wheel.

Tamara Adams.

No, a clearly not very
clever, in fact, enormously
stupid
Tamara Adams.

Colin was relatively
certain it was also the car that nearly ran the
m down outside the restaurant.

He ground his teeth.

Sibyl had been desolate upon
seeing her father and sister moving through the security area at
Heathrow but Mags had swiftly cheered her spirits with chatter on
the way home and for this alone, Colin was grateful for Mags’s
company. Even though Sibyl and her mother had an odd relationship
that was based half on exasperation, half on adoration, Mags knew
exactly how to manipulate her daughter’s feelings, giving her a
needed uplift.

Slowly, the BMW’s smooth ride
and her interrupted sleep last night came over her and Sibyl fell
asleep with her head against the window.

This, Mags (as any good mother
would) noticed immediately and all chatter stopped. For fifteen
minutes, Mags was surprisingly silent.

Then she asked quietly, “Who’s
that following us? Do you know her?”

Startled, Colin’s eyes shot to
the rear-view mirror to take in her knowing face. Mags was
free-spirited and flighty but, Colin realised, she was also no
fool.

“Yes,” he answered
brusquely.

“Spurned lover?” Mags guessed
correctly.

Colin nodded then found himself
saying, “The one I was with when I met Sibyl.”

She immediately returned,
“The one who was
there
when you met Billie?”

He nodded again marking, for
future reference, how much Sibyl told her mother.

“Oh dear,” Mags sighed. “Well,”
she brightened, “at least we know who and why. Now you just need to
stop her.” She paused and glanced out of the window and said
distractedly but with such certainty Colin was momentarily stunned,
“I have every faith.”

Colin watched as she settled
back into her seat contentedly.

Half an hour later, he pulled
into Lacybourne only to see his mother’s blue Audi.

“What in bloody hell?” he
muttered under his breath.

The change in speed coming off
the motorway and manoeuvring of roundabouts had caused Sibyl to
awaken but all the while, she kept a still sleepy silence.

Now she spoke.

“Who’s that?” she asked, her
voice husky with sleep.

“My mother,” Colin answered
impatiently.

“What’s she doing here?” The
sweet sound of sleep was quickly leaving her voice and suspicion
was edging in.

“I, um, might have called her,”
Mags said hesitantly from the back.

Colin again swore under his
breath.

Sibyl’s head snapped around to
scowl at her mother.

“
Why on the
g
oddess’s green earth would you do a fool
thing like that?” she cried, her sleepy voice a distant
memory.

Colin parked in the garage as
mother and daughter squared off.

“Colin was shot with a
tranquilliser dart!” Mags defended herself. “She’s his mother. I
thought she had the right to know!”

“Don’t you think Colin should
be the judge of that?” Sibyl returned angrily and if she hadn’t
been so adorably peeved on his behalf, he might have kissed her for
defending him.

Before Sibyl’s temper could
explode in a car that was much too small for the force of it, Colin
broke in, “It’s done. There’s no sense arguing about it now.”

Colin felt a bit more of
Bertie’s lifetime of pain when both pairs of angry eyes moved to
him and both women’s mouths opened to blast him with their wrath
when he smoothly continued, “If anyone has the right to be upset
it’s me and I’m not so that’s the end of it.”

Both mouths snapped shut and
Mags’s face instantly settled happily while Sibyl’s suffused with
mutiny.

“We’ll talk about this later,”
she warned her mother as she alighted from the car.

“Okay,” Mags agreed, unaffected
by the threat and walked to the house.

Colin surreptitiously glanced
down the lane, didn’t see any sign of Tamara or her car and he put
his hand in the back pocket of his jeans to grab his mobile.