Masque (25 page)

“Synn!” Rena ran up to the altar and threw her arms around
him. She felt good. So alive. So wet. He held her tight before tilting her head
and kissing her.

“Ahem.” Father Richard cleared his throat. “I am still
here.”

Synn reluctantly released Rena’s lips, but he held her tight
to him. The thought of how close Eric came to taking her still chilled his
bones.

She examined Father Richard. “What happened? One second Eric
was on the altar and the next, he disappeared. Did he dematerialize?” She
glanced around the church.

Father Richard shook his head. “No, he was forced to cross
over. You won’t see any more of him now, or many others either. It will be
pretty quiet for you two now.”

“What about Synn?” Rena’s question caught Synn by surprise.
He knew she wanted his curse lifted, but his gut told him the only reprieve he
might receive was from his own guilt. Still, her concern for him made his chest
tighten.

Father Richard dusted off his sleeves. “Synn’s fate is not
the same as the spirits who are free, thanks to you two. I fear I would not
have been able to persuade Eric to cross if Synn had not thought to shock him
with that light. Well done.”

Synn nodded acceptance of the praise. “We were fortunate
Rena decided to have electricity put into the chapel. I did not see the need as
candles always made this space glow. Luckily, Eric was unaware of electricity.
I think it was the surprise that stopped him.”

Father Richard raised one brow. “Yes, it would seem the pair
of you make a good team. But if you will excuse me, there are a lot of souls
crossing over and I should be there to help them with the adjustment. And since
you two have no further need of me?”

Synn loosened his hold on Rena and stretched out his hand.
“Thank you, Father, for all your help.”

Father Richard grinned as he shook hands. “Oh, believe me,
it was my pleasure.”

By time the good father had finished speaking, he
disappeared.

“He doesn’t stay long, does he?” Rena stared at the empty
space.

Synn pulled her back into his arms. “No he doesn’t, but he
is there when we really need him and that’s all that counts.” A whiff of
incense had Synn wondering if he would regret having said that, but right now
he didn’t care. He needed to get Rena dry and into bed because it was almost
dawn and as a living human being, she needed her rest. Scooping her up in his
arms, he strode down the aisle and out the chapel door, her arms securely
around his neck.

* * * * *

Content to be on Synn’s lap, Rena enjoyed the beat of his
heart against her cheek. She’d purr if she knew how, all dry and warm in her
peach robe with his hand stroking her arm. She would love to stay like they
were all night. The storm had passed and there was only a soft drizzle outside.

Now that the Masque was complete, she wanted Synn to
herself. Maybe now they could have a chance. He could put her first? They had
sex in many ways over the last two months, but never alone, never unplanned,
and never without an alternative purpose or mask. She wanted to show him how
she felt.

“Rena?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“You need to go to bed.”

“Okay.” She didn’t move. Weren’t they already in bed? All he
would have to do is lie back and they could fall asleep together, but instead
he stood and set her feet to the floor.

She sighed and watched him pull the covers back to allow her
to crawl in.

“Synn.”

He faced her, casually putting his arms around her waist.
“Yes.”

“I want you to stay with me tonight.”

His body tensed and her senses went into high alert. Now
what? What possible excuse could he give tonight? What additional piece of
information had he not told her that would prevent him from sleeping with her?
She could feel her adrenaline building.

He met her gaze. “I shouldn’t.”

“Why?”

“I owe it to—”

Rena stalked up to him and slapped her hand over his mouth.
“Don’t you dare. Don’t you dare say you owe anyone anything. You have atoned
for your one mistake, if you can even call it that, though how you would have
known you carried the Red Death is beyond me. And you have paid for that for
over one hundred and fifty years. That’s long enough, Synn. It’s time to move
on.”

His eyes crinkled and his mouth moved beneath her hand. When
his tongue licked between her middle and ring finger, she pulled away at the
erotic sensation, but not before he caught her wrist and brought her closer.
“You are right.”

She relaxed. “I want you to stay with me tonight, in my bed.
We can just sleep if you want.”

He pulled her tight against him, his hard cock pushing into
her abdomen. “I’m not tired.”

She smirked. “So you want to watch me sleep?”

He grinned. “Maybe.”

“Oh, you better not do that. If you—”

His mouth on hers cut off all thought. She wrapped her arms
around his neck and thrust her tongue to meet his, more than ready to explore
every inch of him all over again. When her knees were weak and her breaths
short, he broke away and untied the knot on her belt. “I want to see you
again.”

She allowed him to slip the robe off her shoulders to fall
in a clump on the floor at her feet. His gaze heated her skin though he didn’t
touch her.

“You too. I want to see all of you too.”

He wiggled his brows as he divested himself of the black
pantaloons.

Now they stood naked, but a foot away from each other. He
was every woman’s dream—hard muscle, kind, honorable, and very naughty. How did
she get so lucky?

He touched her face. “You are beautiful. When I first saw
you, I thought Aphrodite had returned to Earth.”

“Really. Wasn’t she depicted as plump?”

He shook his head. “The paintings I remember showed her
curves. They made her to be explored, touched, made love to.”

Her body heated in so many places at his words that she
wondered if she would melt before she got him to bed. Not a chance. She took
his hand and pulled, but he didn’t move. She looked at him. His gaze was
intense.

“What?”

“I’ve never made love to a woman before.”

She rolled her eyes. “Really? You could have fooled me. I’ve
never had anyone so experienced before and you are telling me you have never
made love?”

He grinned and finally gave into her tugging. “I’m your most
experienced lover?”

She shook her head as she pushed him onto the bed. Men and
their egos. “Yes, you are. And you have brought me more pleasure than all my
former lovers combined.” He didn’t need to know how few there really were.

Synn lay back and tugged on her hand to join him, but she
wanted to show him how special he was to her. Crawling onto the bed, she knelt
between his legs.

“Rena, what are you about?”

She grinned and licked her lips. “I want to taste you.”

He growled something unintelligible that ended with “woman”,
but she ignored him. Instead, she began a thorough examination of his strong
cock…with her tongue. She explored his smooth texture down to his balls, taking
each one into her mouth in turn. She found the movement of his thighs
fascinating, so much so that she licked the grooves of the taut muscles as they
moved with her ministrations. Licking her way back over his sac, she ran her
tongue up the length of his cock before sucking the head into her mouth.

Synn’s hands buried themselves in her hair.

She smiled inside at the pleasure she could bring him and
slowly glided her mouth around him, stroking him. She palmed his balls in her
hand, waiting for them to tighten. When he was primed, she lifted her head and
licked the top of his head around the ridge, and lapped up the pre-cum from the
tip.

Synn’s voice rasped at her. “Vixen.”

Oh yes, that and more. Reverently, she glided her body up
his, rubbing her breast along his cock until her lips could reach his nipple.
With gentle strokes, she teased him with her tongue before nibbling.

His growl surprised her as he pressed her to him and rolled
her over onto her back.

He gazed at her with such intensity, her heart beat a
determined tattoo in her chest. He laced his hand with hers. “You mean more to
me than anyone else in my life. If you had said the words to stop me in the
Bondage Room, I would have, even if it meant the Masque would be incomplete. I
want you to be happy, always.”

Her heart burst with love at his words. She smiled as she
moved her fingers through the hair at the base of his neck. “Always sounds
wonderful. Can we start now?”

He brought his lips within a hairsbreadth of hers. “I’m
going to make love to you, Rena. This is all about you.”

She sighed even as she touched his cheek. “No, it’s all
about us.”

Synn’s mouth proceeded to worship every inch of her body.
From the crease of her elbow to the side of her ankle, he investigated all her
hills and valleys with his hands and lips. She had never been so loved, so
cherished.

As he finished with her toes, he rose and gently laid
himself over her. “Your softness is my undoing.”

She held him tight against her, reveling in the weight of
his body pressed against hers, his cock hard between them. His kiss upon her
lips was gentle, sweet. She enjoyed the new closeness they had and kissed him
back with the love in her heart, but even as she gently stroked his back, their
need for each other grew.

Her pussy tightened with the knowledge that it would soon be
entered and her hips moved against him. Synn didn’t disappoint. As if
understanding her need to be closer, he positioned his cock at her entrance and
pushed, slowly. He entered her while their tongues mated and her hands grasped
him to her. As his cock reached its hilt, he broke their kiss.

She whimpered in disappointment, but his head dipped to her
breast and suckled. The heady feeling of being loved caused small waves of slow
pleasure to wash over her, building subtly. Synn moved inside her deliberately.
As her pleasure built, she wrapped her legs around his, moving her hips in
unison with him.

He moaned as he left her breast and caught her lips once
again in a kiss. His hand moved behind her head to hold her lips to his even as
his cock pushed deep, spreading her, filling her. She held on to his back,
keeping him as close to her as possible, needing him against her, inside her.
She didn’t want it to end, but Synn’s growl against her mouth set off her
orgasm. Her body released her pleasure as his cum flowed inside her, and she
pulled her mouth from his to take in much-needed air.

His cock buried deep within her held her in place, their
fluids mingling together.

As her body relaxed, Synn lifted to allow her deeper
breaths. She gazed into his eyes. She should tell him how she felt, right now,
but he looked away.

He pulled out of her and lay down next to her. “My beautiful
Rena. You are the only one to ever exhaust me.” He cuddled her closer and she
laid her head on his shoulder, content to hear she affected him as much as he
had her. Draping her arm over his chest, she lifted one leg to tangle with his.

This is what she wanted. To fall asleep, safe in his arms,
protected. Loved?

When her breathing returned to normal, she glanced up.
“Synn?”

He didn’t answer. She placed her head back on his chest. His
heartbeat was strong, more proof that the man she loved was not a ghost, just a
very old man. She grinned, relaxed, and let sleep take over her exhausted body.

* * * * *

Synn woke unsure of his surroundings, but Rena’s body
snuggled into him brought back the memory of their lovemaking. He hadn’t slept
since the day he was shot. He had tried, but it never worked. He glanced at the
window. The barest of gray shaded the night sky. He hadn’t slept long, but he
had slept. It had to be because of Rena.

Their connection had grown strong and would be hard to
break. He didn’t want her to love him. She already cared too much. He saw it in
her eyes, felt it in her touch tonight. Breaking his own heart was enough. He
didn’t want to break hers.

The sound of droplets of cold rain hitting the window warned
him it would be wet on the roof, but he still carefully slid from the bed and
covered Rena to her chin with the warm blanket. To stay with her was a drug
more potent than opium, and he was weak.

Turning his back on her, he dematerialized into his own room
and dressed. He needed to think, and the rooftop called to him.

The light rain hit his body in a gentle caress as he stepped
onto the parapet. From his vantage point, he could tell it would be a long day
of gray wetness, but he welcomed it. Such a day reflected his somber emotions.
He had to find a way to make Rena leave the Abbey.

Pacing across the wall-walk, he discarded one idea after
another. He should tell her he didn’t want her anymore now that the Masque was
complete, but he couldn’t. He’d never been a good liar, and she wouldn’t
believe him, especially with his cock straining his pantaloons as it did
whenever in her presence. There had to be some way to convince her to go.

He stopped at the corner where he had engraved his initials,
letters the prince had never seen. He looked beyond them, down at the chapel.
His insistence on the chapel being built may very well have saved Rena’s life,
for if not for Father Richard, Eric may have had his way and then where would
they be? He closed his eyes for a moment, thankful Rena had never known Eric’s
touch or what he’d planned for her.

He strode once more down the parapet and slowed at the
courtyard with the pond. Matt had done excellent work, clearing the brush and
getting the water back into the area. Synn wanted so much to take Rena swimming
there, to make love there, but he couldn’t. That would be just one of many
small frustrations they would have to contend with if she stayed, and he didn’t
want her to grow to hate him. No, it was better that she go home.

How to make her leave? He rubbed the back of his neck in
frustration. The sky brightened to a dull gray, the western half still in the
dark-blue of night, like himself. His curse shadowed Rena and her natural
brightness, and yet his heart still yearned for her. “Bloody hell, what the
devil am I supposed to do?”

He swiveled back the way he came, his strides making short
work of the length of the wall-walk. Maybe he could talk Valerie into helping
him. She might even know what would send Rena back to her home in the United
States.

“Synn?”

Her soft whisper startled him and he froze when he saw her.
Dressed in what looked like a gray canvas sack, she stood just inside the
doorway. The woman embodied the best and worst part of his existence. “Yes?”

She wrapped the coat tighter around her and stepped onto the
parapet. “What are you doing up here?”

He tried to grin, but knew it failed when her brows
descended in worry. She started to make her way toward him.

“No, stay there. I can walk this in my sleep. I don’t want
you to fall on the wet stones.” A shiver raced through him at the memory of the
time she did fall and he increased his pace to get to her before she moved any
farther.

He was but three strides away when the stones beneath his
feet gave way and he fell over the side. He heard Rena’s scream as he grasped
for purchase on anything. His hands clutched solid wall, what was left of the
embrasure. His heart beat so fast he had to concentrate on breathing.

“Synn!”

He looked up. Bloody hell! Rena stood inches away from his
hands and from the break. “Get back!”

“But Synn, you need help.”

His fear for her wasn’t helping him catch much-needed air.
“No. Get back.”

She backed away a few feet. He could tell she wanted to rush
to his aid, but he’d rather die than have her fall to her death. His heart
twisted at the thought, the pain so strong that he had to focus on breathing
again.

“Synn, let me help you. You can take my hand.”

“No! Stay back.” Just what he needed, for his weight to pull
her down. A numbness in his feet took his mind from Rena for a moment and he
looked down. Blast it all, he was disappearing, just as he did when he stepped
outside the Abbey. It would only be a few more minutes and he would be gone.
What a stupid end to his curse. If he was going to try to get back up, sooner
would be much better than… Well, there would be no later.

Something hit his hand and he looked up again. Rena’s canvas
coat lay next to where he grasped the stone wall.

“Synn grab it!” she yelled from somewhere on the other side
of the wall.

He looked around, but couldn’t see her. No wait, he could
see her foot. She sat on the wall-walk with her feet up against the parapet,
her coat slung toward him. She had anchored herself and put the stone between
herself and the drop…if it held.

His knees going numb left him little choice. He grasped the
coat with one hand. It pulled but held. With a quick prayer, he let go of the
castle wall and grabbed the coat with his other hand. It slid downward, but
held. Hand over hand he pulled himself over the side until he was able to roll
onto the roof.

Rena crawled to him. “Oh my God, Synn, your legs are
missing!”

He chuckled. What woman said that to her lover of just hours
ago? This relationship was strange, but he didn’t care. Her quick thinking had
saved him.

“Why are you laughing? This isn’t funny.”

The sheer panic in her voice sobered him quickly. He caught
her hand and held on to her warmth, despite the continued drizzle. “Don’t
worry. They will come back. Just wait a moment.”

She held so tightly to his hand as she stared at his legs
that he feared he’d lose all feeling in that limb too. Tingling began in his
calves, which meant in a few minutes he would be whole again. He relaxed. When
Rena’s grip loosened, he pulled himself farther from the break in the wall. She
crawled with him, tears filling her round eyes, washing from her cheeks with
the rain.

His heart clenched. “Don’t cry. I’m fine. Thank you.”

She shook her head then buried it against his shoulder. He
smiled despite himself. To have someone care so much for him truly awed him. It
felt damn good. When whole again, he lifted her away and stood, well back from
the breach.

He took her face in his hands. “No more tears, Rena. Not for
me.”

She swallowed hard, her breathing still labored. “You don’t
understand. I love you. I can’t lose you.”

Synn’s heart burst with joy as warmth flooded his body. “My
wonderful woman.” The heat faded and a searing pain hit him in the shoulder. He
gasped and grabbed his chest.

“Synn! Oh my God! Synn, you’re bleeding.”

He heard her voice and the sheer panic in it, but it was as
if from a distance. “Rena?” He felt himself sink once more to the roof before
everything went black.

“Synn! Synn!” Rena hastily moved Synn’s limp hand from his
chest and pushed aside his shirt. The place on his chest where he had been shot
so long ago bled profusely. Ripping his shirt, she balled it up and put it on
the hole. Then she ran to the roof doorway.

“Valerie! Valerie!” Shit! There was no way Valerie would
hear her two stories down and in the other wing. She looked back at Synn. His
face was pale. Oh God, she couldn’t lose him now. He needed help, but she
couldn’t leave him. The sound of a car pulling into the front drive had her
peeking over the battlements. Matt. Oh, thank God he worked so early in the
morning.

She gripped the battlement and leaned over. “Matt! Matt, up
here!”

He looked up and waved.

Shit. “Matt! Call 9-1-1. Synn’s been hurt!”

He nodded and took out his cell phone. Assured he’d make the
call, she stepped back, but her fingers wouldn’t leave the stone. Taking a deep
breath, she convinced her fingers to relax and pulled them away. She stared at
her hands as if they weren’t hers, but as the blood returned to them, she ran
back to Synn. Somehow, she had to get him downstairs. Did doctors make house
calls? If Synn couldn’t leave the abbey walls, maybe the paramedics could help
him.

What the hell was happening? She put pressure on the wad of
shirt, not liking how red it was. If he lost too much blood, he could die.
Wait, how could he lose blood? When Eric threw him into the pews and his arms
were gashed by the wood, he hadn’t bled. But the metallic smell of iron
confirmed it was blood, even as the rain droplets washed it away. She had to
get him off the roof. Her robe was already soaked through and she shivered as
much from cold as from fear. More blood coated her fingers as she held the
material against Synn’s chest. Why couldn’t she hear an ambulance coming? Where
were they?

“Rena!”

She started at the sound of Valerie’s voice, so caught up in
her misery that she hadn’t heard the roof door open.

“Over here!” Relief washed through her as Valerie, Jamie and
Matt all carefully made their way over, giving the hole in the parapet a wide
berth. After giving them a brief explanation of what had happened, they were
able to use Jamie’s overdeveloped upper body and Matt’s strength to get Synn
down to the entryway where they laid him on a fainting couch Valerie moved from
the Blue Room. Rena knelt down to press on the wound. The material she had used
was soaked through. “Where is the ambulance?”

Valerie opened the front door, the hinges squeaking loudly.
“The ambulance is here.”

“I didn’t hear the siren.” She looked up as two EMTs strode
in.

Valerie made her stand away as the men went to work on Synn.
Their efficiency calmed her, but when they decided he needed to get to the
hospital right away if they were going to save him, she balked. “Can’t you help
him here?” She must sound like a lunatic.

“No ma’am. He needs a doctor and medical equipment we don’t
have.”

She worried the material of her wet robe. What could she
say? If he started to freaking disappear, she’d say a lot. She walked next to
him, holding on to his leg as they wheeled him out. It remained solid all the
way to the ambulance. When they loaded him in, she hopped in beside him. Still,
he didn’t disappear.

On the road to the hospital, she kept touching him. The men
in the ambulance looked at her strangely, but she didn’t care.

Once inside, they wheeled him away from her and into
surgery. Valerie and Jamie arrived a few minutes later. “Here.” Valerie held
out a plastic shopping bag.

“What is it?”

“It’s dry clothes. Why don’t you go change?”

Her strict vigilance over Synn remaining whole, the doctor’s
concerned face when they wheeled him in, and her soaking-wet robe combined to
stretch her to her limits. Valerie’s thoughtful gesture broke her. Tears
coursed down her face.