Moonlight Lover (36 page)

Only a few steps separated her from his room now. It was just the other side of the corner. And then the very breath backed up within her throat as she saw Vanessa, clutching her nightshirt to her nude body, stumble into the hall.

Stumble out of Sin-Jin's room.

Rachel retreated into the shadows, her limbs turning to water.

"Now get back to your room before anyone sees you." Sin-Jin's voice followed the woman's appearance, slashing through Rachel's heart like a rapier.

Angry tears rose to Rachel's eyes as she whirled on her
bare heel. She was only grateful that he hadn't come out and seen her.

So that was the way of it, was it? Still unable to resist the witch's charms, was that it? Snuck her into his room, had he? Having a lusty time of it while she lay a few feet
away, miserable and aching for the depraved likes of him?

The bastard! The bloody, bloody bastard!

How could he? The whore was his brother's wife. And Sin-Jin was hers, Rachel thought accusingly, tears
spilling forth like water from a hole in the dike. There was
no ring on her hand and there might never be, but he was hers, damn it. And she his.

Or was.

Fresh, hot tears stung her eyes as she raced to her room and bolted the door behind her. She pressed her
hand to her mouth to keep a sob from escaping. He wasn't
worth it. The rutting scoundrel wasn't worth it.

Steadying her breath, Rachel looked wildly about the
room. She had to get away. Now. She'd seen a carriage in
the stable. She would take that. Small payment for what
he had done to her with his betrayal. Let him find his own
way back if he wanted to.

If he wanted to.

The words echoed mournfully in her head. Perhaps he didn't want to, now that he had Vanessa and with Alfred on the edge of death. He'd have everything. British landlords, they were all alike under the skin. She cursed them all roundly.

Rachel pressed the heel of her hand to her eyes and wiped away her tears. Damn, she didn't care. She didn't. The tears refused to stop.

Sin-Jin, seething over Vanessa's disgusting display, found less peace in his room now than he had earlier. With an annoyed oath, he tossed off the covers, letting them fall in a careless heap to the floor. If Rachel wasn't
going to be in his bed, then he was damn well going to be
in hers. It was probably a great deal safer there than anywhere else in this accursed house.

Taking up his candle, Sin-Jin made his way to Rachel's door. When he tried the door, he found it locked. It was a
precautionary measure that surprised him. Rachel didn't believe in locked doors.

He knocked, first softly, then louder when there was no answer. Odd, he'd never known her to be a heavy sleeper.

Sin-Jin leaned his head against the door. "Rachel," he called in a loud whisper, "it's me, Sin-Jin. Open up the door."

Her dress was laid out on the bed. Rachel had just begun to undo the rest of the buttons on her nightshirt. At the sound of his voice, her head snapped up. The nerve of that bloody bastard. Not satisfied with one woman tonight, he wanted two.

She scowled at the door. "Oh is it seconds you're wanting?"

"Seconds?" He hadn't made love to her for over a day
and his body ached from the sheer wanting of it. Had she
been dreaming about him? Was that what she meant? "What are you talking about?"

Rachel leaned heavily against the door, laying her hand on the bolt. She tried it. It was secure. "What's the
matter? Vanessa not as good as you were remembering?"

She'd seen Vanessa coming out of his room, he thought suddenly. Somehow, Rachel had seen, though he would have sworn that she was nowhere around. Damn the luck. He tried the door again. It didn't budge. "Rachel, there's a mistake."

The man had a gift for understatement. "Aye, and you're the one who's making it. Get away with you."

He curbed the instinct to pound on the door. "No, Rachel you don't understand."

No, she wasn't about to let Sin-Jin in and sweet talk his
way into her bed. He'd had entirely too much of that for one night. And forever, as far as she was concerned.

"I'm understanding it all too well." Rachel turned and pressed herself against the door so her voice would only carry a little beyond the barrier. "I'm understanding that you've come here to cuckold your brother and me in the bargain."

No other woman could frustrate him the way she could
in such a short time. "Damn it, you're a woman, Rachel. You can't be cuckolded."

"No." Her voice lowered even further as she tried to keep the pain out of it. "But I could be hurt—if I'd be letting myself. But it's grateful I am that I don't think that the likes of you is worth crying over."

He knew that tone and knew her well enough by now to
know that reasoning through a door wasn't going to get him anywhere. She wasn't going to let him in.

Sin-Jin leaned against the wall for a moment and thought. The only other access to her room was from the
outside. She had a balcony at her window. He could drop
down to it from the room above hers if he was careful. The alternative was to wait until morning to have this out with her.

Sin-Jin didn't feel like waiting.

With no further attempt at a reasonable exchange with a woman he believed to be more stubborn than Job was patient, Sin-Jin ran down the corridor to the stairway. He took the stairs two at a time.

There was nothing but silence behind the door. Rachel waited for Sin-Jin to say something further in his defense, something that she could at least try to believe. When he didn't, she felt the knife of jealousy twist further into her heart.

She turned and faced the door, her hands fisted at her waist, her eyes flashing. She was a hopeless fool to have ever believed he cared for her. He wasn't even trying to make her believe that she hadn't seen what she knew she had.

Damn him, she thought. "Damn your hide to hell, Sin-Jin Lawrence," she cried out loud, heatedly addressing the door.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but it's not bound there just yet!"

Rachel whirled around at the sound of Sin-Jin's voice. It was coming from her window. Just as she turned, the curtains were pushed apart. Sin-Jin literally flew in, dropping to the floor almost at her feet.

Rachel suppressed a gasp as she stared at him. "And how by all that's holy did you get in here?"

He had lowered himself onto her balcony by using a rope that was three feet shorter than he had hoped. Three feet short of its mark. The drop had jarred his bones and rattled his teeth. With effort, he sustained the swaggering role as best he could.

Sin-Jin rose from the floor, dusting himself off. "You
forget, I grew up playing here. I know every nook, every
secret—"

Like Vanessa's. Rachel turned her back on him. "Well, you can show them all to Vanessa. I've no curiosity about
them."

He caught Rachel by the wrist before she had a chance
to get any further away from him. He was in no mood to pursue her down the dark halls, playing a perverse game of blind man's bluff.

"I'd much rather show them to you." Pulling her closer, he backed her against the wall and blocked her escape with his body. He laid his hand on her shoulders and she managed to jerk aside, though not very far.

"Let go of me, you Bluebeard—" Rachel raised her knee, but he managed to prevent a very painful fleeting contact between them.

Sin-Jin clenched his teeth. "Bluebeard married and killed them," he pointed out. "I never married Vanessa, though after tonight, I am tempted to kill her."

Still angry, not knowing whether to believe her eyes or
her heart, Rachel tried to wrench herself free again. Sin-Jin only held her tighter.

Exasperated, he grasped her face in his hand and forcing her to look at him.

"Do you think so little of me as to actually believe
what you are accusing me of?" he demanded. He saw the
hesitation, the wavering enter her eyes. He had her. His voice softened. "Do you think so little of yourself to
believe that I would have a tumble with her, jeopardizing
what it is we have together?"

Rachel stopped struggling. Almost against her will, she
looked into his eyes. Eyes that teased, but never lied to her.

"I saw her stumbling from your room. Stumbling because you made love to her so much, she couldn't be
walking right any more. And she was as naked as the day
her mother had the misfortune of giving birth to her." But the anger, the indignant conviction was gone from her voice.

He threaded his fingers through her hair. Like silk, he thought, beautiful red silk. "You saw her there because I threw her out of my room. She came to me in the dark. I thought it was you."

Rachel's heart stopped as she looked up at him, her eyes wide. "And you—?"

He shook his head slowly as he brushed a kiss across her lips. He knew exactly what she was thinking. "No, I didn't."

With a deep sigh, he brought her to him, cupping her neck as he kissed her again, his lips lingering on hers, feeding like a humming bird draining nectar from a daffodil. "The moment I touched her, smelled her, I knew it wasn't you."

He inhaled deeply now as he buried his face in her hair.
Every part of him throbbed, every part ached for her. If he couldn't have her tonight, he'd surely explode.

He smiled into her eyes. "You smell of wild flowers. She smelled of heat and desperation."

Rachel almost felt sorry for the other woman. Almost. Having loved him, she knew how intoxicating that was, how tempting. How addicting. Even when she had
slammed the door on him, a part of Rachel had wanted to
open it again despite everything she had thought was true.

Rachel feathered her fingers along his face. A strong
face. An honorable face. The face she would someday see
stamped on her children, God willing.

"I—I shouldn't be believing you." Her voice faltered, though she had already made up her mind. It wouldn't do to let him win too easily.

Still, the man had come sailing through the air to land at her feet. That did count for something.

Sin-Jin grazed her throat lightly with his lips and felt her heartbeat rush up to meet him.

"Since when don't you believe the truth?" he murmured against her throat. He picked her up and carried her to her bed.

There was no more need for words that night. They had far more important ways to occupy themselves.

Chapter Thirty-seven

Rachel and Sin-Jin were ready to depart early the next
morning. There was nothing to pack and only themselves
to prepare. It had only been an hour since the purple rays of the dawn had melded into the blue of the sky and then faded. A bright new sun was warming the land. Sin-Jin had made arrangements regarding his brother's care, speaking to both Burns and the cook, as well as several others of the household staff.

Now the carriage was in the courtyard, awaiting their pleasure. All that remained, Sin-Jin thought was to take their leave.

As Rachel waited in the hall beside the bedroom door, Sin-Jin slipped quietly into his brother's room. He had made up his mind not to wake him if Alfred was asleep.

But Alfred was awake and waiting for him, as if he
knew that Sin-Jin was going to take his final leave of him
so soon.

Sin-Jin took Alfred's hand in his. "How are you feeling?"

Alfred had to draw breath twice before attempting an
answer. "Not up for swordplay yet, but by and by, who
knows?"

Sin-Jin laughed softly. There was still a miracle or two
left in the world. After all, he had found Rachel. "Aye, who knows?"

Sin-Jin embraced his brother warmly. True, they had never been close as brothers when they were children. But the young were known for missed opportunities, he mused, and blood was blood after all. Sin-Jin wished Alfred nothing but the best and a long life to enjoy it in.

He could feel his emotion growing dangerously vulnerable. Slowly, he released the thin, frail body and eased Alfred against his pillows.

"Take care, Brother. I've spoken to your wife about it, but mind that she doesn't let them come at you with leeches again." Sin-Jin couldn't bring himself to even call Vanessa by name. The very thought of her and her treachery had bile rising to his mouth.

"I'll remember," Alfred said weakly. His smile was
almost skeletal as it slowly inched along across his bony
face until it went from ear to ear. "Don't worry. I'll be fine. Burns and Cook'll take care of me, the way they always have."

Sin-Jin nodded. Yes, they could be relied on.

"I've already spoken to them as well," Sin-Jin assured Alfred.

One last touch of hands and then Sin-Jin left the room,
his heart far from light.

Rachel read his mood in his eyes as soon as he entered the hall. She fell into step beside him, taking his hand.

"Perhaps you should stay a little longer," she
suggested, though it cost her dearly. She knew she had to
return. Her purpose in being half way around the world from her home was to bear witness to the goings-on in Paris. But there was no real reason that he could not linger here a while longer if he felt a need to.

No reason but the she-devil, Rachel thought as bitterness gnawed at her.

But Sin-Jin shook his head. There wasn't much that he
could do beyond what he had already done. They took the
stairs and made their way to the first floor.

"He's made of strong stuff. As children, it was I who
was always falling ill. Not Alfred. Never Alfred," he said quietly, then brightened as he looked at Rachel. "He'll be
just fine, you'll see."

Rachel turned before they reached the front door and squeezed Sin-Jin's hand. There was more bravado in his tone than was warranted. She thought it rang a little hollow to both of them. He was desperately trying to make himself believe the words he was saying.