Swept Away (39 page)

“Everything was perfect, Yadira. Please tell everyone in the kitchen how delighted we were.”

“I will do that, my lady.” Without asking if she would be disturbing them, Yadira entered the drawing room and began gathering up the brandy snifters their guests had used.

“We were just leaving,” Raven announced as he took Eden’s hand, and he hurried her out of the room and up the stairs.

“In which rooms are Julian and Rebecca staying?” Eden whispered as they started down the hall.

“Those opposite Alex and Eleanora’s so you needn’t fear we’ll disturb them.”

Eden knew he was teasing her this time, and returned his taunting grin with a smile. He went past his room to hers and, pulling her into his arms, waltzed her through the door. The lamp beside the bed was burning low, and the rose-colored room held a romantic glow.

“Raven,” Eden mused as he continued to dance her toward the bed. “Most husbands visit their wife’s bedroom, not the other way around. There was no reason for you to scold me for not being in your bed last night.”

Raven released her and stepped back to give a courtly bow. “You’re right, of course. It was only that finding you in my bed at Briarcliff set the pattern.”

Rather than again attempt to explain what she had been doing in Alex’s bed, Eden simply turned her back toward him and lifted her hair out of his way so he could undo the buttons that ran down the back of her gown. The touch of his fingertips against her bare skin made her shiver, but when she noticed the small lavender bottle sitting on the night stand, she felt the worst chill of her life.

The delicate bottle was shaped like a newly opened rose and its stopper was topped with a hummingbird. Even without opening it, Eden knew exactly what it contained. When Raven had said he had plans for that night, she had not dreamed he meant to use the oil she and Alex had shared. “How could you?” she gasped.

“How could I what?” Raven asked, having no idea what she meant.

Eden’s gaze remained fixed on the exquisitely handcrafted bottle, her memories of her wedding night as clear in her mind as those of the evening’s party. She could not only see Alex spread a drop of the fragrant oil on the tip of her breast, she could feel the warmth of his hand. Her breath caught in her throat, suffocating her in a stifling wave of panic.

“I didn’t kill him. I know that I didn’t. But you can’t make me use that with you.” Completely mystified, Raven looked up from the row of buttons to follow Eden’s glance. When he saw the bottle beside her bed, his reaction was as intensely negative as hers. “I didn’t bring that in here, and I’ll get rid of it right now.”

Raven strode across the room, and grabbed up the bottle. After opening the louvers at the window to their widest point, he tossed it outside, then turned back to face her. “Yadira brews that stuff. She undoubtedly just wanted to make you a present of it. There’s no way she could have known you wouldn’t want it.”

Yadira, the dark-eyed beauty who moved through the house with the grace of a spirit, made that intoxicating oil? That the woman who created the love potion would surely have been the one to teach Alex how to use it shattered all that was left of Eden’s hold on reality. With no more than a slight sway, she slid to the floor in a faint.

Chapter Nineteen

September 1863

A few whiffs from Julian’s vial of smelling salts revived Eden. She was lying on her bed with Raven standing on one side and the physician and Rebecca on the other. All wore anxious frowns and Eden could not immediately recall why she should be the object of their concern. Then the painful memories returned and her eyes again filled with tears.

Raven was overcome with guilt as Eden turned her anguished gaze toward him. She had asked to keep the small lavender bottle she had had at Briarcliff, undoubtedly as a souvenir of the beautiful love she and Alex had shared. Now the sight of a similar flagon was more than she could bear and he knew it was because his bitter accusations would echo in her memory for as long as she lived. The pain of his own folly cut him as cruelly as her tears and he sat down on the side of the bed and drew her into his arms.

“Thank you, but Eden will be fine in a minute or two,” Raven assured his companions. “You needn’t stay.”

Julian noted the tears pouring down Eden’s cheeks and shook his head.

“Your wife’s hysterical, and I’d like to know why.”

That was something Raven would not explain. “It’s really none of your concern.”

“Women do not faint for no reason, Raven. Clearly Eden’s suffered a dreadful shock and I’ll not leave her in such a sorry state.”

Raven hugged the distraught blonde all the more tightly. “You’re wrong. It’s just that she’s very sensitive and easily moved to tears.”

“Surely not like this.”

Raven would not admit that he had seen Eden sob so wretchedly on only one other occasion, and that it had been entirely his fault. “Perhaps not, but she’ll soon fall asleep and she’ll be fine in the morning. You needn’t worry about her.”

As concerned as her brother, Rebecca circled the bed and reached out to take Eden’s hand. “Do you want us to stay?” she asked.

Eden was horribly embarrassed that she could not control her tears, but when she tried to assure Rebecca that she would soon recover her composure, her words were no more than a string of unintelligible sobs.

Julian had carried his doctor’s bag into the room when Raven had summoned him. After replacing the smelling salts in the black leather satchel, he withdrew another bottle. “I’m going to give her some laudanum to help her sleep. Don’t argue with me about this, Raven, or I’ll send Rebecca to fetch Eden’s father.”

Nathan was the last person Raven wanted involved and he had no choice but to give in to Julian’s demand, but he tried to appear unconcerned. “Since I’ve no objection to your giving her laudanum, there’s no need to threaten to summon Nathan.”

“Good, I was hoping you’d see things my way.” Julian waited while Rebecca brought a glass from the washstand. He poured in several ounces of the alcohol-based opium solution, and then handed it to Raven. “Make her drink it all.”

Raven took the glass of brownish-red liquid and gently coaxed Eden into swallowing it. He set the empty glass aside, then looked up at Julian. “Thank you, but I can take care of my wife now.”

“Shall I summon one of the maids to help her get ready for bed?” Rebecca asked helpfully.

The innocence of that question brought a smile to Raven’s lips. “No, thank you, I want to help her myself.”

Julian hesitated for a moment, and then spoke his mind as he usually did. “As soon as she’s asleep, come down to the study. I want to talk to you.”

Eden had already grown calmer, and Raven thought she would be all right if he left her for a few minutes while she slept. “Fine, I’ve something to say to you too.” He did not move from his bride’s side until they were again alone in the room. Then he began to remove her satin gown with the same tenderness he showed when they made love.

“I don’t want to ever see you this sad again, Eden. Not ever. I think it’s more difficult for me than it is for you.”

The laudanum had made her too drowsy to respond, but Eden watched with a sleepy gaze as Raven peeled away her clothes. He returned her gown and starched slips to the wardrobe, then folded her stockings and lingerie and draped them over the arm of a chair to be laundered in the morning. He brought her a nightgown, slipped it over her head, and then took her hands to pull her arms through the sleeves the way he would dress a child. He removed the pins from her hair, ran his fingers through the glossy curls, then leaned down to kiss her lips lightly.

“This isn’t the way I wanted tonight to end,” he whispered as he tucked her in but her eyes were already closed in sleep. Pleased that her expression was a relaxed one, he gave her another kiss then eased the mosquito netting down around the bed. Determined to keep his conversation brief so he could return to his bride, he hurriedly left her room.

Julian was alone in the study, and he stopped pacing as Raven came through the door. “The whole point of your trip to England was to find a suitable English wife whose bloodlines would complement the Clairbournes’. That you’ve returned instead with not only a Southern belle, but an unstable one, is as tragic as Alex’s death. I’m certain he would never have risked making the trip had he known you’d disregard his wishes so completely.”

Raven eyed the older man coldly, and clasped his hands behind his back to force away the impulse to throttle him. “I’m going to give you the same warning I gave the last man who made the mistake of insulting my wife. If you ever do it again, I’ll call you out for it. Now I want your word before I continue that you’ll not breathe a word of what I’m about to tell you to anyone, not even Rebecca.”

Despite the fire in the young man’s eyes, Julian considered Raven’s threat of a duel absurd since he would never accept such a challenge, and simply ignored it. “Doctors are trained to be discreet, Raven.”

“I’m not asking for discretion, but complete and absolute silence.”

“If Eden is ill—”

“This has nothing to do with disease.”

“All right then, you have my word that I’ll keep your confidence,” the physician offered grudgingly.

“Thank you.” In no mood to sit down, Raven walked over to the fireplace, and leaned back against the mantel. In as terse a manner as possible, he explained that Eden was not only his wife, but Alex’s widow, and pregnant with Alex’s child. “Yadira put something in Eden’s room that reminded her of Alex. There’s no way she could have known Eden would be upset by it. It was purely unintentional. Eden’s not in the least bit unstable, but she loved Alex dearly and at times her grief overwhelms her.”

“You’ve married your widowed aunt. Is that the secret I’m supposed to keep?”

“Christ, Julian, we aren’t even remotely related. It isn’t incest.”

Julian frowned as he mulled over Raven’s startling revelation. “Were you that terrified she’d give Alex a son?”

Again Raven found his temper nearly impossible to control. “Our marriage had nothing whatsoever to do with the fact I’m Alex’s heir.”

“Well, that would certainly be difficult to prove in a court of law, wouldn’t it?”

Raven had heard enough and went to the door. “I had thought that because you treated Alex for so many years that you would be the best man to deliver his child. Obviously I was mistaken. You’ve no respect for either my wife or me and I’ll not burden you with another invitation to our home. Rebecca, however, will always be welcome.”

Raven slammed the door on his way out, but Julian made no attempt to go after him. He sank down into the leather chair Alex had favored and mulled over what he had just learned. That Alex would have married when he was in such precarious health troubled the conscientious physician deeply. That Raven had married the same ravishing young woman with such shocking haste was equally disturbing.

From all he had heard, the Suttons were bright, responsible men who never behaved in such an unpredictable manner. Raven was not actually a Sutton, however, but from some other branch of Alex’s family. Perhaps a fear of death had prompted Alex to seize whatever happiness he could by marrying Eden, but what reason could Raven have possibly had for rushing to the altar other than to protect his own interests? Whatever their reasons, neither man had behaved as Julian thought a titled Englishman should. Raven had always been hot-tempered, though, and he fully expected him to apologize in the morning. As for delivering Alex’s child, Julian doubted Eden could carry the babe to term if she possessed so little control of her emotions.

He remained in the study, his expression a troubled one. He was going to miss Alex badly. It had never mattered to Alex whether or not a man held a title. As long as he was honest, Alex would call him a friend. Apparently Raven would extend his friendship only to those who promised to keep the scandalous nature of his marriage a secret. Julian could not help but think the young earl was going to find himself with very few friends.

When he left the study, Raven walked to the back of the house. A faint light shone beneath Yadira’s door, and thinking he had already delayed speaking with her too long, he knocked lightly. She opened the door, then leaned back against it in a provocative pose. She was wearing a simple white cotton nightgown and her hair, freed of its confining chignon, fell past her waist like a stream of liquid ebony.

She smiled knowingly. “I did not expect you to come to me so soon.”

That she had had the audacity to imagine he would ever seek her favors disgusted Raven completely. “We’ve never been lovers, and we never will be either. All I wanted was to ask you to be careful of what you say about Alex around Eden. She was very fond of him, and deeply saddened by his death. She’s expecting our first child in the spring, and I don’t want her to suffer the slightest distress about anything, not Alex, or problems with the house, or staff. I want you to take care of everything as you always have so she’ll not have any unnecessary worry.”

Yadira’s eyes were as dark as Raven’s and she had no difficulty reading the emotion displayed in his glance. “I did not think you would ever fall in love.”

Raven drew in a deep breath rather than respond to what he regarded as an uncalled-for remark. “All I want is your promise that you’ll make our home tranquil for Eden.”