Betrayal Read online

  The oak door rose several feet beyond her head. Head high, shoulders back, she banged the brass knocker.

  Within, glass shattered and metal clashed. A loud thundering of wood had her reaching for the sword strapped beneath her full skirts.

  Behind her, Reece took to the ground, and stiff as an old tree, began climbing the steps.

  Finally, the door opened, and a butler who looked more like a street thug than a man in service to an earl stood, guarding the opening. He looked at Elizabeth’s weapon, his expression docile and unchanging. “May I help you?”

  “Is everything all right? I heard quite a lot of noise,” she asked.

  He raised an eyebrow. “The foyer table was knocked over during a bit of sport. Who are you, if I may ask? Do you have an appointment?”

  Reece reached the landing. “It’s all right, Faust. We come in peace.”

  “Mr. Foxjohn, it is good to see you again. I’m glad you are recovering from your injuries.”

  “Thank you. Is her ladyship at home?”

  “Yes. Please come in. I will tell her ladyship you are here.” Faust stepped back, his hulking form less threating than it ought to be for a girl of her size.

  Splinters of the demolished foyer table and a shattered vase littered the floor while two young people rolled around in hand-to-hand combat. Elizabeth returned her sword to its sheath. A short sword jutted out from the railing of the grand staircase, and two fighting knives lay abandoned nearby.

  The butler didn’t even glance at the row as he excused himself down a hallway to the right.

  A moment later, the lady of the house walked, with the slightest waddle, across the foyer. She turned toward the fight, placed her hand on her round belly, and shook her head. “Billy, Rose, how many times have I asked you to try to keep these things outside or in the ballroom?”

  She had not raised her voice, but the ruffians froze in place. They disengaged, made quick apologies, and rushed from the foyer.

  Belinda turned toward the pair waiting at the entrance. Her smile spread from mild amusement to sheer joy at the sight of Reece. She walked forward and opened her arms.

  Reece walked into her embrace. “It’s good to see you, Belinda.”

  “I wanted to talk at the wedding, but everything went so fast, and I never got the chance. I’m so glad you are here.” She broke the embrace and touched his pale cheek.

  “It looks as if you will burst at any moment.”

  She slapped his arm. “That is not an appropriate comment, Mr. Foxjohn. But it’s quite true. We expect the happy event soon.”

  “You look radiant.”

  With a smile, she turned toward Elizabeth. “Welcome, Elizabeth. I heard you finished your education in spectacular fashion. You even managed to impress Brice.”

  “Thank you, mi’lady.”

  “None of that. My name is Belinda, and I expect you to address me as such. You are a hunter after all.”

  “What on earth happened to the table?” Gabriel, the Earl of Tullering, strode into the foyer.

  “Billy and Rose were at it again.” Belinda waved at the mess.

  He laughed. “Those two are going to make fine hunters.” He shook Reece’s hand and bowed over Elizabeth’s. “Good to see you, Reece. Welcome, Miss Elizabeth, I’m so please you took me up on our offer.”

  Elizabeth curtsied. “I’m happy to be here. I’m so curious about how things are going now that the school is here at Spero Hall. I see you have some new students.”

  Belinda took Reece’s arm. “Let’s go into the parlor, and I’ll order some tea. Reece looks about to drop, and frankly, I need to sit as well. You wouldn’t think a child could be so taxing, but I sleep more than I’m awake these days.”

  Gabriel offered Elizabeth his elbow, and they headed down the hall. “We have several new students as well as some nearly ready to join the hunt. Brice seems pleased with the progress, and things are going well.”

  Faust appeared from out of nowhere and opened the parlor door for them. It was unusual for a man so big to manage such stealth.

  Belinda stopped. “Thank you, Faust. Will you see to the mess in the foyer?”

  “The staff is already gathering to clean it up.”

  “Make sure you have those two ruffians help you. No need to let them think they can destroy the house without any consequence,” she said with some amusement.

  In comparison to the rather bare foyer, the parlor, lush with overstuffed chairs and expensive rugs, spoke of a life that had nothing to do with demons or hunting. Here lay the last vestige of a past life.

  Her ladyship ordered tea and sat.

  Elizabeth sat on the settee, and Reece sat beside her. Red and tan fabrics, expensive vases, and statues on ancient inlaid tables gave the room a warm and lived in ambiance.

  With his hand resting on her shoulder, Gabriel stood behind his wife. “How long can you stay?”

  “Not long,” Reece blurted.

  Elizabeth said, “A day or two. We are expected in London, and Reece and I have a lot of work to do to get him ready to hunt again.”

  He glowered at her. “Wishful thinking on my companion’s part.”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” Belinda said. “You look better now than you did when we saw you in Inverness, and I cannot believe the improvement since Edinburgh. The cold hard winter seems to have done you good.”

  “That is kind of you to say.”

  “Pfft. I never say anything out of sheer kindness, Reece. You know that better than anyone. If I thought you were not improving, I would tell you.”

  He let his scowl slip. “I know you would, my friend.”

  A long silence hung over the room. Awkward spaces always made Elizabeth nervous. “Tell us how things are going here. Has the transition gone well? How is your father holding up?”

  The tea arrived and Belinda struggled over her heavy belly to pour.

  Elizabeth took over the task and accepted a grin from her hostess.

  Belinda sat back. “The transition from the Inverness school to Spero Hall has been remarkably smooth. Of course, we’ve had to move anything we value to rooms where the students are not likely to go. As evidenced by what just happened in the foyer, things do get broken quite frequently. Otherwise, it has been fine. Brice arrived a few days ago and has taken over the running of the school.”

  “And your father?” Reece asked. Belinda’s father had been the overseer of the hunter school, and it had resided in his Scottish holding of Brendaligh near Inverness. Do to the earl’s misjudgment and secret keeping, the school and its stewardship had been moved into his daughter and son-in-law’s care.

  “He has moved to London with my mother. He seems to be taking his new role very seriously. He even sent me a note warning of signs that the master might know where the school moved and we should be cautious of attack.”

  “Do you believe him?” Reece’s question might have been impertinent, but they all knew about the strained relationship between Belinda and her father, the Earl of Shafton.

  She sighed. “He believes it. We have tightened up security, but I think he’s just being overzealous.”

  “Of course he is,” Gabriel chimed in.

  Elizabeth sipped her tea. “Did your father tell you what these signs were?”

  Adjusting her seat, Belinda rubbed her round belly. “As usual, he was very cryptic. He did say that there are fewer demons in London and something about the weather.”

  “What does the weather have to do with anything?”

  “My father has a theory that the weather is affected by the demons. He says he’s been charting it for years. Evidently, the rainy spring we’ve had can be related to additional demon activity.”

  The winter had been severe, and the spring rains kept them slogging through mud the entire way from Edinburgh. Maybe Shafton was on to something.

  Reece laughed. “It is England. When is it not rainy, especially in the spri
ng?”

  Belinda smiled. “I said the exact thing, but he was adamant.”

  Gabriel said, “So we’ve added security to the house, and everyone has been told to keep sharp.”

  “I suppose it cannot hurt to be careful, though Shafton’s theory seems weak to me.” Reece took a biscuit from the tray and gobbled the sweet in one bite.

  Most meals, she had to badger him into eating as if he were a fussy child. It was only a biscuit, but any sign of recovery gave her hope for the future. Maybe she’d really be Reece Foxjohn’s partner and not sent to some remote hamlet with some novice hunter after all.

  * * * *

  After tea, the housekeeper showed them to their rooms. Elizabeth had never stayed anywhere so lush. As a scullery maid, she’d lived at the top of the house in a very plain room with white walls, two beds, and a dresser. She’d always shared with an under-maid. As a student at the hunter school in Inverness, she’d had her own room, though sparse with only a bed, dresser, and small writing desk. She’d spent many nights learning to read and write at that desk. Still quite slow at both, she planned to improve with continued practice.

  The room in the Earl and Countess of Tullering’s home had a bed heavily draped in expensive gold fabric. Cream walls and a gold rug, which cost more than she’d earned in her lifetime, added to the wealth of the space. The writing desk’s tufted chair matched the bedding, and its curved feet added to the elegance. Oh how her life had changed in the course of a year.

  A rosy-cheeked maid unpacked her small trunk and asked if she needed anything more.

  “No, thank you. What is your name?”

  “Ann, miss.” She bobbed and went back to her work.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Ann. You can leave that for now. I’m quite tired.”

  Once the girl closed the door, Elizabeth flopped onto the bed and closed her eyes. The heaviness of exhaustion blanketed her, and she slept until a loud scraping noise startled her awake. It might have been an hour or five minutes. She wasn’t sure.

  Jumping to her feet, she shook off the foggy head left by her nap. She dashed into the hallway, ran to the next door, and knocked.

  “Enter,” Reece shouted back.

  She turned the knob and stepped in.

  Shirtless in the center of the room, he gathered the pieces of a broken chair. Still too lean, but nicely formed, considering he’d been ill for so long. Muscles rolled along his back and arms as he lifted pieces of wood and stacked them near the fireplace.

  “Did you throw that chair?”

  He stood up straight and with his hands on his hips, looked her in the eye. “I did.”

  “Remarkable. I’m glad to see your strength is returning.” She picked up the displaced cushion and a leg, and placed them on his pile.

  “Are you not going to lecture me on losing my temper or the useless destruction of furniture?”

  “Would you like me to?”

  “Not particularly. It is just what I expected.”

  His beauty staggered her. His bright blue eyes sparked enough to light the room, and his wet hair hung around his face like a fallen angel. Try as she might to ignore it, she longed to touch him. Her stomach tightened at the idea of lying beneath the sheets with a healthy Reece Foxjohn. She forced her breath out. “I’ll leave the lectures to your mother. I see this as a good sign.”

  They finished cleaning up the mess.

  “Don’t you even want to know why I broke the chair?”

  She shrugged. “You’re angry. I do not blame you. I would be angry too.”

  He stepped closer. His breath warmed her cheek as he lifted her chin with one finger. “Since you will offer no lecture and have no plans to draw out my feelings, why not tell me why I’m so angry?”

  Swallowing to clear the lump in her throat, she gazed into those eyes. “You think you’ve lost everything. You were on top of the world, and now you have to start over again and from lower than before. You doubt you can ever recover and fear you will end up a crippled old man.”

  He gaped as he stepped back from her. His head hung, and the shoulders she’d been admiring slumped. “Dear God, Lizzy, am I that obvious?”

  Her heart ached for him, and she stepped forward. Wrapping her arms around his middle, she rested her head on his bare chest. If heaven existed, she’d found it. She imagined an eternity snuggled against his warmth. “I do not think it is quite as clear to everyone, Reece. You put up a good front at the wedding. Lillian likely saw through it, but maybe not the rest.”

  His arms remained at his sides, but his cheek brushed against the top of her head. “Lilly has known me for years. How is it you see through me so easily?”

  “You forget I have spent part of every day for a year watching you heal. Plus, I know how I would feel if I had to start training all over again. You were probably already strong when you started training to become a hunter, but I was only as strong as heavy pots and buckets filled with water can make a girl. I would be in despair if I had to do it all again.”

  One hand skimmed the center of her back. “And would you? Would you start all over again, if you lost everything you have gained in the last year?”

  She tipped her head up and stared him in the eyes. “I would do everything in my power to be better than before.”

  “And if you failed?”

  “I would pick myself up and try again until I succeeded.” Her heart tripped.

  His head lowered until full lips she’d longed for touched hers in a whispered kiss. She stiffened at the first touch and relaxed as his hand came up to cup her cheek.

  He pressed his thumb to her jaw, and when her mouth opened, he swept his tongue inside.

  The kiss reached through, around, and inside her. Rising on her tiptoes, she opened for him and matched his kisses with her own desperation. Yes, this was what she wanted, more of this man. Her imagination had not done the moment justice. She threaded her fingers through his hair, pulling it from the neat queue. Soft tresses spilled over her hands. She burned as she molded against him.

  Reece broke the kiss and stepped back, heaving breath and staring at her as if he’d never seen her before. “I should not have done that.”

  Elizabeth gasped to catch her breath. The pleasant tightening in her lower belly knotted painfully. Tears threatened to push out, but she refused to cry in front of him. “I see. Well, what is done is done. I will see you at dinner.”

  Before she could run from the room, he grabbed her arm. The temptation to hit him so hard he’d release her warred with her desire to nurse him back to his former glory. Maybe then, he would see more than a scullery maid when he looked at her.

  “Please, Lizzy, do not be cross with me. I wanted to kiss you. Just because I want something does not mean it is the right thing. I should not have forced myself on you, but I was caught up in the moment.”

  Jerking her arm away from his grip, she laughed. “You think you could have kissed me if I was opposed to it? I am a demon hunter, Reece Foxjohn. Just because you have not yet seen me in action, do not suppose I am not capable of stopping you or anyone else. I know you, but you clearly know nothing about me. You should rest. I will see you at dinner.”

  She gathered her wits in the hallway before she ran to her room, bolted the door, and looked for something she could break. She paced the carpet, took up a pale green vase, lifted it over her head, and then set it back on the table with added care. Breaking the expensive glassware would not change anything. It would not make her his equal. If The Company could not do that, then nothing could. Above her station, he viewed kissing her as an error in judgment. His conscience would not let him take liberties with the help. She understood. In fact, over the years, she had wished more of her employers had been so honorable. Ironically, she hated him for the same virtue that made her admire him so.

  * * * *

  After dinner and cakes, Elizabeth returned to her room. While the company had been lively, exhaustio
n and anger left her unable to enjoy it. Less than fifteen minutes passed before someone knocked on her door, likely the maid. “I do not require assistance to undress, thank you.”

  The door creaked open, and Reece peeked his head inside. “I would quite enjoy that task, but it is not why I have come.”

  Maybe she would go for a walk in the garden. She could walk right past him, pull off her heavy skirts, and run in the trousers she wore beneath. If she ran far enough, perhaps her exhaustion would force sleep. Perhaps she would not even come back to the house. She could sleep under the stars. “What do you want, Reece?”

  “I want to apologize.”

  “For what?”

  “I upset you, and it was the last thing I wanted to do.”

  “What was the first thing?”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “You said it was the last thing you wanted, and I would like to know the first thing you wanted.”

  He grinned. “You are quite witty when you wish to be.”

  She shrugged. “Either answer the question or go to your own room.

  Both his eyebrows lifted and he cocked his head. “If I told you, you would likely never speak to me again.”

  “Really? Now I am intrigued. Tell me.”

  He stepped closer. “The first thing I wanted was to kiss you until we were both senseless.”

  The wonderful flutter returned to her lower stomach. “And for that, I would never speak to you again?”

  “It would change things. Perhaps I’ve already ruined everything with the small kiss. I should have controlled myself, but you were so sweet and luscious in my arms.”

  “What would it change?”

  He’d gotten very close, but now he backed almost to the door. “This kind of thing changes a hunting relationship, any relationship. We will need to work together, and I do not want to put distance between us. Please accept my apology for my earlier behavior. I am sincerely sorry.”