Betrayal Read online

The familiar excitement of hunting stirred in Reece’s blood. “Can you pick us up at my home in the morning?’

  “Be happy to.”

  “Good man.” He gave him his directions, Thor went on his way, and they continued farther into the park.

  Elizabeth touched the side of her head and grimaced. “What is it, Lizzy?”

  “Something’s wrong.” She slid a long dagger out of her boot and looked from side to side.

  Reece held his gun as he scanned the area. “Where have all the people gone?”

  They were alone on the path. Not another soul in sight. All the carriages had vanished. Where had everyone gone? It was impossible for Hyde Park to be empty at that hour. Even the birds had abandoned them.

  Elizabeth’s rosy pallor turned ashen.

  He sidled closer to her. “If you are going to fall from your horse, you had better get down.”

  She took a deep breath. Her eyes narrowed. “I will not fall.”

  What had been a light breeze grew strong enough to blow her hat down the path.

  The horses stamped their feet. Elizabeth’s tossed its head.

  A dark spot appeared before them. Wind drew toward the swirling black vortex twenty feet in front of them.

  Gripping her head, Elizabeth screamed. The horse bucked, but she somehow managed to keep her seat. “It’s pulling me.”

  The horse’s hooves slid across the dirt, grinding out four ruts.

  Elizabeth bent over the horse’s neck, holding on, but her skirts blew toward the vortex. Her hair had come free and whipped forward.

  Reece’s horse tried to move away from the phenomenon, though they only felt a strong wind. Nothing pulled at him or his mount. He pushed the animal closer to Elizabeth, grabbed her around the waist and dragged her from her saddle onto his lap.

  Her horse reared up on her back legs and gave a terrified neigh before bolting away from the park.

  The force of the vortex pulled at him too as it tried to rip Elizabeth from his grasp. He clutched her tighter and kicked his horse. The animal bolted for home, and they broke free of the sucking wind.

  The mild weather gave only a slight breeze. Voices of people walking and riding in the park filtered back in, ending the silence. Everything around them returned to what it had been before the incident. Only he and Elizabeth were windblown and disheveled. To the rest of the community, nothing had changed.

  “Are you all right, Lizzy?’

  She gripped his jacket in one hand and his neck with the other. “I think so. What was that?”

  “I think it is safe to say you were just targeted by the master.”

  She looked around. People were staring. “You had better put me down.”

  He eased her to the ground and joined her there. They walked back toward his townhouse, leading the horse.

  “Why would the master want me? I thought his fascination was with nobility. I’m as lowly as they come.” She made a paltry attempt to tuck her hair back into a respectable style.

  He winced at her description of herself. He wanted to tell her how fabulous she was, and he never wanted to hear her say such things again, but it was not the time. Emotional outpouring would wait for another opportunity. “Perhaps he does not like unfinished business.”

  “You think the demons intend to complete the sacrifice you saved me from?”

  “I have no idea, but I know how we can find out.” They turned down his street. A block away, two of his liverymen were trying to calm Elizabeth’s horse and having a devil of a time from what he could see.

  “The other women.” When she’d been on the altar, three others had also been part of the sacrifice. It had been a gruesome scene. Of the four women, only Elizabeth had joined The Company. The others had presumably returned to their normal lives.

  As they approached the townhouse, the hysterical horse calmed enough for the men to take her away. A stable boy collected Reece’s horse.

  Garvey stood on the steps, wringing his hands. “Oh, sir, thank God. When Miss Smyth’s mount came back alone in a fit and lathered, we thought the worst.”

  “We had a bit of an ordeal, but we’re both fine.”

  “I’m much relieved, sir.”

  Reece took Elizabeth’s elbow as they climbed the steps. “Thank you, Garvey. We will be in my study, and a pot of tea would be most appreciated.”

  She shook. Honestly, so did he. He had no other experience to compare to the incident in the park. Over six years with The Company, he’d fought every manner of demon, been attacked, had a banshee nearly devour him and yet nothing compared to the vortex. Never had the outside world ceased to exist while the demons attacked. The idea that they could alter reality in this way sent a shiver down his spine.

  Elizabeth sat. “Where did all the people go?”

  “I have no idea.”

  “Why were you still with me? Why did you not disappear with everyone else?” She gripped the arms of the chair with white knuckles.

  “I wish I had answers, Lizzy, but I have never seen anything like that before.”

  She stood up and walked across the room, turned, and walked back. The door opened, and she grabbed for the sword under her skirt.

  The maid’s eyes widened. “I have your tea, miss.”

  Reece forced a smile. “It’s all right, Matilda. You may put the tray on the table.”

  “I’m sorry, Matilda.”

  “It’s nothing, miss.” The girl quit the room.

  Lizzy waited for the door to close and slumped into the chair again. “I have lost my mind.”

  “No. You are afraid as well you should be.” He poured a cup of tea and handed it to her. “I’m afraid for you. As grateful as I am, I do not know why I was not removed from the scene in the park. Maybe my proximity to you kept them from excluding me. Perhaps our trip to the office tomorrow will produce some other instances of such a phenomenon.”

  “If I had not stopped due to the pain in my head, I think I would have trotted right into the center of that storm.” The cup rattled against the saucer. She placed it on the table and sat back.

  “And I might not have been close enough to experience the effects and pull you off your horse.”

  “Lillian was right. The fact that I can sense the master is important if only for my own survival.”

  He kept quiet, but he worried as much over Elizabeth’s strange connection to the demons as he did about what might have happened without the apparent link. The setting sun did not alleviate his worries, and though they spoke little during dinner and after, his anxiety grew with the passing hours. How would he protect her against demons able to make her disappear from his side?

  When he finally found his bed for the night, those same thoughts kept him awake. He left a candle burning. What was the point in snuffing it out? He would get no rest that night. Every time he closed his eyes, he pictured himself walking into Elizabeth’s room in the morning and finding the bed empty with no way to ever find her again. He’d get no sleep.

  A soft knock sounded on his door.

  “Yes?”

  The door pushed open, and his Lizzy stepped inside. Her hair hung loose around the perfect oval of her porcelain skin. Those eyes that tortured him stared across the room, with only the candle to brighten them. “I wonder if I might stay in here with you?”

  He lifted the covers, and she ran across the room and jumped into his bed. His chest tightened. Her desire to be near him went directly to his heart. She needed security, and for the moment, that was what he represented. If only his rod understood that fact. Once she crossed the threshold, he stood at full attention. “This is becoming a habit, Lizzy.”

  “I know I am supposed to be a fierce hunter, but the idea of disappearing in the night with no one knowing where I had gone…” She never finished the thought.

  He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her tight. Aching with need for this woman had become part of his normal existence. He�
��d almost lost her. A half a second behind and she would be the possession of the master. He pressed his lips to the soft skin where her neck met her shoulder. “I would find you.”

  “Do you promise?”

  “I swear it.”

  She sighed and snuggled back, fitting her perfect bottom to the bend of his thighs.

  “I do not think I am strong enough to resist temptation after the day’s events. If you wish to be a virgin in the morning, we will have to get out of this bed and spend the night in the parlor. I’ll not leave you alone, but if we stay here, I will want more than sleep.”

  “I did not ask you to protect me from temptation, Reece. It’s you who think my virtue has some secret value. I have offered it to you on several occasions.”

  “Look at me.”

  She moved away and rolled over. Eyes like good whiskey, warm, smooth and just as intoxicating.

  “You think I push you away because I’m in love with Lillian. I will not deny that I love her.

  Elizabeth looked away from his gaze.

  With one finger, he tipped her head back to him. “I am not, nor have I ever been, in love with Lillian. She is my friend, my best friend, but no more than that. Anything more was merely a product of youthful folly. We both knew it at the time, but I do not regret any of it.”

  “Why are you telling me any of this?” Her voice shook.

  The knot in his chest tightened. “I push you away because if we are to make love, it has to be for reasons other than the need of companionship or because you are lonely.”

  “What do you want from me, Reece? Perhaps I am just a dumb servant, but I do not know what you want.”

  A short laugh escaped his lips. “There is nothing ignorant about you, my sweet Lizzy. You are the most logical person I have ever met. You see a problem and in moments have a solution worked out. I want you, but only if your desire for me is genuine and not born out of desperation or obligation. You owe me nothing.”

  She reached across and pushed his hair away from his face. Her warm fingers spread heat through him from head to toe. “I have a confession.”

  The pinking of her cheeks sent heat shooting to his groin. “I am not a priest.”

  “It’s not that kind of confession.”

  He waited silently and pulled her close enough so she could feel what she did to him.

  She moaned deep in her chest, and her breath came faster. “When you were ill at the school, I asked to be the one to bring you your meals and take your tray away. I wanted to be close to you. From the moment I first saw you, I wanted something forbidden to a girl like me.”

  She had made special efforts to be near him. His heart expanded until his chest could hardly contain it. He threaded his fingers through her silken hair. “What did you hope to gain by being near me?”

  Turning her head, she kissed his palm. “I wanted to hear you call me Lizzy. I dreamed of the day when you would look at me and the sorrow would be gone from your eyes. I prayed you would touch me as you are now and want me the way you wanted Lillian Dellacourt.”

  “I told you, it was never like that with Lilly and me.”

  The wind picked up outside, shaking the window. The candle flickered.

  “I know that now, but at the time everyone said you were lovers, and I was sure they were correct.”

  He burned for this woman, and every word heightened his need. “But yesterday… Why did you not contradict me?”

  “In a way you were right. But the more I considered the notion, the more I realized it was not just human contact I desired. I wanted to be near you, with you. But if that is not what you want, I will understand and we can go on as before.”

  His mouth covered hers before she could say any more. She opened when he pressed his tongue to the crease of her lips. He sighed. Inside she was cool and soft, and her tongue met his with comparable passion.

  She wrapped her hands around his back and drew herself closer.

  If he had any hope of stopping this, he’d had to do it immediately or he’d be lost. Everything he wanted rested in his arms. No amount of denial would change the fact that this woman stirred things in him he’d thought long dead. He longed to hold her beyond any sexual encounter. He’d found himself anxious to hear her thoughts after the incident in the park. She mattered, more than anyone had in a very long time. Perhaps more than anyone ever had.

  He stopped.

  “What’s wrong?” Short heaved breaths escaped her lips.

  “I’m having an attack of conscious.”

  “Oh, Reece.” She rested her forehead on his chest.

  “I care for you.”

  “And that is a bad thing in these situations?”

  The skin along her jaw and neck was soft as a feather. He longed to kiss his way down to her shoulders and more. “No, but it means I want to protect you. I never want to hurt you.”

  She sat up and crossed her legs like a child. “I have no illusions, Reece. I’m not a lady who will expect you to marry me. I’m fully aware that any intimacy between us will lead nowhere. Does that ease your conscious?”

  His stomach churned with every word she said. She didn’t understand. She believed he’d hesitated because of her station in society. The snap of his anger surprised him. They had each been raised to believe what they were doing could never be more than a tryst, which would give satisfaction and leave her far less better off than he. “Lizzy, you should know by now that I do not give a damn about social customs.”

  “In as far as you fight demons rather than manage estates.”

  Another rush of rage flooded him. He leaned in until he left only an inch between his nose and hers. “No. In as far as I do not care what anyone thinks of me or what I do with my life. In as far as this connection between you and me. In as far as everything.”

  “So you plan to take me to the next ball you are invited to? Show me off as what, your good friend, mistress, how will you introduce me to the ton? Do not for a moment believe I am a fool, Reece Foxjohn. No amount of education will make me on a par with you.” She pushed him away and got out of the bed.

  He caught her before she made it to the door and wrapped his arms around her. If she was willing to damage him, she might be able to free herself. He still needed to recover his strength. He took the gamble that she would not be willing to harm him. “First of all, Elizabeth Smyth, you are far above me in every way. And second, it pains me that you do not know me at all. It is not your lack of social status that holds me back. I want you.”

  “Then why did you stop? I offered myself to you, and it is not the first time. What do I have to do to get you to make love to me?” Her voice caught.

  “Marry me.” His mind exploded with a thousand reasons why he should not have said those words. His arms tightened around her waist unable to let her go.

  “You have lost your mind.” She reached up and pressed her palm to his forehead. A deep frown pulled at her lips as she checked him for a fever.

  “I am not ill, Lizzy. I want you in my life. Not as a mistress and not as a scullery maid. I will happily take you to as many balls as you like and introduce you as my fiancée or wife. You should be my partner in all things. I’ve had a notion of something missing for a few weeks, but I could not quite figure out what it was we needed. Now I know. You should be my wife. I should be your husband. I’ve never been more certain of anything.”

  “I cannot marry you.”

  His gut clenched. “Why not?”

  She pushed hard enough against his chest so he let her go. Instead of rushing from the room, she turned her back and walked to the window. “I just cannot.”

  He followed and kissed her shoulder. “Is there someone I should ask for your hand?”

  “No. There is no one. I am alone.” Her shoulders slumped.

  Kissing her again, he circled her waist with one hand and breathed in her flowery scent. “You will never be alone, Lizzy. I will be with you. Tell
me you will marry me.”

  “I have never had any notion of marrying anyone. As a scullery it was unlikely and as a hunter even less so.”

  “Notions can change.”

  The silence that followed crushed his heart. Not above begging, he waited.

  “Must I answer you now?”

  Hope filled him. She had not flatly told him no. He turned her in his arms, hugged her and rested his cheek on her cool skin. “You may take all the time you need.”

  She cleared her throat. “There is still the matter of the vortex pulling me away.”

  “Stay with me. If you are pulled away, I will go with you.”

  “I would never want that, Reece. I did not mean to imply you should be killed for my sake.” She tried to pull out of his arms.

  He tightened his hold. “I know. I’m not letting you out of my sight. Not tonight and not until we know how the demons did what they did in the park.”

  Chapter 5

  Part of Elizabeth wanted to dance for joy. Reece Foxjohn wanted to make her his wife. A man she admired and even idolized wanted her to be with him for the rest of their lives. Of course, their lives might end at any moment. Still, it was unfathomable and the most wonderful moment of her life. Yet, the girl who grew up with nothing but common sense to make her way in the world, knew marrying a gentleman could never happen. Why hadn’t she just given him a flat no? That would have been the smart thing to do. Tell him no and act as if nothing had happened. Yet after the longest night of her life, she sat in an unmarked carriage with the man of her dreams. She had not said no. She had asked for time. Time for what?

  Nothing could ever come of his fanciful impulse. No amount of time would make her a lady or him a commoner. He’d realize soon enough, a marriage with a woman of lesser birth had no benefits and only heartache to offer. That was the answer. She would wait for him to come to his senses.

  The carriage stopped, and Reece pushed opened the door. The townhouse resided in Cheapside not far from the hospital where Elizabeth recovered after her abduction. Accepting his hand, she stepped down into the busy street. “This is rather obvious.”

  Thor pushed his cap back, exposing a wide smile and he shrugged. “Maybe that’s the point. The Company need not hide. Hiding has not rid the world of demons.”