A Wolf In Wolf's Clothing (28 page)

Trevelyn pushed her backward to see her face. “
He
was here?” His jaw set as his arms dropped, and he started back to the cars.

Raven grabbed his arm. “Don’t leave me,” she begged.

She saw the warrior in him wanting to avenge his lady, struggling with his need to be near her. Finally he nodded and pulled her close again.

She closed her eyes against the double vision. “I’m not sure. I think he set the fire.”

“Why, for God’s sake?” Paganne gasped. “What did he hope to do?”

Raven glanced to the cottage, seeing the roof collapse inward. “I really don’t know. There was a struggle. I was knocked out.”

Brishen assured Trev, “Take care of our Raven. Leave him to me.”

“Stand in line, fearless vampire killer. You can drive a stake through his heart after I finish with him,” Cian joked, but there was a true threat in the words.

More coughing hit, and Raven was aware of the medic pushing past Brishen and Cian to check her. “She’s suffering a concussion, obviously smoke inhalation—”

Trev supplied, “And she’s pregnant.”

The medic nodded. “We need to get her to the hospital.”

Paganne patted her shoulder. “Take her. We’ll deal with the beasties and get them settled at Colford.”

Raven agreed, but she didn’t relinquish her hold on Trevelyn. Before she allowed anyone to take her away, she watched the final moments of her beloved home and said one more silent good-bye to the beautiful Gypsy.

Trevelyn laid the white rose across Raven, who was still sleeping. It had been two days since the fire, but he still
hadn’t shaken the panic of how close he had come to losing her.

The nightmare had come again, the first night after the fire. Tashian and Annie, his chasing her through the woods. Trev had seen the whole story. She had wanted to hear the words “I love you” and Tashian had been too confused, too arrogant to give them to a simple Gypsy. A man so far above her, Annie had feared he could never love her, had desperately sensed there was an air of doom that hovered around their love. Tashian’s unwillingness to give her the one thing she wanted drove her to despair. She carried his baby but refused to tell him until he offered her the love she so wanted. When he didn’t, it confirmed her hopelessness. She’d blindingly fled him during the storm. Tashian found her too late. A tree, struck by lightning, had fallen and crushed her.

Last night, the dream hadn’t come. It was as though he’d been finally shown the last pieces of the puzzle. There was nothing else left to reveal.

He leaned over and kissed Raven’s cheek. “I love you, Red Riding Hood.”

Her eyelids fluttered open, and then a sad smile touched her lips. He had a feeling it would take time until her smiles were no longer haunted.

“Good morning,” she whispered, her voice still raw from the smoke inhalation. Seeing the rose, she picked it up and breathed in its scent.

He handed her a glass of juice from the tray. “I’ve been down to check on Marvin. Little bugger is having a ball in the stable with all the big horsies. I let him into the empty wing in the Hall, and let him dash about. I chased him properly, so he got his ‘go inside and aggravate the people’ out for the day. The cats feasted on pink salmon for breakfast and demanded extra pets. Atticus is in the conservatory and thinks the bubbling fountain is a birdbath. So, how are you and our baby feeling?”

“Well, I think. Just a little tired.”

He took the glass from her when she held it out, signaling she was through. After a moment he said, “I brought you oatmeal with honey and diced apples. I thought that would do well on your gimpy tummy.”

Raven scooted up in bed. “Thank you. Sounds perfect.”

“Well, the cook—and her foul-mouthed parrot—assured me this was good for a new mum to be. That bird is a howl. He must have been owned by a vulgar seaman at one time.” Trev chuckled.

Reaching out, he rubbed her knee, lightly, needing the contact. He watched her eat, waiting to discuss other matters. Finally, when she said she was full, he took the tray and set it aside.

“I want the kitties,” she requested.

He nodded. “I’ll go round them up. Last I saw them, they were in the kitchen mooching treats from the cook and eyeing the parrot like he’d go well with lemon sauce. Now, why they view the macaw as fit for the dinner table and they ignore that ridiculous seagull, I’ll never understand.

“First, I wanted to let you know they caught Alec. He confessed to setting the fire, to cover the fact he thought he accidentally killed you. He’ll be going to jail for a long time. Lucky for him, because I was going to hold him down while Brishen staked him.”

Raven nodded. “What about Ellen?”

Trev sat down on the bed and pulled her across his chest. Stroking her hair, he marveled at this special woman. His woman. His life. “Only you could worry about the wife of the man who almost killed you, accidentally or not.”

“Ellen’s only mistake was loving unwisely. And she has a baby, Trev.”

He leaned back, tasting emotions he didn’t want to revisit: a mother with a small child left alone to raise the little boy. Yes, it was only one, compared to his mother
who had struggled with three, but still…“I know. Despite the child being Alec’s, I can no more condemn it to a life of hardship. I’ve already spoken to Des. We’ll set up a trust for the child and make support payments to help raise it, until we see if Ellen lands on her feet.”

Raven nodded, then she glanced up. “Thank you.”

He gave her a sad smile. He supposed it would be a long time until his smiles weren’t haunted as well. He’d come too damn close to losing Raven. That was going to take time to get over. Maybe a lifetime.

“No need to thank me. While it was Alec’s doing, it did feel like a bit of history repeating itself. Your grandfather condemned the Mershans to a life of hardship. I’m not about to play his role again, to have a child grow up hating Trevelyn Mershan because I destroyed his daddy. I break the circle here and now.”

“But Alec’s actions were his own,” she argued. “He made his own choices.”

“I guess by the same token, despite what your grandfather did, my father’s action was his own. He made his choices. It’s still too much alike, that I want to prevent the same cycle of hatred and bitterness. I did ruin Alec. In his mind, I gave him no way out. I am not without blame. Perhaps if I had offered him a good paying job in Mershan, none of this would have happened. I am not the saint Jago is.”

“No what-ifs, Trev. No wasting life on them.” She snuggled closer. “What’s going to happen with the takeover?”

“It will happen. Only, Des has found B.A. is worth more than setting right the past. Instead of a hostile takeover, it will be a kinder, gentler merger. After all, the Mershans are going to marry three of the Montgomerie sisters. Let Des and Cian hammer out the details, I’d like to talk about
our
merger. What do you think—getting married on St. Patrick’s day? We could tie green bows around Chester and Pye, maybe even Marvin and Atticus.”

She finally gave him a real smile. “I think that’s doable.”

“You know I found another version of Little Red Riding Hood. I thought you might be interested,” he teased.

Her face brightened. “Really?”

“Yes. Basically it’s the same story, but with Red and the Wolf getting married and living happily ever after. And there was a line or two missing from the crucial dialogue.”

“Oh?” She reached up and ran her finger along his jaw. “Pray tell, what?”

“There is a line where Red faces the wolf and he tells her, ‘My, what a big heart I have.’” Trev laughed and then finished his version, the
right
version. “To which Mr. Big Bad then adds—hang on to your hats—‘All the better to love you with.’”

He kissed her then, shaking with need for this woman and knowing he was a blessed man indeed.