Always (19 page)

“
Here’s your dinner.” Marcus gestured to the waiting tray.

I didn’t think I would be able to eat a single bite, but as soon as Marcus lifted the silver lid, my stomach rumbled loudly. The food on the plate smelled delicious. I glanced up at Marcus and was surprised by his look of disgust.

“
Won’t you eat?” I asked him.

“
I’m not hungry. I… ate when we stopped earlier.”

“
You did?” I hadn’t realized we had even stopped long enough to eat. Why hadn’t he offered me anything?

“
And anyways, I need to leave for a little while.”

“
You’re leaving?” My shoulders fell dramatically.

“
I came to London for a reason, Claudia.” He backed a few steps towards the door. “I need to take care of that.”

“
You’re leaving me here alone?”

“
Hardly,” he snorted. “Sylvia and David will be here. If you need anything, you can call on them.” He gave me a small smile and disappeared quickly through the door.

Dejected and disappointed again, I sank down to the couch. I couldn’t even think about eating now. I pushed the tray away from me with a heavy sigh.

I got up slowly and found my trunk that had been brought up to my room. I shifted through it until I found my only remaining nightgown. After I had it on, I sat in front of the vanity mirror and ran a heavy silver brush through my long curls.

Sylvia found me there, still brushing my hair. “I thought you’d be sleeping,” she said softly.

“
I was waiting for Marcus.”

She took the brush from my hands and began where I had left off. “He won’t be back tonight.”

“
What?” I turned wide eyes to her sympathetic ones. “How do you know that? Did he tell you that? Is he here now?”

She shook her head with a sad smile. How pathetic I must have looked to her. “He told me he has urgent…business that keeps him away. He’ll be back in the morning.”

“
Why…isn’t he coming…back here tonight?” My voice broke several times.

It had been an emotional day, one that was never going to end. Before she left, Sylvia tucked me snuggly under my blanket. I was thankful that my tears stayed away until after she left.

No one needed to see me break down, again.

When I opened my eyes again, I was slightly disoriented. I struggled to sit up as I tried to remember where I was. My breathing was labored and my sides hurt. As I wrinkled my forehead in confusion, a pain shot through my eyes that made me flinch. I brought my hand up to somehow push the pain away and groaned.

“
Will you live?” a deep voice asked from the shadows.

“
Ahhh!” I exclaimed. “Who are you?” I demanded in the next breath. Where was Marcus? Why had he allowed this man into my room?

He chuckled darkly, but didn’t reveal himself.

“
Rueben!” someone called up the stairs. My head whirled around to the direction of the door and the pain that followed left me seeing white spots. My crying fit last night had done me more harm than anything else. The door flung open suddenly and there stood Sylvia, furious and beautiful. “Are you trying to scare her?” she demanded. She flipped on the light with little warning. I flinched back from the brightness.

Through squinted slits, I watched the man sitting on a chair by my bed raise his shoulders and stand up gracefully. Understanding refused to come to me. I considered going back to sleep. “You have to get up now,” she said in clipped tones. She still glared at the man; I wondered why she was telling him to get up, he was already standing.

She swung her eyes to my face. “Did you hear me?” she asked with no patience. “You have to get up now,” she repeated; only this time she was looking at me so there was no mistake about who she was talking to.

“
Where are we going?” I asked weakly. I wanted to ask her the other questions that were circulating through my head, but she was already ready to take the blankets off me.

“
Claudia, you don’t have permission to stay here,” she said around a sigh.

“
Permission?” I asked stupidly. Permission from who?

Even as I asked, she was pulling clothes from the closet at a dizzying speed. “Come on,” she said. I could almost hear her foot tapping on the carpeted floor.

What was wrong with Marcus and his cousins? Marcus had stayed away the entire night, then allowed a strange man to come into my room while I slept–and now Sylvia was acting strange. What was she talking about permission? Marcus had already said we were staying here–hadn’t he said this was the Letrell House?

“
But I don’t understand,” I raised myself slowly off the bed. “Isn’t this your house?”

“
No,” she snapped. “It’s not my house. Look, Claudia, I don’t make the rules–I think they are as stupid as you do, but that doesn’t change things.”

“
What rules?” I was getting more confused the longer she talked.

“
It’s not a big deal that you are here, but the situation,” she cast a sideways look at the door, “isn’t ideal.”

“
It’s not,” I was still stuttering, trying to catch up. Just last night, Marcus had said… hadn’t he said?

She licked her lips in a nervous gesture. “You have to go see,” she paused and took a quick breath, “You have to go see Silango.” She half whispered his name. I thought I heard a hiss outside the bedroom door, but she paid no attention to it.

“
Who?”

“
Just get dressed,” she said with an elegant roll of her eyes. “You,” she pointed to the man she had called Rueben, “Out.”

I hadn’t even realized he was still in the room. I pulled the covers up self-consciously. He didn’t say a word; he just ducked his head and obeyed Sylvia. I couldn’t say that I blamed him.

“
Here,” she put some clothes at the end of the bed and came to help me get the nightgown over my head. I raised my arms obediently.

When our eyes met, I felt strangely safe. After everything that had changed with Marcus, I was suddenly more grateful than ever that Sylvia was there with me. I didn’t cry again as I wanted to; instead, I let Sylvia half dress me while I tried to help. I must have been too slow for her, though, because several times she snatched a garment out of my hands and put it on for me.

“
What is he like?” I whispered as we went down the steps.

“
Shh,” she whispered back.

At the foot of the stairs were Marcus, David, and the strange man who had been in my room earlier. I still felt wobbly and seeing them standing there didn’t help my nerves.

“
Marcus,” I smiled at him nervously, but he didn’t return the smile right away.

“
Did you sleep well, Claudia?” he asked stiffly.

“
Not particularly.”

He looked like he wanted to say more, but he only nodded and looked at the floor. “I’m sorry to hear that,” he murmured.

“
Who is Silango?” I blurted out.

He blanched pale and looked quickly at David. “I shouldn’t have brought you here,” he almost growled.

“
But you said…”

“
I know what I said.” He swallowed thickly. “That was last night though.”

What had changed since last night? I was still his wife. He still loved me–didn’t he? Worry pulled tightly at my lips. Maybe Marcus had changed his feelings for me. Did he regret marrying me? He had said he didn’t want to get married–ever.

I sucked in a deep breath. Nothing could be changed now. Even if he was having second thoughts about me–it was too late now.

Was this all because of this Silango character? It seemed as if he was the reason Marcus had changed. I squared my shoulders, determined to find out all I could about this unseen enemy. No way would I let him take my husband from me.

“
Why do I have to meet Silango? Who is he to you?”

“
I guess you’ll find out soon enough,” he sneered.

I bit my bottom lip as hard as I could, trying hard not to cry. It wouldn’t be right to cry in front of all these people, especially Rueben.

Marcus still hadn’t introduced us, but Rueben was standing close to his side. They obviously knew each other. I wondered if Marcus knew that Rueben had been in my room.

“
You ready to go?” David asked nervously. He gave me a small smile of encouragement, but I didn’t miss the look he shot Marcus.

“
Yeah,” I replied in a small voice.

Chapter
Twenty-One

The carriage pulled up to a very large and extravagant white house. Before I could get all the way out, Sylvia pulled me back in. “You’ll have to ask Silango yourself,” she whispered.

I shot a panicked look to Marcus, but he already had his back to me. “What do I say?” I asked Sylvia.

She shook her head. “It isn’t going to matter what you say.”

“
What?”

“
Come on, we’re here,” Marcus ordered from outside the carriage. Sylvia let go of my arm and followed me onto the street. Marcus glared at her with a dark look. I flinched back in fear, but Sylvia just met his glare head on.

“
Hey,” David cut them off from their silent battle, “let’s go in.” He gave me a halfhearted smile and led the way up to the large doors.

The door opened before David could knock on it. The others had already steeled their expressions and so I was the only one looking nervous when we entered the grand house. I kept my hands hung at my side, but only with extreme determination. It seemed more natural to have them wrapped around me in a protective cocoon.

The drapes in the house were kept drawn and there was only one candle lit in the foyer, so it was very dark. I struggled to adjust to the poor lighting; I really didn’t want to trip or fall. Sylvia kept a safe distance away from me. I looked around the room, searching for the still mysterious Silango.

“
Where is he?” I asked Sylvia.

She didn’t answer me, or even look my way. The others walked purposefully into the hall. I followed. “Who is it you are looking for?” came a distinctly male voice. I whirled around in surprise. His voice left me oddly breathless. A light came on suddenly, flooding the hall in an eerie brightness.

“
I think I was looking for you,” I answered as if I’d just run a long distance. A man was standing at the top of the staircase. He seemed like a character right out of the scary stories I had heard when I was a little girl still living in the States with my parents. No wonder he made Sylvia nervous.

His eyes were bright, almost translucent. I sucked in my breath while he stared at me. His hair was long, so blond that it was practically white. He had it pulled tightly back in a ponytail. His jaw was straight and defined. He jutted his pale chin out just slightly as he appraised me. His long, bony fingers strummed a steady beat on the railing.

“
What are you thinking, child?’ he said so softly that at first I wasn’t sure he had spoken at all.

My eyes must have nearly bulged out of my face. His stony lips curled into a hint of a smile. “Nothing,” I said automatically.

“
Hmm.” His eyes moved slowly from my feet up to my face. “Your name?’ he demanded.

“
Claudia Sinclair.” I was surprised that my voice came out so clear.

One of his eyebrows arched dramatically. “I was told that you had taken the name Letrell.” He descended the steps with exaggerated slowness.

“
Y…yes, I…I have.”

He stopped just inches away from me. The lines in his face were even more severe up close. I sucked in a deep gulp of air and held it there.

“
How do you find the life of Marcus’s wife?” he almost snarled out the last word.

I was absolutely positive that the truth would not be welcome here. I shrugged a little, unable to think of what I should say. “It’s fine,” I finally responded.

“
Fine?” Both eyebrows shot up. “Marcus,” he addressed Marcus without taking his eyes off of me, “you are not fulfilling your duties as a husband, it would seem.”

“
He’s…”

“
And such a lovely wife,” he didn’t acknowledge my strangled attempt to defend him, “you’d best not neglect her or someone is liable to steal her away.” One of his long fingers reached up to trace my jaw line in a feather light touch.