Aurora's Promise (35 page)

Aurora
humphed
and crossed her arms. “Well, that just
makes it all clear as mud for me.”

His smile deepened and he cupped the side of her face. Pure
joy flowed out of him, swathing her and their child in hope and security. “One
of the curses my ancestors laid on our land was the removal from our women the
ability to manifest most powers, which is why the gods have been generous in
every generation at granting sons as heirs for the protection of our lands.
They are lifting that curse through you. The shame that has been on my House
from the Five Brothers is being pardoned. A daughter as a firstborn seals it.”

With the utmost care, he splayed his broad hand over her
belly. “Do you think she’ll inherit your powers?”

“If generations as far back as memory serves prove it, then
yes, without a doubt. Actually, I think she’ll inherit both of ours and be even
stronger. I’m not sure what this world does to magic, but mine seemed to surge
the moment I stepped through the portal.”

The triumph cleared from his expression and he held her gaze
with such deep emotion it made her ache with the love she had for him.

“You need to know that to me, our child isn’t just a divine
assertion of a prophecy,” he said, “and you’re not just a destiny.”

She covered his hand with hers. “I know. I’ve always
believed in the promise of both love and destiny.”

Tenderly he brushed his lips softly over hers. “This is more
than a promise. The truth is—”

Aurora blinked up at him when he lifted his head abruptly,
breaking the kiss.

“Yes?” she asked. “The truth is what?”

He stared down at her, suddenly knowing that holding her in
his arms— everything she was, had been and would be—he held his entire world.

“I accept you,” he said, fully aware that the words were too
few, too small to give him any hope that she would understand what he was truly
trying to say even before the sound of them had faded into the night. He shook
his head. “More than that. You are my life. All to me. Everything.” He stopped.
He was rambling and had yet to find the words that could capture what he felt.
He closed his eyes in frustration, searching for another way to clarify this
reality
he needed her to know. When he opened his eyes, prepared to try again, the look
on her face eradicated every last fear, every last need to explain.

Her smile was the dawn he’d been living his entire life in
darkness waiting for. Her words illuminating as the sun itself rising on his
soul. They echoed through her opened heart and found their certain home in his.
“I love you too.”

Amy cradled Chloe in her arms, singing the silly nonsense
song that her daughter loved as she rocked her to sleep. She paused to kiss the
soft red curls on her baby’s head and Chloe murmured sleepily, clutching her
blanket and pressing her sweet angelic face into Amy’s breast. Working hard not
to let her panic seep into the song, Amy continued to rock and make up verses
along the theme Chloe had picked tonight, a brave knight who rode a big pink
bunny and collected balloons for children.

She glanced over at Jordyn, the man who had grabbed both her
and her child and rushed them away from the Riverwalk. He’d been gentle but
unyielding as he guided them away from the Predator, but she didn’t for one
moment believe they were safe. He’d perfunctorily introduced himself but had
said little else. Not that he’d had the chance over Chloe’s wailing. It had
taken quite some time to get her settled down enough to stop crying, fed and
asleep.

They’d been ushered into the hotel room and he’d ordered
room service, making a few phone calls while she cared for Chloe. Now, with the
lights turned low, he reclined in another chair across the room with his eyes
closed, but she knew he wasn’t asleep. She doubted he ever slept very deeply.
In that way, he reminded her of Andrew.

The thought of her husband, though dead now over two years,
still had the ability to tear at her heart. He’d been such a good man. A
soldier to his very marrow, loyal and solid, and had loved her like no other.
He’d have loved Chloe the same way if he had been given the chance. Her voice
caught and trembled over the words of her song.

Jordyn opened his eyes and looked straight at her. Accented
by his thick, dark lashes, the silvery gray of his irises seemed to gleam with
a hot, intense light all their own. An unbidden awareness fluttered to life low
in her belly. The sensual sensation slowly unfurling and spreading under her
skin surprised her and then alarmed her. She hadn’t had sex or the desire for
it since Andrew had died.

Abruptly she looked back down at Chloe and took up the song
again, though the child had fallen fast asleep. This feeling wasn’t sexual. It
couldn’t be. She wouldn’t let it be. It was the aftereffects of having
adrenaline pumping through her body from the flight from the Predators. Not
that the man sitting across the room from her wasn’t sexy as hell in a very
strong and silent way. Not to mention in a slightly scary way.

Good god. All the Ilyrian men she had seen today were scary,
their gorgeous faces and god-like bodies not withstanding. But a handsome face
and cut abdominals didn’t mean a woman could trust a man. That was a lesson
she’d learned early and taken to heart.

What had she been thinking? They’d been foolish to plan an
escape to Ilyria and she’d been the most foolish of all. After the Predator
attack, she’d been so damn frightened that she’d jumped at the chance to take
Chloe to a place where Predators were guarded against. A place where when you
tried to explain what one looked like when it attacked, the authorities didn’t
look at you as if you might need a visit to the closest mental facility.

But after today, that had all changed. Ellen had been right
not to trust the Kilth. The look of horror on the man’s face was unmistakable
when he saw her daughter and Aurora holding her. The shock at finding what he
thought was one of their precious Mystic daughters already “mated” told her all
she needed to know. Her daughter would not be welcomed in her mother’s
homeworld and Amy would not leave her behind. She might have to fight off
Predators by herself in this world, but she had and could. At least she wouldn’t
be fighting against a royal family whose power reached throughout an entire
world.

She snuggled Chloe closer, inhaling the smell of baby powder
and hotel shampoo. Glancing up, she stole another look at Jordyn. His eyes were
once more closed. Escape would be easier without a toddler in tow, but it was
not impossible. The soldier the Kilth had sent after her and her daughter
appeared to be a formidable opponent. Strong, fast and intelligent, he was
still just one man. She had faced and won against worse odds when the stakes
weren’t nearly so high.

Relaxing slightly, she pressed her shoulders back into the
chair, trying to find a more comfortable position. She’d always been good at
thinking on her feet, adjusting her plan and improvising. One thing today had
taught her, Ilyria was not the safe haven she had hoped and even
longed
for it to be.

She pushed the yearning for her homeworld resolutely away.
It didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered, truly mattered, was that she and
her daughter were alive and together. She’d reinvented herself several times
through the years, always reaching for a better life. So once again, she’d
build a new life and hope again. Only this time, she’d have her daughter to
share it with.

“Is she dead?”

Frowning, Captain Kilth leaned over the woman crumpled at
his feet and checked her pulse. “I’m sorry to report,” he said straightening, “she’s
not.”

“She’ll live?”

“Unfortunately.” He motioned forward several of his men
who had appeared with him and formed a circle around the scene. They picked up
the woman and carted her gracelessly back into the house. “Though you gave it
your best effort from what I saw.”

Unsure as to whether that was meant as a compliment or
reprimand, Phoebe glared at the man she thought she had left behind several
days ago. “It was never my intention to do permanent damage. I was simply
trying to escape.” She glanced around at the four men still ringed about them.

“There’s no need for that now,” Captain Kilth assured
her, taking her by the arm and firmly guiding her down one of the garden paths
that ran behind her family’s large country house. Both held their silence until
they were well-hidden behind the shrubbery some distance from the back windows’
view. “This is your primary residence?”

“It used to be. It belonged to my father but was left to
my uncle upon his death.”

He stopped and turned her to face him. “And upon your
uncle’s death?”

She shrugged and tried to dislodge her elbow from his
hand but he held her firmly. “Is there any particular reason for this morbid
line of questioning?”

A strand of hair had come loose during her struggle with
her uncle’s mistress and now was hanging over her left eye. Very slowly, he
reached up and curled it around his finger. Impatiently, she tugged it off his
finger and tucked it behind her ear. She didn’t trust the look on his face.

“Why was that woman attacking you?”

“My sudden reappearance from death garnered a less than
enthusiastic reception from my uncle. Apparently he had plans for my
inheritance that my untimely reemergence from the grave impeded. At least
according to his mistress. My uncle seems to have fled with any number of items
from the house early this morning.”

“The woman you were fighting with is your uncle’s mistress?”

“Yes. Vile woman.” Anger rose anew in her breast as she
recalled Margaret’s screeching allegations this morning and the look of horror
on her uncle’s face last night. “She accused me of ruining them when I was the
victim of a brutal kidnapping—”

“Brutal? I believe you were treated quite well.”

“And murder plot,” she continued ignoring his
interruption as if he had never spoken. “And she blames me for Edward’s misery
and financial straits.” She looked up at him, fury still pounding in her ears. “He
had meant to have me killed on that ship! He lied about my betrothal. It was
all simply a ruse to get me aboard. Did you know that captain had actually been
hired to shoot me?”

“I did know that.”

That piece of news startled her. “What? And you didn’t
tell me?”

“So you could do what?”

She glared up at him. He looked far too arrogant for her
peace of mind. “I would have done
something
…” Her voice trailed off as
his confession registered. “Wait a minute. How did you know?”

“When he raised his revolver to shoot, the man aimed at
you and not me. Plus, I was paid to kidnap you and make sure you never returned
to England, so it didn’t come as a complete surprise to find out that mine was
not the only arrangement set up to ensure your imminent demise.”

“You were paid to kidnap me?” Phoebe’s voice rose in
disbelief. “Paid to…to…” She gestured to her body as her tongue suddenly felt
twisted and unresponsive.

“Paid to get rid of you. The details were up to me. That
I enjoyed your body as well was wholly my choice.” He paused and watched her
face. “That upsets you?”

Phoebe jerked her arm hard to free herself from his hand.
She felt lightheaded and slightly ill. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the
feeling aside. “Of course not. What else should I expect from a pirate?”

Brusquely, she brushed out the wrinkles in her skirt from
her skirmish with Margaret Chadwick and sidestepped around the hulking man in
front of her. Immediately he moved to cut off her exit.

“Would it improve your disposition to know that there is
more to the story?”

“No.” Phoebe gathered her skirts and stepped around him
again and took off down the path at a brisk pace. “And my disposition is
fine,
”
she snapped without turning around. Considering she’d just been attacked by her
uncle’s mistress, discovered that her only living relative not only wished her
dead but had planned quite extensively to accommodate that desire and been
manhandled by Captain Kilth
again, she was quite pleased that she hadn’t
turned into a raving lunatic.

He drew even with her in two strides. “It seems to me
that your disposition is a little shrewish today,” he commented
matter-of-factly.

She whirled on him, wishing for one furious moment that
she were a man and could knock him flat to the ground. “By all means feel free
to leave this estate and remove yourself from the range of my unpalatable
temperament.” Turning on her heel, she quickened her steps away from him.

His abrupt, genuine laugh surprised her. “By all that is
holy, I have truly missed you.”

Fast as the crack of a whip, he caught her from behind,
spun her around and wrapped her in his arms, pinning her to his chest. His
mouth came down on hers in a kiss that consumed her thoughts and blazed through
any objections. Resisting the kiss, protesting the possessive sweep of his hands
down her back or defying the heat of his embrace was not a thought or an
option. Before she had started breathing again she was falling into the kiss.
Into the endless passion that swallowed her each time she was in his arms. Time
spiraled around her and instantly she was far removed from the nightmare her
return home had become.

Abruptly he pulled back, looked down at her, his gray
eyes dark and intense. “Marry me.”

Phoebe frowned up at him, finding it hard to focus on his
words with her carnal senses rioting wildly. She blinked and stared up at him,
knowing she couldn’t have really heard the words that she thought she had.
Surely there wasn’t a man alive who would have the gall to propose marriage
after all that he’d done.

He gave her a little shake. “Marry me.”

“What?!” Phoebe’s shriek startled a flock of birds from a
nearby tree as she struggled against his hold. Every last shred of desire shot
out of her, replaced first by shock and then by fury. She twisted out of his
hands and stumbled backward into a large bush. He steadied her and turned her
to face him, at the same time positioning her so she was cornered against the
thick wall of shrubbery. “That’s why you’re here?”

His eyebrows rose and he nodded calmly.

“You are insane,” she said. “Completely so if you think
there is even the smallest chance—”

Suddenly she found herself pressed hard against his body
and being kissed again.

When he finally lifted his head, she sucked in a deep
breath. “Stop that!” she hissed as she tried her best to catch her breath and
her wits.

With a smile he said, “Not for at least fifty years or
more, my love.”

His words, so coolly stated, started something shaking
deep inside her. Pummeled at her resistance and dared her dying hope back to
life. A hope she had recognized as the infantile and foolish fantasies of an
innocent grasping at ridiculous dreams. Life and homicidal relatives had a way
of removing fanciful expectations.

Nervously, she glanced around. Edward had let go nearly
all of the estate staff and even if she did scream, the only probable people to
hear would be Kilth’s own men. “Are you planning to kidnap me again?” she
asked.

Since he was still holding her quite tightly against him,
his shrug lifted her own shoulders up to her ears. “It’s not my first plan of
action.”

The tension tightening around her spine loosened a
fraction.

“Your uncle owed me a large amount of money—”

She shook her head with such vehemence one of her hair
pins flew out and struck him on the cheek. “He won’t pay ransom. So you—”

“I don’t need his money. I have plenty. And my men have
taken care of Edward. He’s no longer a concern of yours. I’m simply trying to
explain so that your head will accept me.”

“My head?”

He leaned forward and kissed her softly just beneath her
ear, creating a shiver that started there and then ran the length of her body.

“You can’t allow yourself to accept the man you think I
am. But you love me, Phoebe Ballantine.”

“What?” She gasped so sharply, so deeply that her head
went dizzy. “No. You’re delusional. And if you—”

He kissed her again, on her mouth, her cheek, her throat.
Kisses that were demanding and giving, scorching and sweet. Against her will
she was melting into him, arching against him, opening and heating for him.

Gently he pulled back. “Phoebe?”

“Hmm?” Her bones felt as firm as warm wax.

“Listen to me, sweetheart. I head a consortium of
investors and your uncle, using your father’s good, extremely good, name,
attempted to swindle a lot of money out of some friends of mine. On a hunch, I
came here to investigate. By the time I got here though, your father had passed
and your uncle had decided the easiest way to your fortune was to rid himself
of one very pretty niece.”

Phoebe turned her face away from the fingers tracing over
her cheek. “That’s ridiculous. He had access to it all. My father left him in
charge until I married and then my inheritance would be transferred directly to
my husband. Until I wed, I was only to receive a small percentage upon my
birthdays according to the solicitor that executed my father’s—”

“I’m afraid he was bribed by your uncle as well in return
for a portion of your estate. Your uncle was only to receive half of the family’s
estate that had been handed down from your grandfather to your father. The
majority of your father’s wealth he accumulated on his own. All of which was to
come to you directly.”

Phoebe was stunned. Disbelieving. “How do I know what you
say isn’t simply imagination and gossip? And if you aren’t a pirate, why would
you kidnap me in the first place? Not to mention keeping me hostage for months.
I highly doubt a
consortium
would approve of such tactics.”

For the first time since she’d known the man, he actually
looked ill at ease with the conversation. She decided to push her advantage. “Do
they even
know
that you kidnapped me?”

“I don’t answer to them. And your situation was unique.”

She snorted.

“Woman,” he growled, “if I hadn’t kidnapped you, you
would have been taken by someone else far less trustworthy—”

“Trustworthy!”

“Damn it, Phoebe. I couldn’t let you go, not until I knew
exactly what your uncle was up to, what the danger was to you and how far his
reach extended. I wasn’t going to let you go until I knew you would be safe.”

“And seducing me was part of this gallant plan of yours?”

His lips tightened and it took him a moment to answer. “No.
Initially, I only intended to remove you from the situation until I could deal
with Edward.”

An unexplainable rush of disappointment rained through
Phoebe. “I see. And now because you took advantage of me, you feel you should
make an honest woman out of me. How very chivalrous of you,” she said with the
strongest disdain she could muster with her lips still tingling from his
kisses.

“It’s not chivalry. It’s desperation. I don’t want you
running from me again. Do you know what it did to me when I found you had
climbed out of the window at the inn?”

She smiled with satisfaction. She’d had to strip down to
her chemise and push the rest of her clothes out the window ahead of her so she’d
fit, and even then it’d been a tight squeeze. “Sorry to have ruined your fun
and games—”

“I am running out of patience. All I have told you is
true and you have yet to answer my question.”

“What question? Marriage? Ha! I don’t even know your real
name.”

“Lord Connyn Kilth.”

Phoebe nearly choked. “Lord?”

He nodded.

“You’ve given me no proof. I don’t believe you.” Easier
that than to believe she had unwittingly played courtesan to a man of such high
ranking. “Now let go of me before I—”

“Before you what? Announce to the world you’ve been my
mistress for the last twelve weeks and then were asked to become my wife?
Besides the envy of a multitude of women, what would you expect to gain?”

“Mistress! Mult—what?” A fiery fury snapped up her spine.
She swung at him with all her might, aiming for his head, his chest, anything
she could reach. “You are
such
a horrible man. I detest you with every
final fiber of my being down to the last strand of hair on my head and I will
never—”

Dodging her flying fists, he kissed her again, swift and
hard. “Don’t say anything you’ll soon regret,” he warned before kissing her
again until she was panting and clutching at him. His hands molded her body to
his, sweeping down her back to cup her bottom. Pressed against him in such a
manner, she felt the need he had for her. Conditioned by weeks of desire
fulfilled, her body yearned for his, to feel him inside her, filling and
stretching her. On a moan, her head dropped back when he dipped down to kiss
the swell of her breast above her bodice.