Emerald Ecstasy (37 page)

Then she heard the crashing of glass and someone from the east wing of the house scream, “Fire! Fire!” Sounds of running feet filled her ears. Dear God, not a fire! she thought wildly and wondered how she'd escape. She heard Raoul's voice calling for water and urging the help to hurry, that the kitchen was in flames.

Lianne attempted to move off the bed. Perhaps if she made it to the open patio doors, she'd be safe outside. At that moment, Daniel bounded into the room. He was dressed in a black shirt, opened at the neck, with matching pants and boots.

“We don't have much time,” he whispered and folded the blanket about her, then scooped her into his arms. “The fire was a diversion to keep the guards at the back of the house busy. Felix waits on the street with the carriage. Are you strong enough to hold me around the neck?” he asked, and she noted he looked worried.

“I'm always strong enough to hold you,” she said and nipped his earlobe.

Daniel grinned. “Plenty of time for that later, my love, but for now I'm kidnapping you.”

“How delicious,” she mumbled and buried her head against his chest as he hurried from the house to the safety of the carriage.

The garret room above the Academy of San Carlos was where Daniel brought Lianne. Felix quickly disappeared into the night with the carriage after they were inside the academy. But when Daniel had lit the candles on the table and she sat on the bed, a light tapping on the other side of the door jolted her. He smiled at her in an attempt to allay her fears and opened the door to Manuel Tolsa.

The tall Mexican stepped inside and he bowed to her, but Lianne sensed his tenseness by the hard set of the man's jaw.

“Everything went well, I gather,” he said to Daniel.

“You see the results for yourself.” Daniel grinned and took Lianne's hand.

Manuel nodded, but his eyes held no pleasure. “I think you must find another place to hide your lady, my friend. You may stay the night, but I can't risk de Lovis finding her here. The man contributes large sums of money to the academy and considers himself a collector of the arts. No matter what he has done, I cannot afford his ill will.”

A vein throbbed in Daniel's temple. His face matched the black of his shirt, but he offered Manuel his hand. “
Gracias, amigo.
In the morning we shall be gone.”

Manuel bowed and gallantly kissed Lianne's other hand. Then he left the room and they heard his footsteps fade away down the empty hallway.

“Where will we go?” she asked when Daniel didn't say anything.

He rubbed his chin in thought. “I'll find a place for us. Don't worry.” His face brightened when he looked at her. With gentleness he touched her chin and brought her lips near his. Then he kissed her with such a tender warmth that she melted against him.

“Oh, Daniel,” she breathed his name and wound her arms around his neck. “I can't believe we're together. I've missed you so much!”

“We'd have been together sooner except for that stinking bastard de Lovis! When I think of all he's put you through. And now to drug you.” He held her face between his hands. “As soon as you're better, we're leaving Mexico for home.”

This was what she wanted more than anything, but her delight was tempered with fear. “Raoul will find us. You have no idea how powerful he is, Daniel, or what he's capable of.”

“I can guess,” he said bitterly. “But we're not going to sneak away like thieves, Lianne. I took you from him to protect you, to help you recover. But when I know you're all right, we don't run away in the night. We leave in daylight and if the bastard thinks to stop us, I'll kill him or anyone he hires to do his dirty work.”

She leaned against him, suddenly feeling drained. She liked the musky scent of him, the hardness of his chest against her soft cheek, the way his chest hairs tickled her soft lips. A pleasant tingling sensation started between her thighs, and when she lifted her eyes to his, she saw desire shadowed in them. But instead of fanning the flame between them, he put her away from him and ordered her to get under the covers.

“I want you fully recovered before we make love again, Lianne.”

His concern touched her. She truly loved this man, loved him more than she ever thought it was possible to love another human being. For her, he put his life in jeopardy. Though he seemed not to be aware of this, she knew he had to know Raoul's reputation.

“Would you lie next to me?” she asked like a little girl. “I've missed you,
chérie
.”

The candlelight illumined the flash of a smile. She watched him undress completely, then blow out the candles and join her in bed. The long length of his naked body stretched next to hers which was clad in the thin nightgown. His arms pulled her toward him, holding her in the warmth of his love. Her satiny fingers stroked his naked forearms.

“I'll be well very soon,” she whispered.

“I hope so, sweetheart, or we'll have to find a place by a cold mountain stream.”

The next morning after an Aztec servant who could be trusted to remain quiet about the inhabitants of the garret room had brought them chocolate and boiled eggs for breakfast. Daniel insisted she stay in bed while he scoured the city for a place for them.

She clutched at his shirt front when he bent to kiss her goodbye. “Be careful. Raoul has spies everywhere.”

“I'll take extra care, my love. You mustn't worry. No harm will come to me,” he insisted. She had no other recourse but to believe him, and after he left, she grew bored lying in bed.

The bright rays of the sun shone through the high windows, and for the first time since the miscarriage, she felt well and strong enough to get out of bed on her own power. The drug, she realized, must have finally worn off. She shivered in dread to think how obsessed Raoul was with her. To drug her again for God's sake! She wondered again about Elena. Had he killed the poor woman? Would he kill her, too, because she had left him? She didn't wish to think about him or what might happen if he found her, what he'd do to Daniel. She knew Daniel could hold his own with Raoul, but Raoul was such an insidious man, a person who could smile at his victim while someone like Diego knifed the victim from behind. All she wanted was to be totally free of Raoul de Lovis and return to Green Meadows with Daniel, to live life with their child. Was that so much to ask?

She moved about the room with small steps. On one side of the room she noticed dozens of canvases. Bending down to sort through them, she saw that every one of them was of her. She realized Daniel must have sketched the drawings at Green Meadows then painted them on the canvas later. Tears misted her eyes, because Daniel had painted her as a goddess, a woman of incredible beauty, an inner purity. Was this how he truly saw her? She felt sordid and dirty. Raoul had changed her opinion of herself in the last year, and she guessed that was part of the reason she wanted to protect Daniel. Not only from Raoul, but from the woman he had made her. She didn't feel worthy of Daniel's love, or of the way he steadfastly refused time and again to believe she didn't want him.

She wondered what would happen once they returned to Louisiana. Would Raoul follow and convince the authorities that she had murdered Philippe and faked her own death? He was powerful enough and rich enough to arrange her execution. She shook her head. “No, I won't think about these things,” she told herself and concentrated on the paintings.

She found a sketch book buried beneath an old shirt which Daniel wore while painting. Again, she felt surprise to discover that the sketches were of her and some of Désirée. But a hot flush stained her cheeks at one of them. “How dare he!” she breathed in indignation, but was secretly amused and flattered at a small sketch Daniel had done of her naked. She remembered a time when she and Daniel were together in the French Quarter house. They had just made love and to her aggravation, he began to sketch. She had asked to see what he was drawing, but he refused to show it to her. Now she knew why. What a devil he was!

She heard the rattle of the doorknob, and standing up, she waited with an amused smile on her lips, determined to pretend she was outraged at the sketch. However, when the door opened, Raoul stood in the doorway.

“So this is all your lover can offer you. I'm disappointed,
querida
. To think I have given you jewels, furs, and you prefer a humble artist's garret.”

The room spun, and Lianne steadied herself against the table which was still littered with the breakfast dishes. Though Raoul smiled, she could tell he was angry. The black patch stood out against the sudden stark whiteness of his usually dark complexion.

“How did you find me?” she asked in a strong voice which surprised her.

He came into the room, filling it with his glittering black gaze. “Diego is an excellent spy,
querida
. He saw your lover dash into the carriage with you and followed you here. I was much disappointed to realize you didn't care for my hospitality, but I allowed you a night with your lover. See, I'm not such a monster.”

She suddenly had a mental image of Felix. “What about Felix?” she asked with dread in her voice.

“Ah, the
lepero
.” Raoul put his thin forefinger to his lips. “He was in much pain for a while, but he will live. For the rest of his life, he'll work like a slave among the Indians at my silver mine in Pachuca. He was lucky I didn't kill him, but I know how fond you've grown of him.”

“I hate you!” Lianne spat.

Raoul shrugged in a dismissive gesture. “So? I'm used to that by now.”

“I won't return with you. You can't force me to go back to the house with you.”

“Lianne, you're my wife, and soon I want sons from you.”

“And I want to be free of you! I want to marry Daniel. I love him.”

He dashed toward her and towered over her like a dark crow. His fingers snaked around her upper arm and bruised her flesh. “I hear your words of love for Daniel in my sleep,” he said. “And I am sick to death of them. You love him, well, show me how much you love him. Do you want him to live, Lianne? Do you want your Daniel to raise your child, to die an old man in his bed?”

“What are you saying?” she asked him but feared she knew the answer.

His grip tightened. “If you love him as much as you say, then you'll walk out of here with me. There will be no love notes of farewell, no parting tears. You simply come with me and leave Daniel to think what he likes. Otherwise, if you try to see him again, his life will be ended.”

“You'll kill him as you did Elena?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Elena suffered a merciful end in comparison to what will happen to your Daniel. Believe me, Lianne,” he hissed. “Your child will never see her father again.”

Raoul knew all the right strings to pull. He knew she'd never resist if Daniel's life, her child's welfare, hung in the balance.

When he felt her go slack, he knew he had won. Without a word, he went to the doorway and snapped his fingers. Immediately Josephine appeared with one of Lianne's gowns under her arm. He took it from the woman and threw it at Lianne. The violet silk lay in a crumpled heap at her feet.

“Wear this and hurry about it!” he snapped. “The carriage waits outside for our trip to San Augustin de las Cuevas.”

Daniel was wild, filled with an unbridled fury as he threw the contents of the room around, as if by disturbing the bedclothes, the furniture, the paintings, he could find Lianne hiding in a corner somewhere. He expected her to appear at any second. Hadn't he held her in his arms only hours earlier? Now, she was gone, plucked away from him by a monster as if she were a toy.

“I'm sorry, Daniel,” Manuel Tolsa said and attempted to calm him with his soothing voice. “I couldn't refuse Don Raoul entrance. The man is too powerful to be turned away.”

“You mean you didn't want to lose his patronage or the money which fills the academy's coffers.” Daniel's eyes blazed like blue flames.

Manuel sighed and positioned himself in the doorway. “I admit the truth, Daniel. De Lovis contributes much to the academy. I'm as mercenary as anyone else. But the woman you love is the wife of Raoul de Lovis. Admit to yourself you've lost her. She can never belong to you.”

Daniel threw a canvas he held against the wall instead of at Manuel whom he felt was responsible for allowing Raoul to saunter into the academy and steal Lianne away. The man had given him his word that Lianne would be safe. He had trusted him, leaving her in his care while he sought a place for them to stay until she recovered her strength. Just an hour ago he had made arrangements to rent a house on the outskirts of the city. But nothing mattered now. Lianne was gone.

“She may be his wife,” Daniel told Manuel, his face contorted in pain, “but she loves me.”

“Be that as it may, de Lovis will never set her free. I am your friend, whether you think it or not, and as your friend, I warn you to leave Mexico and forget this woman.”

Daniel managed a small smile. Manuel didn't know him at all or recognize the stubborn set of his jaw which clearly indicated his Irish heritage. At that moment he realized he was a lot like his father. He'd never give up his dream of Lianne, as his father had never given up the dream of acquiring the Flannery estates from the English. At that moment he understood his father better, and his brother. Sometimes you had to be like the proverbial dog who fastened his teeth around a bone, he thought.