Forever Mine (5 page)

Not seeing any, he sprinted downward, downward and downward until he was in the main entrance of the hotel itself. Though he asked person after person after person if they had seen a young man in a top hot and a cloak, the shake of a head is all he got.

Gritting his teeth, he bolted out of the hotel and into the darkened street. Not a horse or a carriage was in sight.

It was as if the man had never been.

He staggered in disbelief, crushing the calling card that was still in his hand. The one person who appeared to know anything had slipped through his fingers. He had failed Augustine. He had failed her. Dearest God. There was no doubt that this was going to be the end of them as he knew it.

There are no guarantees. Only…
possibilities
.

And that, I am beginning to realize, may be quite enough for me.

-From the diary of Lady Augustine Jane Ascott

Augustine sank against the closest wall behind her and slid down its length when Leonard told her about the man. It was him. It had to be him. It was the same man with the top hat and cigar who had been lingering outside her brother’s window that night.

Maybe he hadn’t taken Nathaniel after all.

Maybe he had actually been trying to warn them.

Maybe this was bigger than she had ever realized.

Maybe Nathaniel was but a pawn in a…
war
.

But how? And why? It made no sense. Her father was but an earl with no direct line to the crown. Regardless, it was obvious more than one person appeared to be involved and it could endanger not only her life but…
Leonard’s
. Whoever these men were, they had already found her and Leonard. The kidnappers knew they were looking. They knew who she and Leonard were.

“Augustine,” Leonard whispered, kneeling beside her, his unshaven face twisting. “I’m sorry I let him go. I’m sorry I failed you.”

She swallowed and glanced toward him. “Failed me? No, Leonard. It is I who have failed you by dragging you into this.” All these months, he had barely slept, barely ate and only shaved when the valet insisted. The rest of his hours he had spent scouring the home Nathaniel had disappeared in, along with interviewing countless souls in her honor, even though she had never once promised him her hand or her heart, knowing it would only distract her from what she had come to do. Her burden had become his and it had to end. He needed peace. And so did she.

She had already long fallen in love with this man. Only it hadn’t been her undoing as she had thought. Leonard had rescued what little was left of her by holding her when she needed it, by kissing her when she needed it, by making her laugh when she needed it, and it was time she acknowledged him and all he meant to her. “He said that Nathaniel is not here. He said it with certainty?”

Leonard nodded.

“But he is alive?”

He nodded again. “If we are to believe him, yes.”

A pulsing knot clenched her stomach. “’Tis all I could have hoped for. For as long as he is alive, he knows who he is and knows from whence he came. He may be able to find us if given the chance. They cannot hold him indefinitely. He will turn against them in time. I know he will. He is a warrior at heart.” She paused. “So there is no other lead? He left you with no other information?”

“No. None. Aside from that…card. Nathaniel could be anywhere.”

A shaky breath escaped her as a tear traced its way down her cheek toward her nose. She swiped at it and knew it was over. One city she could have easily scoured. Thousands of cities all over the world and into every country she most certainly could not. It was time to admit defeat and set it aside before it altogether ended in the death of the man she had grown to savagely love.

She hesitated and slipped her arm around his broad shoulder, drawing him close. “We will inform the crown’s investigators of our findings thus far, including this card he gave you. Maybe they can make sense of it. Whatever else comes of it, will come of it. Regardless, you and I have done everything we could. As such, we return home before this destroys the last of you and me. All I ask, Leonard, is that we not tell my mother what we have found. We tell her we know nothing if she asks and carry on separately from my father altogether. That is how we protect ourselves and our children from this day forth.”

He stiffened and captured her gaze. “What?”

She smiled brokenly through tears and grabbed hold of his stubbled face. “It is time we honor ourselves by starting a family, Leonard. The sort of family we deserve. The sort of family Nathaniel would have wanted to be part of. Maybe one day, he will find us and put this to rest. Yes?”

He blinked rapidly. He lifted a hand, delicately stroking his thumb across her lips. “By God. I thought I was going to lose you to this. I thought—”

“You thought wrong,” she confided against the weight of his fingers that still touched her lips. “I will always hold on to the hope that he will be found, but you mean far too much to me and I am not about to endanger yet another person I love. Through it all, you have given me the strength to believe that anything is possible and I cannot thank you enough for having been everything I needed you to be. Have I told you how much I love you?”

He paused and slowly shook his head, a breath escaping him at what she knew was a long-awaited declaration.

“I do,” she confided. “I love you and would be honored to be your wife in soul, body and name. I only hope you still want me. Heaven only knows you have had the patience of God waiting on the devil to become a saint.”

A gruff laugh escaped him. “Apparently it paid off.” His fingers slid down to her chin and then to her throat, following its curve. “May I never wake knowing you are forever mine.” His brown eyes intently searched hers. He leaned in, the heat of his breath feathering the skin across the bridge of her nose.

She angled her lips toward his and covered his full warm mouth with hers, shifting their bodies against the floor and the wall.

He deepened their kiss until her soul melted.

She relaxed in the safety and comfort of those muscled arms and drifted away from all that had been. One day, she knew, one day, Nathaniel
would
find his way back home. Perhaps it would take forever and a day, but she had faith in that boy. She had faith that he would find a way.

And in the meantime, she knew that as long as she had her dear Leonard, happiness would always be hers to not only kiss but hold.

Delilah Marvelle
spent her youth studying various languages, reading voraciously and playing the pianoforte. She confesses that here ends the extent of her gentle breeding. She was a naughty child who was forever torturing her parents with countless adventures that they did not deem respectable. Confined to her room on many occasions due to these misadventures, she discovered the quill and its amazing power. Soon, to the dismay of her parents, she rather enjoyed being confined to her room and finished writing her first historical romance (which was a heart-stopping 800 pages long…) at the age of fourteen. She is a two time Golden Heart finalist, a Reviewer’s Best First Historical Romance nominee, and a double Bookseller’s Best Award finalist.

You can visit her at her website at http://www.DelilahMarvelle.comor her blog, which explores the naughtier side of history, at www.DelilahMarvelle.blogspot.com.

ISBN: 978-1-4268-3411-0

Forever Mine

Copyright © 2011 by Delilah Marvelle

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