Give Me (12 page)

“Brilliant.” Cade glanced at Lilith. “It’s been the day for bodily functions.”

Dad started in the minute they crossed the threshold. “This one is too pretty for the likes of you, Cade.”

“You’re in fine form. Ms. Evergreen will believe I have all sorts of women up here.”

“Now that you do have one, take off your macks and have a cocktail.”

“We’re on our way up.” Cade kissed the top of the old poof’s head. “Just stopped by to say hello.”

“Good night, sir,” Lilith said. “It was nice to meet you.” She was a good sport about everything. And now dinner on the roof when it was bound to be freezing up there.

It was his favorite place in the old pile—his favorite place in the world. Arranging for caterers and musicians might have been a bit much. He hoped there were musicians, at all events. This morning the cellist had assured him they were all up for the gig; but when Cade had left to fetch Lilith forty minutes ago, none had yet arrived.

The back stairs were on the closed-down side of the house where it was very cold even inside. “I’ll go first,” he said. “Catch any random spider webs that weren’t cleared away.” Great. Point out that the place was going to ruin.

Halfway up the stairs, the tuning of instruments and vocalizing warm-up exercises carried down to them, and a lute and baritone began jamming on a pretty melody. Cade was about to take Lilith’s hand when she grabbed his forearm.

“Do you hear that?”

“You don’t like madrigal music? It’s a group of teachers from the local secondary school. It isn’t Albert Hall, but they’re practically celebrities here.”

“No—I mean, it’s not that. I do like it, very much. I just wondered if you heard it.”

“You’re not hallucinating.” Great gods. He hoped she didn’t think he was insinuating that the human consciousness within Igdrasil was imaginary. Even if that’s what he believed.

She relaxed her grip and he caught her hand as it dropped, as naturally as if they were long-time friends—or lovers. At the top landing he took a deep breath and said, “If you’d indulge me just a minute.” He scooped her up off her feet. She wrapped her arms around him, her head on his chest.

Could she tell how his heart pounded? He’d only meant to lift her over a few broken treads. The way she made him feel, he could hold her in his arms forever.
Move, you git.
It was but a few paces to the roof.

“Cade, it’s like fairyland!”

He set her on her feet, relieved. “That was the desired response.”

The caterer had strung tiny white lights in two fake potted trees near the table. More than that, the night sky was cooperating, cloudless and amazing. Cygnus was on fire, the stars a dazzling canopy over the tiny village and the dark woods beyond. The moon was a full blue-white disc.

It was too late for tourists, but lights shone at Glimmer Cottage. He couldn’t shake the feeling that old Elyse was aware of his dinner date—and had taken an interest. He accepted glasses of champagne from the steward and handed one to Lilith. “It’s interesting you should use the word
fairyland
. The house actually has two names.”

“Bella told us one of them: Bausiney’s End.”

“Ah, Bella. They do like to be involved. I think of them as the French sisters from
He Knew He Was Right
.”

“You too?” Lilith’s laugh was delightful—that she laughed at his jokes was delightful. She said, “Bella fancies herself an expert on all things Tintagos. She’s desperate to become the next wyrding woman. She has swallowed the Handover story whole.”

“It won’t do for sibling relations if one of them is chosen.” Apparently Lilith had
not
swallowed the Handover story whole. Good. And even better if she would stay away from Glimmer Cottage tomorrow, just in case.

“Not a problem,” she said. “Cammy would rather be your woman than the wyrding woman, I do believe.”

“Good heavens.” Not in a thousand years. “I’m afraid we wouldn’t suit.”

“How sad.”

“Cammy wants a stylish husband, you see, and I’m far from it. This place isn’t called Bausiney’s End for nothing. It’s in as poor a condition as the rest of Dumnos County. With our atmospheric conditions—”

“The famous atmospheric conditions.”

“Exactly. We’re denied the advantages of the modern age. We don’t draw many businesses when mobiles and wireless are impossible.”

“I thought I’d go crazy being offline,” Lilith said, “but I love it. I feel like I belong to myself, if that makes any sense.”

“Detached from the hive mind.”

“That’s it.”

Her smile was lovely. Everything about her was lovely. At the table, he pulled out a chair for her. Instead of across from her, he sat near her at a corner.

“Speaking of houses with names, I know there some in the United States,” she said, “but I can only think of Fallingwater. The White House, I suppose.”

“You have Mount Vernon,” Cade said. “And Monticello.”

Their knees kept touching.

“And Hill House.” She smiled as if she were joking.

“I don’t know that one.”

“It isn’t real,” she said. “From the Shirley Jackson novel. The movie terrified me when I was little. The original, not the remake. It’s about ghosts who take over a house and possess the people who stay there.”

“Pesky ghosts,” he said. “Always wanting to live the lives they were denied.”

The waiter brought the starter and refilled their glasses.

“I wonder what my ghost wants.”

“That’s a good question. Your ghost is unfamiliar to me. We do have two legendary ghosts in Tintagos, but they always travel together and they’re only seen every few hundred years. Enough to keep the story going. Your ghost seems to be on her own.”

“Yes. I dreamed about her before I came. I…I think she made my reservation at the Tragic Fall.”

“Your ghost made your reservation.”

She put down her fork, her brows knitted together. “You really will think I’m nutso. I can’t explain it any more than I can explain the person inside the tree.”

“You win. I do think you’re nutso, as you put it.” He didn’t care. “But as promised, I like you anyway.”

“Whew!” She laughed and finished her champagne. Her fingernails were freshly painted, an icy pink color. She’d done her fingernails in the time before he picked her up. She did fancy him. “But I went far off the tracks there,” she said. “You were going to tell me why your house is called Bausiney’s End.”

“Ah. Well, Bausiney is the family name. Sounds Italian, but it’s as old as the iron beneath Dumnos. Long before I was born, the people in the village had begun to call the place Bausiney’s End as a joke. It seemed the earl would never marry and produce an heir, and there aren’t any relatives to pick up the slack.”

“So if you hadn’t come along…”

“The title would have come to its end.”

To go with the filet mignon, the steward opened a Paraduxx red from the cellar, the Reflection Cade had brought back from California two years ago. He’d been that close to Lilith and hadn’t known she existed. She was beautiful in the candlelight, drinking the garnet liquid. If he kissed her now, would she object? Would she taste like wine?

“You did come along,” she said, “but the house has kept the name.”

“Yes. The earl found a willing victim in my mother, but Bausiney’s End has stuck. I must have been a disappointment.”

“Not to anyone I’ve met. Marion sings your praises, and your father obviously adores you.”

“You’re too kind. Moo has to sing my praises. She’s my aunt.”

“And your mother, the earl-ess, or whatever a Mrs. Earl is called? She must love you.”

“Countess.”

“Countess Dumnos, of course.” Lilith blushed.

“She died.”

“I gathered that, though Marion didn’t say.”

“She doesn’t like to talk about it. It was during the last Handover. I think my father relives the loss, now it’s been called again. I was very young.”

Lilith touched his forearm. “I’m so sorry, Cade.”

He loved to hear her say his name. “Apparently, she was wonderful, if a little wild. There’s a picture of her at the Tragic Fall.”

“In the fringe jacket and go-go boots with Cupid on her shoulder.”

“That’s her.” Cade swallowed the rest of his wine and refilled their glasses. “But it isn’t Cupid. It was taken at Piccadilly Circus in London. That’s the statue of Anteros, the god of requited love, mature love. Delight, you might say, as opposed to desire.”

This was lovely. Marion couldn’t bear to talk about his mother, and Dad refused to hear her name. It felt good to speak freely.

“Requited
love.” Lilith laughed. “You don’t hear many songs about how I
can
get some satisfaction.”

“I’m not sure what satisfaction either of my parents found. She was more than twenty years younger than Dad. As I said, they married to have me. Continue the line.”

“You think?”

She didn’t judge or try to make him feel better about it. That was nice too. “I believe his desires lay in another direction, though he never had a special friend that I knew about.”

“I suppose it was hard for his generation to be honest about those feelings.”

“Dad swears he and Mother were great friends, had fun together. And then she was gone. You always think there’s time for everything.”

“Time is the one thing I’ve always felt rich in. No intimations of my mortality. I can’t explain it. My mother also died young, but—quite unreasonably—I feel I could live forever. All her life she struggled to care for me. Not successfully. She was…uncomfortable in the world. And when she was finally free of the burden of parenting, she died. I doubt she experienced one day of true happiness.”

“That’s the saddest thing I’ve ever heard,” Cade said. “Surely you gave her joy, or your dad did.”

“She loved me. I’m not sure I made her happy. I don’t remember my father. I think he was out of the picture before I was born.”

He couldn’t think what to say. But then he didn’t feel compelled to say anything. Dessert was served, and in companionable silence they ate the perfect chocolate soufflé. When the table was cleared and they were given coffee and cognac, he was glad to see the musicians leave with the catering crew. He hadn’t anticipated just how much he would want to be alone with her.

“What was the other name?” Lilith said. “Of the house. Maybe people just don’t like it as well.”

“Faeview.”

“Oh, but that’s nice.”

“According to legend, when there’s a full moon, from this very roof you can see fairy lights in the woods beyond Glimmer Cottage.”

“Oh, I like that.” Her face lit up. “Let’s blow out the candles and see if they’re out and about tonight.”

“You’re thinking of nice, fairytale fairies. Disney fairies who grant wishes and deliver sugarplums under pillows.”

“And the fairies of Tintagos are not nice?”

“Most assuredly not nice.” It was easier to tell the truth than think of a lie, and she’d believe it was just another story, like the Handover. “The fae are dangerous. They live in a magical world, out of time. It isn’t a good thing to see them in ours. Don’t wish for it.”

“But I do wish for something.” She breathed in the cognac’s aroma but put the snifter down without drinking. “Something different. I think that must be why I came to Tintagos.”

He reached over and brushed her hair out of her eyes.

She looked at him—not with reproach. With desire. It was definitely desire in her eyes. It must be the candlelight. Her eyes were deeper blue and sparkled quite like jewels. He leaned forward. She met him halfway. Her lips met his, warm and inviting. Her arms were around his neck, and he pulled her closer.

She put her hand on his thigh under the table, and he rose from his chair and brought her close to him. The ache of desire—the ache in his heart—would kill him if he didn’t have her now.

“Diantha.” He moaned. “It’s been too long.”
What the hell?

“Galen.” She covered his throat and neck with kisses.

His body responded violently. It wasn’t just his heart that ached for her. She was everything he needed, and he’d been denied love—proper love, with all its physical delights—for too long. He touched her breast—real, soft. She was as exciting as he remembered.

Remembered?
This was wrong. Cade pried Lilith’s hands from the back of his neck and pushed her away. She tried to kiss him again. It took all his strength to keep her off. Then he saw the ring on her finger.

Rage welled up from the pit of his gut. Part of him had never seen that ring in his life, but another part knew exactly what it was.

“Lilith? Look at me.”

Her eyes went in and out of focus.

“Say my name!”

“Galen.”

“No. Look at me. My real name.”

She took a sharp breath and looked at him.

“Say it!”

“Cade?”

Cade.
Good.
I am James Cade Artros Bausiney, Lord Tintagos, the future Earl of Dumnos. Alive and well in the twenty-first century.

“Cade, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I just…”

What could he tell her that wouldn’t sound horrible?
What you’re feeling isn’t real. You were just possessed by one of the ghosts of Tintagos.

“I need to get you back to the inn. It’s later than I realized.”

She was shaken too. “I think that’s best.” She didn’t say anything as she followed him down the stairs.

He found out how fast the DB5 could make the winding two miles from the End to the Tragic Fall. Seven minutes of unbearable silence between them. How in hell had that happened? What in hell
did
happen? Galen’s agony was excruciating, and relief had been so near. Cade had looked into Lilith’s eyes and had seen Diantha looking back—at Galen.

Great gods.
So many years of longing, so close yet forever separated. But Galen and Diantha were supposed to have limited range. Their haunts were Glimmer Cottage and the castle ruins. And now apparently the road down from the Halt. Galen’s consciousness had already faded, but Cade knew it all had something to do with that ring.

He stole a glance at Lilith.
It’s a cruel and bitter world, Bausiney.
It had been too good to be true, this attraction between them. At the inn door, just below the horses’ heads, he grabbed her elbow. “Don’t go to Glimmer Cottage tomorrow.”