Rebecca Hagan Lee (36 page)

"It would be simpler just to kill her," Blake suggested half jokingly.

"Yes, it would," the ambassador agreed. "And as your friend, I'll pretend I didn't hear you suggest it. Go to London. Get your divorce."

"But, Cristina ..."

"We'll protect Cristina." The ambassador placed his hand on Blake's shoulder. "As long as she stays in your apartment, she should be safe enough.

We can put guards on the building and hire men to watch out for her. I'll even ask Franz Josef's secret police for help."

"For how long?"

"For as long as it takes."

"Protecting Cristina is only part of the problem," Blake said. "Once the baby is born, Meredith will try to take it."

"By the time the baby's born, you should have your divorce. I'll wire the queen. If I tell her everything, she may be able to expedite the proceedings.

Ask for an audience as soon as you reach London."

"Meredith won't stop."

"But once you're granted a divorce, she'll have nothing to gain."

"Except her revenge. Good God, Paget, she's come back from the dead for revenge; a simple piece of paper dissolving our marriage isn't going to stop her."

The ambassador shook his head. "It's unbelievable."

"It's a damned nightmare," Blake lifted his face from his hands and turned to look at his friend, the ambassador. "All these years I believed she was dead. I never questioned my good fortune in being released from the mockery of my marriage to her. I should have had them dig her up," Blake said. "I should have made sure."

Paget shuddered at the thought. "You believed the people around you. We all believed it."

"And now I'm a bigamist."

"Not intentionally," the ambassador pointed out.

"But a bigamist none the less."

"The irony of the story is that I stayed married to Meredith for four long years just to avoid a scandal that might damage my career--or my father's. I didn't want to hurt anyone. And now I've put Cristina and my child in jeopardy." He stood up and began to pace. "Cristina. How can I protect Cristina? How do I tell her the truth? How do I tell her what Meredith is after?" Blake turned to the ambassador. "Christ, Paget; you heard her. She wants our child!"

"She doesn't want your child, Blake. She wants revenge. She wants you to suffer the way she's suffered."

"Hell hath no fury ..."

"I'll help in any way I can," the ambassador offered.

"Thank you, sir." Blake smiled his first smile since Meredith's appearance.

"And for what you did earlier tonight. I can't thank you enough for sparing Cristina's reputation--for smoothing the way for her and for me."

"You were honest with me from the start, Blake. And I appreciate that.

Besides, I think your wife is a remarkable young lady." Paget chuckled. "I can't believe she actually cut up the Prince of Wales's bed linens."

"She ripped them apart with her teeth." Blake grinned.

"Sure wish I could have seen that. Lady Paget and I had a good laugh over it."

Blake shivered. "I get chills every time I remember her hanging out of Marlborough House on nothing but courage and strong Irish linen." He extended his hand to the ambassador. "I apologize, sir, for having my personal troubles blow up in your face like this. And I thank you again for the white lies."

Ambassador Paget shook his hand warmly. "I didn't lie, exactly," he said.

"Lady Paget and I discussed it. Whether she intended it or not, Cristina did our government a service when she ran away with Rudolf."

Blake raised a questioning eyebrow.

"She actually did your job by keeping him from seeking other, less reputable women for purposes of pleasure and running the risk of embarrassing both our governments. So you see, she was working for the Foreign Office."

Blake nodded. "Thanks again, sir." He stood up. "If it's all right with you, I'll take my leave now. I need to see Cristina. .." he faltered. "I need to find some way to explain and say good-bye."

"Don't worry, Blake. We'll delay Meredith as long as possible and keep Cristina safe until the danger's over."

Cristina was waiting up with Cason and Leah when Blake arrived at their apartment on the Ringstrasse. He took Cristina in his arms, then turned to speak to his assistant. "I'll brief you tomorrow, Cason," he said. "Go home and get some rest. And thank you."

"My pleasure, sir."

Blake waited until Cason departed and Leah had said good night before he led Cristina to the sofa closest to the fire. Blake could see she had been crying and he cradled her close to him as he sat down on the sofa. "I'm sorry, Countess, I'm so sorry she spoiled our party."

Cristina placed her hands on Blake's chest and pushed away so she could see the expression on his face. "Tell me this is only a bad dream that will go away in the morning."

"I wish I could." Blake took a deep breath. "But it's worse than I could ever have imagine."

"I thought she was dead."

"So did I. So did everyone else in the room."

"Except the man who was with her," Cristina said. "He positively gloated."

"He would," Blake answered. "Because you see, my sweet, that was my cousin Jack." He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose to ward off the headache he could feel pounding just behind his eyelids.

"Jack," she repeated. "Meredith's lover. The man who betrayed you."

"The same."

"How did she find out about tonight? And what prompted her to rejoin the living?" she asked. Cristina recognized the similarities between Meredith and Jack and her mother and Claude. She understood that they never did anything without a motive or a plan and tonight's episode hadn't been a coincidence. It was timed too perfectly for that.

"I don't know how she found out," Blake said. "But it's possible she heard about our marriage from my mother and father's announcement at the Everleigh Christmas celebration. Or Jack told her. He would have been invited."

"I don't understand," Cristina said. "If she didn't want you to remarry, why did she let you think she was dead? What reason could she have?"

"Revenge." Blake looked at his wife. "'If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge?'"

"The Merchant of Venice," Cristina said.

"And Meredith wants her pound of flesh from me."

"Why?"

"Because she thinks I wronged her. She thinks I've taken what belonged to her and given it to you."

"She's insane!" Cristina breathed.

"Quite possibly. And all the more dangerous because of it."

"But Blake, you haven't given me anything that belonged to her except your name and the title." She looked up at him. "That's it, isn't it? She wants to keep the title. She wants to remain the countess of Lawrence."

"That's part of it," he admitted reluctantly. "But Cristina, she wants even more than that. She wants Lawrence House."

"Give it to her," Cristina ordered, an edge of panic in her voice. "Give her whatever she wants, but make her go away. Make her leave us alone."

"I would if I could, Countess. But Lawrence House isn't mine to give. It belongs to my mother."

"Your mother? Well, then, if you explain about Meredith, surely your mother would--"

"Yes, she would. But she can't. It doesn't work that way. Lawrence House is entailed. It can only be passed down--it can't be bought, sold, or given away for any reason. If there is no legal heir or if the heir tries to sell it or give it away for any reason, the ownership reverts to the Crown."

"Doesn't Meredith know this? Doesn't she understand that you can't deed Lawrence House to her even if you inherit?"

Blake nodded. "She knows."

"Then what's the problem?"

Blake didn't want to tell her. He didn't want to hurt Cristina anymore. He didn't want her to know the full extent of Meredith's revenge, but he couldn't see a way not to tell her. He had to tell her the truth in order to protect her--and their unborn child. "In a couple of months, Lawrence House will change ownership, but I won't be the one inheriting it. You will."

"What?" Cristina was stunned.

"Lawrence House belongs to the mother of the recognized Lawrence heir,"

Blake told her. "And tonight, I publicly introduced you as my wife and recognized the child you carry as my own. And by doing so--" he stopped abruptly.

"Oh, my God!" Cristina reached for Blake and grabbed fistfuls of his shirt and clung to him. Her green eyes widened, seeming to grow larger as the blood rushed from her face, leaving it whiter than his snowy shirtfront. "She wants me out of the way. She wants my baby!"

Blake nodded.

"What are we going to do?" Cristina searched his face, looking for answers, for solutions.

"I'm going back to London."

"To London?" Cristina parroted numbly. "You can't. You can't leave. You're supposed to be here when the baby's born. You're supposed to stay with me."

"I can't stay, Cris. I have to return to London and I have to leave as soon as the Christmas holiday is over and the trains resume their schedule. I've got to file a petition for divorce. And I have to do it in person. I have to present my case to the courts before Meredith reaches London. I've got to get things well underway before our baby is born."

"Why?"

There was no gentle way to tell her. No gentle way to remind her that with Meredith's return from the grave, their marriage had become invalid in the eyes of the law. "Because I don't want my child to be born a bastard."

"Oh." Cristina fastened her gaze on the heavy gold wedding band on her left hand and burst into tears. "I didn't think about... I forgot that our marriage isn't real any longer."

Blake kissed her, tasting the salt of her tears, before he pulled away and forced Cristina to meet his gaze. "Our marriage is very real. What I had with Meredith wasn't real. But what we share ... oh, Countess, how can you doubt that?"

Cristina blinked back more scalding tears and the lump of sand clogging her throat. "I don't doubt it. I'm just afraid. Afraid we're not ruthless enough.

I'm afraid she'll win."

"I won't let her win," he vowed.

"You may not be able to prevent it."

"I promise you, Countess, that I will never let Meredith get our baby."

"Then take me with you. Don't leave me here alone."

"You know I can't. You can't travel as quickly as I'll need to travel and it would be too dangerous for you to try."

"I can ride a train."

Blake took a deep breath, raked his fingers through his hair, then gently took hold of Cristina's upper arms as she gripped his shirt. "Countess, I can't protect you on the journey and an armed guard would slow us down."

"An armed guard? Blake, she won't hurt me. Not as long as she wants the baby. Not as long as it's the only way to get Lawrence House, not while I'm still carrying."

"Listen to me, Cristina," he focused his gaze on hers. "Meredith doesn't care about keeping you alive long enough to have the baby. Do you understand?

She'll take the baby if she gets a chance, but the baby isn't her primary concern. What she wants is revenge against me--any way she can get it. And if you or our child are hurt, so much the better. She doesn't want our child, she only wants to use him against me. She wants to take everything I care about away from me."

Cristina's teeth began to chatter and her body began to shake.

Blake held her closer, so close that her protruding belly came in contact with his firm, flat one. "You'll be safer here."

"With you in London?" Cristina's nerves were ragged and raw from the shocks she'd suffered. "I don't think so."

He couldn't know whether or not she'd be safe in Vienna, but he felt confident that she would be a lot safer in the apartment with guards to protect her than she would be exposed to the rigors of traveling and Meredith's treachery. "Meredith will follow me to London. She'll have to."

"How do you know she won't leave someone behind in Vienna to get rid of me or the Lawrence heir?"

"I don't," he admitted honestly. "I just have to pray I can provide enough protection for you. I have to pray that she won't hurt you."

"Not hurt me?" Tears rolled down Cristina's cheeks. "You think she hasn't hurt me already? She's taking you away from me. And she's after my child."

"Countess ..." Blake's voice was soft and the look in his eyes was gentle.

Cristina pushed out of his grasp, struggled to her feet, and began to pace the carpet in front of the fireplace. The tears fell harder and faster and Cristina could do nothing to stop them. "Please, Blake, don't. Don't call me that. Not now. Not when I've just learned that Meredith is still your countess. Not when I've just learned that I'm your mistress and she's still your wife."

"You're my wife and the mother of my child."

"Then you've one wife too many." Cristina tried to smile through her tears.

"The law frowns on this sort of thing. I don't think they allow you to have two at the same time."

"As far as I'm concerned, Meredith was never my wife. You are." He reached out for Cristina.

"But she was first."

Blake dropped his arms to his sides as Cristina's whispered words ripped at his heart. His expression was unreadable but his hands were clenched in tight fists as he sought to maintain some sort of control over his emotions. "I can't go back, Cristina," he said simply. "As much as I would like to, I can't change the facts. I can't undo the entailment on Lawrence House or do anything about the fact that I married Meredith before I married you."

"I know," Cristina couldn't stop the words she threw at him. She couldn't stop the hurt or the fear that drove her on. "But unfortunately for me, she's the only wife that counts--at the moment. And she wants my child."

"So do I," Blake said. "I want your child. And I want you. Tell me, Cristina, is that so terrible?"

"Not unless you only want me because I'm carrying the baby."

"I told you before, I don't want my child to be born a bastard and the only way to prevent that is to marry its mother." Blake hadn't meant to make it sound as if marrying her was like taking bitter medicine, but damn it, she was ripping his heart out, tearing the very life out of him with her fear and her doubt and her crazy accusations. "Countess, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that the way it sounded," he apologized. Blake wanted to tell her how much he loved her, but the words stuck in his throat. If she didn't know, if she could forget everything that had passed between them so quickly, if she didn't realize how he felt after all these months of living with him, sharing his life, then it was better for her to think the worst of him. And since he couldn't tell her the whole truth, he only told her part of it. "I don't think an innocent child ought to suffer for our mistakes. I don't want the child labeled a bastard when all I have to do to make things right is to marry you as soon as possible."