Spring Fires (38 page)

"Gwah!" Hovering on the brink of tears, she squirmed in Alec's dark strong arms.

He kissed a soft, sweet-smelling ear. "We are going to wake your mama and have her give you something warm for your tummy," he whispered reassuringly as they traversed the dark corridor together.

Caro met them in the door to their bedchamber. Silvery moonlight haloed her gossamer bed gown and made Alec forget the harsh words they had exchanged earlier in the evening. However, instead of greeting him and their daughter, she pivoted and paced across the room.

"So—you' re awake," Alec remarked, wincing as Kristin dug her fingers into his neck.

"I've barely slept all night!" she returned sharply.

"You were certainly giving a good imitation of it when the baby began to cry!"

Caro glared over one shoulder as he sat down, cradling Kristin in his arms, on the edge of the Hepplewhite four-poster. Both of them knew better than to trade any more barbs in the presence of their already overwrought daughter, but the tension remained heavy in the air. Since their quarrel earlier that evening, they had barely spoken. Caro had gone to bed first, pretending to be asleep when Alec joined her and offered a tentative caress. Too many things had been whirling in her mind since Nicholai's farewell visit; there wasn't room enough for Alec yet.

"It was your turn to get up for the children, and you know it," Caro finally replied in a menacingly soft tone.

"I wasn't complaining, darling wife, but simply making an observation." His eyes narrowed dangerously. "However, I have tried every method of soothing Kristin that I know, and there are some remedies that I am incapable of administering."

Caro had resumed her pacing, but stopped at his words, tossing her head so that honeyed curls spilled back over one bare shoulder. "Honestly! Why did she have to pick this night to revert to—"

"Infancy?" Alec supplied sarcastically.

"You know what I mean! She's been sleeping through the night for weeks!"

"Caroline," he ground out, "if you have an alternative to suggest, I would be happy to listen. Our daughter is restless and unhappy, and frankly, I'm beginning to share her mood. I want to go back to sleep!"

Sighing in surrender, Caro returned to the bed, propped up her pillows, and held out her arms. The moment downy curls brushed her cheek, she felt a pang of self-reproach.

Alec settled himself on his own side of the bed and watched as Caro freed a creamy breast. Kristin snuggled into her mother's arms and began to nurse.

"I apologize. I behaved abominably," Caro murmured at length. "It's just that... this situation between Nicky and Lisette—"

"Is ruining the 'situation' between you and me!" Alec supplied testily. Then, softening, he bent to kiss her shoulder.

"Can't you see that it is because you and I have known such happiness that I am heartbroken to see Nicholai throw away his future with the girl I am certain he loves?" she whispered heatedly.

"Caro," Alec replied in a carefully even tone, "it's none of your business. They are both adults. Maman has already interfered and probably made things worse. I think it would be wise for us to leave them alone."

"I can't help being frustrated. It seems that there must be some simple solution that would fix—"

"No! That's enough." He looked down, afraid that they might be keeping Kristin awake, but his furrowed brow relaxed at the sight of her sleeping so angelically against the curve of Caro's breast. "There, you see," he whispered, "your daughter is dreaming with a smile on her face that I envy!"

"Wicked man!" Caro grinned.

"I'll return Kristin to her cradle, then show you just how wicked I can be!"

Waiting for his return, Caro curled up under the sheet and coverlet and pondered her dilemma further. By the time he closed the door and slid into bed beside her, he was hoping that Nicholai would be replaced in her thoughts by imaginings of the love exchange to come.

Caro relaxed against her husband as he kissed her neck. One hand caressed Alec's back before she murmured thoughtfully, "I just wanted to remind you that
all
meddling is not harmful. In fact, if Grandmere had not meddled ever so skillfully and subtly in
our
lives, we might never have realized—"

"Caroline..." he warned against her ear.

Suddenly, her eyes were alight and she gripped him excitedly. "Oh, my goodness, I have just had the most wonderful idea! I feel as if I've been struck by lightning!" She held fast to his face, which had been gazing heavenward. "Don't ignore me, Alec. A plan has dawned on me that could resolve the entire situation between Nicholai and Lisette!"

"I don't want to hear it."

"But—"

"Save it for the morning."

"Darling, it
is
morning," Caro countered mischievously, "and—"

"And Nicky is hours away, en route to New York town. Nothing can be done to reunite him and Mistress Hahn at this moment, so I suggest that you put your plan away for the time being and concentrate on more
pressing
business!"

When his mouth closed over her own, she resisted only for a moment. As always, Alec's kiss—in fact, everything about him—assaulted Caro's senses like some sorcerer's magic. But, after ten years, she was aware that it was not magic that caused the storm between their two bodies, but love in its purest, most exquisite form. Still, even as she returned his kiss and shivered deliciously when his hands found their way under her bed gown, part of her mind remained with Nicholai and Lisette. She cared too much not to want them to discover joyous, committed love of their own....

* * *

The sun was just beginning to spread a rosy apricot stain over the horizon when Alec and Caro drifted off to sleep, locked in a warm, sensual embrace.

In Philadelphia, several miles south of Belle Maison, Alec's brother Nicholai was waking up and hating every moment of it.

"Lisette... it's dawn," he whispered regretfully.

Her eyes remained closed; her thick lashes fluttered on her cheeks. Lisette's leg was entwined in Nicholai's hard limbs and her graceful arm curled around his wide back.

"Wake up, sweetheart." The words were like poison. Still she didn't stir, so he tasted her lips, which were a delectable deep rose color from so much kissing. Flushed and sleep-warm, her skin was soft as satin beneath his wandering mouth. He teased and tantalized until she moaned aloud and strained nearer. He had meant to trick her into revealing that she was indeed awake, but now it was impossible to stop. How could a woman be so delicious, so intoxicating?

Lisette swallowed a sob. His mouth sent waves of excruciating pleasure over her nerves. She pushed her fingers deep into his hair and held him fast against her breast. If only they could stay like this forever!

Suddenly, almost savagely, Nicholai turned her into the pillows and parted her thighs. Capturing her mouth in a scorching kiss, he felt Lisette's hips press upward against his own. During the night, they had made love over and over, but now their bodies met and fused with an urgency that suggested the breaking of a long, torturous fast. Tears spilled from her eyes and wet both their faces as Nicholai's hardness drove upward and retreated, then filled her again in a pattern that seemed to exemplify their entire relationship.

At last the storm was spent. Hearts pounding, they lay quiet but still united.

"It's late," he whispered with a harsh sigh.

Lisette clung to him. There was so much that she wanted to say, but the fear of rejection silenced her.

It was agony for Nicholai to separate himself from her body. He very nearly groaned aloud, but managed to stand somehow and search out his clothing. No dawn had ever looked bleaker.

Under the quilts, Lisette shivered as she watched him fasten shirt buttons and breeches. Her eyes memorized every detail of his face, his body, his gestures—as if she could ever forget! When at last he sat on the edge of the narrow bed to pull on his stockings and then knee boots, her pain intensified so that she found herself curling into a protective ball.

Nicholai leaned over to retrieve his coat from the back of a nearby chair, then forced himself to turn and face Lisette. She looked like a wounded fawn.

"I don't want to leave." He smoothed damp golden tendrils from her brow, praying crazily that she would beg him to stay—forever.

"You—we both know that you have to go," she managed to answer softly.

Bending, Nicholai curved a strong hand around her neck and they shared a lingering bittersweet kiss. Then, "Come with me, Lisette."

She felt the heat of his words against her temple and Stiffened. "Wh... what?"

"Come with me to England."

Panic washed over her, followed by a barrage of fears—of the unknown, of being out of place, of watching Nicholai fall back in love with the mysterious Gabrielle while she stood by and watched, helplessly. "But—the CoffeeHouse. You know that I can't leave it. I have a responsibility, Nicholai. Many responsibilities, to many people. I'm not free to just—"

"Never mind!" Unable to bear the sounds of her excuses or the uneasy look in her eyes, he stood up and shrugged into his coat. He felt a fool for even asking her, for hoping that she might love him more than her damned CoffeeHouse—enough to follow him into an uncertain future. "I don't know what possessed me to ask you such a thing." Nicholai raked a hand through his ruffled hair, striving for a light tone.

"Well..." Tears filled her throat as she saw his gaze flicker from the wall to the window.

"I do have to go. I'm late as it is." He arched a dark eyebrow, and reached for one of her hands. "Farewell, Mistress Hahn."

It might have been a stranger's mouth that kissed her cold hand. "Good-bye, Nicholai." Her own voice sounded far away. "Godspeed..."

A moment later, the door closed and Lisette was alone.

Chapter 34

May 17, 1793

Caro and Katya were visions of springtime as they breezed into the keeping room and greeted Hyla Flowers. The older woman, drenched in perspiration, took in their gowns of sky blue and carnation pink and glowered.

"You two have a lot of nerve comin' in here dressed like that—all fresh and perfumed!"

"Oh, Hyla, don't be so crabby. You've been spending too much time with Bramble!" Katya scolded good-naturedly. She and Caro perched on stools at the worktable before she continued, "How fares our friend Lisette these days?"

Hyla dumped an apronful of onions on the table, then hitched up a stool of her own. "Just awful!" Her voice lowered to a hoarse whisper. "Since that brother of yours disappeared, she's been wastin' away! I knew that he was nothing but trouble that first night, when Ernst Hahn died. If I believed in curses, I'd think Beauvisage put one on this CoffeeHouse!"

"That's ridiculous and you know it! Lisette and Nicholai are in love, which has you as badly frightened as it does her!" exclaimed Katya.

"Love—ha!" Hyla attacked the first onion with her knife. "If your devilish brother is so besotted, why is he off to England to bed some other chit?"

"Who told you that?" Caro inquired.

"Why, that Frenchman, Pierre. You know, DuBois." Seeing their eyebrows raise suggestively, she blustered, "Where I learned it makes no never mind. I say, good riddance! Men are all the same—out for one thing. Women've got to learn to do the same and not let their hearts get all mushy after one turn under the sheets!"

Caro tried another tack. "You are a wise lady, Mrs. Flowers. Lisette is fortunate to have you here. I'm certain that the knowledge of your presence was greatly reassuring to her during her recent absence."

Caught off guard by the soft-voiced compliments, Hyla sniffed and allowed, "She couldn't have just up and left anyone in charge, that's true. Not that I was a bit happy about her bein' alone out in the country with that scoundrel! Things weren't no bed o' roses here neither, I can tell you!"

Katya glanced around. "Where
is
Bramble?"

"The mistress sent her to visit her old aunt in Germantown until she can decide what to do with her, just between us. There ain't room in the keeping room for the both of them. Old Bramble'd like to be mistress here herself."

"Did she do competent work?" Caro pursued.

"Oh, her work was fine as long as she was givin' the orders when the mistress was off with that rogue Beauvisage. She ain't a barrel of fun, but she loves to manage... and her cookin' was real good."

"Better than mine?" Lisette's tentative challenge came from the corridor that led upstairs.

"Aw, no, honey! It'll be a cold day in hell when that old crow's cookin' can match yours!" Gently, she added, "How's that ache in your brow?"

"Better. I appreciate your concern, but you mustn't treat me like a child. I'm just tired, I think." She gave a brave smile to her visitors and went to hug Katya. "It's wonderful to see you! My goodness, the wedding is almost here and we haven't even discussed the menu!"

"That is the least of my worries right now." She stared with concern at her friend's pale countenance. "Are you ill, Lisette? There are shadows under your eyes."