The Water Nymph (29 page)
Authors: Michele Jaffe
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Romance, #Historical, #Romantic Suspense, #Historical Romance, #Mystery & Suspense, #Suspense, #FICTION/Romance/General
He was being followed.
There were two of them, both tall. He did not need to turn around as he crossed the hall to know that they were still there; he could sense them.
And hear them.
“Nephew, it is most improper for you to go in there,” Lady Priscilla told him as she dogged his heels.
“Extremely indecorous,” Lady Eleanor added from the other side.
But Crispin ignored them, mounting the stairs four at a time. At the top he turned, passing by a newly outfitted game room, and hastened toward his apartment. He passed through the library, where Grip was teaching baby Thurston to say “Strip!”, pushed open the door of his bedchamber, and rushed toward the center of activity.
Octavia immediately handed him a damp cloth and ceded her place to him. As he reached the top of the bed, Sophie gave another scream, closing her eyes and straining with the effort of pushing.
“You are almost there,” the blond woman at the bottom of the bed told Sophie. “Just keep pushing,
carissima
.”
Sophie turned her head and saw Crispin standing beside the bed for the first time, blotting her forehead. “I am never going to let you talk me into doing this again,” she told him through clenched teeth. “If you even try it, I think, perhaps, I will kill you.”
“Perhaps?” Crispin asked, leaning over to replace the damp cloth on her brow with a kiss.
“Perhaps,” she replied, starting to smile up at him, until the smile turned into a grimace and a scream. “Damn you, Crispin,” she shouted at him. “How could you do this to me? I am very,
verrrrryyyy
uncomfortable.”
Crispin looked down at her apologetically. “I am very sorry, Sophie. If there is anything I can do to make it up to you, anything at all, please tell me now.”
Sophie screamed again, and the muscles in her neck tightened. “Roast pig,” she called out to Crispin.
“I can see the head,” Bianca told her sister-in-law. “Just a little more, Sophie,
carissima
.”
Sophie grabbed Crispin’s hand and squeezed it until he thought the bones would break. “Spinach souffle,” she hollered out.
“Just one more,” Bianca told her. “Push one more time.”
Crispin himself was on the point of crying out in agony. “And peaches,” Sophie yelled.
At that moment the air was rent by a young girl’s cry. A very young, very redheaded girl. A very, very beautiful little baby.
The newest Foscari family jewel.
The midnight shadows of Renaissance Venice conceal intrigue, romance…and murder.
Bianca Salva’s love of science has led her to defy the conventions of her day and illicitly practice medicine among the poor of Venice. She’s managed to keep her pass time a secret—until she is discovered over the lifeless body of a young courtesan, by the last person she’d ever want to see.
Ian Foscari, Conte d’Aosto, is known for being rich, handsome…and heartless. Finding Bianca over the dead body, he concludes she’s the murderer. Yet for reasons he cannot explain, her protests move him. He offers to give her one week to prove her innocence, but she’ll have to move into his house and be his prisoner. Her other option: the authorities and certain death.
Bianca has no choice but to agree to his maddening terms. She’s furious at having to cede her hard won freedom, and unprepared for the effect of his presence on her, for the longings he awakes in parts of her body she’s only studied in books. As Bianca struggles to focus on finding the killer, Ian fights his own battle between the undeniable attraction he feels for her and the painful scars of his past.
When their mutual attraction blazes to life, they are both dazzled by it’s force. Passion burns through their reserves, teaching them both to trust again. Love again. But this fragile alliance is soon tested. Lured into a web of scheming and betrayal, Bianca and Ian find themselves in a race against the clock to save their lives, their hearts, and the city of Venice itself.
It’s a race against the clock—and natural law—when a murderer seems to return from the dead, hellbent on killing again.
Clio Thornton’s interest in solving the mysteries plaguing 16th-century London has put her at odds with her wealthy family. Stumbling upon a grisly murder, she’s determined to investigate it, even when all of her discoveries point to an impossible killer: the Vampire of London, vanquished by Viscount Miles Loredan, the soon-to-be husband of her cousin.
Miles Loredan killed the Vampire of London three years ago. When Clio comes to him with her theories, Miles finds them impossible to believe. But intrigued by her passion and her beauty, Miles agrees to hire her and support her investigation. What starts as a professional relationship soon becomes personal—and dangerous. Because Miles is betrothed to another woman. And Clio is the Vampire’s next target.
She’s got murder in mind.
Lady Tuesday Arlington has always used her painting as a refuge from the nightmares that plague her sleep. When her husband is murdered in a setting that uncannily resembles one of Tuesday’s paintings, the young widow becomes the prime suspect.
Lawrence Pickering, the Earl of Arden and an investigator in service of Queen Elizabeth I, begins to follow Tuesday’s every move, certain of her guilt—until Tuesday becomes a target herself. Intrigued by her knowledge of the crime scenes as well as her stunning beauty, Lawrence vows to protect her. But how can he stop a killer who appears capable of the impossible—invading Tuesday’s mind?
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