Wicked Lord: Part One (8 page)

"I hope we done right," the footman
stammered.

"Yes-yes," Adam answered. "Hurry ahead and
open the door. Get out as many lap blankets as you have."

Adam reached the carriage and he didn't
stop, but he carried Beth up into it, laying her on the seat. "Lady
Ariel, we need to make her warm, but can you check for a wound
first?"

"Adam?" Lady Ariel questioned, crouched up
inside the carriage beside him.

He was trying to untangle the cloak from
around Beth's limp body, as he said, "It would be more proper if
you do this …"

Lady Ariel made a strangled sound beside
him, and then she cried, "Her clothes! Oh lord in heaven. She's not
got all her clothes on!"

Adam turned his gaze toward Lady Ariel's
shrieking, seeing her backing out of the carriage. "Wait! You
cannot go," he insisted with anger shaking his words.

"I can't! I can't!" Lady Ariel cried. "I'm
so sorry!" She whirled around to flee away toward the mansion.

"Damnation," Adam cursed, folding the cloak
back over Beth. He grasped two lap blankets to cover her as he
lifted her up and held her in his arms. Her head fell against his
chest and he stroked the tangled strands of her long hair.

"Driver! On to the Westfield mansion as
quickly as possible," he ordered with a shout.

Chapter Eight

Adam knew things were dire. Life-changing
events had occurred that night. Yet he could only be grateful Beth
was alive as he remembered the bloody remains he'd seen in the
woods.

"Beth, oh, Beth."

His heart wound around the words as he
grasped her tighter against the sway of the carriage. He worried
that she didn't wake and still felt so cold. He wondered what he
needed to do first when he reached his step uncle's mansion. Then
they were pulling up front and he saw another carriage was there as
he thought sourly of Fanton. He simply knew Fanton had something to
do with the terrible events that had transpired.

"If I find out you did," Adam hissed. "I
will beat you unconscious, Fanton."

The carriage halted and he was readying to
order the driver to fetch a doctor, when a gentleman he'd never
seen before opened the carriage door.

"I'm Dr. Latham, Lord Winslow. I was sent by
Blacknall," the thin, elderly gentleman stated briskly. "I
understand the lady requires attention?"

Adam was surprised … a bit startled, if the
truth be known. "Yes," he rushed to answer the doctor as the man
finished opening the door.

The doctor leaned in with a lantern held
high. He clasped his palm over Beth's forehead. "No fever." He
squinted through his spectacles. "That's good. We need to bring her
inside."

"She won't wake up." Adam knew his anxiety
showed.

"A bit of shock, I'm sure. She will be all
right," Doctor Latham said.

"You know what happened?" Adam asked as he
followed the doctor's urging hand to carry Beth down out of the
carriage.

"Blacknall explained the events pertinent to
this young lady's care," Doctor Latham supplied, evenly.

"Which one?" Adam asked as they reached the
opened front entryway into the mansion. "Which Blacknall sent
you?"

"Lord Trinity, Marquis Montrose," Doctor
Latham answered with brisk efficiency. "I've taken the liberty and
had my servant set a fire in a small bed chamber we found down the
west hall. It looked unoccupied, and I didn't want to waste time
trying to discover the lady's proper bed chamber." Adam looked
blankly at this as he followed the man. Doctor Latham added, "No
one seemed about when we took the liberties."

Adam knew no one would be about. His elderly
step uncle and his one indoor servant, Spindle, would be
well-bedded and snoring. The cook and her husband, the outdoor man,
lived in a cottage set at the very back of the large property. That
left Fanton, who'd hired the carriage and footman for the evening,
otherwise they'd not had one. Beth would have used Lady Ariel's if
Fanton hadn't interfered.

If I get my hands on Fanton
, Adam
thought, just as Doctor Latham opened the door to the small
bedchamber alight with a warm fire. A middle-aged woman in a dark,
serviceable dress with a long white apron stood beside the bed. She
had its comforter and blankets folded back and waiting. Adam felt
his knees wobble with relief at finding better-qualified people to
help his sister.

"Come, lay her down, Lord Winslow," Doctor
Latham said.

As Adam laid Beth down, she made a
whimpering sound and he nearly did fall to his knees with relief.
Her unconsciousness had scared him. "Beth," he murmured brushing
his lips to her temple.

"If you don't mind waiting outside, my
lord," Doctor Latham said.

"Of course." Adam straightened, scraping a
hand through his hair. "Please keep me advised." As he turned to
leave, he saw the doctor's medical tools lying on a side table with
a porcelain bowl of steaming water, and he appreciated the fact
that they seemed to be proficient.

Once the door clicked shut behind Lord
Winslow, Trinity stepped out of the shadows from the corner of the
room. The scant shadows in the corner wouldn't have been enough for
a normal man to go undetected in.

"You'll not want to stay. There's fresh
blood," Doctor Latham advised him without turning from his task of
unwrapping the cloak from around Lady Beth Winslow.

"I can withstand my baser inclinations,"
Trinity muttered, and Doctor Latham glanced at him with one raised
eyebrow. "With her," Trinity finished lowly.

If he'd not gotten a fair look at Lady Beth
before, he did now. She had black hair so dark it appeared as
flowing ink against her ivory flesh. Her face was riveting to him
with a slender nose, pretty lips, and a cup-shaped chin. Even the
intensity of his interest to look at her face was certainly
overcome by the tug of his brazen gaze to her large bare breasts
and the thatch of ebony hair between her pale shapely thighs. She
had on what he could only imagine women called a half-corset with
black lace and ruffles setting off her firm breasts and framing her
soft sex.

Doctor Latham and his matronly helper lifted
the lady onto her side and he saw the ragged claw mark slashed
across her back. Blood oozed from the wound and his body tensed
further than it had at the sight of her naked body by firelight,
until he assured himself he
was
stronger than the urge for
her blood. His tongue scoured over one of his fangs as he wondered
if he was stronger than the lust that cackled at him while looking
at her.

"It's deep enough for stitches," Doctor
Latham said. "Yet I'd not want to give her laudanum for the pain as
I believe she's in shock."

Trinity's gaze rose in agitation.
He
didn't want her hurt.
He stepped back a pace. He was staggered
by the blast of emotions. Bloody hell, where had it come from? More
shockingly, Lady Beth whimpered the intimacy of his first name. His
gaze spun to her red lips as if he could see her still forming his
name in her delirium.

"Is she awake?" he asked with a harsh growl
in his voice.

Doctor Latham lifted a needle to the
candlelight with thicker thread looped through it. "No, but she
will be as soon as we set the first stitch."

"I will hold her." Trinity wondered at his
eagerness and his sanity.

Doctor Latham straightened, giving him a
dubious scowl, while shaking his head, but he said nothing. Latham
knew better than to question him. Trinity was more than capable of
questioning himself over his motives. Why he was there in the first
place? Because his little virgin was hurt.

He nearly shouted a curse, digging his hand
through his long dark blond hair. He'd not have her tied to the bed
and that was the only other way. Tied, she'd still move and tear
the flesh at her wrists and ankles. It was possible he had a way to
calm her if it became necessary.

It was an extreme idea. Although with Beth …
and he caressed the intimacy of her given name in his mind, it
might not work as some of his vampire ways seemed not to affect her
like other humans. It would take more willpower than he'd used thus
far trying it, and if his “trying” didn't work she could be in
deeper trouble. Yet, Baptiste's experiments with vampire traits and
human reactions had shown the anomaly.

He pushed the thoughts aside. He would
decide if the time came. He reached to button the jacket Christian
had given him. He didn't need his bare flesh pressed to her bare
flesh, he thought, watching the woman helper remove Beth's
half-corset. Beth's long, dark eyelashes fluttered, but she
remained with her eyes closed and he wondered what color her eyes
were as his gaze trailed down the full curves of her nude body.

He wanted to be on top of her, spread over
the soft curves of her body, and he wondered if it had the most to
do with sensing and smelling the heady vapors of her virgin's
blood. Is that what made him hunger to thrust his hard shaft deep
inside her and hope she would clamp her legs high on his back,
while crying his name with hot tempests of passion.

He hissed through his fangs, trying to shake
the vivid image taunting him, and he said curtly to Latham, "Warn
her brother about her screams."

Ten minutes later, everything was ready and
Trinity climbed onto the bed. There was no graceful way to
accomplish holding Beth down to receive the stitches that her frail
human body needed. Nevertheless, he was strong — inhumanly
strong.

They turned Beth onto her stomach. Doctor
Latham's servant sat on Beth's legs, while Trinity took Beth's
wrists above her head, holding them immobile with one hand. Beth's
long hair was twisted and tied on top of her head and he pressed
his other hand onto her shoulders and the back of her neck.

Beth awoke screaming, feeling the pain of an
animal slashing her back again. Only she couldn't run away this
time.
She couldn't move.

"Maiden, be strong." Lord Trinity's voice
urged her, and the strong, growling sound of it caught her
attention. She wailed as another stab of pain lanced across her
back.

"Trinity, help me!" she cried, trying
desperately to thrash her body away from the pain. Yet, she was
unable to move more than a few inches.

"
Keep
her still," a voice ordered
sharply.

"Beth, you must stay still." Trinity's voice
rumbled close to her ear.

With her face turned to the side, she
unclenched her eyes seeing one of Trinity's yellow-stamped eyes
gazing close to hers. The pain stabbed again and she flinched with
more tears pooling, as he uttered, "Breathe through it,
maiden."

What were they doing to her
? she
wondered, and desperation had her gasping a hard breath.

"Stitching closed the animal's claw mark
across your back," Trinity's voice sounded next to her ear.

She was startled that he answered her
unvoiced question, but then the pain bit into her back again and
she mewled bitterly against it.
No, no, no
, she screamed in
her mind as she struggled and begged with whimpers to escape the
pain.

"Hellfire," Trinity cursed with a snarl,
then she heard him harshly order, "Hold, Dr. Latham."

"But, I'm halfway through," the doctor's
voice sounded with tension.

All Beth heard through the staggering pain
was, "
Halfway
through." She panicked, losing any courage she
possessed. She wrenched her wrists against the unyielding hand
holding them as she jerked her hips trying to throw the weight off,
holding her down.

Trinity realized he could have the strength
of ten men, but he would easily break Beth's fragile flesh and
bones if he used it.

"
I'll
give her my blood," he hissed,
trying to hold Beth's thrashing body down without hurting her. His
voice, which normally sounded with conviction, this time, rang with
doubt as he glared at Doctor Latham.

Latham nodded his head, saying, "All of
Baptiste's experiments with the feeders we've managed to save,
those poor souls, have shown an overwhelming calming effect."

"With no harm?" Trinity demanded through the
chunkiness of his fangs fully extended. The beast inside him was
perversely interested.

"None has been recorded to date," Latham
answered. "And she's going to pull the stitches out if we don't do
—"

Trinity cut him off with a growl and his arm
extended. He flipped his wrist upward. "Cut it!"

He would have done it himself, but he needed
at least one hand to hold Beth from struggling off the bed. Doctor
Latham cut his wrist and unnaturally dark blood began to pool.

Beth was struggling so much he had to force
his wrist to her panting mouth. "Drink it, maiden," he commanded
with a strident voice, leaving little choice.

Chapter Nine

Beth smelled a scent she'd never encountered
before and the overpowering strength of it halted her thrashing
head. Quickly, cold, thick liquid pressed to her lips. Her
scattered thoughts held no reason, and then she heard the voice
she'd learned to trust commanding her … and she drank.

Heat seeped into the tissues of her mouth,
then down her throat. She moaned … and without her immediate
knowledge, her body began to relax as she sucked more of the
intoxicating liquid into her mouth. Her emotional and deranged
thoughts began to sharpen into sanity. All at once, she knew where
she was. She knew what was happening and she knew why. The miracle
was she was no longer afraid.

"Finish it, Doctor," Trinity's voice sounded
above her, and she smiled … drinking his essence.

She never felt another stab of pain as other
things became important to her. She could hear the breathing of
each person in the room. Trinity's sounded hollow, but the other
two were shallow and strained. Their heartbeats ran fast in the
woman and slower in the man. Beth could feel their blood flowing
and she could hear her brother's pacing at the front of the
mansion. His shoes tapped the marble. His heartbeat was strong.