Lords Of Desire Part 10

The captain backed out and Mr. Burke firmly closed the door.

"Oh G.o.d, he suspects you, Falcon!"

"That's rather moot." He coughed and she jumped out of bed.

"Please don't say that. Don't give up," she pleaded.

"I'm a realist.... Don't be upset." He coughed again.

"Don't talk; it makes you worse." She heard Pandora scratch at the door and opened it for her. The leopard stalked about with raised hackles, then when she found Drudge gone, she calmed.

In a short time, Mr. Burke returned. "The captain has left. I pointedly reminded him you had friends in high places, my lord, and that you valued your privacy above all things. I doubt he'll be back tonight." He spoke to Tory. "Call me if you need me."

He was almost out the door when Tory picked up her boy's clothes and followed him. "I think you'd better burn these." She went out with him and closed the door. "Mr. Burke, I'm afraid. Falcon is talking like he's going to die!"

Burke looked at her with compa.s.sion in his eyes. "My dear, he is going to die. His lung has collapsed; that's why his wound was bubbling air. He is slowly hemorrhaging. In a few hours, it will fill with blood, and, sadly he won't be able to survive."

Tory found she could not speak, but she nodded her understanding. She went back to the bed and pulled up a chair. On the inside she was a seething ma.s.s of fear, dread, and panic. How will I bear it? What in the name of G.o.d am I going to do without him? Firmly, she pushed aside all thought of the future. She had him for the next hours and that time was infinitely precious. She calmed and showed him only serenity and love.

Falcon closed his eyes and seemed to sleep, but his breathing was labored and occasionally he gasped for air. Tory's gaze never left his face. She memorized every line: the shape of his raven-wing eyebrows, his straight nose and flaring nostrils, the laugh lines around his dark eyes. She studied the scar that stretched from in front of his ear to his jaw. It had healed well and when she thought of how stoic he'd been while she st.i.tched it, the lump in her throat threatened to choke her.

Sometime in the long, dark hours between midnight and dawn, Falcon stirred and had a coughing spell. When it was over, he asked for his ring. He patted the bed and she knew he wanted her to lie next to him. Tory carefully slipped under the covers and propped herself against the pillows, facing him. She clasped his hand possessively and tried to put his ring on his finger.

"You made a long journey, Tory. Thank you for coming to me."

She squeezed his hand. "You taught me that life is joyful. I've cherished every single moment."

He struggled for breath. "You proved there is no such thing as time. Keep my seal ring. I'll find you again, Tory."

She slipped the gold ring onto her thumb. "I won't let you go, Falcon."

He gasped and she had to listen very closely to his words. "Love is more powerful than death. I'll find you no matter where you are."

"I'll be right here, Falcon. Always. You are my soul mate."

The lovers spent the next hours touching, but not talking. The silence was broken only by Falcon's gasps for breath.

As dawn began to lighten the sky he gripped her hand. "Tory...you...are...going...to...have...to...let...me...go...."

I cannot! I cannot! She drew in a shuddering breath. Think about him, not yourself, Tory. She leaned over and kissed his brow. "Au revoir, darling."

Her eyes flooded with unshed tears, blurring his face. Falcon drew his last shuddering breath and her tears overflowed and ran down her cheeks in rivulets of sorrow.

Tory's mind drifted away to a happier time, to a place where her heart didn't ache and she wasn't alone. She had no idea how long she remained in a suspended state, but Pandora got to her feet and began to growl deep in her throat.

Tory sprang from the bed and approached the door. The voices on the stairs told her that Captain Drudge was back. I must convince him that Falcon was neither pirate nor smuggler. Lord Hawkhurst's n.o.ble reputation must not be smeared!

Before she could open the chamber door, it was thrown open and she backed away as she saw Mr. Burke, Captain Drudge, and a militiaman on the threshold. Tory's eyes flew to Mr. Burke's. "Falcon's gone."

"Lord Hawkhurst is deceased. Show some respect, Drudge!" Mr. Burke demanded grimly.

"Good G.o.d, I suspected him all along. It was my bullet that killed him," Drudge declared.

"Nay!" Victoria denied. "Lord Hawkhurst was giving me target practice. I accidentally shot him with his own pistol."

Drudge turned to his man. "Arrest the wh.o.r.e!" Both pushed past Mr. Burke and came into the chamber, their purpose clear.

Pandora lashed her tail and crouched. Then she launched herself at Drudge's throat and sank in her fangs. Tory screamed and rushed toward the door that led up to the ramparts. She flew through the door and slammed it shut. Within a minute she realized that she had trapped herself up on the tower roof. She ran to the wall, looked down, and shuddered.

She couldn't go back. They would arrest her for Falcon's murder and likely Drudge's as well. Tory knew she was cornered; she had absolutely nowhere to go.

All at once she heard Falcon's voice. "Tory, jump!"

With trembling limbs she climbed onto the crenellated wall, but she was rooted to the spot, overwhelmed by the height.

Falcon's voice came again. "Darling...don't be afraid."

She wasn't afraid of the water, only the height.

"If you can't dive, then jump," Falcon urged.

Tory gathered her courage, focused her attention on the thought of Falcon, and made her decision to place her trust in him, as she had always done before. She closed her eyes and jumped.

The water of the moat closed over her head as her body plunged deep. She experienced an odd, out-of-body sensation and wondered if the impact had killed her. Tory felt strangely ambivalent. Without Falcon, do I even want to live?

CHAPTER 10.

Peregrine Fuller was standing atop Bodiam's round tower as he did every morning at this hour. The girl he had asked to marry him had disappeared more than a month ago. It seemed she had vanished while visiting his castle of Bodiam.

The entire town of Hawkhurst had searched for her in Ashdown Forest and along the banks of the River Rother, fearing she'd had an accident. She had been gone so long without a trace that rumor had it Victoria Carswell had run away. Her mother, however, had different ideas and had charged Sir Peregrine with her disappearance.

None felt the loss more acutely than Fuller. Though he'd had no hand in it, he felt guilty by a.s.sociation since she'd gone missing while visiting Bodiam. He harbored a fear that she had run off rather than accept his proposal of marriage. Each morning he stood atop the tower to look down at the river where he had first seen the water sprite bathing naked.

Splendor of G.o.d, I think that's Victoria!

Fuller ran down the spiral staircase at full speed, flung open the door that led out to the stone balcony, and without even kicking off his boots, he dove into the moat.

Her arms and her hair were floating out from her body when he grabbed hold of her and his heart filled with joy that he had finally found her alive.

She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and the ecstatic look on her face told him how happy she was to be rescued. "Falcon, you are alive!"

Tory clung to him sweetly as he towed her to the balcony and pa.s.sed her up to his waiting manservant. Peregrine climbed from the moat and took Tory in his arms. He carried her up the spiral staircase and though her body was limp and her eyes closed, he knew she was breathing and that she would recover. He laid her gently down on the bed and turned to his man. "Go to the church and get Mistress Carswell's brother Edmund."

Though Peregrine knew he should send word to Victoria's mother, there was so much rancor between them that he chose to communicate with Tory's brother instead. When his man left, Sir Peregrine stripped off her wet corset, wrapped her in his velvet bed robe, and then removed her wet drawers. He pulled back the covers and put her into the bed.

Tory opened her eyes, heaved a huge sigh of relief, and smiled.

"Are you feeling all right?" He was worried about her mental state. "You called me Falcon."

She stuck up her thumb that held his gold seal ring and laughed. "That's your name, Lord Hawkhurst."

Sir Peregrine's brow creased. "I have an identical ring bearing the image of a peregrine falcon." He lifted his hand to show her. "Where did you get yours?"

"You gave it to me. After you were shot. Don't you remember?"

The furrows in his forehead deepened. "Victoria, how did you come to be in the moat this morning? Do you remember? Everyone has been searching for you for a month. I've sent for Edmund."

Tory stared at him aghast. "G.o.d in Heaven, you are not Falcon, you are Peregrine. I've come back in time!" She turned her face into her pillow and began to sob.

Sir Peregrine felt alarmed. The things she said didn't quite make sense. When he dived into the moat to save her, she had seemed ecstatic, but now she seemed overwhelmed with grief. Her sorrow touched his heart. He had no idea what was wrong, but more than anything he wanted Victoria to be happy. He took dry garments from his wardrobe and went below to change from his soggy clothes. When he returned she was still crying.

Eventually she stopped sobbing. She lifted her face from the pillow and gave him a withering glance.

"Something's wrong. Can you tell me what it is?" he asked.

"I don't want you to be Peregrine! I want you to be Falcon!" she cried pa.s.sionately.

"I'll be Falcon if you wish it. The name is interchangeable."

"Don't patronize me, Sir."

He was saved from having to make a reply when he heard footsteps on the stairs. He opened the chamber door to admit his manservant with Victoria Carswell's brother on his heels.

"You've found her. Heaven be praised." Edmund strode to the bed, took his sister's hand, and brushed the wet hair from her brow. "Tory, are you all right? Where on earth have you been?"

A lump came into her throat at the sight of her brother's face. It reflected love and relief in equal measure.

"I went back a hundred years in time, Edmund. It was unbelievable! I traveled back to 1737 when Falcon, Lord Hawkhurst, owned Bodiam Castle."

Edmund glanced at Sir Peregrine with alarm. "She's had some sort of a shock, I believe. We had better get the doctor."

"Yes, I agree completely, Reverend Carswell. I held off sending for him until you got here." He turned to his servant. "Mr. de Burgh, would you kindly take a note to Doctor Cowper?"

"De Burgh?" Tory stared at the servant. "Isn't that French for Burke?" she asked.

"Yes, de Burgh is Norman French. In English it is Burke."

"Do you remember me, Mr. Burke?"

"Of course, Miss Carswell. We met when you visited Bodiam Castle on two occasions in September."

Tory shook her head in exasperation. Why can't I make them understand? "Do you see these exotic Chinese jade earrings? Falcon gave them to me. His sailing ship was the Seac.o.c.k."

She saw her brother and Sir Peregrine exchange another look. "I know I am asking you to suspend your belief in all that's rational, but I did go back in time. That's where I've been for a month. Bodiam Castle was magnificent a hundred years ago. Every chamber was furnished with as many authentic artifacts as when it was originally built in the fourteenth century. Don't you see I am the only one who has the knowledge to restore the castle?"

"Well, wherever you've been, Tory, I'm glad you are back," Edmund declared. "I must go and tell Mother that you are safe."

Victoria sighed. "Yes, of course you must. Would you bring some of my clothes? I don't have anything to wear."

"I didn't realize. I will accompany Mother.... You'll need a buffer against her inevitable outrage, I'm afraid."

"Edmund, you are a dear brother, but I am not afraid of Mother. Not anymore. Her values and mine are not the same. Actually, they never have been. I'll face her and answer all her questions. Perhaps it's wicked of me, but I'm rather looking forward to it."

Edmund left to apprise their mother of the situation and Mr. de Burgh went to fetch the doctor. Alone with Sir Peregrine, Victoria stared at him, comparing him with Falcon. He was the same age and had the same powerful build. Their dark eyes and hair were indistinguishable. His looks were almost identical to Falcon's and Tory resented him for it.

She lowered her lashes to mask her true feelings. "Thank you for helping me. Since I disappeared on the day I visited Bodiam, it must have been disquieting for you, to say the least."

His dark eyes searched her face. "How did you come to be in the castle moat this morning?"

"I jumped from the round tower."

"My tower?"

Tory raised her lashes. "It was Falcon's tower."

"It is over sixty feet high," he pointed out.

"Yes, I was afraid to jump, but Falcon promised to catch me."

"I see."

It was you who were there for me. Though I don't want to admit it, you and Falcon are the same man.

"Why don't you rest until the doctor arrives?"

"Thank you." She watched him leave and close the chamber door. Her glance traveled around the room. The furnishings were not the same, although his wardrobe and his desk occupied the same places that Falcon's had. She raised her arm and sniffed the sleeve of the velvet robe. His evocative male scent was identical and her heart ached at the poignant memento.

Her mind drifted off to that other time; looking back, it seemed mystical and yet it had been so real, she could still taste it and smell it. Her emotions were bittersweet, for she sensed that she would never be able to go back again.

Tory's mind gradually came back to the present time. She got out of bed and observed herself in the looking gla.s.s. Her hair was a dreadful mess, so she picked up a towel from the washstand and began to rub it through her long, dark tresses. When she heard voices on the stairs she dropped the towel and hurried back to bed. She heard a polite knock and called, "Come in."

Sir Peregrine entered, along with Dr. Cowper and a young female servant. The maid was the one who had been in attendance at dinner the night Victoria had been invited to dine at Bodiam.

Tory made up her mind in an instant. The only person I want to convince that I've been back in time is Sir Peregrine.

Since I stand no chance of convincing anyone else, I won't even try.

Dr. Cowper stood beside the bed and looked down at her. "Mistress Carswell, how are you feeling, my dear?"

"I am a little weary, doctor, but otherwise I feel quite well."