In the Heat of the Bite (34 page)

“Nay.”

Matthew scoffed at his own foolishness. “Sitting in White’s, wracking my brain, trying to figure out why you were angry with me, to no avail. I had convinced myself that you must be angry with me for something I had yet to do. That Lady Eynsford had foreseen it and told you whatever future sin I would commit.”

She looked appropriately apologetic. “Cait would never do that. She lives by a code and willna reveal the future ta others.”

“Indeed?”

“Aye. Though she has bent it from time ta time. She saw ye in my future, so she placed me in yer path every opportunity she could.”

A memory flashed in Matthew’s mind. “Did you know that the first time I met your seer, she was traveling with Alec and hadn’t yet married Eynsford, though he had marked her?” He caressed the spot on Rhiannon’s neck where his own mark was visible.

“Cait never mentioned it ta me.” Her eyebrows narrowed. “He’d marked her? What does that mean?”

Could she be any more charming? He chuckled. “Lycans have this odd mating ritual where they bite their lover.”

She looked positively disturbed by that. “And drink their blood?” she gasped.

“No, they just get overwhelmed with passion. A lot like vampyres, but in a totally different way, if that makes any sense.” He gently rubbed across the tiny teeth marks on her shoulder and smiled at her. “Remember how I marked your neck when you were experiencing pleasure?”

She shivered lightly. Of course, she remembered. “I thought ye were just drinkin’,” she said with a sheepish grin. “So, Cait had been marked before she married Eynsford? Interesting.” He could almost see the information working through her head.

He smiled as the memory settled more firmly in his mind. “She knew instantly what I was, but she wasn’t afraid. And when we parted, she said that I would learn a lot more about her kind. She knew even then, didn’t she? That I was destined to find you causing a storm in Hyde Park.”

“I think she did.”

“She even told me to enjoy the fair weather while I could,” he lamented. She knew. She’d seen all of this, months before it happened. Matthew was certain of it. Cheeky witch. He’d have to properly thank Lady Eynsford for her meddling. His stomach grumbled again. He truly was hungry. He sincerely hoped Radbourne hadn’t finished off all the biscuits there were to be had.

“Ye need food.”

“I’m afraid I do. Though the last thing I want to do is leave this bed. I want to stay here all night wrapped in your arms.”

Rhiannon grinned and then kissed his chest. “We could raid the stores in the kitchen and bring all our bounty back up here.”

Matthew rolled her beneath him, kissed her quickly, and gave her a look he hoped promised her sensual delights to come. “Excellent plan. You stay here, and I’ll be right back.”

Well, he wasn’t
right
back, but Rhiannon doubted Matthew had ever spent any time in a kitchen and would be completely lost trying to locate food. She grinned to herself and tugged the counterpane up to her neck, imagining him making quite the mess for his cook in the morning—pots and pans all askew, cupboards open, flour scattered about the place. Then a strange thought occurred to her. Did Matthew even employ a cook? After all, a vampyre would have no use for such services. But he did have servants, and they would need to be fed. So there must be some food around, which was a good thing as she’d completely missed dinner herself.

She turned on her side and slid her hand over Matthew’s vacant spot. It was still warm. He was warm. He was alive! And he was hers. She must be the luckiest lass in the world. Never in her wildest dreams had she ever imagined that her true love would be an actual knight in shining armor. Not that she’d seen him in armor. Perhaps later.

“For my lady,” Matthew said from the threshold, carrying a tray laden with a mound of biscuits.

Rhiannon rose up on her elbows. “Matthew, do ye have chain mail?”

“Chain mail?” His green eyes danced. “I leave you for a few moments and when I return, you want to know if I own chain mail?”

She giggled. “Well, ye are my knight. I thought I might like ta see ye in yer armor.”

“You do, do you?” He grinned as he sat on the edge of the bed and placed his tray between them. “Well, your knight is starving, and all I could find are these biscuits. Apparently, Hughes has a sweet tooth.”

“Hughes?”

“My butler,” he explained as he popped an entire biscuit in his mouth and began to chew, a look of wonder on his face.

The butler was that sour man who’d greeted her at the door. “Oh.”

He turned his gaze to her. “I know he was less than kind to you tonight. I’ll sack him first thing in the morning, if you’d like.”

Rhiannon shook her head. “I’m sure he thought I was a bedlamite.”

“He did say something to that effect,” Matthew admitted. “But I won’t allow anyone to treat you ill. Not your father. Not your aunt. Not my butler. You are mine, Rhiannon, and I love you.”

She didn’t know what to say to that, and a lone tear trailed down her cheek. Matthew brushed it away with his thumb.

“I’ve waited more lifetimes than you can imagine just for you.”

Her heart melted. To keep any more tears from spilling, she grinned unrepentantly. “What dreadful luck ye have. I was fortunate and found ye on my very first lifetime.”

He chuckled, and Rhiannon doubted she would ever tire of that sound. Matthew and happiness all rolled into one. Then he sobered a bit. “We’re going to have to get you back to Eynsford’s, you know.”

She shook her head. “Ye said we could stay in this bed all night.”

“I know I did, and it was foolish of me. Only Radbourne and Hughes know you’ve come here. I believe we can actually trust the viscount, and as I pay Hughes’ salary, I am certain he will hold his tongue.”

He was still so concerned about her reputation. She knew she should appreciate the fact, but she couldn’t help thrusting out her bottom lip in a very childish pout.

“Yep.” He winked at her. “Still beautiful, even when you do that.”

As soon as his carriage door closed, Matthew pulled Rhiannon into his lap. He hated returning her to Eynsford’s, but knew it was the best course of action. Soon she would be his wife and he wouldn’t see scandal attached to her name. The ride would be short, so he would have to enjoy the next few moments.

“Did ye ken yer eyes are green?” Rhiannon snuggled closer to him.

Matthew snorted. He hadn’t given his eyes a second thought. He wasn’t sure if he had ever known their color when he was alive. It wasn’t as though he stood around peering in mirrors in those days. “Are they?”

“Lord Kettering’s are blue.”

They had been centuries ago. So, it was true. James had transformed, too. He still wasn’t sure what to make of that. “After we’re married, I’d liked to spend our wedding trip in Derbyshire.”

“I doona care where we go as long as I’m with ye.”

Matthew kissed the top of her head. “I think you’ll like Halcourt.”

“Will I?”

“Mmm,” he replied, “My chain mail is there.”

She giggled against his chest.

“And Blaire and James are at the neighboring estate. We have so much to catch up on.”

“Ye’re upset he dinna tell ye.” She pulled slightly away from Matthew so she could look in his eyes.

What was the point of lying about it? “I am.” He nodded. “After all we’ve been through together, I can’t believe he wouldn’t tell me about the most important thing that ever happened to him.”

“Perhaps he wanted ta tell ye in person,” she suggested.

Perhaps. Matthew grunted noncommittally. He supposed he should give James the benefit of the doubt, but his friend’s silence still grated a bit.

“Perhaps he just wanted ta enjoy the beginnin’ of his new life with Blaire.”

Well, now that Matthew could understand. As soon as Rhiannon was his, they’d leave for Derbyshire, and he might not let her out of his chambers for a fortnight. They could eat biscuits in bed, and he’d even don his old chain mail. He smiled at the absurdity of it.

The coach rolled to a stop, and Matthew slid a protesting Rhiannon from his lap. “I know, dearest, but it’s for the best.”

He opened the door, ready to help her out, but noticed that every window of Thorpe House was glowing with candlelight. Did that mean the entire household was awake? Apparently so. The front door opened, and Caitrin Eynsford stepped through the threshold with a fiery glare.

Matthew knew he couldn’t throw Rhiannon to the wolves, and quite frankly, that was what he would be doing as soon as they walked through the door. Directly behind the lady stood her formidable blond wolf of a husband and his three Lycan half brothers. “Perhaps I should speak to them first,” Matthew suggested as Rhiannon put her hand in his and stepped onto the walkway.

“There’s no need,” she said with a smile. “Ye may be mortal now, but I’m still a witch. And a rather powerful one at that.” Her eyes twinkled with laughter. God, he loved her. Here she was ready to face the wrath of the righteous and he was the one who was nervous. “A well-placed bolt of lightning can change a man’s temper in a mere moment.”

“Can you place one right between Eynsford’s eyes?” Matthew whispered as he regarded the scowling marquess.

“Good evenin’, Cait,” his witch said with a giggle as they walked up the steps. The seer’s blue eyes were as icy as her demeanor.

“Where have ye been?” Lady Eynsford hissed with her hands punched against her hips.

“As though ye doona ken…” Rhiannon muttered to her friend as she walked by her with little more than a glance in her direction. The marchioness wasn’t at all used to being treated with so little tender handling, if her affronted expression was any indication.

“I told ye I wouldna look inta yer future,” the blonde said as she reached for Rhiannon’s arm and snatched her close to look into her eyes. What she saw staring back at her must have startled her, because the seer immediately let Rhiannon go. Then her eyes filled with tears.

“Oh, Cait,” his witch said, as she drew her coven sister in for a hug. “Doona cry. Ye’ll force me ta join ye, and then we’ll all be a soppin’ wet mess.”

Matthew looked up at the sky, which was suddenly darkening. “Perhaps we should move this inside,” he suggested.

“Perhaps you should return to your own home,” Eynsford returned from his place behind his marchioness. He reached out to stroke his wife’s shoulder, and she turned her head into his hand like a cat.

“Inside with all of ye,” Lady Eynsford finally said with a grand sweeping motion of her hands. The Lycans all immediately moved to her bidding. Only then could Matthew see someone behind the crowd.

“This is all your fault,” came the accusation from the back of the corridor.

The last thing Rhiannon had expected to find was her Aunt Greer at Eynsford’s house, waiting like a hawk that wanted to devour a defenseless mouse with its eager beak and talons. “If you had never come to London, this would never have happened.” Greer raised a wadded handkerchief to her nose and sobbed into it. “Now I will have nothing. And it will be your fault!”

“Do ye ken what she’s talkin’ about?” Rhiannon asked as she leaned close to Cait.

“It’s Ginny. She’s run off,” Cait whispered back.

“She did what?” Rhiannon cried.

“Are ye all right?” Cait asked quietly, appraising Rhiannon’s body from top to bottom.

“Aye, I’m fine,” Rhi, said, brushing her concerns into the background. How could Ginny run off? Had Aunt Greer done something to her? “What happened?” she demanded of her aunt. “Please start at the beginnin’.” Matthew’s solid fingers closed around her own, reminding her of his presence.

“I had plans,” Aunt Greer sneered. The Lycans all had dispersed to parts unknown, aside from the marquess, who kept a comforting hand on Cait’s shoulder. “And then
you
had to come to London.” Her aunt jabbed a finger in Rhiannon’s direction with every word.

“Aye, ye had plans ta set Ginny up with someone with bags of blunt, with no’ a care for his common sense or decency,” Rhiannon shot back.

Greer rolled her eyes. “That’s how one advances in society,” she said as though she was speaking to the most ignorant of children. “One must forget all preconceived notions of love, devotion. One must find a wealthy, marriage-minded man of noble blood and make a good match.”