The butler nodded. “I fear so, Sir Blair. I rode over the hill to the other portal, and found Mr. Woodville’s carriage still waiting there. So they entered the tunnel, but didn’t emerge the other side. I—I’m so sorry, sir, but they must have been caught in the fall.”
“Sweet Jesu,” Blair breathed.
Laura seized his hands. “You mustn’t think the worst!”
He was stricken. “Pray God it was swift,” he said softly.
“Blair, maybe they were caught in the fall, but that doesn’t mean they were killed,” she said quietly. “Think about the tunnel, it isn’t all fuller’s earth, there’s limestone as well. What if they’ve been trapped between two falls? It’s possible, isn’t it?”
“Two falls?” He shook his head. “That would be too much to hope.”
“The alternative is no hope at all, and if fuller’s earth is very unstable, maybe one fall could trigger another nearby.”
His eyes lightened a little, “Well, it is indeed possible, but—”
Harcourt seized on her suggestion. “It
is
possible, Sir Blair, because the fall begins where there’s a mixture of earth and stone, and what’s more, it’s right beneath the cave at Deveril House, which means solid rock. There might well be a clear space.”
Laura could have hugged the butler as she saw Blair’s eyes brighten. “And brickwork is all that separates the cave from the tunnel! Laura, they may be trapped but safe! There’s no time to waste!”
Within seconds they were all three riding back to the house.
Laura’s heart pounded as she accompanied Blair, Harcourt, and a rescue party into the cellars, for she alone knew that Marianna and Stephen were still alive and would be saved.
The men carried mallets, chisels, and a sturdily knotted rope to lower into the tunnel when they broke through the brickwork. The silence of the house overhead seemed oppressive, and lanterns sent shadows receding all around as they made their way toward the cave. The door groaned on its hinges, and a draft of frozen air swept out, then the lanterns flared as Blair went first down the steep wooden steps into the darkness, where water dripped from the store of ice.
At last they reached the lowermost point of the cave, where the wrongly routed tunnel had come so close that the rock floor had broken away and been replaced. Blair knelt to press his ear to the bricks. He listened but heard nothing, so he nodded at one of the men, who struck a mallet three times against the nearby rock.
Blair listened again, and then scrambled to his feet. “They’re there! I can hear them calling! Go to it, lads! We’re going to save them!”
Sparks glinted as the chisels were driven into the mortar between the bricks, and he came quickly over to hug Laura in front of everyone. “I don’t know how to thank you for this, Laura. If it weren’t for you, they might not have been found until too late.”
Feeling guilty because she had so many secrets, she circled her arms tightly around him. She wanted to be honest about everything, but such confession wouldn’t be good for either of their souls. She couldn’t expect him to understand about the time travel, nor could she hope he’d forgive her involvement in Miles’ plot. So she had to keep her own counsel, but right now it was very difficult indeed...
He released her, and returned to help the men, taking a mallet and swinging it mightily. The sound joined with the others, and as a small hole was at last driven through, Stephen’s cries drifted up to the rescuers. “Help us, please! Help us!” With his voice came the dim glow of the lantern fixed to the rowing boat’s prow.
The men redoubled their efforts, until Blair suddenly realized a large portion of brickwork was about to give way. “Watch out below!” he shouted, as everyone in the cave drew hastily aside to solid rock.
The bricks fell with a rushing sound, and Marianna screamed.
“Stephen!”
Laura closed her eyes, for this was the moment Gulliver’s first brush with time travel had ended.
Blair looked down anxiously. As the dust settled, he saw the boat on the dark water. The falling bricks had damaged it and struck Stephen, who was lying unconscious in the water, only able to breathe because Marianna was holding his head in the air.
The men quickly lowered Blair to the boat, and Marianna sobbed distractedly as he hauled Stephen aboard and examined him. Then he put a reassuring hand on her arm. “He’s all right, sweetheart, it’s just a glancing blow. Now let’s get you both out of here. You first.”
Marianna clung to the rope as she was pulled up. She was very distressed and covered in dust, and her wet skirts clung to her ankles. She waited anxiously until Stephen had been hauled up into the cave as well, she knelt to cradle his head on her lap. “Stephen? Oh, Stephen, please open your eyes, for I love you with all my heart!” she begged, ignoring the blood that trickled over her clothes from his forehead.
The men glanced at each other, and Harcourt frowned at them. “Your task’s not done yet, lads; we’ve Sir Blair to get out now!”
They tossed the rope down again and as Blair caught it, Laura saw debris splashing into the dust-covered canal water. The boat was awash now, but she knew it wouldn’t sink entirely, for Gulliver would climb up from it to become Harcourt for a few fateful minutes. She glanced at the butler, and saw how like his namesake from the future he was. When he was older, if he were to wear a beard, he’d be the Gulliver Harcourt she knew…
The boat wallowed as Blair swung his weight onto the rope, and as he began to climb, the lantern on the prow suddenly went out, plunging the tunnel into darkness. On reaching the cave again, he went to Marianna, and put a gentle hand to her dirty, tear-stained cheek. “Are you all right now, sweeting?”
“I am, but Stephen—”
“I’m certain he’s only suffered some grazing, but I’ll have the doctor brought as quickly as possible, just to be certain.”
“Are—are you very angry with me?”
“Right now I’m too relieved you’re safe, but I have no doubt my anger will return. You’ve been very foolish, Marianna, but it’s Stephen I really blame.”
“Please don’t say that! It was
my
fault, Blair,
I
was the one who wanted to run away.”
“And he’s the one who’s old enough to know better,” was the terse reply.
Marianna stroked Stephen’s hair. “You just don’t understand how much I love him.”
Belatedly conscious of the listening men, Blair straightened. “I think we’ve said enough for the moment, Marianna,” he warned, thinking of what was left of her reputation. He turned to Harcourt. “I wish to thank everyone for their help. I know the servants have tomorrow off for the fair, but they may take the rest of today as well.”
There was a delighted stir, and the butler bowed. “Thank you, sir.”
“And now please see Mr. Woodville is carried up to the house before sending someone for the doctor. Er, take him to the apartment in the north wing.”
“Sir.” Harcourt bowed again. As the men picked Stephen up, Marianna got to her feet and looked accusingly at her brother. “The north wing? There’s no need to separate us quite so much!”
He waited until the servants had gone, then faced her. “No need to separate you? Marianna, your behavior has been appalling, and Stephen’s has been worse, so I don’t intend to encourage further transgressions. Like it or not, Lord Sivintree and his son will soon be here, and although I—
Before he could tell her of his decision not to proceed with the match, Marianna’s resentment erupted in a blaze of continuing defiance. “I
won’t
marry Alex Handworth, and
nothing
you can say will change my mind!”
“Marianna—”
“I hate you!” she cried, and with a sob fled from the cave.
A nerve fluttered at his temple, and as his lips pressed angrily together, Laura went to him. “Don’t think too badly of her, she’s suffered a terrible ordeal.”
“We all have, but Marianna thinks only of herself and Woodville; no one else matters,” he said bitterly.
“She’s young and head over heels in love,” Laura pointed out again. “And in spite of your anger with her, you, sir, are still a loving and understanding brother.”
“Indeed? Well it may interest you to know that right now I feel like throttling my little sister,” he replied, but with a faint smile.
She linked his arm. “I love you,” she whispered, her eyes shining in the light from the lantern the rescue party had left behind.
He drew a fingertip over her lips. “Even now, when everything else is so chaotic, you have the power to both soothe and arouse me. I’ve lost my heart to you, Laura.”
“Do—do you really mean that?” she whispered, for it was the first time he had confessed to such feeling.
“Mean that I love you? Yes, completely.”
The air sang around her. He didn’t simply desire her, he
loved
her. Blair loved her!
Chapter Eighteen
Later that afternoon, as the servants enjoyed their unexpected extra holiday, Marianna sat with Stephen after being assured by the doctor that the patient would make a complete recovery. Laura had gone to Blair in his private apartment, where behind a firmly locked door they made love.
The cool silk sheets were fragrant with lavender, and their bodies were warm and damp. She was lost in the ecstasy of a fulfillment that drove all else into oblivion. She gasped as she felt him between her thighs. He lingered before penetration, teasing, promising, enticing, and then he slowly slid himself inside. Shudders of intense delight passed through them both as he entered to the hilt and then commenced the long, easy strokes that would soon carry them both to the peak of ecstasy.
She felt as if her flesh were melting. No longer a living creature, she had become something ethereal, lacking all substance, ruled by pure sensation. He slowed his movements to prolong the pleasure, from time to time becoming totally still in defiance of final release. She could feel him throbbing deep within her, joined to her in a way that meant everything, and she knew that when next he moved neither of them would be able to prevent the climax.
Their eyes met for those final seconds, and they continued to gaze at each other as he slowly eased out a little before sinking voluptuously in one last time. Her whole body shuddered as it was invaded by a maelstrom of joy she wished would last forever.
They lay there, holding each other tightly, exulting in the lingering pleasure. They were warm with love, damp with love; given life by love. But the chaos of pleasure had to subside at last, and she heard him sigh as he gathered her tighter to savor the fading moments. His lips found hers in a long, adoring kiss that put another seal upon her fate. She couldn’t exist without him, he was the destiny she’d been created for. She didn’t want the whole universe, just this private, exquisite existence in his arms.
She wrapped her legs sensuously around him, and pressed her lips to his shoulder, tasting the salt of his skin. What was going to happen tomorrow? Who was going to lie dead at the top of the staircase? She silently beseeched fate to show compassion.
Don’t take him from me, please…
She closed her eyes then, because if Blair didn’t die, who did? She didn’t want it to be Stephen either, because in spite of all his flaws, she liked him very much.
A little later, they left the apartment discreetly, and separately. She went first, wearing the blue and white floral gown she’d changed into a little earlier, but as she passed the drawing room door, she heard Marianna sobbing softly inside.
Blair’s sister was sitting on one of the deep window ledges, with her knees drawn up and her head bowed. The sun shone on her short dark hair and mauve lawn gown, and the spaniels were on the floor beside her. She didn’t know Laura was there until the dogs whined, then she looked up swiftly. “Oh, it’s only you, Laura, I thought...”
“It was Blair?”
Marianna nodded, her chin setting mutinously, but then she noticed the glow on Laura’s cheeks. “What have you been doing?” she asked.
Laura colored. “Me? Nothing.”
“Fibber.” Marianna smiled a little. “You’re much more to Blair than merely the chaperone he engaged for me, aren’t you?” she observed shrewdly.
“Do—do you mind?” Laura feared Marianna might resent a chaperone who presumed to love her brother, and seemed to be considered suitable while Stephen was not. Although, perhaps it wasn’t quite the same, because gentlemen were allowed to take whoever they chose to their beds.
But Marianna shook her head. “Oh, there’s injustice for me, of course, because I’m deeply and irretrievably in love, but I see no reason why Blair should not be too. I know the terrible position I’ve put him in. Besides, I like you very much. I only wish Stephen and I could be allowed to be happy as well. Oh, Laura, I’m so afraid there’ll be a duel. Stephen’s no match for my brother.”
Footsteps approached, and Blair himself came in. Marianna got up from the window sill and faced him defiantly. “Are you going to call Stephen out?” she demanded.
Her tone rankled. “He’s seduced you, persuaded you to elope, and endangered your life, good reasons to bring him to account, don’t you think?”
“You should blame
me
for everything, not him. I set my cap at him, not the other way around.”
He drew a long breath. “Yes, I’m quite prepared to believe you did,” he murmured, “but he didn’t put up much resistance.”
“Please don’t call him out, Blair,” she begged.
“It so happens that I don’t intend to. There’s scandal enough attaching to all this already, without the additional infamy of a duel.”
Tears of relief sprang from Marianna’s dark eyes. “Do—do you really mean that?”
“Of course I do. I’m not going to proceed with the Handworth match either. I’ve been, er, persuaded that forcing you to marry Alex would be a monumental error.” He glanced at Laura.
Marianna’s joy bubbled over, and she ran to fling herself into his arms. “Oh, thank you! Thank you!” She flung a tearfully grateful look at Laura.
Blair held Marianna away for a moment. “Don’t read too much into my decision, for it doesn’t mean I accept Stephen.”
But nothing could dampen Marianna’s new hope. “You will in the end, I know you will, because no matter what, he’s still your good friend.”