Authors: Beth Trissel
“Only for
a
while
.”
Refusal shouted within her
and she choked out her plea
,
“
Please
––
l
et me remain with you
.
If I must
perish first
,
then slay me
now
.
Your sword hangs at your side.”
“N
ever for you
, sweetheart
.”
Cole
closed his arms around her, not to impr
ison, but
to
uphold her, and
buried his
face in her hair.
“It is
not your life that
is forfeit.
Mine is
already
spent
,
for you.”
Raw dread
knifed t
hrough her
.
“Don’t say that
.”
She turned and
lifted her hand to his
cheek, smooth
, yet
masculine beneath her fingers, his handsom
eness excruciating and so
throbbingly
familiar. “
I would die for you.
If you cannot do the deed, I will
take my own life.
”
Tears
glistened in his eyes. “Nay.
Y
ou must live.”
“I don’t know how without you.”
“I a
m as near as your next bre
ath.
Reach deep inside and
remembe
r our pact...t
ogether always
, o
ur heart
s as one
.
”
“
T
ogether
always
,” s
he
squeezed out, closing
her arms around his neck
,
engulfed in emotion too poignant for words.
“I am
wi
th you
, m
ore than you know,” he said
softly.
“
But watch well. There’s a worm in the lily.”
As before, his warmth dissolved into the misted darkness and left Juli
a sobbing in the still garden.
Alone in the moonlight. “Cole!”
****
Poor sweet Julia
.
Heedless of
his grandmother’s quizzical eye
, Will
knelt
on the floor in the great hall, cradling Julia
in his arms.
Her pale lips
whispered wo
rds too faint to hear
as
she twisted from si
de to
side...so
disturbe
d,
as if
wrestling with some
deep
inner
grief.
“It’s more than heat
afflicting
her
,” the old woman observed
.
“
A fit, maybe.
Should you summon the
doctor?
”
Will
couldn’t tear himself away from
Julia
long enough to phone
and
sensed her distress wasn’t a medical one.
“She’ll recover in a moment,
I should think,” he said, not at all
certain.
She seemed so lost
and infinitely vulnerable.
He
w
anted to help her, hold her, and
bring her back to him.
“It’s all right
,
Julia,” he soothed, aware of Grandmother Nora’s arching
eye
brows.
Blinking her eyes,
she
looked
up
at him
dazedly
.
“There
.
S
he’s coming round,” his intent relation said.
Tears trickled down Julia’s white
cheeks and
she turned her face against his chest
.
“Keep me with you
,” she said
,
as if
still oblivious of her surroundings.
He wanted nothing more.
“That
girl’
s
terrified of losing her employment.
What
on earth have you said
to her
?”
his grandmother
berated him
.
“Nothing.
She’s
just sen
sitive.
” Will
wasn’t
about
to divulge any of the mystery
surrounding
Julia to
his grandmother
.
She’d never understand.
Hell
––
he didn’t understand.
Only sensed, and senses could not
be explained to Nora Wentworth.
“
The
English can be rather odd
,” she
nodded, then brightened.
“
I declare Miss Morrow
makes a better Ophelia all the tim
e
.
Keep an eye on the poor thing
and bring her along to brunch tomorrow.
That’ll cheer her up.
”
“Brunch?”
Not
another of those tedious rites.
“Yes.
Sund
a
y brunch at the Marmalade Inn.
Ten o’clock
sharp.
The Patterson’s will be there with
Nelly
.”
“Nobody is called
Nelly
these days except bovines.”
A frown creased his grandmother’s
already heavily wrinkled brow.
“How can you compare that
grac
ious young lady to a cow
?
Call her
Nelle
, if you prefer.”
He wrinkled his nose.
“I prefer
Miss Patterson
from an aloof distance.”
“And I’d prefer s
ome hope of an heir beyond you.
I don’t
care if you’re
as queer as a Maypole in December
y
ou can darn well father the next
Wentworth
.
I’m not
insisting on
a litter, though two offspring would be better
.”
G
iving her a withering look
,
he shot back,
“For whom?”
“
For e
veryone
involved,
sir.
See that
girl
is put
straight
to bed.
She’s as white
as a ghost.
Jon will
fetch my driver.
”
A hoarse
cry tore from Julia.
“Cole
!
”
The all too familiar name wrenched Will in the gut.
Th
at damnable cousin had been at it again
.
Wou
l
d she never think solely of him
?
His g
randmother started in her seat.
“What in the world was that about?”
“You were just speaking of ghosts, Ma’am.”
The next tour group
had
gathered outside the hall doors at the back of the long room
and people
were fast growing impatient.
Charlotte cracked the white paneled door and stuck her head through to shoot Will a mute appeal.
“Give us one minute.”
“And send Millicent through,” his grandmother added, referring to her driver/nurse.
Will
s
cooped up Julia
, still too shaken to stand unaided and not entirely lucid
. “It’s all right,” he said
.
Her
mouth trembled. “No.
I
t’s not.
Cole said.”
Gr
andmother Nora swept her
stare over
the young woman.
“That girl needs
to have
her head examined.
She oughtn’t to have left home in the first place.”
Julia fixed her liquid gaze on the imperia
l matriarch
.
“But Mrs.
Wentworth
, I am home.”
She
clucked disapprovingly.
“I realize the British are drawn to clairvoya
nts and mysticism but really
.
”
Something about Julia’s irresistible appeal mus
t have
struck a s
ym
pathetic cord in the stern matriarch
.
She shr
ugged as if making allowances.
“Lord knows y
ou need looking after, child.
It’s l
ike
taking in a stray,” she muttered
.
“Brunch tomorrow, William, and see the girl’s properly outfitted in twentieth
century
attire. Nothing li
ke the fifties for true style.
Millicent!”
A plain little woman dressed in a white uniform and white sneakers, gray hai
r done up in a bun, darted in.
With a fleeting smile at Will and concerned glance at Julia, she t
ook Grandmother Nora’s free arm
and helped the old girl to her feet,
only to be rapped on the wrist for her pains.
His grandmother
leaned on her cane.
“I can manage wi
thout your fawning, Millicent.
Just get the door.”
With a final shake of her head, the Queen Mother limped from the great hall at the side of her harried attendant and left through the ornate front entrance. “Ten o’ clock, sir!” she called over her shoulder.
As if Will could forget
.
What on
earth was he to do about Julia?
“We’ll be there, Ma’am! And may God help us,” he added under his breath.
“Lie here and rest.
”
Will lowered
Julia onto his bed as if she were the most precious burd
en in the world. And she was.
The air conditioner had overly cooled the r
oom and he tucked his
absurd
pink comforter up to
her
chin
to stop her from shaking.
Ey
e
ing
him
through the glaze of tears
, she said,
“You think I’m crazy, don’t you?”
“No.
Of course not,” he lied, less and less certain what to think, let alone do.
Will only knew he wanted this extraordinary being more t
han anything, now and forever.
He was willing to oppose his grandmother and forfeit his inheritance if he must, though he didn’t know what would happen
to him or Julia if the old lady
tossed hi
m out and sent her packing.
R
egardless, he would do anything, fight
like the very devil to win Julia
.
But how in hell was
he to go up against a spirit?
And why did his long dead ancestor have such an
almighty hold on her?
Cole seemed
stronger in death than Will in vivid life.
If he hadn’t been bent on comforti
ng Julia, he would have
cursed
loud
ly
, pounding his fist on the wall, then charged downstairs to fire holes into Cole’s portrait
––
rather like shooting at himself in the mirror but he was beyond caring. Instead, he forced back
the turmoil
churning
in his gut and smoothed the hair from her damp cheek.
“You’r
e just deeply affected,” he offered
with an assuredness he did not possess.