“Yes.” Yes, he would.
Twenty-Three
“It would serve the little beggar right if you left him there until the end of time,” Margaret groused from where she was bent over Sophia’s valise, packing her belongings.
She absolutely could not leave Ronald with Ashley while they all went back to the land of the fae. He had to be retrieved, and it looked like Sophia would be the one who had to retrieve him. She wanted a moment alone with Lady Anne, regardless. More than a moment. She wanted to solve the puzzle that was her mother’s death for the girl and for Ashley. She couldn’t do any of those things without going to the Hall. “I will retrieve him. Then I will return and we can go back to the fae on the rising-dawn wind, just as we had planned.”
The midnight wind was already swirling. She could feel it in the air. All she had to do was step aboard and she would be back in the land of the fae. They all would. Well, Sophia, Marcus, and Margaret would. Sophia had very little time to say her good-byes to Ashley, speak with Anne, and retrieve Ronald.
Say good-bye to Ashley… She’d be leaving the biggest part of her heart behind when she did. But it couldn’t be avoided. She couldn’t live in his world. And he couldn’t live in hers. When she returned, they would all step aboard the rising-dawn wind and it would be as though they’d never been in the human world.
Sophia picked up her reticule and looked inside. Her vials of dust, in their clear glass bottles, shimmered like diamonds. She might need them. Heaven forefend, she might need all of them. She might also need none of them.
“Stop fretting, Sophia,” her mother said from her chair by the wall. “Everything will work out as it should. You’ll see.”
“I’m not fretting. It’s only Ashley I’m going to visit. Not some mad killer who will chop off my head.”
The corners of her mother’s lips tipped up in a smile. “It’s not your head I’m worried about.”
Margaret grunted from her corner of the room. Nothing more was heard from her. Just a grunt.
Her mother pretended to look affronted. “Now, Margaret, do speak up if you have something to say.” She cupped a hand around her mouth and pretended to whisper, “I never knew Margaret to withhold her feelings on any matter. Has she gotten soft in her old age?”
“She has gotten wise,” Margaret piped up. She shook a finger at Mother. “And you should not encourage her.”
“Not encourage my daughter to follow her heart?” Lady Ramsdale placed a hand upon her chest. “What kind of a mother would I be if I did that?”
Margaret pursed her lips, as though she wanted to say something but withheld it.
“Say it,” Sophia’s mother prompted, her eyes narrowing in challenge. “I dare you.”
Margaret opened her mouth as though to rush into speech but closed it quickly. Then she opened it again and said, “You of all people should recognize the folly in this.”
“The folly in falling in love?” Sophia could tell that her mother was purposefully goading Margaret into speech.
“The folly of giving your love to a man who’s not meant for you.”
“Like I did?” her mother questioned softly.
“The fireflies tell tall tales about you,” Sophia said, trying to break the tension in the room.
Her mother scoffed. “They do love to prattle on about nothing. Always have.” She speared Sophia with a glance. “Pray tell me what they have to say.”
Sophia shrugged. “Just that you committed some heinous crimes and were banished from the fae.”
“It’s a crime to fall in love,” her mother said.
Margaret took a deep breath and then her mouth opened. And words Sophia had never expected to hear tumbled forth. “The crime, my lady, is that your children were raised without a mother and a father.”
Sophia interjected, “Margaret, please hold your tongue.”
But her mother overrode her. “Margaret, please let loose your tongue. It always was razor sharp and viciously wicked. What has changed you, I wonder?”
“You knew the dangers when you chose him.”
Her mother finally jumped to her feet. “Don’t you see? There was never a choice. Not for me. He is the other half of my soul. I gave up my life as I knew it for love. And if offered the same opportunity, I would do it again.”
“You’d abandon them again.” The words slashed like a whip across the room, harsh and painful.
“I. Never. Abandoned. Anyone.” Her mother said the words slowly, and her voice choked with emotion.
Sophia sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger. “We have already determined the previous course of events. Must we rehash it?”
“Only as a lesson to you, because you’re about to make the same mistake,” Margaret said.
Sophia stepped forward and clutched Margaret’s hands in hers. “I choose the land of the fae, now and always. I choose it over Ashley. Over any life I could have had with him.”
“Yet you go to him for one night.”
Would one night sustain her for a lifetime? Maybe it would.
Sophia sighed heavily and opened the door. She stepped through it and looked back over her shoulder. “I will meet you tomorrow on the rising-dawn wind. We’ll complete our journey together.”
Margaret snorted. “I will believe that when I see you step back into our world.”
“I never left our world. I’m still firmly planted there.”
“You will return one day, Sophia. Won’t you?” her mother asked. Her voice was hopeful and almost afraid.
“To visit you, yes. Of course. Now that I have a mother, I do not plan to stay away from her for long.” Sophia tried to offer an encouraging smile. But returning would be difficult.
“Are you certain you don’t want to take Margaret with you tonight? To keep you from being distracted by his beauty and charm? Or his need for you?”
Perhaps she wanted to be distracted by it. She didn’t answer, and simply hooked her reticule around her wrist and walked down the corridor. Away from her mother. Away from Margaret’s scolding look. Away from her conscience. Away from the land of the fae for one night. When moon sank low in the sky, she would have to leave. There was no other way.
***
Ashley tossed a card onto the growing pile in front of him. Who would have thought a garden gnome could best both him and Finn in a game of whist? He never would have believed it in a million years. Yet the little fellow smirked at them both from across the table, his feet pumping back and forth in front of him, high off the floor.
Finn ran a hand through his hair and tugged it gently. “I can’t believe I let a garden gnome beat me.”
Ronald said, “Pfft! Let me? I think not.”
Finn laid his hands flat on the table and leaned forward toward Ronald. “You are an odious little man.”
“Better to be odious than odiferous,” Ronald replied as he pinched his nose. “You smell like the horse you rode in on.”
“Just because your legs are too short to allow you to mount a horse,” Finn snarled back.
“Too short?” Ronald cried as he jumped to his feet. If Ashley didn’t put a stop to it, they would be at fisticuffs within moments. The same way it had been for the last few days.
“Stop it, both of you,” Ashley snapped. “Watching the two of you is like caring for unruly children. The pair of you need a governess.”
“I’ll take that one you hired for Anne off your hands, Ashley,” Finn said with a rakish grin.
The gnome raised his fists. “You will do no such thing.” He rushed toward Finn.
“Bloody hell,” his brother growled as he stepped to the side to avoid the gnome. “Keep that thing away from me, Robin,” he bellowed.
“Ronald,” Ashley called, using his most
imperious tone. The gnome stopped, with Finn’s hand upon the top of his head, holding him back. “Stop tormenting Finn.”
The little fellow adjusted his waistcoat with all the dignity he could muster. “Is that your wish?”
“You know it’s not.”
The gnome growled low beneath his breath. “Blast and damn,” he said. “You have to set me free so I can meet the midnight wind with Sophia. She needs an escort back to the fae.”
“Sophia has been notified that she will have to retrieve you herself if she would like to see you. Two days ago.” Two days of pure hell. Two days of being unable to go to her. Two days doing nothing but look for her arrival. Wishing for it.
Dreading it.
He had a feeling it would be the last time he saw her.
Finn glanced at his watch fob. “It doesn’t look as though she’s coming tonight, either, Robin,” he said with a look of pity on his face. “Shall I escort it back to its chambers?”
Finn had quickly learned that nothing ruffled Ronald’s feathers more than being called “it.” Ashley shot Finn a quelling glance. But Finn just smirked at him.
A soft scratch sounded at the door and Wilkins stepped inside the threshold. Ashley jumped to his feet.
“You could at least try to play hard to get, Robin,” Finn said.
“What is it, Wilkins?” Ashley asked.
“You have a visitor, Your Grace.”
“Who is it?”
“It’s her, Your Grace.”
There were a good many hers he could be referring to. But only one Ashley would give his last breath to see.
“It’s Miss Thorne.” Wilkins looked like he was almost happy about it.
“Thank God,” Finn roared. “Finally, he can stop pacing and looking at the clock. Bring the lady in, Wilkins. Don’t just stand there.”
Ashley really wanted to see her alone. But he had the whole night to do that, didn’t he?
“Your Grace?” Wilkins questioned. He lifted his nose higher in the air and ignored Finn. Finn was better left ignored in most situations.
“By all means, show her in,” Ashley finally choked out.
***
Sophia preceded Wilkins down the corridor and toward Ashley’s study. Her heart beat like mad within her chest, and her lungs refused to take in a full breath of air. Yet, still, she went where the butler led. Because Ashley was at the other end of the journey. She stepped into his library and the room fell silent. He stood with his back to her, looking down at a piece of parchment on his desk. He did not look up. Not when Finn bowed over her fingertips nor when Ronald took her hand and brought it to his lips to greet her.
She forced herself to look down at Ronald. “Are you well?” she asked.
“As well as can be expected after being imprisoned by the dangerous Duke of Robinsworth.” He played with a loose thread on the sleeve of his coat.
Sophia ruffled the tiny tuft of hair on the top of the gnome’s head. “You’re lucky he didn’t consume you in one bite, as small as you are.”
Finally, Ashley looked up, and storm clouds brewed behind his sky-blue eyes. “I save the big bites for those who are not innocent,” he said, his voice low. A shiver walked down her spine. She remembered him saying those very same words to her in his garden the first time they were alone.
She could barely find her tongue. But she forced herself to scoff. “And you think he is innocent? You couldn’t be further from the truth.”
Ronald puffed out his chest with pride. He worked hard at being a libertine at times.
“Wilkins, could you see Ronald to his chambers?” Ashley asked. He still hadn’t greeted her. He still hadn’t touched her hand. She wanted desperately for him to say or do something.
“Back to my chambers,” the gnome grumbled.
“Don’t worry,” Sophia assured him. “I’ll be along to collect you shortly.”
He skulked away with Wilkins at his side. Wilkins poked a finger at him in warning. “Don’t even consider trying to trip me. You remember who won the last time.”
When they were gone, Sophia looked from Ashley to Finn. Finn appeared as though he had no intention of leaving.
“Good night, Finn,” Ashley said loudly, not taking his eyes from Sophia’s. His gaze was locked with hers.
Finn started for the door, mumbling, “I can tell when I’m not wanted.”
It wasn’t until the door clicked shut behind him that Ashley reached for her.
Twenty-Four
Sophia let him jerk her close, harsh and unyielding in his need for her. A laugh escaped her throat as he bent his head and nuzzled his stubbly jaw into the sensitive skin at her throat. Winding her arms around his neck, she threaded her fingers into the hair at the base of his skull and tugged gently, forcing his head up so she could look at him. Instead, he pressed his forehead against hers, gulping in large breaths of air, his eyes tightly shut as though he was in pain.
“I thought you’d never arrive,” he whispered, his words harsh enough to shatter glass yet soft enough to rub over her skin like a caress.
She touched her mouth to his quickly and tried to pull her head back so she could talk to him, but his fingers threaded through hers, locking her in his grasp with her arms behind her back as his lips chased hers in her retreat.
“You knew I would come for Ronald,” she said against his lips. But it was nearly impossible to think with him kissing her in such a manner, much less speak.
Suddenly, he jerked his head back from her. “Tell me you’re not here just for Ronald,” he growled, looking at her face as though he’d never seen her before.
Sophia forced herself to take a deep breath before she said, “No. I’m here for us, too.”
“For how long?” he ground out. His breaths heaved from him in huge, gasping bursts.
“For tonight.” It nearly broke her heart to say it. But it must be said.
“I’ll have tonight to change your mind,” he whispered, almost reverently.
“You can try,” was all she could offer.
He laughed softly, raising her hands to put them back around his neck, and then his fingertips slid down her arms until she was caught within his grasp, her belly against the hardness of him. “Oh, dear,” she whispered, unable to say more.
“I need you,” he said, raising trembling fingers to brush her hair back from her face, tucking it behind her ear. His eyes lingered on the pointy tip of her ear. He stopped short and stared at it.
“This is the first time you’ve noticed it.” She tilted her head to look at him, watching for his reaction as he studied her ear. “It’s always been like that.”
“How could I have missed seeing that?”
“You were more concerned with other parts of my body?” she asked, feeling particularly wicked.
“What else do you have?” he suddenly blurted out.
“Beg your pardon?”
“What else marks you as… what are you, exactly?”
“I doubt you want to know all the details.” She tried to laugh, but it was nearly impossible.
“I want to know everything about you,” he said, his lips touching hers again, softly this time.
“I am fae,” she said, taking a deep breath to bolster herself. She disentangled herself from his arms and stepped back from him. “I can’t think when you touch me like that,” she admitted. He nodded and crossed to the sideboard to pour himself a drink.
“Would you like one?” he asked and then raised his glass to his lips for a quick swallow. She nodded and stepped toward him, but before he could pour a glass for her, she took his from his hand and raised it to her own lips. He made a noise in his throat when her lips touched the place where his had been.
“Thank you,” she said, passing it back. The liquor
traced a fiery path down her throat, nearly stealing her breath. He raised it back to his own mouth and took a swallow, regarding her over the rim of the glass as he drained it dry.
“Where is the land of the fae?” he asked.
“Somewhere you’ve never heard of.”
“Again with the cryptic comments?” he groaned as he dropped into an overstuffed chair. He crooked a finger at her, and she went without even deciding to do so. He tugged her so that he could lace his fingers with hers. “Don’t lie to me, Sophie. I deserve more than that.”
“You saw what I did in the village.”
“I’m not certain what I saw,” he said, laying his head back against the chair to regard her from beneath heavy-lidded lashes. He pulled her down to sit on his lap and jostled her lightly with a bump of his knees. “Explain it to me.”
She brushed a wayward lock of hair from his forehead. “Please know that it’s forbidden.”
“Ballocks, Sophie,” he said quietly, his hand resting on her hip, his thumb drawing tiny circles that threatened to disarm her.
“I can’t think when you touch me,” she scolded.
He chuckled. “Yet, I can’t seem to be able to stop.”
“I have this final night,” she began. But her voice cracked and she forced herself to stop. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly for a moment, then opened them and looked directly into his. “I have this final night. Then I must catch the rising-dawn wind in the morning.”
“Must you?” he whispered.
She nodded. “I must.”
He stood up and swept her into his arms. He tossed her for a firmer hold and she squealed. “What are you doing?”
“If I have you for one night, I want to spend it in my bedchamber.” He started for the door.
***
“Wait!” she cried as he started down the corridor. He didn’t even stop to look down at her, afraid he would see rejection on her face. Ashley didn’t stop walking until he reached his chambers. He stomped past one flustered maid who plastered herself against the wall in fear, closing her eyes tightly as he passed, as though by doing so, she could erase the idea of where they were going. Because it was quite obvious he was taking Sophia to his bed.