No Greater Love (43 page)
“Pascal is having a l-little trouble with d-discipline,” Cyril said, following him. “He d-does not want to hurt the horse, and the horse is t-taking advantage of the f-fact.”
Nicholas chuckled. “I can imagine. Maybe I should take the beast out myself and let him know who is master.”
“I d-do not know if it would d-do any g-good. It is Pascal who m-must harden his heart. He does not like to k-kick or use the c-crop.” As he spoke, Cyril vaguely noticed a woman who was moving toward them, her hooded cloak obscuring her face. But an ominous prickle moved down his spine. He suddenly stopped, his blood going cold as ice. She was nearly on them, and he knew without doubt that it was Jacqueline.
He saw her hands shift beneath her cloak and then a sudden flash of blue steel, and he knew what she intended.
“No!” he cried, and with all of his strength he shoved Nicholas to one side. He threw himself on Jacqueline as the blade came stabbing up with the swiftness of a striking snake, plunging past hard bone into soft flesh. Cyril clutched at his chest, feeling only a strange chill.
“Not you, you little fool!” she gasped, staggering back against his weight. “It wasn’t meant for you!”
“And yet I welcome it,” he said, choking on the blood that suddenly bubbled up into his throat. He took her by the shoulders. “And you will n-never … hurt … again.”
With a last, almost superhuman show of strength, he pushed her away from him, flinging her across the sidewalk directly into the path of a passing carriage. The horses panicked and reared, their hooves coming down on top of her, and he watched with satisfaction as she was trampled under them, her screams abruptly stopping.
“Jesus Christ!” he heard Nicholas shout. “Cyril!”
Cyril turned toward him, his hands going to the knife embedded in his chest. He met Nicholas’ horrified eyes, then sank to his knees, suddenly unable to stand.
Cyril only just felt his cousin’s arms come around him. He knew Nicholas was saying something to him, but he didn’t really hear, nor did he feel any pain when Nicholas pulled the knife out. He knew only that he was very, very cold. And yet he felt as if an enormous burden had been taken from him. He closed his eyes as Nicholas lifted him, and he rested his head against Nicholas’ shoulder. He was very nearly home at last.
“Madame!” Pascal cried. “Madame, something very terrible has happened! Come quickly!”
Georgia dropped the book she had selected for Pascal and came running out of the library. “What? What is it, Pascal?” she asked, alarmed by his white, distressed face.
She looked out the window to see a crowd gathered in the street, surrounding a woman’s body. She quickly opened the door, prepared to go out to help. And then she gave a little cry as she saw Nicholas running toward her, Cyril’s limp body in his arms.
“Nicholas … Oh, my God, what happened?”
“Jacqueline,” he said, coming up the steps and moving past her. “She stabbed him.” His voice was painfully tight.
“Cyril … oh, my poor Cyril,” Pascal whispered. “Can you help him, madame?”
“Take him to the drawing room, Nicholas,” she said. “Quickly, Pascal. Fetch Binkley. We need linens and water. And then fetch my medicine bag.”
Pascal said not a word. He flew off, and Georgia ran after Nicholas. He gently placed Cyril on the sofa, stroking his brow.
“Is it Jacqueline in the street?” Georgia asked, ripping away Cyril’s blood-soaked jacket and shirt, and she drew in a sharp breath as she saw where the knife had penetrated.
“She is dead,” Nicholas said, looking down at Cyril anxiously. “I don’t know how he did it with a knife in his chest, but he threw her in front of that carriage. Jesus, Georgia, he took that damned knife for me.” He pushed a shaking hand through his hair. “Can you do anything for him?”
Georgia just shook her head.
Binkley hurried in and placed a bowl of water and a pile of linens on the table next to her. “Is there anything else you need, madam?”
She shook her head again as she made a pad, pressing it against Cyril’s ribs, trying to see through the hot tears that clouded her eyes, for she knew her efforts were in vain. Cyril had very little time left.
“Madame?’ Pascal said, coming in with her bag and looking down at Cyril’s ashen face. “Is it very bad?”
“Shall I remove the child, madam?” Binkley asked.
“No, Binkley. I think Pascal needs to be here now.” She looked up at Nicholas, and he nodded, the pain in his eyes acute, and she knew he understood.
“Cyril?” she said, touching his cold face. “Cyril, can you hear me? Pascal and Nicholas and Binkley, they are all here.”
His eyes fluttered, then opened. “Nicholas,” he whispered through dry lips.
“I am here,” Nicholas said hoarsely, leaning over him and taking his limp hand. “Cyril, I’m so sorry. I wish to God I had seen her in time. I would never have let this happen to you. Never. I promised to keep you safe from her.”
“And you did,” he said, licking his lips with the tip of his tongue. “You did not throw me in front of her knife, Nicholas. I did it myself. Please, do not be sorry. You have always done your very best for me. And I do iove you, even if I have not shown it very well.”
“What you did tonight more than showed it,” Nicholas said, his voice choked.
“It was justice,” Cyril said faintly. “It was right. Now I can finally rest.”
Pascal fell to his knees and touched Cyril’s face. “Are you going to die now, Cyril?” he asked, tears streaming down his cheeks.
“I believe I am, little monkey,” Cyril said, his blue lips turning up slightly at the corners. “But do not be too sad for me. I am happy.”
“I understand,” Pascal said, his voice catching on a sob. “You go to be with the angels now, where there is peace for you. This is what you and God decided on, perhaps?”
“Yes,” he said with a shallow sigh. “I think it must be. Be happy, little monkey. Take good care of Nicholas and Georgia.”
“I will, Cyril,” Pascal said, wiping at his eyes.
“Nichol…” Cyril moved his head slightly.
Nicholas bent down to him, straining to hear. “What is it, coz?”
“Please,” he said, his words now barely audible. “Tell my father that I loved him, and I am sorry. And tell him that I went in peace. It was for the best.”
Nicholas squeezed his hand. “I will tell him all that.”
Finally Cyril looked up at Georgia. “You taught me so much. Thank you. Will you send me now as you sent the sailor?”
Georgia sank down next to him, her heart breaking, hot tears blinding her eyes. She smoothed his brow, then kissed his forehead. “Go now, Cyril, and know that everything is finally all right. Go with God. Go with God and be happy.”
“Thank you,” he murmured. And then he sighed deeply and was still.
Pascal picked up the kicking, giggling little boy in his arms and tossed him over his shoulder. “You are a monstrous handful, Charlie,” he said, running with him down the length of the garden, only causing the toddler to laugh more furiously and beat his small fists against Pascal’s back. Charlie was a happy, uncomplicated child and they all adored him, including old Ewan Cameron, who had come down from the Highlands especially for the christening of his great-grandson and hadn’t gone away again for three full months.
“If you would not mind,” Binkley said with dignity, sidestepping as Pascal came barreling straight toward him, “I should like to deliver this tray unscathed.”
“A million pardons, Monsieur Binkley.” Pascal placed the child on die ground and grabbed his hand to keep him in place. “He was eating the roses, you see.”
“Far better he should eat the gingersnaps,” Binkley agreed, continuing on his regal progression. “Good afternoon, your lordship.” He placed the tray down in front of Georgia. “Madam. Shall I pour?”
Georgia smiled, watching as young Charlie amused himself by climbing onto his adoring great-uncle’s knee. “Please, Binkley,” she said. “Pour away. Don’t be shy, Uncle William. I can see you eyeing the gingersnaps. Help yourself and Charlie, too, for I can see he is wanting them every bit as much as you are.”
“Thank you, my dear,” Lord Raven said. “I believe we will help ourselves. Lily makes gingersnaps unequalled by none. Pascal? You cannot possibly be so self-contained.”
“I am trying very hard to learn discipline, Lord Raven. Monsieur tells me it the secret to success.”
Lord Raven nodded and moved his hands on Charlie’s back. “I imagine he is correct.”
“Monsieur is nearly always correct,” Pascal said firmly, and Georgia shook her head with amusement. Pascal had not lost one shred of his adoration for Nicholas, but then, why should he? She only loved Nicholas more herself as every day went by.
Her hand went to her belly as she felt a vigorous kick. Nicholas would soon enough have another child to adore him, which was as it should be, for he made a wonderful father. Charlie’s birth had gone a long way toward easing the pain that Cyril’s death had caused, and she knew that this new child would only add to his happiness. She could not help but glance over at the tree they had planted two autumns before in Cyril’s memory. It was a fine little maple, strong and fast-growing, and it did its job, keeping Cyril constantly in their thoughts. There were times when she felt he was still with them, or at least watching over them from what she was sure was a very fine position in heaven. It would have made him happy to know that they remembered him with love. It would also have made him happy to know that his father did not in any way hold him to blame for what had happened with Jacqueline. But Georgia couldn’t help but wonder if Cyril had not been right: his death had been his only hope for peace.
Nicholas came out of the house to join them, his dark hair shifting in the spring breeze, Raleigh at his heel. Charlie wiggled off Lord Raven’s knee with a shriek of delight and ran to embrace his father’s leg.
“Hello, Uncle William,” Nicholas said cheerfully. “You’re becoming quite a regular for tea. Sorry I’m a bit late—business called. Thank you, Binkley.” He balanced the cup Binkley had given him in one hand and ruffled Charlie’s hair with the other.
“I cannot resist coming to sit in the garden, Nicholas. No doubt when you are an old man living at Ravenswalk you will find yourself making your way over to the Close to sit out here and amuse yourself with your grandchildren.”
“I hope so,” Nicholas said, putting his tea cup down and glancing up at the house, now fully restored to its former beauty. “It’s the sort of place that needs to be filled with happiness.”
“You have certainly succeeded in that,” Lord Raven said. “I would never have thought that it could have been so again after so much time.”
Nicholas rested his hand on Georgia’s shoulder and she looked up at him. His face had gone dreamy with memory, and she knew just what he was thinking. She too remembered well how it had been. She remembered Nicholas the first time she had ever seen him, his eyes wet with tears of anguish over what had become of his beloved house. She remembered their wedding night in a cold, wet ruin, empty save for a few pieces of furniture. She remembered how bewildered she had felt to be married once again to a man who was a virtual stranger, and yet how Nicholas had made such an effort to make her feel comfortable, had told her stories and tried to fill the empty rooms with memories of a happier time.
Her gaze shifted to the statue of the young boy, a host of bright spring blossoms pushing around the base. A shaft of filtered sunlight touched gently upon the crimson bowl of a single peony, its petals slightly unfurled as if to stretch up to the benevolent warmth. The profile of the child was caught in the same beam, and he seemed to her almost to be smiling. He was no longer lost or alone, a stone child forgotten in a deserted garden. He was where he belonged, surrounded by love and laughter, part of a family … just like Nicholas. He too was finally back where he belonged and he was at peace.
She would never forget the night that everything had irrevocably changed, when Nicholas had been driven beyond his own ability to cope with his pain, nor his long and difficult battle homeward. She looked at him now, knowing him so well, his faults as well as his strengths. He was a man who had survived a descent into hell and returned, not unscathed, but whole. Whatever private battle Nicholas had fought, he was stronger for it, freed to live his life without fear of a nameless terror always at his back. In that private battle Nicholas had not only gained his freedom, he had also finally learned how to say goodbye.
Georgia’s breath caught in her throat as she was overwhelmed by a sudden rush of love for the man standing beside her. It wasn’t just his physical presence; Nicholas never failed to stir her with that, and she knew exactly how lucky she was to love him and to be loved by him. It was more a sense of incredible good fortune that they had stumbled upon one another, almost as if God had taken one deep, relenting breath and blown her toward Raven’s Close and Nicholas as easily as if she had been a dandelion puff tossed in the wind.
God had truly smiled on her and she knew she was blessed.
Nicholas echoed her thoughts exactly. “Ah, well, uncle,” he said, “all it really took to bring it back was a little magic and a push from God in the right direction. And here we are. Look around you. Was there ever a garden so fine?”
He dropped a kiss on her brow, scooped Charlie up into his arms, and went off with Pascal to investigate the apple blossoms.
“Cultures clash and sparks fly when a willful Frenchman and an untamed British heiress meet. From bestselling author Katherine Kingsley.
“One of the romance genre’s best and brightest.” – Romantic Times
Orphaned as a child and raised by a British lord, Frenchman Pascal LaMartine is notorious for keeping the desires of his heart secret, even as the handsome man is beloved by all around him. British heiress Elizabeth Bowes is equally notorious for her wild spirit and refusal to wed. They have nothing in common until the day she accidentally lands at his feet and changes both their lives forever.
Brought together by destiny, threatened by shadows of the past, and drawn into a dangerous battle of wits, Pascal and Lily discover the true depths of passion and commitment and how perilous their love may be.
“A chance encounter in a faraway land is only the first step in a long and complicated dance with destiny. From bestselling author Katherine Kingsley.
“One of the romance genre’s best and brightest. Ms. Kingsley is a writer of infinite grace and exquisite perception.” – Romantic Times
Andre de Saint-Simon has no intentions of protecting Ali, the young woman whose life he saved, for long. As determined as Ali is to stay by his side, Andre is equally determined that they should continue their travels independently. But when he discovers Ali is actually the long-lost daughter of his mentor, Andre feels obligated to return her to England before moving on, alone.
Ali knows that it is her destiny to be with Andre. A clever matchmaker, Ali carefully orchestrates an arranged marriage for Andre – to Ali herself! Now bound together in matrimony, Ali and Andre are forced to match wits with an unexpected enemy and dance around their obvious desire before surrendering to deep passions they never knew existed
“Irresistible.” – Mary Jo Putney, author of SOMETIMES A ROGUE
Destiny and desire intertwine in a passionate romance from bestselling author Katherine Kingsley.
“Another dreamspun romance…once more Katherine Kingsley works her magic…in a story that lifts your heart and makes your soul sing.” – Romantic Times
During her years of exile in Wales, Serafina’s only solace has been the golden-haired lover who has haunted her dreams. On the eve of her wedding, Serafina is sure the man she will marry the next day is the man of her dreams, even though they’ve never met. But during a moonlight walk in the woods she comes across a dark stranger who shatters her hopes with a kiss and a devastating revelation of the feelings of her betrothed.
Preparing to marry a woman he doesn’t know, Aiden Delaware, Earl of Aubrey, seeks solace in the woods, stumbling upon a maiden as beautiful as a fairy queen. He tells her his darkest secret: that he already despises his betrothed and has no wish to be forced into an arranged marriage. Resigned to never seeing the ethereal apparition again, he’s shocked to meet her again the next day: the beauty from the woods he’d loved at first sight turns out to be the unwanted fiancée, who now knows his true feelings. Despite this inauspicious beginning, Aiden and Serafina gradually discover that marriage is more than a contract, and love can span more than a lifetime.
“Ms. Kingsley has done an excellent job of bringing us two wonderful lovers and a cast of secondary characters you can sink your teeth into.” - Rendezvous
“An Irish beauty and an English nobleman are star-crossed lovers in a fairy tale romance. From bestselling author Katherine Kingsley.
“An ardent and magical retooling of Cinderella…draws the reader in and leaves her holding her breath…emotionally compelling and intensely romantic.” – Romance Forever
Lucy Kincaid endures a life of drudgery and loneliness in her stepmother’s home, sustained only by her dreams of a better life and a man to share it with. She’s sure her wish is coming true when a golden stranger appears on the windswept cliffs of the Irish coast. But Lucy’s hopes are shattered when she realizes the man she’s lost her heart to is the despised Englishman whose family stole her birthright.
Raphael Montagu is obsessed with finding the mysterious Irish beauty who captured his heart at first sight. When he discovers fate has delivered her to him at a London ball, he’s crushed when she claims to have never seen him before. Even after sharing a kiss and hearing his declaration of undying love, the woman vanishes, leaving no clue as to her identity. Raphael’s only hope to find his true love is to return to the remote cliffs of Ireland and unravel the mystery that is keeping him from his heart’s desire.
“Miss Kingsley has woven a delightful tale…a sparkling gem.” – Romantic Times
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“A beautiful and uplifting story – the kind that makes readers sigh with pleasure and smile through their tears. Tender, sweet, joyous, sensual, and poignant, this novel is simply wonderful.” – Romantic Times
Gifted with the ability to read minds, but unable to remember much of her past, Meggie Bloom is a pariah without a future as she cares for the lost souls in Woodbridge Sanitarium. All that keeps her going are her dreams of a better life, until the handsome and mysterious Lord Hugo Montagu enters her life, promising the impossible: Lord Montagu will free Meggie from a life of drudgery, if she’ll agree to be his wife.
“Brilliantly written… Hugo is a great character whose behavior is changed by the love of a good woman. Meggie is magnificent as the heroine.” – Affaire de Coeur magazine
“A charming tale.” – Romance Reviews
“Driven away from England by scandal, a woman returns to confront a danger to protect the only family she has left. From bestselling author Katherine Kingsley.
“A timeless tale of the miracle of true love which conquers all, heals all, and makes all new again. Add interesting characters, unexpected plot twists, and a touch of the supernatural, and the result is a memorable, feel-good read.” – All About Romance
Despite having been driven from aristocratic English society in disgrace, Joanna is resolved to return to England after the death of her beloved cousin, Lydia. She is a woman on a mission, determined to rescue Lydia’s son from his father, the man Joanna suspects is responsible for Lydia’s untimely death. Guy de Salis, Marquess of Greaves, seems to be capable of anything.
Joanna’s wit and passion leave Guy feeling uneasy. Despite his own misgivings, he invites her to be his son’s governess, an invitation Joanna warily accepts in order to better protect her family. What neither expected was to see the boy bloom under Joanna’s care, or for love to blossom in the most unlikely of circumstances.
“A true gem…a sheer delight. Guy is possibly one of the best heroes I’ve read in years and you won’t want to miss THE SOUND OF SNOW. I treasured every word.” – The Book Nook
