Chapter 30

Chapter 30

He brought her back to the house, even though that also required that she find a very cheap carriage for them to take. He’d been horrified at the conditions she expected him to suffer through. Luther had the money, but apparently no self-respecting carriage driver would take a naked man home on the promise that money would eventually be exchanged.

He supposed he didn’t blame them for that.

Still, by the time they’d arrived back at his home, Luther was quite embarrassed and ready to go back to his own bedroom where no one would laugh at him. Like Magda was currently.

The old woman curled in on herself. She laughed so hard. She pointed again at the sheet and said, “Tell me again! One more time, please.”

Luna had made up the most ridiculous story about how he’d tracked her down, but then had gotten mugged. He’d tried to keep them both safe, but in the end, the only thing he had on him was his clothing. So their attackers had taken his clothes in the hopes that they might get some money from them.

“It was heroic,” she said, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. “And here I was, only trying to see my sisters for a few days. The poor thing had completely forgotten that I’d told him about it and, as you know, I’m not used to servants. I’ve learned my lesson.”

“I bet you have.” Magda wiped tears away from her eyes. “Luther, accosted by highwaymen and then losing all his clothing. Now that would be a sight I’d pay to see.”

He bet she would. The old woman would have turned bright red and passed straight away if she’d ever seen him without clothing.

“That will never happen, Magda,” he said.

“If you could please have a hot bath run for Luther, that would be most appreciated,” Luna interrupted him. Then she guided him away from the rest of his staff, who stood in the hallway, gawking at the entire situation.

He let her lead him down the hall, if only because he liked the feeling of her arm around his shoulders. “You should have let me at least tell her a different story than that,” he grumbled. “Now she thinks I’m a blithering idiot.”

“No, she thinks you saved the woman you’re to marry. Even if that came at the cost of your own pride.” She squeezed him tightly against her and pushed the door open to his bedroom. “It’s a very honorable thing to do, what you did.”

“I didn’t do any of that!” he exclaimed.

Damned woman would have everyone in Dead Man’s Crossing talking about how the Earl had wandered the streets naked to save her. And she’d find that absolutely hilarious. He supposed it was a little funny, but he wouldn’t let her get away with it that easily.

Without looking behind him, Luther dropped the sheet and walked over to his wardrobe. Sure, he was covered in dirt and god knows what else. But he knew the picture he painted. Confident. Strong. He was proud of the body he’d worked hard for and he knew that she would have a hard time keeping her hands off him.

The gasp that echoed through his chambers was enough to make him decide that they weren’t leaving this room for a while yet. Responsibilities be damned. Everything could wait a little longer. The town wouldn’t go up in flames if the Earl enjoyed being with the woman he intended to make his wife.

What had she called herself in the hall? He paused with his hand on a robe in his closet. The woman he was to marry. That was all she thought she was to him?

No, that wouldn’t do. She had to know that she meant more than that.

He yanked the dressing gown onto his arms and over his shoulders before turning around, perhaps a little too quickly. “Luna, I need to make something very clear to you before anything else happens between us.”

Her eyes widened, but she nodded. Had she taken a few steps toward him? Like she was planning on grabbing him while his back was turned? Normally, he’d be thrilled with that. Actually, he still was. Damn it, he wanted her even now, but he had to get this off his chest before he was distracted.

“Yes, there’s something I have to say as well.” She even interrupted him to add, “I’d like to go first if you don’t mind.”

Oh. Well, now this all sounded rather serious and he’d prefer it if they went back to the loveable bantering. In fact, if he didn’t say what he had to say, then he would likely explode. “I think it would be better if I went first, actually.”

“It probably wouldn’t.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and he was suddenly furious that he hadn’t gotten to do that.

Which was silly. They’d have a lot of time for him to tuck every curl behind her ear. Perhaps multiple times a day if she would let him. Ugh, this woman had him thinking like he was a poet and he’d never thought that way before in his life. He didn’t know if he liked it or if it was making him slightly ill to his stomach.

“Fine,” he muttered. “Please. You say what you have to say, and then I’ll tell you. It’s not like anything is going to change after I say what I say.”

She frowned. “Maybe you should go first then.”

“Luna!” He took a deep breath and held it, forcing his exasperation to ease. “Just talk.”

“All right.” She was obviously uncomfortable. Luna shook her head and muttered, “No, this won’t do.”

Then she walked right up to him and grabbed onto his shoulders. He thought maybe they weren’t talking after all, but she instead guided him to the bed where she sat him down and then took a couple steps away from him.

“That’s better,” she said before wringing her hands.

“You’re making me nervous.”

“Well, I’m nervous. I’ve never had to stand in front of someone who I stole a very large sum of money from and apologize,” she snapped before wincing. “Sorry. Anyway, let me get this out so I don’t say nothing about it.”

He waved a hand in the air and then leaned back on his palms. “Proceed.”

“I shouldn’t have taken anything from you and if I needed the money, I should have asked. I know we already said our apologies and saying it again won’t change what I did, but I need you to know that I vow to never steal from you again. You’re a good man and you don’t deserve to fear that I’m going to take more from you or run away again.” She met his gaze, and he was horrified to see tears in her eyes. “I know they were your mother’s, Luther, and I know that we haven’t ever talked about her. But I wouldn’t want anyone to take anything that I had left of my mother if I had even a thimble that she loved.”

Oh, the poor thing was breaking down in front of him and he had to stop it. She didn’t need to know that he’d never been close with either of his parents. That his mother had died when he was very young and even then, he hadn’t seen her much. She was the woman who had brought him into this world, and that was the last of it.

All she needed from him right now was his acceptance and belief that she wouldn’t do any of this again.

“Luna, I think that you’re putting more blame on yourself than you deserve right now. You came into my home with a purpose, and I ignored that for a while. But I know who you are and that you’ll want to keep doing this because it makes you feel better. You can still steal, but tell me when you’re going to do it so I can at least help you.”

She nodded, staring down at the floor. “I can do that.”

“Good.” Then he shrugged for added measure. “I don’t care about the jewelry. They were my father’s possessions more than my mother’s, and someday I’ll tell you about all of that. You don’t have to feel guilty. I hadn’t even seen the old baubles since I was a child.”

Luna never stopped surprising him, though, and he should have remembered that. She reached into her corset, right between those lovely pale breasts that he’d fallen in love with, and drew out a tiny bag.

“Then this is for you, even if it means nothing to you anymore.”

He had no idea what she handed him. And how had she kept this hidden when they’d enjoyed each other’s company on the roof? He had peeled that leather outfit off of her and he hadn’t noticed this at all.

Luther nodded at her chest. “Quite the hiding place, don’t you think?”

She blushed. “Well, it worked, didn’t it?”

“Sure did.” He didn’t like the idea of someone having to paw around in her chest to steal from her. Maybe they would work on other secret pockets for her to hide things.

Pulling the drawstring of the bag rather absentmindedly, he let the contents fall out onto his palm.

The Diamond of Crestfall winked up at him, still glittering with all the wealth that would make the King weep. Luther’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head before looking back at Luna. “I thought you gave this to the gang?”

“I never gave it to him,” she replied. “You interrupted before they could take it from me. His plan was to shatter it into a thousand diamonds to sell to the highest bidders. A smart plan, really. It would have made him a lot more money, but I couldn’t... I couldn’t let him destroy it like that.”

The diamond seemed to warm in his palm, or maybe that was his imagination. But he saw Luna tilt her head to the side as though it were speaking to her.

Strange, really, how difficult it was to believe she could talk with the stones. He was a man who turned into a wolf at every full moon, and now apparently whenever the wolf wanted to, and somehow it was still difficult for him to believe that she had magical powers he couldn’t explain.

“Thank you for this,” he said, holding the gemstone up to the light before he set it carefully on the nightstand. “We’ll have to figure out a better way to display it. No more shadows for that diamond.”

“No more shadows,” she repeated with a smile. “You’ve made it very happy.”

“Good.” He slid off the bed onto his knees, kneeling in front of her with his soul pressing against his throat. “Now I want to make you very happy, Luna Winchester. In any way that I can.”

“Oh.” Luna set her hands on his shoulders, guiding him closer to her warm skin. “I can think of a few ways you might be able to do that.”

No, he couldn’t get distracted by counting the freckles on her belly. Not right now.

Luther grabbed her hips and forced her to stop in her place. “No, not that. Listen to me. When we left Magda, you said you were the woman I’m supposed to marry. That I’d saved the woman I’m supposed to marry.”

“I did,” she replied with a frown on her face.

“I don’t want you to say that anymore, because you are so much more than that.” He swallowed hard, staring up into her beautiful, lovely face. “You’re the woman I love, Luna. I don’t know when it happened or how, but every time I look at you, I feel like I’m whole. I didn’t realize how lonely I was before you got here. How much I needed someone to see me as a man and not a monster, or at least someone I didn’t fear would ever see me as a monster. You are the woman I’ve dreamt of my entire life. And I love you. More than I can really express. I want to call you my wife. To say that I’ve saved my wife.”

He’d thought perhaps his speech would terrify her. But instead, those lovely eyes filled with tears and then she nodded vigorously. “I love you, too. So much that leaving felt like I’d ripped out an important part of myself, but I couldn’t imagine you would feel the same way. You’re an earl and I’m—“

Luther stood and pressed his hand over her mouth. “I don’t care. I don’t care even a bit that you aren’t what people will want to see. Because you’re everything I need, Luna Winchester, and if you won’t have me, then I feel certain I will fall apart at the seams.”

She waited for him to slide his hand from her mouth before she smiled. And that look told him everything he needed to know. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you, Luther Fernsby. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“Even though I’m a werewolf?”

Her hand cupped the back of his neck and drew him down for a long, lingering kiss. “Especially because you’re a werewolf.”