Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

The next morning Leona and Ciara were reading in the library when Weeks came in and announced, “My lady, there is someone here. Miss O’Neill, you have a visitor.”

“Send them in if you please, Weeks.” Ciara spoke.

“Very well, my lady.” He departed silently.

“How is my little lady?” A deep voice speared the air.

Leona jumped up with a squeal. “Jackson. You’re back.” She threw herself into his arms and hugged him with all she had as he wrapped his arms around her in return.

“I’ve missed ye, lass.”

She leaned back to look up at him. “And I you. And I you.”

“So how was the ball? Sorry I missed it.”

“Wonderful.” Leona couldn’t stop the smile from turning up her lips.

“Hello again, Jackson.” Ciara spoke as she poured him a cup of tea.

“Good morning, my lady.” He gave her a small bow before putting his attention back on Leona.

“How was your trip?” she asked her friend.

“Everything was good. Don’t worry about a thing. Tell me what you’ve been up to.”

“Well, shopping and dancing. The opera and lots of things like that. As well as painting.”

“Anyone special I should know about?” Jackson leaned back in his chair.

“Just me.” Trace’s voice cut across the room.

Jackson rose with a growl. “You again. What are you doing here?”

“I came to speak with St. Martin, but since you’re here, I will ask you instead. I would like your daughter’s hand in marriage.”

Ciara sat down on the chaise, avidly glancing between the two men.

Jackson sputtered, “In marriage? Why would I do that?”

“Because we’re in love. And there is a chance that she might be pregnant.”

When he’d said all bets are off, he’d meant it!Leona flushed and kept her eyes on the floor.

“Lass? Would he be speakin’ the truth?”

Leona struggled to get the words out of her mouth. It was just so dry. “I…I…love him.”

Before she could say anything else, Weeks appeared back in the doorway with Lucien behind him, who took in the scene with interest.

“Yes, Weeks?”

“Excuse me, but there is a woman out here who claims to be Colonel Morgan’s wife.”

Leona blanched. No, it couldn’t be. Not now. She glanced at Trace and saw nothing but disbelief on his face. As one Lucien, Ciara and Jackson formed a protective barrier around her.

In through the door burst a small, brown-haired woman. She was wild-eyed and panicked-looking. “You! Trace, you did this to me. Where is my son? Where is he?” She went after him with raised hands, swinging at him. Trace blocked her attacks, but his eyes stayed on Leona.

“Tell me!” she screeched. “Why won’t you look at me? Who are you looking at?” Her head followed his line of sight and saw everyone else in the room. She summoned a smile and patted down her dress before she walked over to them. With a small curtsy, she nodded to both Lucien and Jackson.

“I am sorry for my behavior, gentlemen, but I have been so worried about my son.” Her tone was smooth, too smooth. Like a woman who knew just what to say to get exactly what she wanted. One who used her looks to cover up her ugliness.

Leona noticed that she deliberately ignored the women. She continued, “Is the lady of the house home? I would like to talk to her. Perhaps one of these…these…servants…could go get her.” As if they were less than her.

Blue eyes narrowed. Bethany was about to learn what it was like to insult a marquess.

“You have just insulted my wife. She is standing in front of you.” His strong hand settled on the shoulder of his whiskey-eyed wife as his voice lowered to a hiss that had enough danger in it even a deaf man would be able to pick up on it.

Bethany flicked her eyes over both women and sputtered. “You don’t mean one of these is your wife, do you? Oh, I get it. This is a joke! Trace told you that we own slaves.”

“Weeks, remove this woman from my home.” Both Lucien and Jackson had a grasp on the women in front of them, mostly Ciara, who was more than ready to do battle.

“With pleasure, sir.” He grabbed the woman and pulled her out through the door.

“Trace, Trace, don’t let them take me. Trace!”

The door slammed shut on her wails.

The room was silent for a moment as everyone looked at Trace. “I am so sorry. She was supposed to be in prison for conspiring to kill me. Leona?” He held his hand out to her.

Leona stayed next to Jackson. Trace shook his head in defeat, lowered his hand and slowly turned around to face the door. “I’m sorry.”

Before he could walk off, she spoke, it was hushed and he almost didn’t hear it, but she spoke and he did hear it.

“Trace?”

He spun around and his eyes, almost frantically, searched for some sign in hers. “Yes, kitten?”

“Are you really divorced?”

“Since I made it back to Hawk’s Cove. I don’t want her, I never did.”

His eyes melted away the rest of her resistance, like butter placed in a hot frying pan, as they said—It was only you. It was always only you that I wanted.

Leona walked on shaky legs into his arms and just let him hold her. She stood protected by the strength of his embrace. She pressed her head against the wall of his solid chest and she listened to his heartbeat and felt her own fall into the same pattern, so they beat as one.

“Are ye sure about this, lass?”

Without removing herself from Trace’s hold, she maneuvered her head so she could look at the man who had been a father to her. “Yes. I am sure.”

Trace dropped his arms slowly, as if reluctant to let her go, and stepped closer to Jackson. “You never did answer my question. May I have your daughter’s hand in marriage?”

Jackson stepped up flush against Trace. They matched stare for stare, neither backing down. Water versus earth, two amazing forces. Blue-green versus brown. “What makes ye think that ye be the right man fer her?”

Trace never missed a beat. Never blinked. “I am the only man for her. Just as she is the only woman for me.”

He reached behind him and pulled Leona back into his arms and placed his hand under her chin, bringing her eyes up to meet his as he kept speaking. He took his eyes off Jackson only to look into her eyes.

“I have loved her since we were children and I swear that I will love her beyond my dying day. I want to be with her until I no longer have life left in my body, and when that day comes, I will wait for her to join me in Heaven so we can be together once again. We are two halves of the same whole. I need her to be complete.”

Trace brushed a tear from Leona’s face before he pulled her back tight into his arms.

They stood together for a while before someone cleared their throat. Lucien. “Well, since my family has just apparently grown by two more, I…we extend the offer to you and your son to spend the holidays with us out at Heartstone Manor.”

Trace lifted his head and stared back at Lucien. “We would be honored to join you. I think that it would be the first Christmas in a long time that would mean anything to the both of us.” As he spoke, his arms tightened around Leona to silently include her in his reason for a wonderful holiday.

“Well, we are leaving today. We can send the wife and kids and luggage off ahead and you can ride with Jackson and me. How does that sound?”

“Fine. It won’t take me long to get our things.” Trace glanced at Jackson, who still had distrust in his startling eyes.

“Send off the wife and kids? Excuse me, husband, do I not get any say in the matter?” Indignation rose fast in Ciara.

“No.” His lips found hers swiftly and fiercely before he swatted her on the bottom. “Get ready to go. I want to get there at a decent time.”

Ciara grabbed Leona’s hand and pulled her away from Trace. She dragged her out of the room behind her, leaving only a “We’ll see who gets any say in the matter” to her husband.

* * * *

Trace rubbed the back of his neck as the night fell. They had taken rooms at a local inn on their way. The marchioness wasn’t feeling the best and Lucien hadn’t wished to continue traveling. He understood, truly he did, however, here he wasn’t allowed to be with Leona and he hated with a passion being away from her.

He wasn’t sure how his ex-wife had found him, or how she had managed to get out of prison. The only reason he cared now was because she posed a threat to his happiness, his son’s safety and, without a doubt, Leona’s.

A low rumble rose within him. He would kill the woman himself before he allowed her to cause any more pain to their son or Leona. He paced the room he’d been given.

He went to the door and opened it to see a serving girl approaching. No, correction, she wasn’t a girl, she was more of a barmaid age and, from the looks of her, she was hoping to find a bed to warm at night. If her intent is my direction, she is going to be disappointed.

She bit her lower lip and cast a seductive glance up to him. He gave her a nod, solely because when he’d been in uniform he had been instructed to be respectful. It surely wasn’t anything his old man had taught him.

“Anything I can get you for the night, sir? Anything you want, we can accommodate.”

“No, ma’am. Thank you.”

Trace made his way downstairs after making sure his room was locked. What he didn’t need was to go back later and find her in there waiting.

Claiming a lone spot in the back, he looked up when the proprietor walked up.

“Everything okay with your room, sir?”

“Yes, it is fine. I just came down for a drink.”

“Right away.” He paused. “Whiskey?”

“Please.”

He gave him a nervous smile. “Of course.”

Trace got it, he did. He’d come in with a marquess. If Lucien were not happy with anything, this entire establishment could be ruined. Not that he saw the man doing anything like that, but still, coming from a commoner’s position, he got it.

He nursed his drink, and looked up when a shadow blocked the light for a moment. Lucien stood there.

“Do you mind?”

“Of course not. Everything okay with your wife?”

Ciara had instructed him to call her by her first name, but he didn’t feel comfortable doing that to the woman’s husband. A bit too personal.

“Leona is in there with her, getting her to feel a bit better.”

Worry pinched the corner of his eyes. It also explained why the man was down here instead of in the room with his wife. He was concerned.

“Thank you,” Trace said after a few moments of silence.

“For?”

“Everything. Inviting us to share the holidays with you. I know our boys enjoy spending time together.”

“I thought you were thanking me for not having you killed when your ex-wife showed up.”

There was no humor in the man’s expression. At all. Trace leaned forward, elbows on the table.

“I have been trying to figure out why she came, how she got out of jail and what her desired ultimate resolution with this is.”

“And?” Lucien leaned forward as well, his blue eyes sharp and calculating.

“Blank. When I left Hawk’s Cove and went to her parents’, where she hid, I was with the army to arrest her, I was told she was not going to get out, that she would die in the jail. So if she is out, it makes me wonder if my brother has also found a way to escape.”

“And your brother would be a threat to Leona and your son?”

“Yes. My brother is a level of evil you cannot begin to imagine.”

Lucien’s smile was more of a baring of teeth. “Perhaps.” He finished the rest of his drink. “What is your plan?”

“I think I have to go home. I need to discover what’s going on and figure out what steps I have to take to stop this.” He shook his head. “My former wife is crazy and there is no limit to what she will go to in order to achieve whatever twisted reality she is living in for the moment.”

“And while you’re gone? Are you telling me you want to expose your son to that place once more?” Lucien turned his cup.

“No, I have wish to do that. However I have to make sure he is taken care of, and that is my only option. I cannot expect Leona to take on that responsibility for me.”

“No, I suspect you cannot.”

Trace finished his whiskey and set down the glass. He leaned back in his chair, wishing all the answers would just fall into his lap.

“Are you taking her with you?”

His body tensed at the thought of Leona being exposed to what was going on back there. He saw the understanding in Lucien’s gaze before the man responded.

“Will you stop her from going?” Lucien asked another question.

“With everything inside me. There was very little that went well for her during our younger years, and the last thing I wish to do is dredge up more memories. I know the place is changing but, I cannot stop her pain. But I can protect her now.”

“You care for her.”

He skimmed his top teeth with his tongue. “I have loved her since the day I first laid eyes on her. That will never stop, nor will it ever change.”

Lucien nodded and rose from the table. “Your son is more than welcome to stay with us while you take care of what you need to. I go to check on my wife, so I will bid thee good night.”

“Good night, my lord.”

Lucien gave a brief nod and walked away. Trace didn’t linger downstairs and exhaustion ate at him, mind and body, as he climbed back to his room. Slipping inside, he closed the door behind him and rested against it, a large sigh escaping.

He needed to talk to Leona.

* * * *

That chance didn’t arrive for another day. Not until after they made it back to Heartstone Manor did he manage to find her alone.

“Hello, kitten.”

She turned from where she worked on a portrait and gave him a smile that, same as it had when they were younger, contained the power to take him to his knees.

“Trace. What are you doing in here?’

“Wanted to talk to you.”

Her expression shuttered immediately. With a single blink, he was staring at a blank slate as she placed her pencil down on the easel’s tray.

“About?”

He moved closer. Not as near as he wanted to be, but the door was open and this wasn’t about sinking between her thighs, but explaining to her that he was leaving.

“I have to head back to Hawk’s Cove.”

Trace waited. She didn’t speak, just watched him in return.

“Say something?”

“What am I supposed to say? Congratulations? Beg you not to go? Inquire as to why you feel the need to go now that your ex-wife has shown up?”

He breathed a bit easier the moment he heard the jealousy in her tone. This he could handle, but the lack of anything had scared him, because he couldn’t address what wasn’t there.

“Kitten, there is no one for me but you in the world. Can you believe me when I say that?”

That she didn’t agree with him in that instant set off concerns of his own.

“Are you staying through the holiday or are you leaving now?”

He skirted the easel and stood by her, trailing a finger down her arm and the soft material covering it.

“Staying. I have not been with you or Falcon during a holiday and I am not about to miss this one. But I will be leaving after. Lucien said Falcon could stay here with them.” Unease peppered his skin and gut. “She was not supposed to get out. I have to know if my brother did as well.”

“Of course you do.”

“I do not want to leave you.”

“We all have things we must do.” With that, she went back to her drawing and picked up her pencil once more.

That hadn’t gone at all how he’d intended. Bending at the waist, he brushed his lips against her cheek.

“I love you, kitten.” Then he left her there before he forgot his manners. At the door, he gazed back once more, but she wasn’t paying him the least bit of attention, nor were her dogs. They were sleeping and she, sketching.