With a sigh, she returned to the house, happier than she had ever been in her life.
Bryony was sitting at her dressing table, brushing out her hair before bed, when she sensed Stefan’s presence. The next thing she knew, he was in the room. “Stefan! What are you doing here? Is something wrong?”
“Indeed.”
She worried her lower lip between her teeth. Had he come to tell her he’d changed his mind about marrying her?
“Foolish girl.” Closing the distance between them, he knelt beside her. “I realized I had been remiss,” he said, reaching into his trousers’ pocket.
“Oh?”
He nodded as he withdrew a small white box and handed it to her. “I neglected to give you a token of my affection when I asked you to be my wife. I hope this will suffice.”
Bryony let out a gasp when she lifted the lid. Inside, nestled on a bed of snowy white velvet lay the most beautifulring she had ever seen. Diamonds set in gold surrounded a blood-red ruby. “Oh, Stefan,” she murmured. “It’s exquisite.”
Taking the ring from the box, he slipped it on her finger. “I am pleased that you like it.”
“I love it,” she said, turning her hand this way and that so that the diamonds reflected the lamp light. “And I love you.”
Wrapping his arm around her waist, he sat down on the bench beside her. “I cannot wait to make you mine.”
With a sigh, she rested her head on his shoulder. He had never been married before, she mused. But surely he had known many other women in his long life. She told herself it didn’t matter. She was the only one he had loved enough to wed.
He stood, carrying her with him, cradling her to his chest. “It is late, my sweet. Until tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow,” she murmured, and wished the wedding was only days away instead of months.
“It is my wish also.” He glanced at the bed, wishing he could lay beside her and make love to her all through the night.
Bryony followed his gaze, some of her eagerness swallowed up in a sudden nervousness. She knew little of what went on between a man and a woman. It was not openly talked of, but she had caught snatches of whispered conversations now and then. Some women complained of having to submit to their husband’s advances. A few found pleasure in the arms of their mates. She had heard there was sometimes pain, that some men were cruel and demanding, with no regard for their wives’ care or comfort or pleasure. She slid a sideways glance at Stefan. What kind of lover would he be?
He carried her to the bed and sat down, still holding her in his arms. “You have no need to fear,” he said, lightlystroking her hair. “I will not hurt you.” He kissed her cheek, then stood, letting her body slide intimately down the length of his own. “Until tomorrow, my beloved.”
He kissed her one more time and then he was gone.
Bryony stared at her bed and felt her cheeks grow hot as she imagined herself lying there locked in Stefan’s arms, touching him, tasting him, letting her hands explore the width of his shoulders, his broad chest and flat belly. Letting him run his hands over her. She slammed the door on her imagination before it went any further. But she couldn’t help smiling as she crawled under the covers. Soon, she thought, soon her curiosity about the rest of his anatomy would be satisfied.
The thought made her cheeks burn hotter even as she wondered if Veronica ever entertained the same wicked thoughts about Robert.
Chapter Twenty-Five
With their two daughters getting married on the same day, Leyton and his wife were busy from dawn to dark, although most of the work fell to Maida and the household staff. It wasn’t too bad until Maida decided the entire house needed to be cleaned and refurbished from top to bottom, which meant hiring more help. She ordered new drapes for all the rooms and insisted the ballroom be repainted and new tile installed on the floor. Windows had to be washed, the gardens pruned, the trees trimmed. Dressmakers came and went. She spent hours going over the menu with the kitchen staff. Barrett received new billing statements from practically every shop almost every day.
Bryony and Veronica grew bleary-eyed looking at patterns and fabric. Bryony leaned toward cream-colored satin for her wedding gown, Veronica favored silk. There were also dresses to be made for the bridesmaids and suits for the men. Leyton groaned as he counted the cost.
Two years ago, unbeknown to the rest of the family, a friend who was a friend no longer had talked him into investing a large sum of money in a gold mine in California, only to find out a few months later that the mine didn’t exist and his cash and his so-called friend were long gone, leaving him with little cash on hand until his other investments came due. But it had been a bad year and the payments he had beencounting on hadn’t come through. Growing desperate as his funds dwindled, he had borrowed a sizeable amount of money from Lord Bloodworth, the total of which would soon be due. Having informed the man that Bryony had broken their engagement, Leyton wasn’t looking forward to confronting him again.
Embarrassed by his poor judgement, he couldn’t bring himself to tell Maida and his daughters he couldn’t afford the extravagant wedding they were planning. If Bloodworth insisted on payment, they might well have to sell the house and everything else they owned to repay the loan.
Soon, he thought. Soon he would have to contact Bloodworth and see if the due date could be extended or renegotiated.
And Bloodworth wasn’t his only worry. The Guild was searching high and low for the vampire’s lair. Unwilling to take a chance of incurring Bryony’s hatred, Barrett had made the members of the Hunter’s Guild promise they wouldn’t make any attempts on Stefan’s life while he was with Bryony or when the two of them were here, in the house with the family. It had taken some wheedling and fast talking to get them to agree. However, the Guild insisted that Stefan would be considered fair game if they caught him alone anywhere else. Barrett had agreed, thinking it would solve his vampire problem. If the members of the Guild managed to destroy Stefan, there would be no wedding between the two, and he could tell his daughter, in all honesty, that he’d had nothing to do with Stefan’s demise.
One way or another he had to stop that wedding. He could not, in good conscience, allow his daughter to marry a monster. He knew the vampire had tried to manipulate his mind, and while his machinations had failed with Leyton, they had succeeded with Maida, Eli, and Veronica. He knewthat because Maida was again in favor of the marriage and neither Eli nor Veronica had mentioned the wordvampiresince the night he’d felt Stefan trying to influence his thinking. He supposed he could tell Maida the truth although that might lead to questions he didn’t want to answer, like how did he know? And he would rather not get into that. His family had no idea he had once been a hunter and he preferred to keep it that way. Still, he could fall back on that, if necessary. Vampire hunting was a dangerous but profitable occupation.
Maida. They had been married a long time. He had rarely kept secrets from her. She always knew when something was troubling him. And he was deeply troubled by the thought of his daughter marrying a monster, and by a debt he could not now repay. He couldn’t sleep, had no appetite. He had to find a way to keep Bryony from marrying Stefan without incurring his daughter’s hatred. Telling Maida that Stefan was a vampire would be his last resort if all other attempts to prevent the marriage failed.
Every day, new bills arrived.
