She nodded. “What are we going to do?”
“Come away with me.”
“You know I can’t.” She shook her head. “I can’t let Bloodworth send my father to prison, nor can I let my father sell our home and land and leave my family with no place to go.”
Stefan swore softly as she laid her head against his chest. He would give Barrett a week or two to reconsider his offer. If the fool still refused, Stefan would go to Bloodworth and pay the man directly, Barrett and his foolish pride be damned.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Days went by. Bryony did her best not to think about what would happen if her father continued to refuse Stefan’s offer. Her father had withdrawn Stefan’s invitation to call so, each night, she invited him into her room where they spent a quiet hour or two in each other’s arms. Each time, it grew harder and harder to tell him good night, to pull away when all she wanted to do was explore every inch of him. To run her hands over his broad chest and shoulders, let her fingers explore his hard, flat belly, feel the strength of his arms around her. He was so big, so male, from the top of his head to the soles of his feet.
She dreaded the dawn of each new day. Unaware that anything was wrong, her mother and Veronica continued to make plans for the wedding. They insisted Bryony participate but she had no heart for it. When the invitations arrived, she stared at them in horror when she saw her name linked with Bloodworth’s. What was she going to do? When one of Veronica’s best friends gave a party to celebrate their upcoming nuptials, Bryony forced herself to go. She endured the final fitting of her wedding gown.
“Oh, Stefan,” she wailed that night. “What are we going to do?” It was two weeks until the wedding. Last night, she had talked to her father about the debt, asking if he would please accept Stefan’s offer as a loan rather than a gift. Again, hehad refused. She’d never known such a stubborn man! He was going to let himself be arrested rather than accept help.
With the pads of his thumbs, Stefan wiped her tears away. “Do not weep, beloved. I will go see Bloodworth tomorrow night and repay the loan.”
His offer released a new flood of tears.
“No one else will have you, my fair Bryony,” he murmured, as he rained kisses on her brow, her cheeks, the top of her head. “No one.”
It was well after midnight when Leyton Barrett slipped quietly out of bed, dressed in the dark, and left his bedchamber. Moving quietly down the stairs, he unlocked the front door, stood back as six men, all attired in unrelieved black, filed into the house and padded silently up the stairs. Barrett remained in the hallway while the men entered Bryony’s bedchamber. One of the hunters shook her shoulder. She woke instantly, a frightened cry rising in her throat when she saw the six shadowy figures surrounding her bed. She screamed when a man grabbed her arm. She was struggling to free herself when Stefan materialized in the room.
And the six men sprang into action. One held her down while the other five attacked Stefan with holy water and silver bladed daggers, driving him to the floor, binding him with thick silver chains that left him helpless and writhing in agony as the holy water scorched his skin and the silver shackles ate into his flesh.
It took all six of them to carry him out of the room and out of the house.
“No!” The scream of denial that rose in Bryony’s throat aroused the rest of the household.
Barrett ran into the room. “What is it?” he cried, glancing around. “Bryony, are you hurt?”
“They took him!” she wailed. “They took Stefan!”
“Who? What are you talking about?” Barrett asked.
“What’s going on?” Maida asked as she hurried into the room pulling on a robe, followed by Veronica and Eli and several of the servants.
Bryony sat up, glaring at her father. “Did you have anything to do with this?”
“Do with what?” her mother asked, glancing from one to the other.
Eli lit the lamp beside Bryony’s bed. Veronica sat beside her and took Bryony’s hand in hers. “What’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you,” Barrett said, not meeting Bryony’s eyes. “Stefan is a vampire.”
“What?” Maida stared at him, eyes wide. “I don’t believe you.”
“Ask her,” Barrett said, jerking his chin at his youngest daughter.
“Is it true, Bry?” Veronica asked, her voice edged with mingled horror and excitement. “Like in that painting?”
Bryony nodded. “Yes. It’s true. And I love him,.”
“What are you saying, child?” Maida exclaimed. “Don’t you remember what happened to your Aunt Celeste? How she was killed by one of thosethings? Wherever did you meet such a creature?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Bryony said, tears leaking from her eyes. “Ask your husband. He knows. Now, get out of here, all of you.”
Murmuring to one another, her family filed out of the room. Her father was the last one. Turning to face Bryony, he said, “I only did what had to be done.”
