“And what are those?”
There was a hesitation and Aiden tensed slightly, this time not with pleasure. It seemed they were very serious questions, indeed.
Wren cleared his throat. “Whydidshe come to you?”
And there it was, the remnants of a pain that had existed for a long time. He and Emilia had always tried to protect Wren. He had more to lose, after all. Further to fall. And Wren had always hated it, being pushed outside of the pain so he wouldn’t be ruined.
“You know I became a solicitor after we lost each other.”
“Yes,” Wren said softly, but Aiden heard the intense pride in his voice. The same he felt when he saw how Wren had raised himself up.
He smiled. “Emilia had insisted her father pay for the apprenticeship, just a he paid for yours, as a reward for my father’s years of service as his butler. I went to the side of the old man’s own solicitor and took over his practice when he died a few years ago.”
“You took over her father’s estate work,” Wren breathed.
Aiden nodded. “Yes. When her father died, I was responsible for the distribution and settling of his small estate,” Aiden explained. “I saw her once last year after the death. It was only in passing, but she was… God, she looked so small with the pain she was trying to hide. I wanted to touch her so badly, to hold her, but Wilburn was always lurking. Now I realize that must have been part of her abuse, not to let her see a friend, someone he believed once had feelings for her.”
“Once,” Wren whispered.
“I doubt he believed that those kinds of emotions could last after so many years parted. He was too small minded and cruel to be able to picture that one could love without hope for decades, a lifetime, as we had all planned to do when we were so ruthlessly parted.”
Wren trembled and his hand faltered on the pump handle. “So because she saw you…”
“She knew my address from the estate paperwork that required her signature. Her father had left her a little pin money separate from Wilburn. Perhaps at the end he knew the mistake he’d made in matching her. I don’t know. But in her desperation she reached out to me.”
Wren’s bucket was full and he straightened from the pump. His blue eyes were midnight with emotion and glimmered with unshed tears. “What did she say?”
“Just two lines,” Aiden choked out. “I will see them dance before my eyes until the day I die.I need you, Aiden. Please help me.” He drew in a few breaths to calm himself at the memory. “She didn’t even sign it. I suppose she feared it might be intercepted and then she could claim ignorance. But I knew it was her. I knew her handwriting.”
“So you swept in and kidnapped her,” Wren said.
“Is it kidnapping if the abductee wishes to run with you, to never look back?” Aiden asked.
“No. You saved her,” Wren corrected. “Thank God you saved her.”
“It was only when we were out of London that she stopped shaking. That she felt safe enough to tell me the same story she told you. And she wept. And screamed. And clung to me. Clung to me all night as we slept in a barn because she feared being found out if we took a room at an inn on the route.”
“And had nightmares,” Wren said.
Aiden nodded. “Yes.” He watched Wren carefully now. He was unreadable. Aiden supposed he sometimes had to be that in his profession. “I promise you, love, we weren’t trying to lock you out.”
“And yet you did. You could have called for me the moment you received her note. You could have included me.” There was an edge to his voice as he said those words.
Aiden took his hand. “We were trying to protect you.”
“I don’t need protection, Aiden.” Wren tugged his hand away and ran it through his hair with a ragged breath of frustration. “Shedoes. And without both of us involved, we won’t be able to provide it.”
“We’re both involved now,” Aiden whispered. “And we’ll make certain she is safe.”
Wren nodded and then glanced up at the house. “And what about all the other things we could make certain she was?”
Aiden shifted. “You’re talking about what we just did. You’re talking about our bond with each other.”
“Yes.”
For a long moment, Aiden didn’t answer as he relived all those powerful moments in that bed in the cottage. “If she wants to continue, I see no reason why we should deny ourselves. She deserves all the pleasure in the world after what she’s endured.”
“Good.” Wren picked up his full bucket of water and then leaned in to gently kiss Aiden. “Then we’re agreed. Now why don’t we go up and continue?”
