Always and Forever (35 page)

And then he lunged for her and lifted her over his shoulder as her laughter filled the room.

Gabriel wasn't home, left cryptically earlier in the day to tend to some "business" so Quinn decided to take a more thorough tour of his home. The place was massive, far larger than Whispering Winds, and it was old. She guessed early 1300s by the architecture.

She toured through the library, played a few tunes on the piano in the music room, checked out the other bedrooms, all of which were rather masculine, before she made her way to the fourth floor. At the end of the hall was the nursery and connected to the nursery was the school room. It looked very much like Nickie's room though this room had much less light and there was a cane hooked on the wall. The sight of it disturbed Quinn. There was no reason for that to be there, no reason to cane a child, and without another thought Quinn walked to the wall to retrieve the cane. But stopped short when she saw the name carved by a child's hand into the wood.

"Oh my God," she fell to her knees as her finger reached out to trace the name of the child who had called this room, this estate, home: Archer Scarcliff.

This was Archer's father's home, the place he vowed to shut down once he became the Earl. The place where he had been sequestered, away from his mother's loving arms and his sisters' companionship. This had been Archer's prison and his father his jailer. A rage filled her as she thought of a young Archer being whipped and beaten by his father as he filled the young boy's head with bullshit rhetoric while denying him a childhood and friends.

Before she fully understood her own intent she grabbed the cane and beat it against the wall until it broke into pieces and then moved to the desk, lifting it with some difficulty before throwing it into the wall, over and over again. The wood splintered and dug into her flesh, tearing it as blood dripped from the wounds. But she didn't stop, couldn't stop, until the entire room was laid to waste. Then she slid down the wall, dropped her forehead onto her upturned knees and that was when the tears came, turning quickly into sobs. She grieved for Archer, the little boy he had been and the man he had become, but mostly she cried for Gabriel because he had made his home in the one place he had vowed never again to enter.

This was how Mr. Payne found her, sobbing in the midst of the destruction she had caused.

"Well, I say it's about time. I always hated this room."

Quinn lifted her head and stared at Mr. Payne wondering how long the man had been standing there. She lifted her hands to wipe at her eyes and saw the mess she had made of them.

"Oh dear," Mr. Payne immediately hurried over pulling his handkerchief from his pocket so he could wrap Quinn's hands in the silk.

"We need to get these tended." He met Quinn's gaze. "Are you ready to leave now?"

Quinn scanned the results of her flip out and was satisfied to see that everything in the room had been destroyed before her focus turned back to Mr. Payne.

"Yes."

A few hours later, Quinn was lying down on the sofa in the library, a warm blanket covering her, as a fire burned in the grate. Her hands were bandaged and in lieu of pain killers she had two three-fingers of scotch, so she was feeling happily numb. She heard Gabriel's heavy footfalls as he came down the hall. He appeared in the doorway and she felt her heart flip over in her chest. He moved with such grace as he walked across the room then he hunched down in front of her. He gently lifted her one bandaged hand to hold in both of his.

"Oh, love, what did you do?"

Looking into his beautiful face she couldn't help but see him as a child on the streets of Dublin, as the child beaten in the accursed room upstairs, and her tears started again.

"Shh, love, please don't cry."

"Did you know?"

A hardness came into his voice when he replied, "No."

"I killed the room and I'm not sorry."

He stroked her hair but a smile curved his lips. "I only wish I was here to help you. Maybe I could have prevented you from butchering your hands."

"It was a small price to pay for the satisfaction of destroying that hateful room."

"Quinn, my own avenging angel."

The effect of the alcohol was starting to take its toll as her lids grew heavy and when she spoke, her words were barely audible. "If anyone ever deserved an angel, it would be you, Gabriel."

He pulled her blanket up and pressed a kiss to her forehead as love swelled in his chest for the magnificent creature before him. He waited until her breathing evened out into that of sleep before he stood and walked to the fireplace.

Mr. Payne walked in at that moment. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize she was up there until I heard the sobs."

"Her hands?"

"Cut everywhere but nothing that required stitches. They should be fine in a few days." Mr. Payne took a thoughtful pause before he asked, "Should I clean up the room?"

"No!" It came out in a roar as all the feelings assailing Gabriel wrecked havoc on him, but he softened his voice and added, "No, just lock it up."

"Very well." Mr. Payne said and turned to leave the room as he added, "I'm glad she destroyed it. I never liked that room, bad vibes up there."

Gabriel replied flatly, "Evil vibes."

After Mr. Payne departed the room, Gabriel reached for his cell phone and called Nicholas. He didn't waste time with greeting his friend before he asked, "Did you know?" The question was so softly spoken but there was no mistaking the thread of barely controlled fury.

"Gabriel, what's happened?" Nicholas asked with genuine concern.

"The place I made roots, the place I brought Quinn, did you know it belonged to that bastard Scarcliff the first?"

Nick's gasp of shock wasn't feigned. "Jesus, I didn't know. Gabriel, I honestly didn't know."

Some of Gabriel's rage abated at his friend's sincere denial since part of what fueled him was the idea that he had been deceived by someone he considered a friend.

"How the hell did we miss that? I wouldn't have encouraged you to buy the place if I had known that bastard owned it. Why the hell didn't I know it had one time been Scarcliff property? It isn't documented in the family papers," Nick asked genuinely pissed and hearing his friend in temper had the rest of Gabriel's anger fizzing out.

"I didn't know, my friend, but it's your home now. You've breathe a new life into the stone and wood." Nick paused for a moment before he asked, "You were just pissed thinking I had deceived you."

"Yeah."

"I value our friendship as much as you," Nick said sincerely.

"That's what I wanted to hear. Good night, Nick and I'm sorry."

"No apology needed my friend."

Quinn woke with a searing pain in her hands and for a moment panic gripped her because she didn't recognize where she was. Then she heard Gabriel's soft voice coming from across the room. Her eyes adjusted to the dim light and she saw him sitting at the desk in the corner. His hair was a mess, as if he'd spent the past few hours pulling his hand through it. His oxford shirt was opened at the collar and his sleeves were rolled up. She climbed from bed and padded over to him.

"Have you slept?"

He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her onto his lap burying his face in her neck so he could breathe her in.

"No." He looked down and reached for her hand. "How are the hands?"

"Sore."

"Would you like me to get you something for them?"

"No, it's not that bad." She looked down before she asked, "Are you mad?"

He lifted her chin. "Mad at you? Why would I be mad at you?"

She shrugged but couldn't deny the relief she felt that her freak out hadn't upset him.

"I'm mad that you hurt your hands but I'm not mad at you."

He tucked her hair behind her ear and continued, "I can't explain it but I have impressions, memories really, that are not mine but in a sense they are. I know the kind of man and father Bryon Scarcliff was and how this place had never been a home to Archer."

"I called Nick, while you slept, with the intent of reaming out my best friend but Nick didn't know about this house. We never discussed it openly but we both know there is a link between us that goes deeper than friendship. I didn't think that he would intentionally push a house on me that had an unpleasant history, one that I am somehow linked to, but I needed to be sure."

"He's upset at himself because he didn't know that this place was linked to his family. He didn't see it documented anywhere."

"It isn't. Archer hated this place so when he became Earl he sold it and erased every reference of it from Scarcliff history. I am sorry, Gabriel, that you unknowingly purchased a place you vowed never to return to."

"What makes a home is not the history of the place and who lived there but who lives there now. I don't care about the past of this place, only the present and the future." He ran his finger along her jaw before he added, "But I can't deny that I'm damn glad you trashed that room."

"Mr. Payne must think I'm crazy."

In a fluid move, Gabriel rose, with Quinn in his arms, and started for the bed. "Quite the contrary. I think he's prepared to give you a medal, maybe even declare a Quinn day."

"Really?"

He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Yes." When he placed her in the bed, he thought how very small and delicate she looked.

"Aren't you coming to bed?" she asked as she settled more deeply into the warmth of the blankets.

"Soon."

Her voice was soft but fierce when she vowed, "You can sleep now, Gabriel, you're not alone anymore. I'll protect you."

And in that moment he fell completely and irrevocably in love with her, again. His voice was thick with emotion when he whispered, "I love you."

Surprise flashed across her face then it turned to a look of love and finally a grin curved her lips as she whispered, "I said it first."

His chest hurt from the magnitude of love he felt for her and long after she fell asleep he remained at her side watching over her.

It was dark and cold, his breath exhaled into mist, as a chill seeped into his bones. He was running through the blackness as his hands blindly searched but came away empty. Something infinitely worse than fear gripped him. He looked for her, shouted her name, but his desperate calls went unanswered. He searched the house and beyond, every room and every patch of trees, but she wasn't there and then he heard her call. Blindly, he followed the sound of her voice as he prayed that he was not too late. When he found her she was huddled in a corner, her hair a mess as it hung dirty and tangled over her face. She called to him, reached her hand out to him, but as he stepped forward he felt it, felt death breathing down his neck. He turned to look the Reaper in the eyes and heard the sound of a gun shot. He instinctively reached for his chest, to the smoldering wound that would seal his fate and take him from his love, but he was unmarked. It was then that he realized how very quiet it had become. He turned to see her lying on the ground, a red spot spreading over the white of her blouse. Her silver-gray eyes were dull, the light that burned in them was fading, as she clutched the wound that was slowly stealing her life away. He tried to staunch the flow of blood but with each pump of her heart the closer she came to death.