DREAM LOVER (10 page)

“I do not understand, Nicolo.  Why should my story about an affair between Father and Rochelle Beaumont trouble Rachel?”

“I’m not sure I understand myself, but I believe there’s a connection between Rachel’s nightmares and what went on at the Covelli mansion the night this Beaumont woman disappeared.  I know this sounds crazy, but I can’t help feeling that something other than chance brought Rachel and I together.  I just wish I knew what the nightmares meant and how she got pulled into it while she was wide awake.”

“It troubles me too, Nicolo.  Maybe she should postpone working on the mansion until you figure this out.  I would never forgive myself if she was injured because she felt obligated to start this job.”

“You don’t need to worry about her safety,” Nic assured him.  “It’ll probably annoy the hell out of her, but I don’t intend to leave Rachel’s side for a single moment.  Besides, I honestly think the key to her nightmare lies in that mansion somewhere, and I won’t rest until I find out what it is.”

Antonio eyed his grandson speculatively.  “Rachel seems to have succeeded where other women have failed.”

Nic didn’t even try to deny it.  “If that’s your way of asking whether I want more than a brief affair with her, then the answer is yes.”

“I gather Rachel feels the same way about you?”

“It’s a little early in the relationship for deep conversations on how we feel for each other, but I don’t think I’d be wrong to say she feels the same.”

“In that case, you must find a way to cure Rachel of her nightmares so you can focus on matters of the heart.”

“I wish it was that simple.”  Nic glanced down at Rachel, who was still looking at him as if he was the last glass of water in a barren desert.  “I’ve only known her for two days and already I can’t imagine my life without her.  I have a feeling the neat, orderly routine I pride myself on maintaining is going to turn into complete and utter chaos with Rachel around.”

Antonio chuckled.  “Do yourself a favor, Nicolo, do not fight it.  In the end you will only discover that you have wasted time trying to avoid something that was inevitable from the beginning.”

“I admit this is uncharted territory for me, but that’s because I
chose
not involve myself in a serious relationship before.”  He shot his grandfather a helpless grin.  “In all honesty, I don’t think I ever
had
a choice where Rachel is concerned.”

“If the way she is looking at you right now is any indication about how Rachel feels for you, I would say she had very little choice in losing her heart to you too.”

“If only that was true, but I’m afraid she’s still dreaming,” Nic said with a wistful sigh. 

He was entranced by the adoration that shone from her eyes, but there was a bitterness to his feelings too because he knew it wasn’t really him Rachel was seeing.  It was another man’s arms she felt drawing her closer, another man whose touch made her tremble and her breath quicken.  It was foolish to be jealous of her dream lover, but Nic couldn’t help it.  What if she discovered the man she made love to every night was real?  It wasn’t too much of a stretch to believe it could happen, not when he was holding the proof in his arms. 

“I think it’s safe to wake her now,” Nic said, secretly finding pleasure in knowing he had the power to steal her back from his invisible rival.

Antonio arched a brow.  “How will you accomplish that when she is so deep in sleep?”

“The same way you’d wake any sleeping beauty,” he grinned before lowering his head and capturing Rachel’s parted lips.

Heat
.  That was the first thing Rachel was cognizant of; an incredible heat that pooled in her abdomen and made her ache for something more.  The second thing she gradually became aware of was that she was curled up on Nic’s lap with absolutely no idea how she’d wound up there.  She remembered sitting across from Antonio in the restaurant and the uneasiness that had begun to worm its way through her when he started speaking about his father’s lover but after that…

She drew her head back with a gasp.  “They killed her!  Oh, Nic, it’s not just a rumor, they really did kill her.”

Antonio leaned forward, his expression as strained as his voice.  “How could you possibly know that?”

Rachel’s heart leapt to her throat.  “Antonio, I….” Her eyes darted around in confusion.  “Is this your car?  How did I get here?  Oh God, tell me I didn’t cause an embarrassing scene in there.  I can explain….”

“Sweetheart, calm down,” Nic attempted to ease her obvious distress.  “We got you out of there before anything happened, and I’ve already explained to Grandfather about the nightmares.”

“But this wasn’t a nightmare, how could it be?”  Panic stricken, she fought against the bile that rose in her throat.  “I was wide awake when it happened, and even if I
did
doze off, you told me the dream state doesn’t occur right away.”  Rachel clutched at Nic’s shirt, her eyes wild with fear.  “Am I losing my mind?  No, don’t answer that.  Obviously I’m losing my grip on reality, otherwise I’d remember how I ended up sitting on your lap inside Antonio’s car ranting and raving like a lunatic.”

“You are
not
losing your mind,” Nic replied, gently prying her hand from his shirt.  “I can’t believe I’m actually saying this, but I think Rochelle Beaumont is reaching out to you through your dreams because she wants the truth to be known.  Trust me when I say this goes against everything I believe to even suggest something paranormal is going on here, but there’s no other way to explain how you could be reliving the last few minutes of her life.”

Rachel found comfort in his words, especially since he openly admitted he was a skeptic, but assuring her she wasn’t going off the deep end didn’t make the notion she was being haunted by a murdered woman any more palatable.  And even if they discovered what really happened to Rochelle Beaumont, what possible difference could it make to anyone now?  The men who were responsible for her death were long gone themselves, as was Antonio’s father. Why would the poor woman wait until now to dredge it all up, and why choose someone who had nothing to do with the Covelli’s?

“I cannot in good conscious hold you to the contract now,” Antonio told her.  “If you want out of it, I shall certainly understand why.”

Rachel considered it for a moment before turning her eyes to Nic.  “I’m afraid to go there, afraid I’ll see her spirit or whatever part of her essence still lingers there, but I’m also afraid the nightmare will never end unless I do.”

“I can’t tell you for sure that going to the mansion will make them go away, but it’s worth a try.  And if it makes your decision any easier, I won’t leave until we see this through.”

“You’d really do that?”

“Of course I would.  Besides,” he said with a teasing grin, “I already have one woman haunting my dreams.  I’m not sure I could handle one haunting my house as well.”

Antonio’s brows furrowed.  “The Beaumont woman has been in your dreams as well, Nicolo?”

Nic laughed at the look of utter confusion on his grandfather’s face.  “I promise to explain the whole story when you get back from your business trip.”

“I shall look forward to it.  This whole situation is quite intriguing, and though I would love to hear more right now, I am already running late in getting to the airport.”

Rachel apologized profusely as she scrambled off of Nic’s lap, but Antonio assured her he wasn’t in any danger of missing his flight since the private plane he was taking was owned by his company.  After extracting a promise from Nic to keep him informed as to what they discovered about the Beaumont woman, Antonio asked his driver to take them to Nic’s car. 

Max maneuvered through the parking lot with great expertise, then hastened out of the limousine to open the door for them.  Rachel took the hand he offered and let him help her out, more than a little embarrassed to realize Max had to have heard every word they’d spoken.  He probably thought she needed to be committed to an asylum, though his staid expression gave nothing away.

Once they were back in Nic’s car and headed for the mansion, Rachel slumped down her seat wishing there was a nice big hole she could crawl into.  She’s hoped to avoid telling Antonio about the nightmare, even after she and Nic had come to the conclusion it had something to do with the mansion, but her little episode inside the restaurant made that impossible.  Thank God Nic had been there and realized what was happening to her before she’d slithered off her chair and mortified Antonio with a reenactment of the sexual assault she…or rather Rochelle Beaumont had been subjected to.

Nic cast a quick glance at Rachel.  “Do you want to talk about it now, or after we’ve gotten settled at the mansion?”

“It was horrible, just horrible,” she blurted out.  “After they chased me…I mean Rochelle…after they chased Rochelle into the woods and shot her, they dragged her into the bushes and…and…”

“It’s okay, sweetheart, just take your time.”

Rachel wiped away the tears that were cascading down her cheeks.  “They wanted to punish her, not because she’d dared to think she was good enough to marry a Covelli, but because she’d never hidden her revulsion for them.  They were already jealous of Nicolo’s power and money and hated it that the lifestyle they believed they were entitled to was dependent on his good grace.  Nicolo was untouchable, so they had no way to hurt him, no way to bring him to his knees, until they found out he was in love with Rochelle.”

The muscle in Nic’s jaw flexed.  “So they decided to rob him of the woman he loved, because they were powerless to harm him any other way.”

“Yes, but it was worse than that,” she said in a wobbly voice.  “They weren’t satisfied with just walling her up and allowing her to suffer a horrible death.  They wanted to make sure she’d been degraded first, that she died in hopeless despair because even if by some miracle Rochelle was rescued, she’d know Nicolo wouldn’t want her back after what they’d done to her.”

Something deep inside him twisted into a painful knot.  Nic clenched his teeth. He was genuinely outraged by what his ancestors had done to that poor woman and didn’t trust himself to speak without sounding angry.  But the greater part of his fury was borne out of his concern for Rachel, for the horror she’d suffered as a result of what they’d done all those years ago.  He understood now why she’d been sobbing and begging him not to hurt her as he’d hustled her out of the restaurant. And if this nightmare was as vivid as the one where she was walled up, then the sexual assault she’d endured was just as real.

He pulled up to the mansion and hurried around to Rachel’s door with the intension of getting her inside as quickly as possible so he could offer the comfort she so obviously needed.  But one look at her tear stained face and soulful eyes as she climbed out of the car and stood before him trembling like a leaf was more than Nic could handle.  He pulled her into his arms and held her firmly against his body, his heart wrenching when she buried her face in neck and burst into tears.

There was nothing he could say to take away her pain, so he simply let her cry it out.  When the harsh sobs finally began to subside, Nic reached in his pocket for the key his grandfather had given him and ushered Rachel up the stairs and into the mansion.  The housekeeper had obviously been told to expect someone to arrive after dark because the foyer light was on. There was also a light on in the hallway leading off to the left, and another that illuminated the grand marble staircase.

“Let’s find the kitchen,” he said, gently propelling her down the lighted hallway.

It had been quite some time since he’d been there, but had a vague recollection that the kitchen was in the back of the mansion.  He was surprised at how well maintained the place was, and was duly impressed by his grandfather’s effort to keep it from falling into ruins.  Hardwood floors gleamed as if they’d just been polished and even a cursory glance around told him the housekeeper took her job seriously because there wasn’t a speck of dust on any of the paintings hanging on the walls.  Certainly the mansion lacked the warmth of a home, but with a wife and few children in residence, he imagined the old place would quickly come back to life.

Nic found the kitchen exactly where he’d thought it would be. After settling Rachel at the cozy breakfast nook in the corner, he searched out the coffee grounds and two cups and started up the coffee maker.  He brought her a glass of ice water while the coffee was brewing, which she gulped down after offering him a grateful smile.  Nic waited until she was finished before dropping down onto the bench beside her and pulling her close to his side.  He pressed a kiss to her temple and asked if there was anything he could do.

“Just…hold me for a minute and I’ll be fine,” Rachel told him.

“We don’t have to stay here if you don’t want to.  We could find a hotel for the night and come back tomorrow.”

“As much as I appreciate the offer, you and I both know it won’t make any difference where I spend the night.  Maybe it was meeting you that triggered the new nightmares or maybe it was because I’d made the decision to start working on the mansion; whatever the catalyst was, it set something in motion that isn’t going to stop until the whole story unravels.”

“Unfortunately, I have to agree with you, but that doesn’t mean we have to wait it out and just allow these nightmares to terrorize you.”