Till Dawn Tames the Night (46 page)

It's written in
The Chronicles of
Crom
Dubh
,
an ancient manuscript held at
Inishmore
Castle . . . where the Star originated."

"But if you don't believe this curse, then why do you even entertain it?"

"Because Peterborough believes it.
He's been superstitious all along about killing his own brother. When he gets the emerald, I know he'll trade one superstition for another. He'll see me die even if he finds he has to force himself to have a hand in it."

He looked at her and brushed the strands of hair out of her eyes. "But I fear for you,
Aurore
,
more than I fear for myself. So you must promise me, on everything that you hold dear, you will do what I tell you. I must keep you safe, no matter how difficult that may be."

"Just don't demand that I be sent away.
That I shall never do."

"Peterborough is a danger while I have you," he repeated.

"What are you saying?" she asked. His tone disturbed her.

"I'm saying," he answered slowly, not meeting her gaze, "that you must do what I tell you.
No matter what that is."

She shook her head, panic already rising in her breast. "Don't ask me to leave. Don't take me to your bed and then cast me aside."

His jaw hardened, as if he'd made a decision, a decision he knew she wouldn't like. "You have another life to return to, Aurora. It was wrong to snatch you from it. I've got to make it safe for you to return to London. I see that now."

"What you see is how much I love you!"

He faced her. "No, what I see is a woman who is deserving of more than I can give her.
A woman of grace and beauty who is deluded into thinking that I am the man for her.
And I see a man who has somehow been so elevated in her eyes she thinks he is deserving of her." He lowered his voice in self-loathing. "Do you know what I've done in my life? Do you know how many men I have killed?"

She thrust him away and refused to listen. "I care not how many men have fallen because of you. I'll believe to my death you had good cause—"

"Hear me out!" He ruthlessly pulled her to him. "There were times I thought I had good cause, but Josiah Peterborough is still my half brother, and half his blood runs in my veins. I can't help wondering if that doesn't color my perception of things."

"It doesn't! You're nothing like your brother!"

"But maybe I am. Maybe I'm very much like my brother. Isaac once said that the reason I've never taken that title away from Josiah was because I enjoyed torturing him more than I would enjoy a place in the peerage. And he was right, Aurora. He was right."

"I won't listen to this! No matter what you say, I will never believe you're less a man than I think you are! I love you! I couldn't love an evil man!"

He shook her, the anger and pain on his face a terrible thing to see. "I first killed a man when I was just thirteen!"

"You had cause to do it!"

"How do you know that?"

She sobbed, barely able to choke out her words. "Because that man tried to molest you, didn't he?"

Vashon stilled. His expression turned rock-hard. "Peterborough wanted me dead so that he could inherit the Blackwell title. He thought I was dead until I returned to London years ago and paid him a visit. I meant to frighten him. I told him about that man I killed so long ago when I was still a boy. I described it in great detail." His voice nearly cracked with vengeance. "Do you want to know what he said?"

Tearfully she shook her head.

"He said, 'Well done. Now I know we're brothers.' "

Vashon released her and she watched him turn away. Her heart was shattering for him. As if by instinct, she pressed against him, crushing her breasts to the dragon, wrapping his muscular torso in her arms. "That changes nothing," she whispered.

He answered in a monotone. "It was wrong of me to delude you. You're worthy of the best of men, not the worst. You should have your man Phipps, Aurora. You should have so many things."

"You told me you would not send me back," she whispered, clinging to any hope. "You said it was too dangerous to return to London."

"It is now," he answered calmly. "But I shall make it safe for you to return. You will go with Flossie to St. George's. I shall go to England to seek Peterborough."

"Don't do it, Vashon. I beg you!"

"You must have the life you were meant to live."

"I lied about my life! I lied about Phipps! I wanted to leave London. I have nothing to return to." After this pitiful confession, she bit back a sob.

"I've not done many noble things in my life, Aurora, but this time I will. You should have a little cottage. You should live an ordinary, comfortable life with an ordinary, comfortable man." He pulled her off him. "Not me. There's nothing good to come of this unholy union."

But we could have a baby! Your baby!
she
wanted to cry out, yet already the fight was beginning to die within her. When she met his stern emerald gaze she knew there was no changing his mind. "I'll hate you forever if you do this," she cried.

"I'd rather you hate me then. And live to tell it." He softened. "In time you'll see I was right. You'll fall to your knees in thanks that I did this."

"I will curse your name until my dying breath," she vowed, refusing to look at him, to show him how much he had hurt her.

He released a bitter laugh. "I wager you won't be alone in doing so."

Without warning, he turned and kissed her, toppling her back onto the pillows. She struggled to be released. He captured her with his gaze.

"If I'm to leave you, then I shall leave now, Vashon," she demanded furiously.

"No." A dark smile played upon his lips. "If you're to leave me, then our time now must be well spent." His hand cupped her breast. She tried to throw him off but without hesitating, his mouth found its coral-colored tip.

She closed her eyes, desperate to think of a way to thwart him, but when she felt herself spiraling down once more into sweet
oblivion,
she whispered the words that he'd wanted from her the very first time they'd made love. "You're a wretch and I'll hate you forever for this, do you hear? Forever . . ."

Just as she expected, he laughed; just as she feared, her fingers traitorously threaded through his long black locks and she allowed his mouth to take her own.

It was some time before they parted again. They missed the sunrise. And the sleek ominous ship that rounded Mosquito Bay on the southeast end of St. Kitts, heading swiftly for Mirage.

The furious knocking on the doors woke Aurora from a sound slumber. She opened her eyes and found herself lying in Vashon's embrace, his leg resting intimately between her thighs, her arm
outflung
across his chest in an unconscious gesture of surrender. Vashon must already have been awake, for upon hearing the banging he extricated himself from her and the bedclothes and strode to the door, unmindful of his nudity or how terrifying the dragon looked in the brilliant light of morn.

"Isaac," Aurora heard him say after he'd disappeared into the antechamber. A muffled conversation ensued and the tension grew thick. Her mortification over being discovered with Vashon was only lessened by the dread she felt at the suspicion that Isaac had come with bad news.

When she saw Vashon's face, she knew it.

He'd donned his white trousers by now, and he walked back into the bedroom, his face as grave as she'd ever seen it.

"What is it?" she cried, pulling the sheet to her breasts.

"A ship has landed near Rum Gut. Isaac said the name's the
Merry Magdalene."

"You know this ship?"

"It belongs to a mercenary named
Fontien
. I didn't think he could find Mirage. But he has. He's brought my brother here, I'm sure of it. Peterborough is on the island."

She closed her eyes, overcome with terror for him, for them both.

"Get dressed," he ordered absentmindedly. He went to his desk and gathered some remaining papers and maps. "Isaac is preparing the
Seabravery.
We set sail immediately."

She watched him at his desk, suddenly consumed with the fear of losing him. All along she had discounted Peterborough, but now that he was here on Mirage his threat was so real she shook with it.

He looked up; his eyes scanned her pale face, her bed-mussed hair, her white knuckles clutching the linens to her. He softened only slightly. "Get dressed, my love. I'll admit this is a rude awakening to the most pleasurable of nights, but there's no helping it."

Numbly she rose and found her dress.

"I fear this is turning out precisely the way you predicted," she confessed, fumbling with her dress. "If we hadn't—" She took a deep breath and looked out the louvers to the Caribbean. "I've distracted you, and now you may pay with your life."

"I allowed myself the distraction." Those were the only words of comfort he offered.
"Love, get ready.
Finish your attire." He nodded to her dress, still partially unhooked, revealing a good portion of one creamy breast.

Distraught, she completed her toilet while he turned back to his desk. She pulled her hair into a loose knot and began to leave his apartments.

He stopped her in the antechamber. "What do you think you're doing?" he snapped.

She spun around. "I've got to get
Koonga
. I can't abandon her here. Benny will never forgive me."

"Where is she?"

"In my rooms."

"Leave her then. Peterborough may be in the house for all I know. Though
Dragonard
is big, it may be just a matter of time before he discovers where my rooms are."

"Vashon—"

"You will not retrieve her."

"Is she ready?"

Gasping at this new voice, Aurora turned again and found Isaac standing right behind her. She was sure she was going out of her mind because she'd been facing the doors all along and she'd never seen him enter.

"Where is Benny?" Vashon asked, not disturbed at all by Isaac's sudden appearance.

"He and the widow are already on St. Kitts. The
Seabravery
awaits
at the docks in Basseterre."

"How shall we get to St. Kitts undetected?" she asked.

A wry smile came to Vashon's lips. "That's the least of our worries." He addressed Isaac. "Have the servants been notified to leave? Has
Tsing
gone also?"

"They've vacated." Isaac hesitated. "We've had a few casualties, however. Two seamen on the
Resolute
were shot in the head. I'm sure Blackwell expected us to leave on that ship."

Aurora sickened at this news. Two men were already dead. She looked at Vashon and felt she might go out of her mind with grief. The thought of his being in such danger brought her to the edge of hysterics.

Vashon nodded, then handed the captain his maps and the Venetian paper notebook. He next tucked a pistol into the waist of his trousers. "Get everyone settled on the
Seabravery.
I'll be there shortly."

"Where on earth are you going?" Isaac gasped, looking at him as if he were mad.

"Benny's monkey," he said sarcastically. "Apparently the beast has too many admirers to be left to its own devices."

"No, Vashon!" Aurora gasped.

"I agree that's a very bad idea, my friend. We've already been caught unawares." The captain turned grim.

"You can't go, Vashon! As you said yourself, Peterborough might already be in the house," she interjected, unwilling to let Vashon jeopardize himself. "Please, I beg of you, I'm the one who must retrieve
Koonga
."

"Take her, Isaac. I'll join you in a moment." Vashon nodded to her as if she were some kind of pet to be led away by a leash. She could have shrieked in frustration.

Isaac shook his head, obviously unhappy with the situation too, but resigned to it. He took Aurora's arm and said, "Flossie's been asking about you, girl. Come along. We've a bit of a walk ahead."

Aurora pulled away. It was unthinkable what they were asking her to do. How could she ever continue if something happened to Vashon? "No. I won't go, Vashon, until you've come back."

Vashon took her jaw like a truant child's. "Listen to me,
Aurora,
we've no time for debate. I made you promise to do what I told you to. Now is the time to do that."

"Oh, God, don't make me," she moaned.

"You must." Vashon dropped his hold. "I'll follow in a minute," he said to Isaac.

The captain acquiesced and began to escort Aurora out of the antechamber. She was not going to go willingly; Isaac had to drag her away.

"Vashon," she called out, fighting Isaac the entire way, "let me go with you! I beg you, I cannot lose you! Don't let me lose you!"

"You were going to hate me forever, remember?" He smiled darkly and nodded Isaac on. Aurora moaned in agony and struggled with him, but soon he brought her in front of the huge mahogany and gilt
firescreen
. He pushed it aside; behind it were no hearth and
fireback
, but steps that led into the bowels of the earth.