“See what you have done to me!” the ghost wailed. “You will pay for your sins, Albert—pay many times over!”
“No!” Harkens gasped, dropping the knife with a clatter. “No, please!”
“Let her go!” The ghostly voice had gone from a whisper to a shout, booming through the sitting room like rolling thunder. It was so loud that Caroline forgot she was naked and clapped both hands over her ears instead of trying to cover herself. “LET THEM BOTH GO!”
“Yes, yes—I’ll let them go. I’ll let them go!” Harkens moaned. “Jock, drop your pistol!” he commanded the mechanical butler.
At once, the pistol fell with a thump upon the carpeted floor and Caroline saw that Richard was beckoning urgently to her.
“Come on! Hurry!” he exclaimed.
Caroline edged around the horrified Viscount, who was still staring at the ghostly image coming from the disk in Richard’s palm. A disk which he placed carefully on the back of the couch just as she reached him.
“Die—you will die!” the ghost of his late wife moaned. “The crows will pick your bones and then you will be reborn, only to die again…”
Caroline didn’t hear the rest of what it was saying because Richard had her by the wrist and was dragging her out of the room. They ran as fast as they could go, leaving Harkens to shake and tremble before the visage of his latest victim as they made their escape.
Chapter Thirty
The minute they were safe downstairs, Caroline threw her arms around his neck.
“Oh Richard—I never should have doubted you! I should have known you’d come for me!”
For a moment he hugged her back, holding her tightly to his chest. Caroline clung to him, her heart beating like a drum as she breathed him in—filling her senses with his warm, spicy scent. Home and safety and love—he smelled like all those things and she never wanted to let him go.
“Oh, Richard,” she whispered again. “I’m so glad to see you! I thought we’d never be together again. And what in the world was that ghost thing you had in your hand?”
“It was a three-dimensional image—what your colleagues call a hologram, I believe. Your friend Olivia made it for me.” His voice sounded surprisingly cool and collected and for the first time she noticed he was no longer hugging her back. What was going on?
“Olivia?” Caroline pulled back, looking up into his face.
His face was a stern mask, his blue eyes icy as he regarded her.
“Yes, Olivia. I met her as well as Sylvan, Sophia, and Kat—who also informed me as to your true identity.” Reaching up, he detached her arms from around his neck and pushed her firmly away. “You are not my Caroline, Dr. Lambert.”
“Oh…” Caroline felt as though a cold fist had reached inside her body and twisted her heart. “Oh Richard,” she whispered. “Please…you have to understand…”
“I understand everything,” he said coldly. “I understand how you assumed my beloved’s identity and used subterfuge to play upon my heart, making me think my most cherished desires were coming true when in fact, it was only you, toying with me for your own advantage and amusement.”
“It’s not like that!” Caroline cried. “I swear it’s not! Please, you have to listen to me, Richard. I never—”
“I am not obligated to listen to any more of your lies ever again,” he growled fiercely. “I am only here to get you because no one from your own world is able to pass through the window your PORTAL machine created. Now, if you will kindly come with me, I will convey you back to your own universe so that I need never lay eyes on you again. Here—you are indecent.”
As Caroline’s shoulders drooped, he took off his frock coat with quick, jerky movements and draped it around her. It reminded her of the way he had given her his coat when she had first appeared in his world, only a few days ago. But this time he knew exactly who she was…
And he hated her for it.
As he led her out of Thrashings, Caroline felt like crying. How awful that Richard despised her now! What could she do or say to change his mind? How could she explain that she hadn’t been pretending to care for him for her own benefit—that she really did love him? How—
She gave a muffled sound of pain as the sharp gravel dug into her bare feet. “Ouch!”
Turning, Richard surveyed her with a look of irritation. Understanding raced over his face and, without a word, he swung her into his arms.
“Oh!” Caroline gasped. She couldn’t help thinking of the last time he had carried her—back at the spare room at Mother Griffith’s when he was carrying her to the bed to taste her. But this time the look in his pale blue eyes was cold and distant. It was clear he was only carrying her because she was a woman in need—he had no wish to be close to her, no desire to hold her.
Suddenly, she was angry, though she knew she had no right to be.
“Put me down!” she demanded. “If you hate me so much, just let me walk and hurt my feet. What do you care?”
“I am a gentleman, Madam,” he growled formally. “Despite the deception you worked on me, I cannot allow you to cut your soles to ribbons. I have promised to deliver you safe and sound to your home world and it is a promise I intend to keep.”
“What about when you promised to love me?” Caroline asked. Angry tears were burning her eyes but she tried not to let them fall.
His blue eyes flashed. “It was another woman I was speaking to, as you well know. You, Dr. Lambert, are an imposter. I would ask that you not remind me of the foolish words I spoke when I thought you were another.”
“I’m not—” Caroline began. But just then, he deposited her roughly in the carriage and then climbed in after her and slammed the door shut.
“Drive,” he shouted, banging on the side of the carriage. “Back to the park where I first hired you!”
The carriage started with a lurching jolt which threw Caroline, who was sitting across from him, directly into his lap.
She thought he would push her away. But with a muffled curse, Richard curled one arm protectively around her and held her steady on the seat beside him.
“Let me go!” she exclaimed, trying to get away from him. “If you hate me so much, let me sit on the other side of the carriage!”
“I think not.” He pulled her closer to his side, despite her thrashing. “I cannot risk you injuring yourself, as you seem so prone to do.”
“But—”
“Hush and be still. We will be there soon enough.”
Miserably, Caroline subsided. She wished she could find the words to explain to him how things had gotten so out of hand—how her lies had grown too large to be excused. And how there was truth mixed with the falsehood—how she truly did love him, even if at the moment she felt she hated him too.
But no words came. She felt almost like she had earlier, when the awful medicine Doctor Lovings had given her was still in her system. She couldn’t speak—couldn’t explain herself to the angry Kindred beside her.
She could only bow her head and let the hot, regretful tears run down her cheeks, trying to cry as silently as she could.
* * * * *
Richard knew that she was weeping and that he was the cause of her grief and misery but he told himself he didn’t care. She had fooled him and played upon his emotions once already—he would not allow her to do it again.
Still, he couldn’t help the protective feeling that rose in his chest at the sound of her tears and the feeling of her soft body trembling against his. He had to check an impulse to draw her even closer and comfort her, to wipe away her tears and kiss her wet cheeks and tell her that everything would be all right.
You only feel like that because she looks so much like your own Caroline, he told himself sternly. But she is not yours—never forget that, Richard! She fooled you once—do not allow it to happen again.
So he held himself stiff and stern, ignoring the woman beside him, telling himself he would be shut of her soon and good riddance.
Just then, he
heard a voice from the box outside.
“Guvnor, don’t know as you can hear me what with all this noise but it seems like we have company,” the driver was shouting. It was difficult to hear him over the clatter of the carriage wheels on cobblestones but Richard’s Kindred ears were sharp enough to pick the shouted words out of the din.
“Damn!” he swore and put his head out of the side window to ascertain if the driver was correct or not.
Unfortunately, he was. Coming up behind them was a fine-looking wind-up carriage which could only be Lord Harkens’ conveyance.
“Damn!” Richard swore again. He thumped on the side of the coach and shouted out the window at the driver, “Faster! Faster!”
“Goin’ as fast as I bloody well can, Gov!” the driver shouted back but nonetheless, the carriage seemed to pick up some speed and they put a little distance between themselves and their pursuer.
“Listen to me,” Richard said, turning to Caroline. Her lovely face was a study in fear, her big brown eyes wet and wide and her lush mouth a trembling bow. For a moment he felt a strong urge to crush her to him and promise her that everything would be all right. He stopped the impulse sternly.
Not mine, he reminded himself. She is not mine.
“I…I’m listening,” she whispered, looking up at him and he realized that he’d been staring at her lovely face and saying nothing while he struggled with himself.
“We’ll be to the park soon, but it seems that Harkens is coming after us. He must have discovered the hologram was a ruse,” he told her. “We must get you to the window and back to your own world as quickly as possible.”
“But what about you?” she demanded, openly fearful. “What if he hurts you? Won’t you please come with me?”
Richard frowned. He could feel his heart trying to melt again but he stopped it with a stern reminder that the woman beside him was an imposter.
“By no means,” he said roughly. “I belong here, just as you belong in your world. I have no interest in leaving my rightful place for another universe.”
“But…but what if the window closes once I go back through? We’ll never see each other again,” she said, her voice trembling. “Don’t you care about that—even a little?”
Richard had to work hard to master himself. For some reason the word, “yes,” hovered on his lips. But he would not allow himself to say it. Mercifully, at that moment of weakness, the carriage jerked to a halt.
“Hurry, Gov!” the driver bawled. “They’re right behind us, so they are!”
“We’re here,” Richard said to Caroline and threw open the door. “Quickly—we must get you home. Come!”
Caroline allowed him to help her out of the carriage and then they ran together, hand-in-hand, towards the wooden platform which had been erected for the annulment ceremony earlier.
Faintly, Richard could see the shimmer of the window that led to the other world—her world—glimmering in the darkness. Behind him, he heard another carriage rattle to a halt and then a door slammed open and another set of footsteps came thudding through the grass behind them.
“Halt, you bastard!” he heard Harkens bellow, just as they were mounting the steps of the platform. “Stop or I’ll shoot!”
They were on the platform now and he knew he only had to give Caroline time to get through the window. Turning, he faced his adversary.
“You bloody Kindred bastard!” Harkens was red in the face from both exertion and anger, puffing and blowing like a winded cow. But the hand which pointed his pistol at Richard was steady. “I should’ve known that image of Sylvia you showed me was a bit of alien trickery,” he went on, glaring at Richard. “I’ll see you hung for daring to practice your Kindred witchcraft on me! It’s against the law!”
“So is murder but that hasn’t stopped you,” Richard shot back. To his right, from the corner of his eye, he saw Caroline hesitating before the window. What in the Seven Hells was she waiting for? “Go,” he hissed at her, keeping his eyes fixed on Harkens and the pistol pointed directly at him. “Run!”
Harkens’ greedy little eyes widened and he seemed to comprehend what was going on.
“Oh no, you don’t!” he snarled. “She’s my wife and I mean to have her, one way or another!”
With that, the pistol which had been pointed squarely at Richard’s chest, swung to focus on Caroline instead. A cruel smile played around the corners of Harkens’ mouth.
“Goodbye, my dear,” he said and squeezed the trigger.
Richard acted instinctively. He launched himself at Caroline, shielding her from the bullet and pushing her backwards at the same time, through the window and into her own world.
He hadn’t meant to accompany her, but as she fell through, he felt a strong wind dragging at him also.
No! he thought. No, I can’t—
And then a piercing pain exploded in his back and side and all coherent thought was wiped from his mind.
Chapter Thirty-one
“He’s shot—I think he was shot!” Caroline screamed, as she and Richard tumbled onto the floor of her lab in front of the PORTAL’s brass frame.
The big Kindred was writhing in pain and dark blood was pooling on the metal floor. Caroline grabbed for him, trying to hold him steady.
“We saw it.” Commander Sylvan’s voice was grim. “He jumped in front of the bullet to save you.” He turned to Olivia. “Go to the med center and get an OR ready,” he commanded. “Send a hover-stretcher and a team and put in a call to Yipper—I want him assisting me.”
“Right away!” Olivia’s face was pale but determined as she rushed from the room.
Caroline cradled Richard’s head in her lap, bending over him, sobbing as Sylvan examined his wounds.
“It’s all right,” she managed to say, through her tears, trying to calm him down, though she was hardly calm herself. “It’s all right, Richard—everything is going to be okay, I swear it!”
His jaw clenched in pain as his eyes found hers.
“Shot me,” he said hoarsely. Then he coughed and Caroline was horrified to see a trickle of blood leak from the corner of his mouth.
“Hold on,” she begged. “Just stay with me—stay with me, Richard!”
He shook his head. “Don’t…belong here,” he gasped. “Should…go back. Can’t…stay.”
“You have to! I just found you—I can’t lose you already,” Caroline told him, sobbing. “You can’t…”
And then gentle hands were pulling her away and a group of Kindred were loading Richard onto a floating stretcher.
“No!” she moaned, stroking his hair back from his forehead, trying to keep him with her. “No, please—don’t take him! Don’t take him from me!”
“We have to, Caroline.” Sylvan gripped her arm and forced her to look him in the eyes. “Listen to me—we might be able to save him if we operate immediately. I promise you, I’ll do the best I can to save him. I promise.”
And then he was gone, hurrying away with the stretcher that held Richard, taking him where Caroline couldn’t follow.
She sank to her knees and sobbed on the bloody floor. Gone, he was gone and who knew if he was ever coming back?
“Oh, honey!” Suddenly Sophie was on one side of her and Kat was on the other. They surrounded her with their arms, hugging her, trying to ease her grief.
“He’s gone,” Caroline gasped, letting the words flood out of her mouth. “He’s going to die—he’s going to die hating me!”
“He doesn’t hate you,” Sophie exclaimed, squeezing her.
“Of course, he doesn’t—he took a bullet for you!” Kat added indignantly.
“Yes, he does—he hates me,” Caroline sobbed. “Because I’m not his Caroline but I pretended to be. Because I let myself love him and he can’t love me back because I’m not her—I’m not her.”
Then she dissolved into sobs and couldn’t be comforted.
Chapter Thirty-two
“Well, I have good news—he’s going to be ju
st fine.” Commander Sylvan was dressed in blood-stained scrubs and he looked tired but satisfied. Olivia was with him, also smiling. “As soon as the bullet was removed, his organs started to repair themselves. I think he must have Twin Kindred DNA somewhere in his ancestry—self-sealing organs are normally a Twin Kindred trait.” He frowned thoughtfully. “Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that Richard is healing nicely. I want to keep him in the med center for a while for observation but I expect him to make a complete recovery in a couple of days.”
“That’s wonderful!” Caroline jumped up, relief flooding through her. “Oh, thank you, Commander Sylvan! Thank you.”
He smiled. “You’re very welcome, of course.”
“See doll? I told you everything would be okay.” Kat smiled at her. She and Sophie had been sitting with Caroline in the tastefully decorated waiting room during the surgery.
“You were right. I was just so worried!” Caroline shook her head. Waiting for the surgery to be over had been awful and now that she knew it had been successful and Richard would be okay, she felt such intense relief it was almost like floating.
I could fly right now if I wanted to, she thought. I feel lighter than air!
“He was already coming out of the anesthesia when I left him,” Sylvan said. “He’s got an extremely strong constitution.”
“Oh good—when can I see him?” Caroline asked eagerly. She knew that Richard had been unhappy with her earlier—well, that was an understatement, actually—but surely he must have changed his mind. After all, as Kat kept pointing out, he had taken a bullet for her. That must mean something, right?
For some reason, Commander Sylvan looked uncomfortable.
“I think we’d better wait until tomorrow morning. I’m sorry, Dr. Lambert, but he’s been under a great deal of stress. I just want him to have a good night’s sleep and time to recover from the surgery.”
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