by Splendid You
Then his fingers went under her, tightening on her roundness, and lifted her up to meet the firm, insistent length of him, the complement to her soft, welcoming need. She dug her nails into his shoulders, rigid, silent, astonished by the joy that flooded through her, sweeping away the pain.
“Oh, God, Julia ... I ...”
“Hush. Wait.” Tentatively, she flexed her hips and saw his eyes close. His lips moved as though in silent prayer. She felt the tension coil in him as he tried so hard not to take her mindlessly, to give her this moment. She needed it badly, making the adjustment to his superabundance filling her so completely.
She found it more comfortable to rest her feet on the backs of his legs. He threw his head back, biting his lips. Experimenting, she moved the arch of her foot up and down from his calf to his upper thigh, hearing his teeth grind. She chuckled, glad to know that there was more she could do to please him. Lying around while others sweated had never been her way.
“You find torture funny?” he asked, leaning his forehead on hers.
He began to move, too, adding the harmony to her own rhythm. Caught up in the rapture that seemed to bloom and grow with every second, she lost her place and could only follow the pleasure wherever it lead.
Faster and faster, they came together, fusing in the sweat and the heat into one being, someone new, separate but equal. Julia felt Simon everywhere, not just inside her, but all through her, and knew that she’d never be free of him again. Instead of feeling trapped, she felt gloriously alive. She wanted to tell him about it, but all she could gasp out was an “I love you” that came from her soul.
The flash of realization was lost in a powerful wave of pure feeling that knocked her sideways. Before she knew it, she was drowning in it, calling out to him, not to save her but to dive in, too. His arms tightened around her, the twisting, swirling whirlpool of desire sucked her down, and the sound of their voices rose to heaven.
Julia awoke from a heavy sleep when Simon withdrew his arm from around her waist. She sat up, still boneless from release and asked, “Love?”
“I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“Where are you going?”
“Just down the hall. Stay there. I don’t want you to go anywhere.”
She smiled at the possessiveness of his tone, forgiving him because of the wonder that was mixed in. She watched through half-closed eyes the powerful flexing of his back and rear muscles as he walked away. Then she lay back, arms spread wide, marveling at the gifts of the human body. She’d never known there was so much pleasure to be had from the flesh. This hour with Simon had explained a very great deal that had always confused her, so that her mind was as satisfied as her physical self.
When he came back, his dressing gown over his arm, she tried to talk about that. He laughed and said, “I’ve never met anyone like you. Even now, you formulate theories.”
“Of course. New experiences widen the mind.”
“You’ve been an experience for me.” He touched her face with such caring in his eyes that she felt a little shy. Not because they were naked together, but because she loved him so utterly. He said, “I don’t know if you are ahead of your time or just unique. But I can’t imagine my life without you....”
“Oh, Simon,” she said, reaching out. Then she winced at a strange new pain in her lower back..
“Are you all right?”
“I think so.”
“Shall I bring you some water? Or would you like to be alone for a little while?” He held out the dressing gown.
“I suppose. But actually ... I’m hungry. I didn’t eat much at tea what with last-minute details and packing.”
“I want to talk to you about that, Julia. You won’t leave ... what the devil ... ?”
Someone pounded at the front door. Even here, they could hear a frantic note in the rapping. “It’s probably just a late post. Let’s ignore it,” Simon said. “Julia, I want you to—”
Outside, someone began calling his name, on a frenzied note. “Archer! Archer!”
“You’d better go see,” Julia said.
Simon shoved his arms through the dressing gown’s sleeves. Tying it, he threw open the window and looked down into the street. “Who’s there?” he demanded. A moment later, he said wonderingly, “Winslow?”
“Archer! Thank God. Come down and open the door.”
With a glance at Julia, Simon said, “It’s not a good time right now. Why aren’t you at the party?”
“Archer!”
“I’m here! In heaven’s name, what’s amiss, man?”
“It’s Lucy! Oh, God, Simon! She’s been abducted!”
Chapter Twenty-one
Robert Winslow was far too distressed to notice that Simon’s formal clothes were rumpled and creased, or to see that Julia’s dress was a simple morning frock that showed all the signs of being hastily flung on. Julia herself didn’t realize she had misaligned the buttons down her front for quite some time.
Simon pushed Robert into a chair in the parlor and mixed him a stiff whiskey and soda. The major held the drink in his hand, hardly seeming to understand what it was. “We’d agreed during our dance that we should meet in a little while in the conservatory. I wanted to ask her ... I wanted to propose. I wanted to make things right this time.”
“What did she say?” Simon asked.
“She wasn’t there. I waited, pacing, then I saw it. The cactus quills came through it.” He opened his other hand, revealing the crumpled paper.
Simon took it, spread it out flat. Tiny blisters showed where the spines had poked through. Julia came to read it with him, her hand on his shoulder.
“'Dr. Mystery has made all arrangements. If J. H. does not present herself before midnight, this girl will be carried out of the country tonight.’"
“Mystery!” exploded from Simon’s lips like a curse.
Major Winslow said, “Miss Hanson was the only woman with those initials that I know of. I came here at once. I—I think I ran.”
Rounding on Robert, Simon asked gruffly, “Did you look first to be certain Lucy hadn’t merely gone back into the ballroom?” He smacked the paper with the back of his fingers. “This could be a hoax or a joke.”
“It’s no joke. She’s been stolen away. I don’t understand how. The house was crowded, servants everywhere. If she’d cried out, someone would have heard it.”
Julia said, “Someone’s always crying out at a ball. A girl with an amusing lover, a dowager losing at cards.... And servants wouldn’t interfere if they saw a young lady leaving with some man. It’s not their place.”
“Then you think she left of her own free will?” Robert exclaimed.
“That would be the easiest way.”
“But why would she go with someone like this Dr. Mystery? It doesn’t make sense!”
Julia went to him and guided the whiskey to his lips. His hands began to shake as he smelled it. But when he put the emptied tumbler down, he was calm.
Julia said, “She’d go with him if he told her someone she loved was in danger.”
Simon rejected that. “She saw him that day when he accosted you. She’d never go with him after that.”
“I don’t know whether she saw him or not.”
“You said she spoke to him.”
“No, that was ...” Suddenly the motive for Lucy’s kidnaping came over her. She wanted to explain it to Simon but he was barking out orders to the major like a born military commander.
“I won’t risk Julia, too. You and I will break down the door and—
“He’ll be waiting for you to use force,” Julia said. “He’ll have traps prepared. It might not be anything more than a constable stationed outside. If you’re caught, you’re both ruined. Simon, you might be able to avoid attending a party for yourself, but you mustn’t break the law.”
“Well, you’re not going!”
“Of course I am.” She smiled at him, knowing he wanted to protect her. But he might as well learn that she
would never stand by and let him run into danger without her by his side. Alone, they only had ordinary strength. Together, they could defeat giants—or devils.
Ignoring Simon’s further protests, she said, “You can’t storm a citadel in those clothes. We have some time. You should change into something plain and dark.”
Perhaps it was the military discipline. Major Winslow seemed on the brink of snapping her a salute. Instead, he stood and said, “Yes, ma’am. I’ll be ready in five minutes.”
She walked with him to the door. “Better make it ten. I’ll need time to argue with Simon.”
When she came back, Simon stood beside the fireplace, drinking. Julia asked, “May I?” and took the glass from his hand. She sipped, coughed, and said, “It’s smoother than the kind my father likes.”
Simon said, “Mystery’s mad. He kidnaps my sister and now he’s trying to get you into his hands as well. All to strike back at me.”
“I’m sorry, Simon, but this has nothing to do with you. Oh, perhaps your quarrel with Dr. Mystery began it all, but that’s not why he’s doing this. I wonder how he knew I was leaving today; one of the servants, I suppose. I wonder why he didn’t just wait until I was back in Yorkshire. My father?”
She realized Simon was trying to make her sit down. “Julia, you’ve been through too much this evening.”
“I’m not making sense, am I?” she asked, smiling up at him. “I’m sorry. That happens when I’m thinking very fast. Listen, please, Simon. It’s not Lucy who was kidnaped. It was An-ket. Or rather, An-ket and Lucy both.”
“I thought we were done with this nonsense about An-ket. Julia, you know that the dead don’t come back.”
“But the Egyptians believed that the soul could visit the living, flying like a hawk over those they loved in life.”
“Superstitions ... they also believed the sun was pushed across the sky by a giant dung beetle! Let’s get a telescope and I’ll prove that one isn’t true.”
“I cannot answer for astronomy, Simon, but I do know something about a woman’s heart. An-ket wanted to come back, and she did. She’s been inside Lucy for the better part of a week. Haven’t you wondered why your sister suddenly emerged from her chrysalis? An-ket.”
“Are you saying you’ve convinced my sister that she has the spirit of an ancient Egyptian priestess inside her? Are you mad? Preying upon a weaker mind....”
Now they came to it. “Simon, Lucy was unhappy because she believed her life was blighted. Thanks to An-ket, now she has her lover back and a—
“An-ket is dead! She’s been lying in a coffin for thirty-five hundred years. There’s no such person anymore.”
“But don’t you believe the soul is immortal?”
Simon threw up his hands. “I’m not going to stand here arguing esoteric points of theology with you. I am going to Dr. Mystery’s house and get back my sister.”
“He won’t give her to you without me. I can’t be sure, but he may believe that I am the one who brought An-ket here.”
“Then he’s as mad as you are.”
“Simon, you really must make up your mind about me. You can’t go from making love to me to hating me in half an hour!”
“I don’t hate you,” he said. “But I’m damned if I understand you!”
Julia sighed. “Well, that’s something at any rate. Now, listen to me, please. Whatever else you believe, you may as well believe that I am coming with you to Dr. Mystery’s. You’d best make up your mind to that before Major Winslow comes back.”
“You’re not.”
“Let’s not argue about it. I don’t want to see Lucy carried out of the country any more than you do.”
“I don’t believe a word of this fellow’s threats. He wouldn’t dare.”
“You know, I think he would. He believes I have the secret he’s been seeking: the secret of how to bring back the spirits of the dead.”
Simon did not appear to be convinced that her presence was necessary. Julia added, “And if you try to lock me in my room, I’ll still get out and follow you.”
“I’m willing to take the risk,” he said, unfolding his arms and starting toward her. He could have picked her up, tucked her under his arm, and walked away with her, without her being able to do anything to stop him.
Julia stood her ground, her eyes narrow. “Not to mention that I’ll never forgive you for it.” Then she melted, holding out her hands to him. “Simon, trust me.”
“I do, but not with your life.”
“Then you don’t at all. Major Winslow and I will rescue Lucy ourselves. You—go to your party. It’s almost time for them to honor you.” She paused in the doorway. “When you hear the applause, know that I’m right there in the front row, cheering for you.”
It would have been a wonderful exit line if he had not come out of the house two steps behind her.
Fifteen minutes later, the three of them stood outside Mystery’s house. “I think I see a light at the rear,” Major Winslow said. “How do you want to do this?”
“You’re the military mind,” Simon said.
Julia said, “I’m going to walk up to the front door and ...”
“And what?”
“Knock. Coming?”
They tried to talk her out of it as she crossed the street, hissing in whispers that to approach directly would be ruinous. “He already knows we’re coming,” she said. “I saw someone look down from that window a moment ago. The longer we stand here arguing, the more foolish we shall look.”
She strode up the walk to the black-painted door and tapped the brass lion’s-head knocker smartly. It opened at once. Dr. Mystery was there, looking smaller than ever in a loose peasant’s shirt and knee-length trousers. His face gladdened when the gaslight fell on Julia’s features.
“Miss Hanson, come in. I hardly dared hope ... come in!” He stood aside, sweeping an eighteenth-century bow. He straightened with a spine-snapping suddenness when he beheld Robert and Simon behind her.
“Guests?”
“Your note said nothing about coming alone. I thought you wouldn’t mind a pair of unprejudiced witnesses?”
“Ah, yes, very wise.”
Once inside the hall, with more room, Robert made a grab for Dr. Mystery’s throat. “Where is Lucy?” he barked, but before his fingers could close, Dr. Mystery jerked up a pistol to point just between Robert’s eyes.
“Your guests mustn’t interfere,” he said, as gently chiding as one who admonishes playful children. “Come, Mr. Archer, you must keep your acquaintances in line during the seance. Come this way.”
As he indicated the proper door with a short but commanding flick of his pistol, they did as he had asked. The back of Robert Winslow’s neck was scarlet as a grenadier’s uniform. Julia hoped he wouldn’t do anything rash, like charge for the pistol. She glanced at Simon. His rich blue eyes were half hidden behind lethargic lids, but she saw them flick here and there, taking in everything without seeming to do so.
Then they were all in a room dominated by a large table. The bare wood gleamed under a many-globed chandelier. At the head sat Lucy in an upholstered chair, her cheek resting on her shoulder. The jeweled pins scattered through her ringlets caught the light. She looked like a girl returning home from a ball, fallen happily asleep in the corner of her carriage, dreaming of the dancing she’d done and the hearts she had broken.
“Lucy!” Robert was by her side in one bound. Dropping to his knees, he began chafing her hand. “Is she dead?”
“No, merely sleeping. I was thoughtful enough to bring her a glass of punch to which I’d added a heavy burden of champagne as well as a little something extra I brewed myself. An old family recipe. She was asleep on her feet before she could remember where she’d seen my face before. Evening clothes do make such a difference, don’t you find?”
The only things on the table were a small box and a thin brown cigar burning in a dish. Never letting his pistol’s eye waver from Lucy’s head, he took a long pull at t
he cigar. “You see, I don’t mean harm to any of you.”
“Then put the pistol down,” Simon growled, his first words since Dr. Mystery had opened the door.
“No, I can’t do that, Mr. Archer. This pistol is the only thing between myself and your natural impulses. We are quite alone here. My—er—staff departed upon learning of my change of heart. They were mere confidence tricksters, while I—
“You set yourself up as something nobler, no doubt?” Simon stood beside Lucy, his hand on her shoulder. Julia might not have existed, for all the notice he took of her.
Dr. Mystery said, “Before now, I have always had faith in the unseen, but no proof. I could hear their voices from my earliest days, but I’d never seen one until I met Miss Hanson and your sister on the street.”
“You were following us,” Julia said.
“Oh, yes. I knew you were the one I’d been waiting for.” He smiled at her, a warm, welcoming smile that assorted ill with the black-iron and red-wood pistol in his hand. “You have the power I seek, Miss Hanson.”
“I have no powers.”
“But you do. You have the power to bring the dead from the far reaches of eternity. You did it with this priestess.”
Julia noticed that Dr. Mystery might point his pistol at the others, but it never came around to her. She started to think how she could turn this fact to her advantage. It might be true that he didn’t want to harm anyone, but at any rate, he especially did not want to hurt or alienate her. He wanted her for something, not for love or money, but for something else.
“An-ket came to me by pure chance. I had nothing to do with it.”
“I see I shall have to prove my point even to you. But once you understand, then the universe will be ours. You see that box? Open it.”
Julia obeyed. Inside was a carved chunk of wood, with some sort of register on the front. It looked so prosaic that Julia couldn’t imagine a use for it, except perhaps as a doorstop.
“You see that? I had it from a German I met once. He used it in his act.”