by Hazel Hunter
Percival and her parents emerged from opposite the staircase tower. Her cousin pointed his pistol at her as they approached, lowering it when he saw how she was standing over Thorne. “Meredith?”
“He was so angry. He said he was going to have all of you put in prison,” she told him, letting the tears spill down her face. “I couldn’t let him do that, so I hit him. I think I’ve killed him, Papa.”
“The last of the Thornes, dead by my daughter’s hand.” Her father sounded half-gloating, half-proud.
“You see? It is just as you told me. She is a Starling.” Percival put his arm around Lady Starling, who was smiling.
“We must make it look as if he fell,” Meredith said, and made a show of trying to move Thorne. “I will need all of you to help, please.”
Her parents and cousin hurried over, stepping onto the landing as they reached for Thorne. Meredith closed her eyes as she heard the rotted wood give way, and the terrible screams as all three plunged through a cloud of wood dust and debris.
She allowed herself a moment to sob against Alistair’s shoulder, and then leaned out to look through the hole in the landing. Three floors down the twisted bodies atop the pile of new rubble did not move.
Thorne stirred, and then opened his eyes. “Meredith?”
“I’ve broken the curse, Alistair,” she told him wearily. “Both of them.”
A week after the collapse at Dredthorne Hall, Meredith helped her aunt walk from the churchyard to her carriage, where they stood for a long moment looking back at the three new graves bedecked with flowers. Some mourners from the funeral still lingered; Lady Hardiwick seemed especially grief-stricken. Beside her Prudence eyed the vicar’s curate and pretend to cough into a handkerchief to cover her giggles.
Most of those who had attended had murmured their condolences to Meredith, who graciously accepted them when she wanted to shriek at them for being so blind.
“After you refused him, Lettice had hopes that Percival would take that simpering miss off her hands,” Lavinia murmured. “Lucky for her he lost his footing.”
Alistair Thorne had insisted on reporting the deaths of Meredith’s cousin and parents as a tragic accident, and the shootings of Lucetta and Harshad as accidental. No one questioned this, thanks to corroborating statements from two of the victims and Meredith herself. So many deaths spurred a new crop of rumors in the village about Dredthorne Hall, which was now considered haunted as well as cursed.
Meredith helped her aunt into the carriage. “I will see you back at the house tonight, Aunt.”
“You’re a good girl to look after me, but I have decided to leave.” She patted her hand. “I will be leaving tomorrow for Scotland. I have an old friend there who wishes a companion, and she has a nice little cottage. I have no more reason to stay in Renwick.”
Watching the carriage roll off, Meredith felt a fresh wave of sorrow. She hadn’t told Lavinia the truth of what had happened, but she suspected she knew any way. She would always be grateful to her for trying to protect her from her son and his ghastly need to inflict pain for his own glory.
Now if she could only rid herself of the dark legacy her parents had left to her.
From the church Meredith walked over to the parsonage, where she called on Mrs. Branwen. Deidre invited her to dinner, but Meredith asked if she might simply visit with their guest. She found Lucetta swathed in blankets but busy with her embroidery.
“Have you come to rescue me?” her cousin demanded. “For if I stitch one more posy I think I will tear out my hair and run amok.”
“You may not run anywhere until your wound has healed,” the vicar’s wife chided as she brought in a tray of tea and biscuits.
“How many posies have you stitched this week?” Lucetta countered.
“Once you are healed your life will be far more interesting. Your fiancé wishes to have the wedding as soon as we may, which dear Jeffrey says we must hold here.” She smiled at Meredith. “It is to be Christian and Hindu. I am making her dress. It is beautiful.”
“I am a housekeeper. My good rose linen is perfectly suited for a wedding.” Lucetta glared at her sister-in-law. “You should not go to so much trouble for me. I am old. So is Harshad.”
“You are getting married.” Deidre leaned over to kiss the top of her head. “You would look lovely in a potato sack, but I am making you a dress. I am much more skilled at sewing than cooking, so stop grumbling and thank me.”
Lucetta smiled up at her. “Thank you, Sister.”
They chatted about the wedding plans until Mrs. Branwen excused herself to check on a stew she was making.
Meredith put down her tea cup and regarded her cousin. “My aunt goes to Scotland tomorrow. Since your brother is the only male heir the attorneys can find, Starling House and the estate goes to him.”
“He will never live there,” Lucetta said, grimacing. “He and Deidre are happiest here, in their little parsonage. Have you been to see Alistair?”
“Not since I spoke with the magistrate. There has been so much to do with the funerals, and helping Aunt Lavinia.” Meredith plucked at her skirt. “And there is that other matter, when I bashed him in the head with a brick before I killed my family.”
“Nonsense. They killed themselves. You saved our lives,” Lucetta told her firmly. “Now go to Dredthorne and talk to Alistair, and do try to keep your clothes on while you do. All that can wait until after you are married. At least, that is what I tell myself and Harshad.”
Meredith chuckled, but as she left the parsonage a short time later her amusement settled into a solid lump in her stomach. She had been avoiding Alistair, and Dredthorne, as she did not know what to say to him. The Starlings had spent generations tormenting and murdering the Thornes. Her own parents had planned to kill him. How could a man love a woman so tainted by her own family?
Yet she could not stop thinking about Alistair Thorne. Every night she lay in her lonely bed wishing he was beside her. She worried his nightmares had returned, or he had taken to avoiding sleep again. Her body ached for his touch. Her heart wrenched with shame over the terrible cruelties the Starlings had inflicted. She felt pulled in two directions, one toward him, the other away.
“Good afternoon, Miss Starling.”
Even now she could hear him in her head. “Oh, go away.”
A shadow crossed her path. “If you truly wish me to, I will.”
Meredith looked up into Thorne’s face and laughed a little. “Forgive me. I thought I imagined you.”
“I could say the same.” He offered her his arm. “Come and take a drive with me.”
She could see Kshantu waiting with his carriage a short distance away. “Have you been following me?”
“Waiting for you,” he corrected as he guided her to the carriage, and helped her in. “I thought it best that I not call at the house. Your aunt is recovering?”
Meredith told him about Lavinia and her decision to move to Scotland, and Starling House going to Jeffrey Branwen. She mentioned how well Lucetta looked, and inquired after Harshad, whom Thorne told her had improved enough to leave his bed for short periods to join in the meals with the men and survey the ongoing restoration work.
Everyone was getting better, it seemed, except her.
As they approached the lionsgate at Dredthorne Meredith braced herself for a wave of dread. She had not been back to the hall since that night, and she wondered if she would feel like a murderess as she stepped into the front hall.
“I considered attending the services today, but I did not wish to cause a stir,” Thorne told her as he led her into the sitting room. “Should I ring for tea, or did the vicar’s wife attend to that?”
Meredith went and closed the door before she faced him. “Please stop being so polite. We are alone. You may say whatever you wish to me.”
“Such as, ‘You hit me in the head with a brick’ or ‘You saved my life?’” He started toward her. “You did both.”
“Alistair.’ She pu
t her hand on his chest to stop him from gathering her into his arms. “You know what I mean. I am a Starling. You are a Thorne. My family… All I can say is I am so sorry for what they did to yours. I never knew.”
“What of how they treated you? Your parents wished you to marry your cousin, the monster, and kill me, the man you love.” He trailed his fingers along her cheek. “Meredith, my dearest love, without you I would be dead. So would Lucetta and Harshad, I believe. You made a terrible choice to stop three killers, and save three lives.”
“Your men were able to help my cousin and your steward.” She turned her face away. “I am the killer now. Perhaps that was meant to be. I am their daughter.”
“Only if you continue their wretched legacy.” He took her hands in his. “Or you could choose another name. Join my family. Marry me. Become a Thorne. Let the Starlings rest in peace. No one ever need know about the truth behind the curse. When our time comes, you and I will take it to our graves.”
Meredith stared at him. “You would want that, after all they’ve done to hurt you?”
“I want you.” He bent his head to hers, and brushed his mouth against her lips. “Say yes, Meredith. Be my wife. Be a Thorne.”
Her eyelids drooped, and her skin began tingling all over. “If I say yes, what will happen?”
“Let me think.” Thorne pressed her back against the door with the weight of his body. “You will make me very happy. I will pick you up in my arms, and carry you to my bed chamber.” He kissed her again.
When his mouth lifted she gasped, “And then?”
“I will ravish you thoroughly so that you cannot change your mind.” He nipped her earlobe before he murmured, “Very, very thoroughly. Deeply. Repeatedly.”
Meredith could feel the hard length of him now against her belly. “Alistair, you are making it very difficult for me to think. What I mean to say is, will we stay here, at Dredthorne Hall?”
He drew back and studied her face. “Do you wish to?”
“My parents died here,” she reminded him softly. “As much as I love this house, no, I cannot stay here. I want to make a home that is ours, in a place that has never been cursed or filled with torment or terrible secrets. A house where we may build a new legend together. One of happiness.”
Thorne nodded. “I agree.”
“Then I will marry you, Alistair.” Meredith felt the last of the shadows melt away inside her. Here was her lovely, golden-haired, blue-eyed prince, the man of her dreams, and she could have him for the rest of her life. “Take me to your bed chamber, sir.”
True to his word he scooped her off her feet and carried her up the steps. Along the way they passed Harshad, who grinned and nodded to her as he carefully made his way down the stairs. Meredith laughed as Thorne kicked open his door and rushed to the bed, and dropped her atop the coverlet. A moment later he was on top of her, his clever hands holding her face as he kissed her breathless.
For a moment Meredith felt as if her heart might burst. Then Thorne rolled to his side, pulling her onto hers.
“I have wanted you so much in my bed, I dreamed of it,” he told her as he began unbuttoning her gown. “I woke up, not in terror, but hard and hot and ready to have you.”
“I am sorry I was not here to provide you with me,” she murmured, and glanced down as he worked her bodice down to her waist. “Alistair, you are making me dreadfully needy. I wish you were inside me right now.”
Thorne pushed her onto her back, heaved up her skirts, jerked down her drawers and opened the flap of his breeches.
“I remember that formidable weapon,” Meredith teased as he tugged out his rigid shaft. “Give that to me this instant, sir.”
“You are greedy,” he muttered as he guided himself to the wet, clenching gates of her sex. “I like that very much about you.”
They both groaned as he worked himself into her, his cock so hard it made her gush in response. Slowly he sank deep, filling and stretching her, until he completed their joining and looked down at her.
“You make me so happy,” she told him.
“I love you, Meredith Thorne,” he said, and began to move inside her with slow, long strokes. “I think I have since the moment you sprawled at my feet. I thought about ravishing you the moment I brought you inside. Now I think I should have, but for my men.”
“I would have made a great deal of maidenly noise,” she mentioned. “They would have guessed.”
What he did to her with his lovely, thick cock made her breasts swell and her nipples tighten, until Meredith gripped his hand and brought it to her, rubbing their fingers over her aching mounds. He watched, his eyes narrow and hot, before he seized her hips and thrust powerfully into her, determined, demanding.
Meredith knew what he was doing. He was claiming her, fucking her, making her as thoroughly his as he had promised. She could feel her own pleasure building around his hard strokes, her nub pulsing madly, and the increase in heat and swelling that told her he was close to pumping her full of his seed. She loved that moment. She loved everything about making love with Alistair.
She knew what to say to him as she trembled on the very brink of it. “Make me with child, my love. Give me your baby now.”
Thorne brought her hand to his mouth, biting her palm as he drove deep, flinging her into the hot, sweet pleasure of release, as he jetted into her, working every creamy spurt deep into her core.
They collapsed, and Meredith held him, their clothes a tangle, their bodies shaking with the force of their bliss. For a time, it was all she could do to breathe, and feel him, and know that the love she had wanted so badly had finally found her, and taken her, and would keep her heart safe.
Chapter 12
In the dining room Harshad sat down gingerly next to his new wife, still not convinced he should take this place at the master’s table. He smiled at Meredith, who was untying a large scroll, and then eyed Thorne.
“My wife has a proposal for the two of you,” Thorne said as she spread out the drawing of a large house nestled among gardens and fruit trees. “We are thinking of purchasing this property.”
“It is a little larger than Dredthorne,” Meredith told them, “but the house is perfectly suitable for a family, and the grounds are beautiful. The previous owners took their staff with them, so we will need to hire servants and gardeners and groundskeepers, and manage the dozen or so tenant farms. Oh, and there are apple and plum orchards that are quite productive. In all we think about fifty new hires, since Alistair’s men will be busy working with him on our horse-breeding venture.”
“I see.” Lucetta peered at the drawing. “What is that little manor there behind the great house? A dowager’s house?”
“It was, I believe,” Thorne said. “It will be your home, should you wish to come with us.”
Harshad frowned. “We do not need a house of our own, Master.”
“I am a housekeeper,” Lucetta put in. “I will be busy keeping your house.”
“Not if you agree to accept new positions in our household,” Meredith said. “Harshad, Alistair would like you and Lucetta to be our estate managers. Our partners in our business ventures. You would each have a percentage of the profits along with a salary.”
Lucetta’s eyes widened. “That is quite generous.”
“You will earn it. You will have the responsibility of overseeing the property and the staff, as well as our financials,” Thorne said. “Meredith and I will work with you as we make improvements to the house, hire new staff, and expand our investments. We will rely on your advice to plan our future.”
“I see.” Lucetta looked at her husband before she said, “What will become of Dredthorne Hall?”
“We will be continuing the repairs and renovations while we arrange to lease the property,” Meredith said. “It will be another of our investment ventures.”
“And if we wish not to go with you?” Harshad asked.
“Then we will leave you to look after Starling House for Mr. Bran
wen.” Thorne smiled. “I believe he has already spoken to you about the possibility, Lucetta.”
“Yes, he has.” She contemplated the drawing again before she regarded her husband. “Well, my dear, if you are in agreement with this scheme, I would like to go with the Thornes.” She eyed Meredith. “With the understanding that I will need time next fall when we are so blessed to increase our family.”
Harshad grinned. “We are having a baby. She will not say that.”
Meredith took hold of Thorne’s hand. “What a coincidence. So are we.”
“Well.” Her cousin took hold of her husband’s dark hand. “I daresay our children will grow up together at the new estate. Have you decided on a name for the house, Alistair?”
“Meredith and I have been arguing about it incessantly,” he assured her. “I think Thornhill has a strong ring to it.”
“So does bramble patch,” his wife said drily. “I wished for Merryweather.”
“Call the place Christmas House and be done with it,” Thorne drawled.
Lucetta eyed the bowl of roses in the center of the table. “What do you think of Rosethorne? It has rather a nice poetic ring to it. Speaks to life and love. The sweet and the prickly. And we are all rising to begin anew.”
Thorne exchange a look with Meredith before he smiled and nodded. “It is perfect.”
After dinner Thorne stood with his wife in the reception room as they watched the first snow falling, carpeting the grounds around the hall in pure, glittering white. She shivered and pressed against his side, her hand slipping under his lapel to idly caress his hard chest.
“More of that, Mrs. Thorne, and you are for the bed chamber,” he warned her sternly.
“I am always for the bed chamber,” she chided, and then sighed. “So, we must leave tomorrow, and I think we will not be returning. It is a good feeling, but sad, too. How do you feel about that, Mr. Thorne?”
“Happy. Relieved.” He rested his cheek against the top of her head. “Ready.”