“Miss Montini? Gabriella?”
Gabriella turned to find the Earl of Wyldewood standing behind her, a genuine smile on his face. She wasn’t at all sure she’d ever seen him truly smile before. “Yes?”
“If all went as Nathanial had planned, I was to give you this.” He handed her a folded note. “And then escort you to the director’s office.”
She stared at the note in her hand.
He leaned closer to her and lowered his voice. “You should read it now, Gabriella.”
She nodded and unfolded the note. Why did her hands always seem to shake of late?
The note read:
My Dearest Gabriella,
A much as surprise might be nice, it seems to me it might be wise to introduce something of this magnitude in private. You should know that after your father’s death, your mother’s family tried to find you. They ended their efforts only when they were told you were dead. They have always wanted you and have loved you as they loved your mother. My mother has arranged for your reunion.
You should know as well that I too love you.
Always,
Nathanial
She stared at the words on the page. A lump rose to her throat and her eyes fogged.
“Gabriella?” the earl said softly.
She glanced at him. “Do you know what this says?”
He grinned. “I have an idea.”
She smiled at him. “Why, you’re not at all stiff and stodgy, are you?”
“Don’t tell anyone.” He offered his arm. “Shall we, then?” She nodded and he escorted her along the corridor.
“Where…”
They paused before the door to the director’s office and he stepped aside. “They’re expecting you.”
“They? Who?”
“Go on, my dear,” Florence said behind her.
Gabriella looked at the earl. “Aren’t you coming in?”
He shook his head. “I think not.”
She glanced around. “Where is Nathanial?”
“I’m not exactly sure.” He smiled in a brotherly sort of way. “Go on now. I suspect your future and some of your past awaits you.”
“Very well.” This was entirely too much to comprehend all at once. Nathanial had proven to truly be her hero. The news about her family was something she’d never dared dream of. And he had declared his love. It was all she’d ever wanted. No, it was so much more. Why, then, was she hesitating? She drew a deep breath and opened the door.
The door swung open and Gabriella stepped into the room. She was as lovely as always, if still a bit pale. She appeared cool and serene and confident, and he knew her well enough by now to know she probably wasn’t the least bit serene.
Mother bustled over to her, took her arm and brought her to her family. “Gabriella, I want you to meet your aunts, Caroline and Beatrice, and your cousin Emma.”
For a long awkward second, no one said a word. Then Lady Danworthy burst into tears and threw her arms around Gabriella. Followed a scant moment later by Mrs. Delong and Emma, all of them crying and talking at once. In the midst of it, one of her aunts fastened her mother’s necklace around Gabriella’s neck. The only one not weeping was Gabriella herself, who looked stunned. But not unhappy. He had been right to warn her.
Even Mother sniffed back a tear. “Isn’t it wonderful. See what you’ve done, darling?”
“I didn’t do it, Mother, you did.”
“Nonsense, Nathanial.” Mother shrugged. “You could have refused to accompany me. You could have put your foot down and stopped me. I am, after all, a mere woman.”
He laughed. “There is nothing mere about you.”
“Nor is there anything mere about her,” Mother said pointedly.
“Nothing mere about her at all,” he murmured. Gabriella had family now, and her brother’s reputation had been assured in death regardless of what it might have been in life. She had everything she’d ever wanted. Would she still want him?
After a few more minutes she turned away from her family and stepped toward him.
“Thank you.” Her voice was barely more than a whisper, whether from emotion or the lingering effects of the fire, he didn’t know. “For what you did today and this.” She drew a deep breath. “I read your note. Without it I would have said the wrong things entirely. I might have been, well, less than pleasant. I had no idea.”
“I suspected that.” He stared down at her. “I thought you should know.”
“And the rest of it?” Her gaze searched his. “The part that had nothing to do with my family?”
“Oh that, yes, well…” He studied her for a moment. “I cannot ask you to join with me in my work, my travels, because there would always be a risk to you, to your safety. I cannot put you in the kind of jeopardy you experienced in your youth, and I cannot take you away from the family you have just found.”
Disbelief sparked in her blue eyes. “Nathanial, I—”
“Therefore, I will stay here in England if you will stay with me as my wife.”
“I—”
He took her hands. “You once told me you wanted to become indispensable to your brother. I find that you have become indispensable to me.”
She swallowed hard.
“Not to my work, although you are brilliant and clever, but you have become indispensable to my life because I cannot imagine another day without you. And you have become indispensable to my heart because it would surely shatter if you were not by my side.”
She stared up at him, tears glittering in her eyes.
An audible sob sounded from her aunts.
“Are you going to say anything?” He raised her hands to his lips. “Leaps of faith, Gabriella. Will you leap? I promise always to catch you.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I can’t.”
His heart twisted. “I see.”
“No you don’t.” She smiled up at him with a radiance that caught at his soul. “I can’t leap now, Nathanial—” Her voice faltered. “I already have.”
At once she was in his arms, and he pressed his lips to hers and didn’t care where they were or who was watching. He knew only that he would keep her by his side for as long as they lived. And knew as well that this love they shared was as timeless, as priceless, and as rare as anything left by the ancients.
And further knew that she was the greatest treasure of all.
Epilogue
You should have taken the seal back from Montini when you had the chance. It would have made everything much easier. I assume there was a moment after you killed him.”
“No.” Javier Gutierrez’s gaze slid from one of his employers to the other. “I was interrupted. And I was not about to risk a hangman’s noose for the seal or for you.” He settled back in his chair and narrowed his eyes. “You pay well but not well enough.”
“It was a pity to have burned down the girl’s house.”
“An unfortunate accident.” Gutierrez blew an annoyed breath. “No one was supposed to be there. In my haste to leave, I knocked over the lamp.”
“And Rathbourne’s death? Rather unnecessary, I would think, although I can’t imagine he’ll be missed. Another accident?”
“Let us say…a moment of passion. He owed me money.” Gutierrez shrugged. “He refused to pay. What could I do?”
His employers exchanged glances. They were an unusual pair, in his experience. Cold, ruthless, and well matched. If he was the type of man to be easily scared, these two would have done it. As it was, merely being in their presence sent a chill of unease along his spine. Gutierrez shifted in his seat. He was not used to unease.
“Still, obtaining Rathbourne’s seal from his wife will be far easier than wresting it from him.”
The other nodded. “Then we will have three.”
“And they will reveal the location of the lost city, the final resting place of Ambropia. And we alone will at long last know the Virgin’s Secret.”
About the Author
VICTORI
A ALEXANDER was an award-winning television reporter until she discovered fiction was much more fun than real life. She turned to writing full time and has never looked back.
Victoria grew up traveling the country as an Air Force brat and is now settled in Omaha, Nebraska, with her husband, two kids in college (buy her books!), and two bearded collies named Sam and Louie. She firmly believes housework is a four-letter word, there are no calories in anything eaten standing up, procrastination is an art form, and it’s never too soon to panic.
And she loves getting mail that doesn’t require a return payment. Write to her at P.O. Box 31544, Omaha, NE 68131.
www.eclectics.com/victoria
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By Victoria Alexander
THE VIRGIN’S SECRET
SEDUCTION OF A PROPER GENTLEMAN
THE PERFECT WIFE
SECRETS OF A PROPER LADY
WHAT A LADY WANTS
A LITTLE BIT WICKED
LET IT BE LOVE
WHEN WE MEET AGAIN
A VISIT FROM SIR NICHOLAS
THE PURSUIT OF MARRIAGE
THE LADY IN QUESTION
LOVE WITH THE PROPER HUSBAND
HER HIGHNESS, MY WIFE
THE PRINCE’S BRIDE
THE MARRIAGE LESSON
THE HUSBAND LIST
THE WEDDING BARGAIN
Coming Soon
BELIEVE
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
THE VIRGIN’S SECRET. Copyright © 2009 by Cheryl Griffin. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Microsoft Reader March 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-186637-1
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