by Wendy Vella
Nicholas didn't say anything, just nodded.
“Be ready to beg, Braithwaite. With four sisters, this is the best advice I can give you.”
When the door had closed, Dev went to sit before the fire with the rest of his family.
“Eat now, Dev,” Eden said, handing him a plate, “and then tell us what's happening.”
“You probably heard most of it anyway,” he said around a mouthful of buttered toast.
“Most, but not all,” she said with a cheeky smile.
James frowned at her. “I thought you put your earplugs in when you returned?”
“James, James, James,” Cam said, shaking his head. “When will you learn not to believe her when she says that?
“You lied to me!” James roared, glaring at his wife, who looked totally unrepentant.
“Not lied, darling, exactly,” she said, kissing his cheek. “I had them in and then I took them out. Anyway,” she quickly added as James opened his mouth to continue the discussion, “we have much more pressing matters to discuss regarding Toby and your cousin.”
Dev realized this was his cue, so he took a large swallow of his brandy before beginning. “None of you have probably noticed, but Lilly always wears her gloves. I discussed it with her one night and she told me she had always worn them, since childhood.”
“That's true,” James added. “I used to question her on it when we were playing but she usually just fobbed me off.”
“Christ, she's one of us!”
Dev had known it would be Cam who worked it out first, and he wasn't disappointed. Essie followed seconds later. Eden of course, already knew.
“Good God!”
“Christ!”
“As you know, I don't like to hear those words coming from my sisters, but if ever there was a time they were acceptable, now is it,” Dev added.
“What the bloody hell is going on?”
Looking at James's bewildered expression, Dev laughed. For once the mighty Raven brain was not working.
“Lilly has sensitive hands, Raven.”
“So do a lot of people. One of my drivers is allergic to.... Mother of God!”
“Yes darling, your cousin has the heightened sense of touch, just as I have hearing, Cam smell, Essie taste, and Dev sight. She is the fifth and final sense, it seems. How strange that it was you who uncovered this, brother,” Eden said, giving Dev a pointed look that he ignored.
“She healed Toby tonight. It exhausted her and now she sleeps, but she did it.”
“How did you know, Dev?” Cam queried.
“I took off her glove one night. She rebelled, but I grabbed her hand, and she told me she had never touched anyone before without it causing her pain.”
“Like I cannot hear, James,” Eden said with a sly smile. “Love dulls the senses.”
Dev ignored her.
“Another one.” James groaned, falling back into his chair. “But how is it possible? Surely her blood tie to the Sinclairs is weak?”
“Apparently it's not,” Cam said, still looking stunned.
“She is also a very special lady with special colors meant for the strongest of us all,” Essie said, grinning at Dev, who in turn glared at her.
“For what it's worth, brother, I like her,” Cam said, taking the last piece of apple pie off the plate.
“Of course you like her, she's my bloody cousin!”
“As do we all,” Eden said, taking her husband's hand and giving it a hard squeeze as he opened his mouth again. It closed quickly.
“I will go and see her and have the maid take her to a room, Raven.” Dev got to his feet.
“I will do it!”
“No, you won't, James. Dev is more than capable.”
Leaving the room before another word was said, Dev made his way to Lilly's side. He was eager to see her, eager to know she was well. He loved her. The thought nearly dropped him to his knees. Another to love, another to care for. But this one would be different, he knew. This one was a part of him.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Lilly woke aware that she was in her cousin's house. She was relieved to find the room was lit by the glow from the fire. It was bad enough waking in her own room in the dark, but to do so in a strange house was terrifying.
She thought briefly about looking for Toby to check on his injuries, and then discarded the idea. James's house was huge with many rooms, and Lilly had visions of walking in on James and his family while they slept. She lifted her hands and studied them. Had they really healed Toby? How had Devon known she could do that?
He had told her, when she lay beside the boy, that he was sleeping peacefully. Could it be true? Her head hurt just thinking about it. How was it even possible for one person to heal another?
Pushing herself upright, she saw the bath not far from the bed, and the tray of food on the small table beside it. Throwing the covers aside, she tried to decide which she wanted more: food or cleanliness.
Both.
Standing, she felt her legs wobble. She felt weak after healing Toby, as if the action had taken all her strength.
“Did I really do that?” Lilly said to no one. Yet she knew it was not a dream.
She dragged the small table closer to the bath, then stripped off her dirty clothes, and removing what pins were left in her hair, she sank into the still blissfully warm water. After scrubbing her skin pink with the soap that smelled of lavender, she then washed her hair. Finally clean, Lilly lay back, exhausted, and reached for a piece of cheese. Popping it into her mouth, she let her thoughts return to the night's events.
As if being abducted had not been traumatic enough, now she had to think about what her hands had done to Toby. What did healing a person without medicine make her? Was she a witch or a freak who should reside in a circus? The cheese suddenly felt leaden in her empty stomach.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the door opening. His head appeared first, followed by his body. Devon stepped inside and looked to the bed, then turned toward the fire. His eyes held hers and then he simply closed and locked the door behind him.
He wore a robe, his dark hair damp, bruises forming on his face. He looked almost savage and lord, he looked wonderful.
“You.... We.... You shouldn't be in here, my lord.”
He didn't speak, just advanced, his eyes running over her face and down her body. Lilly could feel each place they landed. Heat seemed to be spreading through her with speed.
“You should leave, Devon.”
“I know,” he said, dropping to his knees before her.
“Wh-what are you doing?” Lilly whispered, and then she shuddered as he ran the tip of his finger from her shoulder to her fingers.
“Touching you,” he said, his eyes holding hers as his hand moved back up her arm and onto her chest. “Looking at you like this drives every rational thought from my head.”
“This is wrong. We shouldn't—” Lilly moaned as he reached her breasts.
“I will leave if you ask me to, Lilly.”
She couldn't; the words would not form in her throat.
“Are you finished eating?”
With her lip trapped between her teeth, Lilly could only nod.
“Excellent,” Dev said, rolling up the sleeves of his robe. He slipped his hands into the water beneath her. Lifting her out, he reached for the drying cloth.
Lilly felt color heat her cheeks as he held the cloth at his side and simply looked at her. “Please, Dev, I—”
“I have dreamt of you every night since that first kiss we shared, yet nothing could compare to this. You are perfection, every lush inch formed to drive me wild. Let me love you, Lilly.”
Lilly didn't speak; instead, she climbed to her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Kiss me, Devon.”
Their lips met in a fevered joining. When one kiss finished, another started; they drank from each other. He ran his hands over Lilly's spine, the large palms mapping her body, then cupped her bottom, urging her closer.
<
br /> He lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bed. She reached for him as he set her on the edge. Lilly's fingers shook as she released the tie at his waist and slid the robe from his body.
Lord, he was magnificent, the muscles on his shoulders, the strength of his forearms, the ridged planes of his stomach… what lay beneath. The jut of his arousal stood proud between braced thighs, and Lilly knew what would follow, yet she felt no fear. With one hand she traced the length of his broad chest, twirling her fingers in the sprinkling of hair and then moving lower to run her hand over his ribs. Her fingers tingled from the contact, the sensations traveling through her body.
“Your touch is beyond pleasure,” he rasped, closing his eyes as she moved lower.
“To touch freely….” Lilly closed her eyes briefly. “It has long been a dream of mine. To feel another's heat. The texture of skin, the feel of hair, the curve of a cheek.”
“I am yours to feel, Lilly, my love. Whenever you wish it.”
“Only you,” she whispered, pressing her lips to his chest. “Anyone else causes me pain, but not you.”
She found a scar beneath his belly button and leaning forward she placed her lips on the small line and was rewarded with another groan, his hand fisting in her hair.
“H-how did you get this?”
His eyes were brighter than any jewel; the green depths ablaze with sensual heat. “Cam stabbed me with his toy sword,” he said, tugging her hair and urging her upright. He once again joined their lips and Lilly could only feel. He kissed her neck and shoulders, each touch of his mouth an exquisite caress, and then licked his way down the slope of one breast and took her nipple. Lilly cried out her pleasure. He feasted on her as she writhed against him, heat pooling deep in her loins as he slowly heightened her pleasure.
“It is almost too much,” she whispered as sensations caught and held her.
“We can never hurt each other, Lilly. Let me touch you, let me show you what is between us.”
“It scares me how much I feel when you touch me,” Lilly said honestly.
“Because you have never been close with another person before?” He looked into her eyes.
Lilly nodded. “The emotion is so strong, Dev. I don't understand these feelings between us.”
“I feel no different, and given time you will understand what they mean as I do.”
Before Lilly could ask what he meant, he lowered his head to kiss her once more.
Searing heat built inside her as his hands traveled to her waist, and then lower. He touched the soft hair and then eased a finger between her thighs.
“Oh my,” Lilly whispered as she shuddered at the wonderful sensation.
“Just feel, love,” he urged, leaning forward to place his mouth on her breast. He slowly stroked her as he laved her breasts with kisses.
“The sensations, Dev.”
“Let go, Lilly.”
She did, her body arching back as she felt the powerful release consume her.
He eased her back onto the bed.
“Open for me, Lilly, let me make you mine.”
Lilly had never wanted anything more than to be possessed by Devonshire Sinclair. She let her legs fall open and felt him slowly enter her.
“Wrap your legs around my waist.”
His jaw was clenched and sweat glistened on his body. He looked like a fierce warrior. Her warrior, Lilly thought, and then she could think no more.
“Kiss me, Dev,” she whispered at the bite of pain as he sank deep inside her.
“You are mine now,” he breathed against her lips.
“Yes, and you are mine.”
Slowly withdrawing, he re-entered, and while there was pain, there was also pleasure, and then she felt it building again. That wave of pleasure she’d ridden just moments before. He was gentle, easing in and out of her slowly, the effort to hold back showing in his body.
“Let go, Dev,” Lilly whispered, and he thrust into her until they both found their release.
He lay beside her, breathless.
“T-Toby?” she whispered.
“Is healed,” he said, yawning as he moved them to lie on the pillows. Lilly kissed his chest and closed her eyes as he pulled up the blankets and in seconds she was slumbering, as was Devon.
Lilly woke to darkness. The fire was out, yet she felt no fear because beneath her cheek beat the heart of the man she now understood she loved. She felt no need to hurry as she usually did upon waking—in fact, her body felt the stirrings of need as he stretched beneath her. Last night had been a revelation to Lilly. Previously she had believed men used women to meet their own needs, and that the women gained nothing from the union, but now she knew better. His fingers skimmed her shoulder, and she felt like purring. To wake every day like this would be heaven.
“Do you want me to light a candle, Lilly?”
“No, I'm not afraid when I'm with you.”
His hands lifted her high for a slow lingering kiss, and then lowered her down beside him. He turned on his side to look at her.
“If you stay on top of me like that I will want you again and it will be too soon, love,” he said, answering her unspoken question. “We also need to talk, Lilly, and I need you to hear me out before you ask questions.”
“All right.”
Needing to touch him, Lilly placed her palm on his chest. He covered it with his own, twining their fingers and then lifting hers to his lips.
“Do you feel well this morning; any niggles of pain from your adventures yesterday?”
“I am well, Devon. Should we check on Toby?”
“He has someone sitting with him until we rise.”
They lay in silence for a while, and then he began to speak.
“My family is different.” He laughed as she snorted. “In more ways than one,” he added. “They have special senses like you.”
“I don't understand?”
“I need to tell you the entire story, Lilly, so bear with me.”
“All right.”
“Supposedly, hundreds of years ago one of our ancestors saved the Duke of Raven from certain death. It is believed by the Sinclairs that our gift was the result of this event.”
“By gift, you mean the special senses?” Lilly grappled to understand.
“Yes. The Sinclairs were given the job of protecting the Ravens for future generations, and it is also said that we were given our title as a gift by King Edward III in 1335 for our protection of the Ravens. Our land sits beneath Raven castle.”
“And have they... Sinclairs, I mean. Have they saved Ravens?”
“Yes, many of them. Both Eden and I saved James, and then I you.”
“Tell me of these senses you speak of?”
“I have the gift of sight, Cam has the heightened sense of smell, Essie taste, and Eden hearing. My younger siblings also have them.”
“It is almost beyond belief and yet I have to believe it, don't I, because I saved Toby. How is that possible, as I am not a Sinclair?”
Lilly closed her eyes as Devon traced the line of her brow.
“You are, actually. Someone from your family line, hundreds of years ago, was saved by a Sinclair. They had a liaison, and the child was raised a Raven.”
“If I read this tale I would not believe it,” Lilly whispered. “The fact that it is true is hard to grasp.”
“I know, but you will in time.”
“But I am not a true Raven either.”
“You carry their blood, Lilly. You are a Raven.”
“When did you find out I was James's cousin?” Lilly whispered.
“The day I saved you outside the Watch House.”
“And you were unhappy about what you learned, weren't you, Dev?”
“I was not unhappy about saving you, my love.”
Lilly accepted the kiss he brushed over her lips.
“You have to understand that my family has lived with a secret for many years, and supposedly we are what we are because of the Ravens,
and yes, it came as a shock to know that the woman who unsettled me was one of them, but only because I did not see it coming.”
“I can see that would be unsettling,” Lilly conceded. It was certainly a great deal to take in, and had she learned of it even yesterday, she would have doubted his words, but after healing Toby, she did not.
“And you believe I have the heightened sense of touch?”
His hand traced her cheek, then moved to her neck. Lilly closed her eyes, enjoying the sensation.
“Yes. You healed Toby, love. We both saw it and I felt it through your hands.”
“It just seems so... so amazing and yet we are here in this room talking about it as if it were a common occurrence.”
“But it is for me, Lilly. I have lived with it since birth.”
“Tell me of your gift. What do you see?” Lilly questioned, intrigued.
“Everyone has a color. Cam is orange, Essie is pink, and Eden and James are blue. If you want to continue this conversation, madam, then stop moving.”
She hadn't realized she was wriggling closer to his body, eager to feel him against her. Lilly stilled at his harsh tone and then she felt it, the tension in his body and the hardness against her thigh. She had done that to him. Her, Lilliana Braithwaite. The knowledge was heady indeed, considering she had never produced so much as a smile in other men.
“These colors, what do they mean?” Lilly said. “Does it matter if a blue person is married to a green person, for example?”
“Ah, no.”
Lilly had the feeling he was reluctant to continue with the discussion.
“Devon?”
“Yes. It is my belief that a marriage is stronger if the couple has the same color. I have not done extensive studies to that end, but the few I have seen seem to be happier.”
Lilly touched his jaw, making him look at her. The green of his eyes was bright.
“What color are you?” she whispered, her breath brushing his lips.
“Green.”