Darkest Dreams Read online

  “What sort of a facility?” Cassie asked.

  “A hospital where they treat people who have illnesses of the mind,” he said gravely.

  “No. Gemini will not go to any asylum.” Cassie reeled on her feet, grabbing Sean’s arm.

  “Hopefully that won’t be necessary,” the doctor replied.

  “It won’t,” said Sean. “Whatever care she needs will be seen to here, no matter who we have to consult or what the cost.”

  “Then I suggest that someone stay with her, talk to her, let her know she’s safe, tell her stories from her childhood. Anything that you can think of to make her feel loved and secure. I’ll check on her one more time and then I’ll be back in the morning.”

  “Thank you, Dr. Luden,” said Sean. After the doctor disappeared into Gemini’s room, Sean caught Cassie’s arm. “We need to talk. Now,” he said.

  Cassie winced and looked toward me. “We have to tell him. He has to know what happened or he can’t help or protect us. He needs to know everything.”

  “Okay,” I whispered.

  “What’s everything?” Sean asked, clearly not liking the sound of that word.

  “Let me close my curtains, and we can talk in my room.” After I shut out the fading sunlight, leaving the room in dim shadows, Cassie entered with a grim-faced Sean close behind.

  Sean still had to hold up his hand to shield his eyes until he adjusted to the light.

  “Are you in pain?” Cassie asked him quietly.

  “I’ll live. Though whether others will is questionable today,” Sean replied curtly, glaring at Cassie.

  She bit her lip.

  “It’s not her fault,” I said. “What happened today began eight years ago, not because we decided to drive to a neighboring estate where supposedly nothing bad has ever happened. You can’t blame her for today any more than you can blame her for Lady Helen, Mary or Flora’s death. The fault rests squarely upon the killer’s shoulders. If Cassie were the type of woman to knit in a rocking chair you would have never met or fallen in love with her. So expecting her to do that now is unreasonable. She would have come to you with our idea to search the Kennedy Mansion for clues, but she knew you would object.”

  Sean narrowed his eyes at me, but clearly seemed to be sifting through my words. “What do you mean, Flora? Are you speaking of Bridget’s sister?”

  “Yes,” Cassie said, her eyes tearing.

  “Let me go back to the beginning,” I said, and started with a description of my unusual “gift”. I told him everything–what I’d gleaned from Rebecca’s mind, what happened to Gemini at the mansion and our gruesome discovery there, the torture device and its similarity to those in Alex’s dungeon and how he might be being framed. I even mentioned my suspicions about Mr. Drayson and Lord Ashton, and questioned why they were so conveniently in a position to sound the alarm about the fire. When I finished, Sean just stared at me.

  After a long silence, wherein it seemed as if my every nightmare was coming true, I stood. “I’ll leave within the hour,” I said, moving to the armoire.

  Sean exploded from the chair. “What the bloody hell would you do that for?” He turned to Cassie. “What’s wrong with your sister?”

  “Andrie thinks you’ll either stone her to death or burn her as a witch.”

  Sean’s jaw dropped.

  “I didn’t say he would do that!” I cried, for it really did make me sound insane.

  “No, but that’s how you feel. You really don’t think that anyone can accept who you are and love you for who you are. I know because I too felt that way once.”

  “My situation it different, Cassie.” I looked at Sean. “How comfortable would you be with a woman in your home, or even a wife, who at any moment could read your most private thoughts, even those fleeting ones that nobody is supposed to have?”

  Sean raked his hands through his hair and paced across the room. “Good God. This is a mess.”

  “Sean Killdaren!” Cassie exclaimed, standing up and looking horrified.

  “What?”

  She shook her head and burst into tears. “You’re not the man I thought you were.”

  “Bloody hell, Cassie. I’m trying to think here. We’ve a murderer who has killed people I cared for, two of whom were in my employ, and came close to killing you, your sisters and my brother. And we don’t know who he is.”

  “Why didn’t you answer Andrie’s question?” Cassie demanded.

  “What question?”

  “About living with someone who could read your thoughts.”

  “If the woman was you, my wife, it wouldn’t be a problem. Even if you didn’t have the presence of mind to read my thoughts all the way to their conclusion, as most of my thoughts end up with you, I’d still love you. Since it’s my sister-in-law, well, we’ll have to work out an arrangement. What I’m worried about is the killer learning about Andromeda’s gift before we catch him. Who else here knows about your ability, Andrie?”

  “Only Gemini and now Bridget. You’re serious,” I said, staring at him.

  “About the killer coming after you? Yes, I’m dead serious.”

  “I’m not talking about that. I mean you’re serious about my reading minds.”

  “Good Lord, woman, of course, I am.”

  I stared at him hard, wanting to march across the room and touch his hand to make sure he told the truth. Could it be possible? Could I be wrong in what people would think? Was Sean just saying what he did for Cassie’s benefit? She did have to prompt his answer. Yet, he’d accepted her dreams. But dreams were different than thoughts.

  “Andrie is right,” Sean said. “You can’t let everyone know about this. God only knows what possesses people and the insanity they get in their heads about those who are different. And until we catch this killer, you can’t tell anyone else. None of you leave the castle, either.” He zeroed his gaze on Cassie. “Are we in agreement with that?”

  She nodded. “I should have invited you to search the Kennedy Mansion with us. Since you were excluding me from even hearing about your conversations, at the time it was more important for me to prove that I wasn’t a nincompoop than to include you.

  “Whatever made you think that I thought you were a nincompoop—NO!” Sean threw his hands up in the air. “I did not just ask that question and use that asinine word! Cassie Killdaren! If you ever question how highly I regard your—”

  “Mind,” I said.

  “Mind,” he repeated, “then you will be a—”

  “Nincompoop,” I said.

  “Idiot,” he said, and glared at me. “See, you didn’t read my mind. I’m going to see the constable just as soon as the sun sets and inform him of what you found at the mansion.” I decided not to remind Sean that I could only read the thoughts of people I was touching.

  “Don’t go alone,” Cassie said.

  “I’ll take Drayson and Aston with me.”

  “How do you know you can trust them?” Cassie asked.

  “I don’t, but I’d rather have them with me than here with you.”

  “You aren’t going to tell the constable about the medieval device, are you?” I had to grip my hands together to keep from touching Sean to see what he really thought. Aphrodite’s ring bit into my skin, surprising me, because I’d forgotten it was there.

  Sean lifted a brow in just the same way Alex did, and my heart thumped. “Wouldn’t that be suppressing important evidence?”

  “Do you think your brother’s the killer?” I asked.

  “No.”

  “Then I see no reason to let the killer get away with implicating Alex, do you?”

  “No,” he said slowly.

  “Tell me something. If you’re so sure Alex isn’t the murderer, then why are you so certain that the Dragon’s Curse exists between you? As far as I can tell you both keep saving each other’s life rather than trying to take it. There’s more circumstantial evidence to implicate him in the death of Helen and Flora than there is to convict him of
trying to kill you,” I reasoned.

  Sean furrowed his brow to a sharp angle. “What is this? The Andrews sisters’ crusade?”

  “Yes,” Cassie and I said in unison.

  He shook his head and looked at Cassie. “I’ll talk to you when I get back.” Then he quit the room.

  Cassie ran over and gave me a big hug. “You see, Andrie, people won’t ostracize you for your gift. I’m sure that Alex will be just as understanding as Sean.” In Cassie’s mind, Sean’s acceptance of my gift had ascended him from a stubborn, idiotic male to the most wonderful man in the world. I wondered how long it would take Sean to fall off his pedestal again.

  “I’ll think about it,” I said as I patted her back and forced a smile.

  “You go see Alex for a while, and I’m going to go hold Gemini and tell her everything that I can remember from the time she was born.”

  We exited my room and came to an abrupt stop. Stuart had Bridget up against the corridor wall, kissing her so passionately that neither of them was aware of anything but each other. We tiptoed right by them and disappeared into Alex and Gemini’s rooms. I didn’t think Bridget was going to find it necessary to sneak into Stuart’s bed naked. In fact, she was going to be hard put to avoid it.

  I went directly to the bed, where the curtains had been pulled shut, most likely to cut down the light so Alex could rest. I gently parted one silk panel. Soot dotted his face, which appeared reddened by the sun; he smelled of smoke, and blood crusted his neck. He mumbled restlessly and seemed to be uncomfortable and in pain. I knew I had to look and smell just as badly. Though, far from exactly proper, I couldn’t let him stay in that state, and I didn’t want to call anyone to attend to him, nor have to leave as they did. The doctor hadn’t used all the warm water and cloths and soap that had been sent up to treat Alex’s wound, so I gathered them. Placing the supplies on the bedside table, I set to work, gently cleaning the chiseled lines of his face, enjoying the sensual fullness of his mouth and the rough brush of his shadowed jaw. From what I could see of his thoughts, they were a whirling wind of ideas and emotions moving so swiftly that I couldn’t discern a single concept from the storm.

  Unbuttoning his shirt, I tugged the garment down his shoulders and slipped his arms free before sliding it out from under him. By the time I’d accomplished that I felt flushed and short of breath to the point that my lungs and throat, already raw from the smoke, hurt. I rested a moment by sitting on the side of the bed and leaning over to lay my hand on his chest. The strong, steady beat of his heart thrummed as the sweetest music that I could ever hear besides the rumble of his voice. I brushed my lips against him, pressing a small kiss on his chest, and continued bathing him, drinking in the hard, muscled contours of his body, so strong and yet so very vulnerable.

  To think that he’d almost died today twisted everything inside me and turned it upside down. I’d thought that I loved him before, but now I knew without a doubt that I loved him with my whole heart and was so very glad that I would have a few treasured memories of his making love to me to warm my heart forever.

  After cleaning his torso as best I could, I moved to his pants. Someone had already removed his shoes and socks. The buttons slipped free with a few deft movements. I tugged his pants open and met immediately with his sex. He didn’t have drawers on, and now that I gave it some thought, I couldn’t remember him ever wearing drawers. Heavens, the Killdaren men never did anything according to society’s rules. Without his help, it was no easy task to get his pants down. I finally had to climb onto the bed and sit between his legs in order to pull down both sides of his pants at the same time. I’d made it halfway down his hips when, all of a sudden, his sex sprang to attention, pointing right at me. I sat up straight and looked at him. “Thank God you’re alive,” I said.

  He lifted a brow. “People usually check for a pulse to determine that, but this is kind of nice.”

  “I’m bathing you, you dolt,” I said, tears of relief and humor blurring my vision. “I think you could be dead and that thing would still work.”

  “That thing?”

  “Well, what do you call it?”

  “I call a penis a penis and a spade a spade, though some men are compelled to name their sex. I’m not.”

  “What do they call it?”

  “John Thomas. Jack. Roger. You and I can get into the damnedest conversations. I don’t care what you call it at the moment. Where in the hell am I, Andromeda? What in the hell are you doing? Why in the hell do you look so bloody awful and why does my head feel like it’s been shipwrecked?”

  “You don’t remember?”

  “Remember what?”

  Good Lord. “Do you remember anything about today? Your return from Penzance? Our, uh, delayed picnic?”

  He shut his eyes and pressed his palm to his head. “The jade figure,” he said softly. “You fell in the ocean… Holy hell…the Kennedy mansion!” He attempted to sit up, but groaned in pain and fell back upon the bed. Even Roger went flat, or whatever it was called.

  “You have to take it easy. You have a concussion.” I slid the sheet over him, deciding I’d continue his bath after we talked. Climbing off the bed, I sat in the chair pulled up to the side of the bed. I wet my lips, hoping to ease the dryness of my mouth. “Why did you come to the mansion, Alex?”

  “Why? What was I supposed to do? You go home, having nearly drowned, and then thirty minutes later I see you, your sisters and Bridget go breezing past Dragon’s Cove in a buggy when I’m returning to speak to you again. I wondered what was so important that you didn’t even rest after such a harrowing experience. I followed you. Found the driver knocked out and went running inside the mansion, looking for you, and someone coshed me from behind. Now tell me what in God’s name were you doing?”

  “Looking for clues as to who killed Lady Helen.”

  “Jesus, Andromeda.” He groaned. “I told you to stay out of the investigation. What happened? I don’t remember anything after falling to the ground.”

  “Whoever knocked you over the head set the place on fire. To make a long story short, Sean dragged you out of the burning mansion. You’re at Killdaren’s Castle, where he insisted you come. You have to be watched closely for the next day to make sure there aren’t any ill effects from your concussion.”

  “Was anyone else hurt? How did you get out?”

  I told him how we’d escaped through the window.

  “You’re not telling me everything. You have soot on your face. You smell like smoke, and your skin looks as if you’ve spent hours in the sun unprotected.”

  “When I realized you were in there, Bridget and I went in to find you. We did try and drag you out at first, but we weren’t being very successful.”

  “You both risked your lives to save me? Were you hurt?” His features were set to a grim line.

  “No, everyone is fine. Well, except Gemini. She became so frightened that she fainted and has yet to recover.” Then I told him about the blood on the bed and the picture of Bridget’s mother and brother that her sister, Flora, had with her when she left with a mysterious man named Jack, and how she hadn’t been heard from since. “We’re sure she was murdered there.”

  “Will this never end? Good God.” He sat up again, this time forcing himself to stay upright even though his body shuddered from the pain the movement caused. “The killer was there. He set the fire.”

  “Yes, did you see who hit you? Do you remember anything at all?”

  “No. Where’s Sean?”

  “He’s gone to see the constable.”

  “I want to talk to him when he gets back.”

  “Under one condition: You lay back and rest until then and let me finish cleaning you up.”

  Alex fell back with a groan. “That wouldn’t be conducive to rest, but it might make my head feel better if we went with position number two.”

  “You’re not making any sense.”

  “Have you already forgotten the jade figurine, my dear? The on
e with the woman naked and on top, satisfying herself by riding the man? I want to fill my hands with your breasts, and I want to feel you slide me inside you.”

  “Your brain has definitely been addled. The doctor put six stitches in your scalp, and I can promise you that you don’t want him to do it again.”

  “Not a problem. We’ll go very slow. I brought the protection with me when we left for the picnic. It’s still in my pocket. I had planned to seduce you on the beach.”

  “Well, it’s a good thing you didn’t. It was bad enough to have Sir Warwick and Constable Poole find us like they did. I can’t imagine how embarrassing it would have been to…” I frowned. “What do you mean by protection?”

  “A sheath that keeps my seed from spilling into you. You didn’t even know I’d put one on and used it when you were propped so prettily on the pillows. That’s what I went to Penzance to purchase in such a hurry. I bought three hundred of them, cleaned the apothecary out.”

  “Three hundred! Good Lord!” I had to fan my face to keep my cheeks from catching fire.

  “Well, we needed enough for at least a month.”

  “That would be…”

  “Ten times a day. I decided every hour was a bit too much. We do need to eat; speaking of which, you have the most delicious sex. Golden and plump and rosy, a flower that opens for me with the sweetest nectar imaginable. Come here, Andromeda.”

  My whole body tingled and burned. “Alex! Will you be serious?”

  “I am serious. Don’t you want to make me feel better?”

  “You’re insane.”

  “No, but I will be if you don’t come here. You make me that way.”

  “Never mind. I think we’ll finish your bath when you’re thinking more clearly.”

  A knock sounded on the door. “Come in,” I said.

  The earl entered the room. “Alex, I need to speak with you,” said his father.

  “I’m not interested in speaking to you,” Alex replied.

  “Well, that’s too bad, because you’re going to hear what I have to say no matter what.”

  I stood. “I’ll leave you two alone.”