Her large black eyes flashed with sudden anger at the suggestion. “That’s beneath you, Brice,” she pointed out softly.
“Francesca, please. Don’t do this.” Brice circled her waist with his arm, but as he drew her close to his body he was very much aware he had crossed some line.
At once she was uncomfortable, stiff. She could smell his cologne and though it was expensive, it made her feel slightly nauseated. It was strange, she had always rather liked his cologne, yet now she thought only of the way Gabriel smelled, his musky, male scent. Was that part of the ritual, the binding? Did it make it impossible for her to touch another man? Was that the secret the men of their race held over the women? She shoved an impatient hand through her hair, found her fingers were trembling. Maybe there was a way to undo what the ritual words had wrought. After all, she had done the impossible: she had found a way to walk among humans in the noonday sun. Gabriel might have reversed her accomplishment, but that didn’t negate the fact that she had done what no other Carpathian ever had.
“I’m not doing anything, Brice. I don’t know what to do, so I’m not doing a single thing. I’m not asking you to put your life on hold or asking you to wait. I’ve always told you to find a sweet girl and settle down.” Francesca brushed her hair away, a nervous gesture she rarely made.
“I love you, Francesca,” Brice said unhappily. “I’m not about to run out and find another woman. You’re the one I want. I can’t say I like the idea of a former husband staying at your house, but I don’t want you shutting me out because you think I can’t handle it.”
Francesca shook her head. “I can’t handle it, Brice. You have no idea how confused I feel. I’d rather not talk about it any more right now. What if I just look at this patient for you?”
Brice caught at her arm and slowed his pace to prevent her from entering the hospital. “Do you love him?”
Francesca let out her breath slowly, wanting to be entirely truthful. “How could I when I haven’t seen him for so long? I don’t know him. I haven’t let myself know him; I don’t want to know him right now. I can tell you I think he’s courageous and I admire him as I’ve never admired anyone else in my life. And he deserves to have a good life. I just don’t necessarily want to be part of it.”
Brice swore silently to himself. “You don’t owe him anything. I don’t care if he was your husband. You sound as though you think you owe him, but you owe him absolutely nothing. I don’t care if he was a secret agent and saved the world. He can’t just come back here and decide he wants you again.”
Gabriel
had
saved the world, probably more than once. And with a powerful vampire loose in the city, he would once again protect humans at great risk to his own life. He had given up his chance at happiness, had given up family, emotions and colors. He had done more than risk his life, he had risked his very soul to keep mortals and immortals alike safe. He had no real existence; even his own kind feared his power. He was completely alone.
Gabriel.
Her heart ached for him as much as her mind rebelled against his hold over her.
“Gabriel is different, Brice. I can’t explain him to you. I’ve had a difficult evening and I’m asking you to drop the subject for a while. I can’t give you the answer you want to hear and if you push me, I would have to say no, there’s no hope for us and just forget it.” She rubbed at her throbbing temples. “What about this patient of yours? Do you want help or not?”
Brice shook his head, trying to hide his frustration. “All right, Francesca, have it your way. We’ll shelve it for now, but I wish you’d throw him out or take him to one of those shelters you’re always funding. One of them ought to have a bed for him.”
Francesca knew very well Gabriel was probably quite wealthy. No matter how long he had been sleeping beneath the earth, he would have a stash of gold or something of equal value to sustain him. Those in his line would keep his properties intact for him. If he had none, all Carpathians would contribute significant amounts to ease his way back into society. It was their way to aid one another at all times when there was need. In Carpathian society, wealth meant nothing. It was to be shared as a means of continuing their kind, of keeping them a secret. Gabriel had not yet had time to collect what was rightfully his, but he would. In any case, Francesca could do no other than live by the code of her people and share what was hers with him.
“I have asked him to find his own place as soon as he gets his bearings, but I will not force him to leave my home. Now tell me about your patient or I’m leaving.” She meant it too. If Brice pushed her any harder she was just going to walk away and not come back for a very long time.
He recognized the finality in her voice. “She’s fourteen years old, and looks as if she’s been in a train wreck. X rays show a multitude of broken bones, some set by physicians and some knitted crookedly on their own. She’s practically comatose. She looks at me, but won’t say a word. I can’t even tell whether she actually hears me. She’s in bad shape. She has some wicked-looking scars on her back and some particularly bad ones on her hands and arms as if she fought back many times. She looks as if she’s been battered repeatedly. Her father brought her in, a brute of a man, nasty, doesn’t say much. No other relatives. Cops say he’s a career criminal but no history of child abuse. We can’t prove the father’s a sadistic abuser without the child’s account, and she can’t talk to us. He wants to take her home, says she’s retarded, but I don’t think so.”
Francesca felt her heart turn over. She hated this kind of thing, had fought for centuries to establish safe havens for women and children, yet there were never enough. Fourteen years old. Why would a father torture and abuse his own child while her species fought so hard to preserve their children? Carpathian males always protected women and children above their own lives. It just didn’t make any sense and her heart bled for the poor teenager with no one to protect her from the very person who should have loved her the most. “Was there sexual abuse?”
Brice nodded. “Absolutely there was. This child has been so abused it’s sickening.”
“You have need of my aid, honey?”
Gabriel’s beautiful voice brushed gently at the walls of her mind.
“Show her to me, Brice,” she instructed softly.
“A child has been abused. I am going to see her now. Brice said they suspect the father.”
Withoutreally thinking about it, she sent him all of the information Brice had given to her.
“I will be fine.”
“
I expect you to call should there be need.”
Alongwith the soft command she was immediately flooded with warmth and comfort, strong arms to anchor her as she faced another emotional battering.
Chapter Four
Brice pushed open the door to the young woman’s room and stepped back to allow Francesca entry. Fortunately the girl’s father was not present. The man was a bully and Brice was afraid of him. He crossed the room, smiling gently at the young woman huddled on the bed. She hadn’t looked up or indicated in any way that she noticed their entry.
“Skyler, I’d like you to meet a friend of mine. I know you can hear me, Skyler. This is Francesca. She’s an extraordinary woman. You don’t have to be afraid of her.”
Francesca watched Brice, noticed how gentle his movements has become around the teenager. That was one of the things that drew her to Brice. The way he was with children, with those who were hurt and wounded. He cared. It couldn’t have anything to do with money, she was certain of that. Brice really wanted to make things right, wanted to help these little lost souls. Her heart warmed and she smiled at him as she glided forward to seat herself in the chair Brice had placed right beside the bed.