Wise enough-experienced enough-in the ways of women to understand she felt she should, and that that in no way diminished her appreciation of his rescue, Gerrard kept his lips manfully shut and lapped up every ounce of her solicitous care.
By the time the boat arrived and they rowed around to the cove, and he rode slowly back to the house with Jacqueline, Matthew and Richards walking alongside, his feet had healed enough to hobble up the steps, across the porch and onto the blessedly cool tiles of the hall.
There, the ladies were waiting, to exclaim over them, roundly condemn Jordan and Eleanor, comment quietly, with real feeling, over the terrible legacy left to the elder Frithams, and to impart good news.
Millicent had awoken and was entirely herself, in full possession of her wits. In the same way burnt feathers brought some out of a faint, the smoke from the fires had revived her.
Jacqueline firmly cited his injuries as an excuse to cut the ladies’ time short; she determinedly bore him upstairs.
At his suggestion, they looked in on Millicent, and found Sir Godfrey sitting beside the bed holding Millicent’s hand.
Seeing them, Millicent quickly retrieved it, but her cheeks were pink, indeed, glowing; there seemed no doubt of her return to health.
“I stayed here,” Sir Godfrey told them. “There are some things it’s better for me not to see, if you take my meaning.”
Gerrard did. But as it had transpired, he hadn’t laid a finger on Jordan Fritham. Jordan had sowed the seeds of his own destruction, and reaped the bitter harvest.
Leaving Millicent and Sir Godfrey to learn the full story from the crowd milling downstairs, Jacqueline insisted Gerrard let her tend his wounds.
His room was wrecked; she took him to hers.
They didn’t return downstairs that evening. Their own company was all they desired. All they needed.
But need they did.
Needed to reassure, to celebrate, to simply live.
To love. To take joy in each other, in what they’d found, to reaffirm all that had grown, so strong and vital, between them.
Jacqueline knew what he’d risked for her-not just his life but his ability to live. He was a painter; painting was his soul, yet he’d climbed Cyclops knowing that one too-deep cut, one slice in the wrong place, could have stopped him from gripping a brush or pencil again.
Her tears fell as she bathed the angry wounds, too choked to give voice to the emotions buffeting her; he leaned close, found her lips and gently kissed her, assured her his fingers still worked, that he could close them around hers.
She raised her head, returned the kiss-simply accepted. There was nothing else she could do.
Gerrard lay back and let her tend his cut hands, his lacerated feet. Let her tend to him as she wished. Let her restore him body and soul, let her lavish devotion, worship and love upon him.
Later, he returned the gift in full measure, let the power rise, take them and bind them forever.
In the depths of the night, he asked, and was granted his reward. For being her champion, for freeing her to live, all he asked for was her life, and she pledged it gladly. Joyously.
What will be will be.
As always, Timms was right.
EPILOGUE
April 1832 The Grange, Derbyshire
Summer waned, the year turned, and spring came again. Gerrard sat on the shaded terrace overlooking his gardens, and watched Jacqueline, his wife, stroll amid the flowers. She stopped here and there, admiring this bloom, then that. In his eyes, none could match her beauty.
He wasn’t the only one who thought so. Her portrait, shown at his hugely successful winter exhibition, had garnered not just praise, but awe. He’d been credited with setting a new standard for portraiture; while the accolades had been sweet, the secret smiles they’d shared had been his nectar.
The true meaning of the portrait, the reason it had been painted, had been shared with few. There’d been no need, in the end, to make a point of it.
Jordan was dead, Eleanor locked away. Lord and Lady Fritham had disappeared, too shattered to remain in the area that had for so long welcomed them. Months later, Barnaby had traced them to a village outside Hull; they were settling in there. All sincerely pitied them and wished them well; they had known nothing of their offsprings’ aspirations, let alone their perversions.
Marcus had emerged from his seclusion to give away both Jacqueline and, a month later, Millicent. Now he knew the truth of the deaths at Hellebore Hall, and all his neighbors did, too, the shadow of darkness, of lingering evil, had lifted from him, and from the house and the gardens, too. That little corner of Cornwall was emerging into sunshine once more.
There’d been considerable discussion over what to do about the Garden of Night. Jacqueline and their children would ultimately inherit the estate; she loved it and most of the gardens, but couldn’t bear to go into the Garden of Night. Quite aside from having seen her dead mother and then Millicent there, like him, she’d guessed that Jordan and Eleanor had used the bower for their frequent trysts. Hardly surprising she couldn’t stomach the garden as it was, yet it was an integral part of the whole.
Driven to slay every last dragon that plagued her, he’d unearthed the original plans for the gardens in the Hall library. He’d shown them to Wilcox, who’d agreed with his suggestions. Over the winter, the garden had been remodeled and replanted; he’d stuck with the original design, but by changing species, the new garden would be a celebration of love in the brightest and best sense, no longer steeped in the darker shades of passion.
Jacqueline’s birthday was in May. She didn’t yet know of the work on the garden; they were all planning it as a surprise gift when he and she traveled down to spend a week with her father.
And Millicent; she and Sir Godfrey had taken up residence at the Hall to keep Marcus company. The household was now relaxed, more easygoing and happy than any could have imagined it might be.
Gerrard watched as Jacqueline stooped to sniff a crimson rose. As she straightened, her hand drifted to her belly, to the slight, very slight mound there. Her face was that of a happy madonna, her expression one of wonder, of joyful anticipation.
The exact opposite of the expression he’d painted in the portrait to free her.
He stared, drank in the sight, his hand reaching for his sketch pad and pencil, as ever by his side.
Without taking his eyes from Jacqueline’s face, he started to sketch.
Poured all he saw into the lines. Let his eyes see, acknowledge, let his fingers faithfully record.
In the months since they’d wed-by ducal command at Somersham Place during the Cynster summer gathering-the connection between them had developed and evolved, until it was more than tangible, until the link was so solid it would, they both knew, withstand any test on the physical plane.
They both counted themselves blessed.
And he’d finally fully understood what Timms had meant.
Love wasn’t a happening one decided on-to indulge or not, to partake or not. To feel or not. When it came, when it struck, the only decision left to make was how to respond-whether you embraced it, took it in, and made it a part of you, or whether you turned your back and let it die.
Love was something humans experienced, not made happen. It wasn’t in anyone’s control.
Beneath his fingers, his sketch came to life. His next portrait, better, more revealing, than any he’d done before.
He already knew its title, what it would show, what he would paint into it.
The Truth About Love.
About the Author
New York Times bestselling author STEPHANIE LAURENS began writing as an escape from the dry world of professional science. Her hobby quickly became a career, and her series about the masterful Cynster cousins has captivated readers, making her one of the romance world’s most beloved and popular authors; she has also introduced the equally unforgettable members of the Bastion Club. She currently lives in a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, with her husband and two daughters.