Olivia seemed so sincere. That was the pity of it, Betty thought. She actually believed that she was becoming Jade. "Perhaps all you need is a good night's sleep."
"Betty, have you noticed-have… have I been absent from Bridal Veil for long periods of time?"
"Not that I am aware of."
Olivia buried her face in her trembling hands. "More and more I am becoming Jade St. Clair. I believe Olivia Heartford will soon cease to exist."
"And / believe we should turn around right now and take you to a doctor. You're scaring me."
"And tell the doctor what-that I am losing my mind? I think not. Besides, a doctor wouldn't be able to help me."
"What can I do to help you, Olivia?"
"Nothing. But thank you for not calling me a lunatic."
"I admit," Betty said, gripping the steering wheel until her knuckles whitened, "that ever since your arrival I have felt something was wrong. Although I can't explain what it is, I do know it's unnatural."
"Sometimes I'm frightened, and other times I feel more alive than I've ever felt in my life," Olivia said softly.
"Perhaps you should return to Boston," Betty suggested, thinking that everything might return to normal when Olivia left.
"Whether I go or stay won't make any difference-I know that now because I have no control over what's happening to me."
Betty pulled into the driveway and switched off the ignition. Then she turned to Olivia, her eyes filled with sympathy. "You must be careful. Remember that Jade St. Clair died tragically."
That night, dark nightmares stalked Olivia. All through the early hours of a restless night, vague sketches of memory were beating against her mind like flashes of lightning, striking and then disappearing. Her mind was a vast wasteland-no memory, no thoughts, no love or hate-nothing.
Cold, clammy hands reached out to her and baleful eyes burned into hers.
"Jade, my dear, I have been wanting to speak to you for some time. I am glad you accepted my invitation for tea."
The young girl blinked her green eyes. After a moment, she looked into Felicity Dunois's pale gray eyes, which seemed like those of a statue-blank, cold, dead of feeling. Madame Dunois was a thin woman, almost too thin. Her cheeks were sunken, her small, pinched mouth was held in a spiteful pose, and her breath was sour, causing Jade to move back in her chair.
"You said you had a reason for asking me here. I cannot remain long, because I am on my way to Charlene Brev-elle's."
Harsh laughter grated on Jade's ears. "You are just like your mother, cutting right to the point. But, very well, I shan't waste your time or mine. How would you like to marry my son, Tyrone?"
Jade had just taken a sip of tea and choked. It took her a moment to catch her breath. Felicity Dunois's audacity angered her.
"Madame, Tyrone is a dear friend to me and I hold him in high regard. However, I shall never marry him, nor would he ask me. His feelings for me are not what a man should have for the woman he would marry."
The air was suddenly thick with evil; Jade could feel the malice, and it was directed at her.
"You are mistaken. Tyrone loves you a great deal and he would make an admirable husband." Felicity measured her words. "I know you think Raige Belmanoir will ask you to marry him, but he will take what he wants from you and then replace you with another."
Jade was too shocked and angry to reply to the woman's vicious assessment of Raige's character.
"Well," Felicity said at last, taking Jade's silence for consideration of her proposal, "do you make my son a happy man or condemn him to a life of loneliness?"
Jade came to her feet, her anger overcoming the good manners her mother had instilled in her. "Tyrone cannot know that you have asked me here to propose marriage for him. He would certainly disapprove of your boldness, as will my mother and father." She reached down for her riding gloves, which had fallen to the floor, and clutched them tightly in her hands. "I will wish you a good day, madame."
Felicity laughed, undaunted by Jade's resistance. "The young are often so foolish. You will soon see that I am right."
Jade hurried out of the room and through the front door. A swirling mist blocked out the sun just as she was assisted into her saddle by the Dunois's groom. She urged her horse forward, knowing she had to get away.
Jade had not realized where she was going until she found herself by the stream that ran through Meadow Brook. Sliding to the ground, she leaned her head against the oak tree, wishing she could stop shaking.
At that moment, she felt comforting arms go about her and she was held in a strong embrace.
"I have been waiting for you," Raige whispered against her cheek. "Time has no meaning when you are not with me. I need you, Jade. Say you will be mine." His passionate glance burned through her body. "To love a woman as I love you is like a fever in the blood. There is but one cure."
She tried not to think about the conversation she'd just had with Tyrone's mother, but it hung over her like a dark pall. She was in the arms of the man she loved, and nothing else should matter.
Raige gripped her shoulders and held her away from him, studying her intently. In his eyes a sharpness, an intelligence, told her that he was not a man to be easily duped. He knew that something was wrong.
"What has happened to upset you, Jade?"
"It's nothing. Anyway, I don't want to think about it."
"If you are troubled, I want to help you-do you not know that by now?"
She softly touched his face and he closed his eyes. "I don't want anything unpleasant to spoil our time together."
Raige smiled, pressing his lips against a golden curl. "You are becoming a bold little baggage. But I'm glad you came."
"I hoped you would be here," she said, touched by the love shining in his eyes. Madame Dunois was wrong about Raige. Jade knew in her heart that he meant to marry her.
"This morning you were going to tell me the first time you fell in love with me," she said, smiling up at him. "Will you tell me now?"
Amusement danced in his dark eyes. "It happened the year you were thirteen and I was nineteen. Your mother was having a lawn party, and you were playing with several other children, tossing a ball. Someone threw the ball over your head and you ran backward, determined to catch it-you tripped and fell into the fountain."
"I remember that day," she said with irony. "But I can see nothing to love in the half-drowned girl who had to face a crowd of scandalized onlookers."
He tilted her chin upward. "You were like a shimmering mermaid rising to the surface. I tried not to notice how your wet gown clung to your young curves, but discreetly concentrated on your eyes. You stood there haughtily, your hair streaming down your face, your satin slippers ruined and your expression daring anyone to laugh. With your head held high, and your eyes sparkling, you announced to everyone that you had caught the ball. Little did you know that you took my heart with you that day, and you have had it ever since."
How wonderful it was to be loved by the man she had loved for so long. "I can only remember being humiliated because you witnessed my shame."
As he encircled her narrow waist, his touch moved through her body like a sword of flames. His lips were soft as they settled on hers, and she could feel herself going downward with him, soon to lie on the soft grass, while his kisses intensified and her body shook with new, raw emotions.
"What I feel for you is love in its purest form, Jade." His voice deepened with emotion. "I want you in every way a man can want a woman." He laced his fingers through her hair and gazed into her green eyes. "I must not forget how innocent you are. If I wanted to, I could take that innocence-your eyes tell me that. But I honor you too much to take advantage of you." His voice deepened and he laid his cheek against hers. "I shall wait until our wedding night, making the pleasure all the sweeter."