Page 74 of From the Darkness

She pressed her hands to his back, feeling his strong muscles and solid form under her hands.

Desperately, she clasped him to her. “No! That can’t be right. Not now.” She rushed on, all logic fleeing her brain as she hurried to tell him what she was feeling. “Troy, I love you. I’ve loved you for so long. When you were married, I knew it was wrong—and I tried to tell myself it wasn’t true. But now there’s nothing bad about those feelings. Please, you can’t leave me now.”

“Bree,” he choked out. “I love you, too. I fell in love with you that summer, and then I tried to put you out of my mind because I had a duty to Grace. But you were always there.”

“Oh Troy.” She had longed to hear him say that. Tightening her hold, she cleaved to him with all her strength.

For a moment, he held her just as tightly before easing away so that his eyes could meet hers.

“I don’t just use the tunnels,” he said, his words clear but almost toneless. “I appear and disappear around the estate. I step out of that whirlwind of leaves. I call up storms.”

She dug her fingers into his forearms as she struggled to give them both another explanation. “When you were hit on the head, you developed special powers. Don’t tell me you’re not alive. Don’t tell me you’re not real. I can feel your warm skin. Your solid body. Your mouth on mine.”

As she spoke, she clasped the back of his head and brought his mouth down to hers for a fierce, desperate kiss, pouring all her hopes and fears into it—trying with every cell of her body to deny his devastating words.

He kissed her with the same desperation, yet when he drew back, his eyes were sad.

He stroked his hand gently along the line of her jaw. “I think Helen sent you here because she wanted to punish you.”

“How could that be?” she objected.

“She saw us getting close that summer, and she resented it. She wanted you all to herself. She didn’t want to share you with me. I think she asked you to come here now because she knew I loved you. Maybe in some twisted way she was thinking we’d be together.”

“She . .” Bree’s voice trailed off. She’d been going to defend Helen. But she realized she’d never really known the woman. Helen had paid for her mother’s operation, and she’d been so grateful. Now she could see the gesture differently. Maybe Helen had wanted to tie her to a sick woman so she wouldn’t have a life of her own. It was monstrous to think of her friend’s generosity that way. But once the idea took hold, it was difficult to shake it loose.

Troy was speaking again. “Helen didn’t know what would happen when you came here. But then I started touching you. Holding you. Kissing you. Loving you. All those things made me as real and solid as I’m ever going to be. I wanted that. I wanted to be with you. Wanted to make love with you. But now I think we have to say good-bye.”

“Troy. No. If you love me, you have to stay.” Even as she pleaded with him, she couldn’t deny the faulty logic of her words. Her love was strong. But he didn’t have to stay—not simply because she loved him.

He was speaking again, low and urgently. “Will you take care of Dinah for me? My will made Helen Dinah’s guardian. But I don’t want Helen to get her hands on Dinah—especially since she’s my heir.”

“Oh Lord. You don’t think Helen would harm Dinah.”

“Yeah, I do. But I’ve written a codicil, dated six weeks ago, and put it in the strongbox with my other papers. You’ll find it there. It names you Dinah’s guardian.”

She stared at him trying to take it in. But he rushed on.

“There’s enough evidence in Mrs. Martindale’s private papers for the police to arrest Helen before she sets foot on the grounds. After the storm you’ll find those papers in her dresser drawer.”

It sounded like he was giving her final instructions, and the enormity of what he was saying made her numb.

“But most important, take care of Dinah for me.”

Tears blurred her vision. “I will. Of course, I will. But you’ll be there, too.”

He held her for a few moments longer. “Bree, before you came to Ravencrest, I was only a shadow, hardly there at all. My memories were dim. I didn’t even know who I was. But you called to me. You brought me back to myself. Each kiss, each touch made me more real, more solid. You couldn’t even see me at first. But you changed that. You changed me. That first time I made love to you, that was the only way I could do it. But then you wanted more—and that’s why I was able to give you more. You brought me back—for a little while.”

“No!” she choked out. He was wrong. He had to be wrong. He had always been here. Just as he was now. Except for his memory.

He took her by the shoulders, set her a little away from him. “Don’t make this harder for me. I need you to help me out.”

“Anything!”

“Even with what you call my powers, I can’t be two places at once. I need you to go into the pantry off the kitchen. The main switch for the electricity is there. Flip it off. Then go to the schoolroom. Hold Dinah for me. Make sure she’s not afraid. Do that for me, my love.”

“Yes.”

He pulled her back into his arms, clung with all the physical strength that had gathered within him since she’d arrived at Ravencrest. She was life, love, everything he had dreamed of over the long years of separation when he’d thrown himself into his work because he couldn’t stand his marriage. Now she’d come back to him, but only for a little time.

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