Haunted Hearts

17

"I know what it sounds like—" Elphi snapped her mouth closed and shook her head. Her throat convulsed on a swallow, and she whispered, "But I would have done it regardless because I... I think I need you, Rufus... as much as you might need me."

She had no idea.

Rufus worried for a split second that he'd uttered the thought aloud and then realized within the next heartbeat that it didn't matter.

Because there in Kernwith Hold's burnt medieval corridor, he hauled Elphi into his arms and drank from her lips as though he'd been dying of thirst in a desert for the past decade, and she was the oasis created just for him.

The contact branded her forever on his heart and exhilarated his soul.

His right hand trembled as it cradled her jaw, then moved to cup the back of her head, holding her in place as his mouth settled more possessively atop hers.

He didn't care that they were covered in soot, cobwebs, and who knew what else, or that Bradford, Percy, and Fitz stood witness among the other ghosts.

All that mattered was that every primal instinct demanded he kiss her or perish.

When he deepened the kiss, Elphi curled her arms around his waist and clung to him as passion erupted between them with such blinding speed that Rufus began shaking with need. His mouth slanted over hers again and again.

Finally, when he realized that with every passing second, he was perilously close to seeking out the nearest bed, regardless of its ruined condition or any promises made, Rufus forced himself to stop.

Even though doing so went against every male fiber in his being.

Elphi stared at him with confused passion-glazed eyes, her lips swollen and glistening, and Rufus desperately wanted to kiss her again.

"TREADWAY," Lord Waltham shouted, his voice ricocheting up the stone staircase. A series of hurried footsteps soon joined the last of the reverberations.

Thankful for the interruption, even as he cursed Lord Waltham's timing, Rufus swooped in and delivered one last frantic kiss to Elphi's lips, then another when it proved insufficient to quell his renewed thirst for her, before taking a cautious step away.

"LORD AND LADY TREADWAY!" Lord Waltham shouted again, his voice shaking with panic as he, Mr. Lane, and five footmen reached the top of the staircase, gasping for breath.

"Oh, thank the heavens, you're both safe," he panted, pressing a hand to his heaving chest. "We heard a tremendous crash and feared there'd been another—" He noticed their disheveled appearance, and then his gaze dropped to the charred debris on the floor and paled.

"We're unharmed," Rufus rushed to call out as he helped Elphi maneuver over the rafters and then hurried to join the two men by the stairs. "A little startled perhaps, but none the worse for wear, and I think I—"

"It's too much."

"My Lord?" Rufus said, unable to hide his confusion.

Lord Waltham shook his head and settled a hand on Rufus's dust-covered left shoulder as he stared at him, stricken. "I was a fool to believe things could go back to how they were before."

Rufus frowned, "Lord Waltham, if you'll only let me explain—"

"There's too much death trapped in these walls, Treadway. If I couldn't see it before, then I do now. Don't you understand? It was a mistake bringing you here and putting you in danger. Kernwith Hold must be torn down." He heaved a weary sigh that deflated his entire body and nodded.