Page 56 of A Lady of Means
“Moria,” Marcus called, reaching for her with a bloody hand.The sound of her name on his lips sounded differently than it had any other time in the past.Moria placed a palm against the nearby doorway to steady herself at the sight of him, a trail of blood in his wake.
“Sister, we need you, go and get your sewing kit,” Lawrence called over a shoulder as their eldest sibling, Jasper, the heir, laid Marcus on the emptied table in the kitchen.
Moria choked on a sob.“My…sewing kit?”she asked, swallowing the lump in her throat.
“The Marquess was shot,” Jasper explained without meeting her eyes.“We’ve sent for a doctor, but he’s losing so much blood he’ll never make it if we wait.I’ll do my best to remove the bullet, but you’ve the steadier hand with a needle.”
Marcus’ turquoise eyes darted back and forth between the two of them.It was evident her brothers still didn’t know about her and Marcus.That hadn’t been her doing, Marcus had been the one who insisted they wait before telling anyone, which she hadn’t understood before was wrong; but now she did.
She wanted to run to him, to take his hand in hers, to run her fingers through his gold hair…
“Moria!”Lawrence snapped.
When Moria returned with her sewing basket, she was ever so careful not to jostle the table underneath Marcus with her movements.She was more careful with him in that moment than he’d ever been with her, or her heart.
Lawrence supported Marcus’ head as he poured a hip flask of liquor down his throat and then laid him back down on the table.Marcus reached for her hand and pulled her close with the hand of his uninjured side even though it seemed to use all his remaining strength.
“My girl…I’m…sorry,” he breathed, clutching her hand like a tether to life.He’d grabbed her like this before, but she’d been so swept away by his attention solely focused on her, she hadn’t listened to the alarm bells in her head.When both of her brothers looked at Moria in shock, she felt it then.The secret possession he’d made of her, it felt wrong when she saw the way it must look through their eyes.
“Don’t…go,” Marcus bit out, his face paling under the light of the fire in the kitchen hearth.She kissed the white skin of his knuckles just before his eyelids fluttered and he lost consciousness.
She counted the rising and falling of Marcus’ chest and felt his fingers occasionally tighten around hers, his head occasionally lolling to one side.For a few moments, none of the occupants of the room spoke.
“Don’t think we won’t be discussing this later,” Lawrence said as Jasper’s capable and slender fingers dug with instruments procured from God knows where to remove a bullet lodged in the abdomen of their neighbor, Moria’s secret beau.
A small gasp tore through Marcus’s pale, parted lips as though he were regaining consciousness when Jasper held up a bullet.
“He’ll need sewing up now, Moria.”
Was she supposed to sew up the father of her unborn child with the same needle she’d just begun stitching a little linen bonnet?
She couldn’t get enough air.She couldn’t breathe?—
* * *
Hands shook her.Someone was calling her name.
When Moria opened her eyes, she saw who it was.She read the pain and confusion in his face.
“It was only a dream,” Her Captain said, reassuring them both.
“I need to tell you something,” the words leapt out before she could hold them back.
He held up a hand between them.“Wait.Whatever it is, love, it’s yours to keep till you’re ready to share it.And whatever it is, you’re not carrying it alone.Not anymore.”
Moria’s hand toying with the hair at the nape of his neck fell back like she’d been burned.
“You wouldn’t say that,” she shook her head, avoiding his eyes to look out the carriage window.“Not if you knew the truth.”
Devyn ducked his head, searching for her eyes, a large finger tipping up her chin.
“None of that, my girl.I want all of you, for a lifetime.You try me and see if I run.You ought to know by now that I won’t.Whatever you throw at me, I’ll catch it,” he said, dark eyes somehow so gentle and trustworthy, or maybe Moria had made friends with the dark.
Moria didn’t meet his eyes for a moment, couldn’t.She’d been so tempted by this man and the thrill of him, but the innate gentleness and affection of his words, his touch, had deepened whatever was between them.The word for what it was danced on the tip of her tongue, she knew what it was.It meant that she had to give him all the facts.
“What if I told you someone had left a hole inside I was unsure if anyone could fill?Until you.”
His eyes went to the chain she usually wore around her neck.His fingers skated along her collarbone.“It was him,” he said with realization.
