The first time he’d tugged her down they’d been in the gardens. She’d squirmed just a little, enough for him to know she was embarrassed. She tried to push herself back up, claiming she was too heavy for him, that she would hurt him, that together they’d break his wheelchair. He only laughed off her concerns and proceeded to wheel around the garden paths.
Ever since, she’d allowed him to capture her without resisting. In fact, she stayed longer in his embrace each time he did it. He wanted to think she liked being near him just as he did with her. But he ventured her willingness to ride on with him in his wheelchair had more to do with her increasing debility.
He’d attempted to keep a modicum of propriety in his hold in every instance. But even now, his fingers twitched with the need to caress her.
Only the Lord knew how many times he’d tried to get her out of his system. But something about her sent his hormones raging like an adolescent rather than a full-grown man.
He’d been reacting that way ever since she completed her first year of college and had returned to Canterbury to live with Arthur. Before that, Harrison had seen her as nothing more than a child. But that summer, everything changed. She’d turned into a woman—one who dazzled him with just one look, one word, one smile.
Of course, he felt terrible for having such a reaction to her, especially because of the difference in their ages. She was so young and busy with her friends and education, and he was advancing with his career.
As much as he denied the attraction, it only grew with each passing year. By the time she graduated from Columbia, he’d known he wouldn’t ever feel the same way about any other woman as he did about Ellen.
Even so, he made himself date occasionally, never at want for women who longed to be with him. With his title, family history, wealth, and power, he realized he was considered a prized match.
The trouble was, he couldn’t muster any enthusiasm for anyone else, not even when Ellen was halfway around the world having her own adventures.
When she graduated, he considered the possibility of pursuing her. But he’d been embarrassed by the reality of his situation, that with his type of spinal cord injury, he might never be able to share normal marriage intimacies with a wife, and producing a baby would be complicated, if not impossible.
He finally concluded he wasn’t meant to marry Ellen, maybe never meant to marry anyone. Besides, Ellen hadn’t ever shown any interest in him beyond that of a friend. She never seemed ready to settle down, wanted to make a difference in children’s lives, loved working at the Haitian orphanage. He guessed she’d never intended to leave Haiti and probably wouldn’t have, if not for her worsening VHL.
The truth was, he’d lost the slight chance he might have had with her long ago. And now he simply wanted to take care of her and make her happy for as long as she had.
“The day has been really tedious for you.” He attempted but failed to keep the huskiness out of his voice. “Let’s get you up into bed for a rest.”
“I’m okay now.” She raised her head and smiled at him, the kind of smile that turned his already half-melted insides into complete liquid.
“But you’re worn out, I’d say.”
“I wanted to make sure you weren’t angry with me.” Her arms wrapped around his neck, bringing their faces much too close for his own good, especially when she lifted her long lashes in that slow, mesmerizing way she had and then peered at him with her innocent eyes.
“I could never be angry at you.” Never. Didn’t she know that by now?
Drake gave a small cough, one that told him he needed to get on with confessing the truth about how he felt.
“Then you’re not frustrated?” Her fingers at the back of his neck grazed his hair, making him nearly forget her question.
“Only for a second.”
“So, tell me the truth. What are you doing down here?”
Drake turned his back and stuck his arm deep into another recess, leaving Harrison to fend off Ellen’s query by himself. What kind of excuse could he give her that wouldn’t disturb her?
“They’re here!” Drake shoved his arm farther into the hole in the wall.
At the excitement in Drake’s voice, Harrison’s pulse jumped.
“Two of them, my lord.” Drake was stretching into the crevice as far as he could reach.
“Two what?” Ellen sat up.
Harrison shot Drake a warning look, hoping his butler wouldn’t reveal anything more, not until he had time to prepare Ellen.
But Drake was focused entirely on the recess and responded before Harrison could stop him. “There are two ampullae tucked away back in here.”
“Ampullae?” Ellen’s eyes widened.
Harrison stumbled for an answer. “I can explain—”
“You know how I feel about the ampullae.” She pushed off his lap.
He wanted to stop her, but if Drake had genuinely found ampullae, then he and Ellen were headed for a battle—a battle he intended to win.
Drake removed his arm from the recess and beamed as he held up two ancient containers.
The rectangular-shaped flasks tapered to spouts and were flanked on each side by arm-like handles. Even in the dim light, he could see the engraved picture of St. Thomas Becket with a fleur-de-lis pattern decorating the edges.
“Absolutely tremendous.” A chill raced over Harrison. “Original St. Thomas ampullae.”
Drake shook them. “Aye, and they both still contain the holy water.”
“No!” Ellen’s cry echoed in the cavern. “They contain nothing but poison.”
Harrison wheeled toward Drake and took one of the flasks, unable to keep his fingers from wavering. He rubbed the dull metallic container, marveling at the faded but distinct depiction of the saint with one side showing angels flying over Becket and the other showing him being attacked by the knights who’d murdered him.
After all the months of searching, of hiring the antiquarians, of spending countless exhausting hours making phone calls and following leads, this was almost too good to be true.
“You’ve been looking all along, haven’t you?” Ellen hugged her arms to her chest as though to protect herself from his answer.
He wanted to deny her accusation, but what was the point now? “I had to.”
“After it killed Dad and Marian?” Tears glistened in her eyes, magnifying the pain there.
“But that’s just it, love. Marian has to be alive in the past—”
“Please, Harrison. Don’t say anything more. Please.”
“How else would these ampullae appear?”
“Maybe they were here all along, and you missed them the other times you searched.”
“I hired a special archaeologist. You know that.” During the last hours of Marian’s life, he’d scrambled to find an ampulla with the hope of being able to keep Marian from dying. “He had special equipment and detectors. How could he overlook these when Drake found them in only minutes?”
“Seconds, my lord.” Drake cupped the ampulla reverently.
Ellen shook her head and swiped a stray tear from her cheek. “I don’t care how the ampullae got here, the liquid inside is deadly, and we can’t take any chances.”
“You’re already dying.” Harrison’s statement came out much more impassioned than he meant it to.