Down one flight of stairs. A turn. Across the broad landing with its blue and red Turkey carpet.
Ahead loomed the polished oak of the grand staircase, winding steeply to the black and white tiles in the hall below.
The same black and white tiles where seventy years ago they’d found Isabella Verney with her neck broken. A woman betrayed by her lover. That lover had paid with a humiliating execution and an unmarked grave.
Miles will betray you, too. You know that.
“He hasn’t betrayed me yet,” she whispered, taking another reluctant step closer to the top of the stairs. Even that much resistance required all her strength. Her feet felt weighted with bricks, but still she couldn’t cease her forward momentum.
He will. He will.
“Calista? Calista, what is it? Did I hurt you?”
As if through a mist, she heard the slap of running feet down the stairs from the upper floor, then rushing toward the landing where she stood. Miles grabbed her arm. After what they’d just done, his touch was heartbreakingly familiar. Something stirred inside her, something beyond the reach of the voice’s allure.
“Calista, speak to me.” Miles’s bewildered concern penetrated her daze. “Are you sleepwalking?”
Feeling the Chinese mandarin’s displeasure, she faced Miles, blinking slowly. It was odd. A strong light shone on him, although she couldn’t discern its source. It was a thousand times brighter than the moonlight.
He looked handsome, ruffled, worried. He’d tugged his breeches on before he chased after her. Her wondering gaze traced his body, as though she saw him for the first time. The powerful, lean torso; the long legs; the elegant bare feet planted on the polished boards of the floor. Even his feet were beautiful.
All of him was beautiful. Too beautiful for her.
Yes, too beautiful for you. You’ve always known that, haven’t you?
Her rational mind shrieked at her that she must question what was happening, assert her wil
l against the forces that ensnared her. But it was easier, almost pleasant to accept the voice’s dictates.
Without responding to Miles’s questions, she faced the stairs, venturing nearer to the void. The eyes hovered ahead of her now. Chips of burning red, glowing hotter and hotter.
“Calista!” She heard the genuine panic in Miles’s voice. What on earth had him so worked up? “You’re too close to the edge. Be careful, darling, it’s dangerous.” His hand tightened on her arm and he wrenched her back.
“No…” she moaned, straining toward the stairs. The one word shattered whatever spell held her mute. She turned to stare at him and said what she’d always believed but never been brave enough to say aloud. “You will stop loving me.”
Astonishment made him drop his hand and falter back toward the wall. “What bloody nonsense is this?”
“It’s true.” She spoke almost indifferently. With every inch closer to the stairs, the pain of endless longing receded.
“After what just happened between us, how dare you say that?” Temper darkened his eyes. “Don’t tell me it’s because you don’t love me. The woman who lay in my arms tonight was aflame with love.”
An eerie calm had descended upon her soul. She loved that calm almost as much as she loved Miles. She summoned a regretful smile. Didn’t he understand this was for the best? Eventually he’d be grateful that she’d taken this action, the only possible action.
“Of course I was. I love you. And I know you believe you love me. But it won’t last.”
“Like hell it won’t.” He sounded angry and confused. “We’re getting married tomorrow. I’ll swear my life to you.”
“And you’ll regret it.”
“Rot.”
He was so brave and honorable. Her heart overflowed with love, love without the bitter tinge that had so often accompanied her recognition of how vulnerable he made her. In a few moments, she’d never be vulnerable again.
She stared at him steadily. “Goodbye, Miles. I have loved you so dearly.”
“Damn it, Calista, answer me. Answer me, for God’s sake. What’s happening?” He dashed forward and his grip closed hard and strong around her arm as if confirming he’d never betray her. “This isn’t you. Whatever this is about, we can solve it. Don’t give up on me. You’re a fighter. It’s one of the things I love about you.”
He kept insisting he loved her. And she knew he wasn’t a liar. A flash of doubt pierced her certainty that no good could come of their marriage.