Raven set his snifter aside and came forward to meet her. “That’s fine with me. I had other plans for tonight anyway.”
Knowing by the devilish gleam in his eyes just exactly what those plans were, Eden lifted her arms to encircle his neck and eagerly returned his kiss. When at last she stepped back, Yadira was at the doorway. The woman came and went with the stealth of a ghost, but Eden was too pleased with the way the evening had gone to be annoyed with her.
“Everything was perfect, Yadira. Please tell everyone in the kitchen how delighted we were.”
“I will do that, my lady.” Without asking if she would be disturbing them, Yadira entered the drawing room and began gathering up the brandy snifters their guests had used.
“We were just leaving,” Raven announced as he took Eden’s hand, and he hurried her out of the room and up the stairs.
“In which rooms are Julian and Rebecca staying?” Eden whispered as they started down the hall.
“Those opposite Alex and Eleanora’s so you needn’t fear we’ll disturb them.”
Eden knew he was teasing her this time, and returned his taunting grin with a smile. He went past his room to hers and, pulling her into his arms, waltzed her through the door. The lamp beside the bed was burning low, and the rose-colored room held a romantic glow.
“Raven,” Eden mused as he continued to dance her toward the bed. “Most husbands visit their wife’s bedroom, not the other way around. There was no reason for you to scold me for not being in your bed last night.”
Raven released her and stepped back to give a courtly bow. “You’re right, of course. It was only that finding you in my bed at Briarcliff set the pattern.”
Rather than again attempt to explain what she had been doing in Alex’s bed, Eden simply turned her back toward him and lifted her hair out of his way so he could undo the buttons that ran down the back of her gown. The touch of his fingertips against her bare skin made her shiver, but when she noticed the small lavender bottle sitting on the night stand, she felt the worst chill of her life.
The delicate bottle was shaped like a newly opened rose and its stopper was topped with a hummingbird. Even without opening it, Eden knew exactly what it contained. When Raven had said he had plans for that night, she had not dreamed he meant to use the oil she and Alex had shared. “How could you?” she gasped.
“How could I what?” Raven asked, having no idea what she meant.
Eden’s gaze remained fixed on the exquisitely handcrafted bottle, her memories of her wedding night as clear in her mind as those of the evening’s party. She could not only see Alex spread a drop of the fragrant oil on the tip of her breast, she could feel the warmth of his hand. Her breath caught in her throat, suffocating her in a stifling wave of panic.
“I didn’t kill him. I know that I didn’t. But you can’t make me use that with you.” Completely mystified, Raven looked up from the row of buttons to follow Eden’s glance. When he saw the bottle beside her bed, his reaction was as intensely negative as hers. “I didn’t bring that in here, and I’ll get rid of it right now.”
Raven strode across the room, and grabbed up the bottle. After opening the louvers at the window to their widest point, he tossed it outside, then turned back to face her. “Yadira brews that stuff. She undoubtedly just wanted to make you a present of it. There’s no way she could have known you wouldn’t want it.”
Yadira, the dark-eyed beauty who moved through the house with the grace of a spirit, made that intoxicating oil? That the woman who created the love potion would surely have been the one to teach Alex how to use it shattered all that was left of Eden’s hold on reality. With no more than a slight sway, she slid to the floor in a faint.
Chapter Nineteen
September 1863
A few whiffs from Julian’s vial of smelling salts revived Eden. She was lying on her bed with Raven standing on one side and the physician and Rebecca on the other. All wore anxious frowns and Eden could not immediately recall why she should be the object of their concern. Then the painful memories returned and her eyes again filled with tears.
Raven was overcome with guilt as Eden turned her anguished gaze toward him. She had asked to keep the small lavender bottle she had had at Briarcliff, undoubtedly as a souvenir of the beautiful love she and Alex had shared. Now the sight of a similar flagon was more than she could bear and he knew it was because his bitter accusations would echo in her memory for as long as she lived. The pain of his own folly cut him as cruelly as her tears and he sat down on the side of the bed and drew her into his arms.
“Thank you, but Eden will be fine in a minute or two,” Raven assured his companions. “You needn’t stay.”
Julian noted the tears pouring down Eden’s cheeks and shook his head.
“Your wife’s hysterical, and I’d like to know why.”
That was something Raven would not explain. “It’s really none of your concern.”
“Women do not faint for no reason, Raven. Clearly Eden’s suffered a dreadful shock and I’ll not leave her in such a sorry state.”
Raven hugged the distraught blonde all the more tightly. “You’re wrong. It’s just that she’s very sensitive and easily moved to tears.”
“Surely not like this.”
Raven would not admit that he had seen Eden sob so wretchedly on only one other occasion, and that it had been entirely his fault. “Perhaps not, but she’ll soon fall asleep and she’ll be fine in the morning. You needn’t worry about her.”
As concerned as her brother, Rebecca circled the bed and reached out to take Eden’s hand. “Do you want us to stay?” she asked.