“First I will take care of your doctor friend. You cannot do so.” Lucian made it a decree. His black eyes glittered for a moment, sheer ice and menace.
Francesca glared at him, her black eyes sparkling. “I will do what is necessary.
You
have no say in it.” Lucian’s empty eyes turned on his brother, one eyebrow arched.
“You will allow this lunacy?” “These things are difficult.”
Gabriel shrugged his broad shoulders as if to say Lucian didn’t know anything about women.
Francesca tossed her thick braid over her left shoulder. “I realize you were born many centuries ago, Lucian. I should have not shown such impatience. Women no longer do whatever a man decrees.” Her voice held a faintly haughty tone.
“Francesca!”
The look in Gabriel’s black eyes was something between laughter and censure. He could not remember anyone ever speaking to Lucian in such a way.
She turned away from her lifemate, trying desperately not to laugh. The two men were very old-fashioned in their manners. Courtly. Elegant.
Sexy.
That thought crept in unbidden and was hastily censored. She shared Gabriel’s thoughts, knew it was in his mind to prevent her healing Brice until he had removed all traces of the tainted blood himself. Right now, Gabriel needed the healing earth, as did Lucian. Both ancients were wounded and weak.
“I have noticed for some centuries now, it is the women who take care of all the little details. I will ensure that Brice sleeps this day until the new rising. It is necessary to prepare the earth for your brother. He is in great need, despite his belief in his own omnipotence. Do not worry, I do have brains and have managed quite well without guidance of any kind for centuries. I will be able to handle all the details by my little lonesome while you poor boys rest.”
“But you will not go near Brice,”
Gabriel said, trying to make it more of a statement than a command.
Francesca swept past her lifemate and glided down the hall toward the kitchen and the underground chambers. Of course she wouldn’t risk her unborn child trying to heal Brice without aid. Did they think she was a dolt? The two of them could sleep in the underground chamber together!
“
I will not be sleeping with my brother, woman, believe me. I will be sleeping right alongside you where I belong.”
Thistime there was distinct laughter, a drawling male amusement in the deep timbre of Gabriel’s voice. His voice always held that lazy, sexy note she couldn’t ignore.
“Do not count on your charm to get you out of this one. “
Francesca opened the earth, a section of deep rich soil large enough to accommodate Lucian’s powerful frame.
“
I am much gratified to know you find me charming.” “Was I thinking that? I do not think so. I believe what I was thinking was how irritating the males of our race are and I am certain I had good cause to hide my existence from them all these centuries.”
Deliberately Francesca kept her voice as haughty as ever. Teasing him. Loving him. Wanting to be alone with him. Gabriel.
“You were thinking about making love to me, not sentencing me to a lonely bed.” “You think much of yourself, sir.” “Only by reading your thoughts. I find I like the way you view me far better than the view I have of myself.”
Francesca scattered healing herbs across the dirt floor and added precious soil from her homeland from the small treasure box she had guarded over the centuries. The soil was what Lucian needed more than anything else.
“It is ready.”
Gabriel reached for his twin, helping him to his feet. It felt right to be with Lucian again. They moved the same way; their expressions were totally alike. It suddenly occurred to Gabriel that perhaps Francesca couldn’t tell them apart.
“Do not be so silly. You are part of me, the other half of my heart. You think the silliest things, Gabriel.”
The whisper of her voice was an invitation. It heated his blood as nothing else ever could.
Gabriel guided Lucian past the chamber containing Brice. The twins touched the mind of the sleeping human at the exact same time, sharing the knowledge without thinking about it, a well-rehearsed action.
Francesca stepped to one side to allow Lucian into the narrow opening leading to his sleeping area. “Sleep well, brother.”
Lucian looked down at her with his empty black eyes. “I thank you for your kindness to me, sister, but most of all for the way you care for my brother.” He said it sincerely.
There was pure magic in his voice. Francesca found herself smiling up at her lifemate’s twin. She believed him far too powerful for his own good, but she knew he loved his brother, and that reassured her as nothing else could have.
Gabriel locked his arm around her waist the moment Lucian had floated to earth and the soil had closed over his head. “Alone at last. I did not think it would ever happen.”
She gave him her snootiest look. “You seem to forget poor Brasilia and Santino. They deserve an explanation of tonight’s events. I protected them as best I could and I suspect Lucian probably did also, but Santino is not one we control. We gave our word to Aidan. Besides, you went out and got yourself hurt. That was uncalled for.”
He leaned down to nuzzle her neck, inhale her fragrance. “I love the way you smell. The moment I entered our house, it was filled with your presence and I knew I was home.”
Francesca’s hand crept up to his face. “I love you very much, Gabriel. I do not appreciate gray hair at this stage in my life when I am about to become a mother.”
“You would look very sexy with gray hair,” Gabriel replied, holding her hand to him so that he could turn his face and press a kiss into the center of her palm. “And I would like to go upstairs and see young Skyler before the night is gone. You can see Santino without me.”
She bit his palm, a little nip of reprimand. “You will not go without me, and you will not leave all the tiny details of our life to me.”
He managed to look innocent. “Was I doing that?”
Francesca laughed, her heart light and happy now that he was beside her and they were safe within the walls of their home.
Chapter Eighteen
Francesca woke in Gabriel’s arms. Gabriel had remained below the earth for two days, but now his wounds were completely healed and Francesca felt safe calling him to her. She felt she had been patient long enough when everything in her cried out for him. Above them the night was stirring to life and the comforting sounds of her household were settling into the rhythm of the night.
Skyler was laughing in the kitchen with Drusilla. Francesca lay for a moment savoring the wonder of that. Skyler didn’t laugh often, and when she did it was brief, but the sound was incredibly beautiful. Francesca was already becoming fond of Drusilla. She was a motherly woman who ran the house very efficiently. She had an open, loving personality. There was ample room in her heart for young Skyler.
Santino was a miracle. He had immediately set to work with the bodyguard to ensure the house was protected inside and out. It would be necessary to change Francesca’s manner of living to accommodate a high fence around the grounds now that there were humans to protect also. Santino was quick to find a design that fit the old-fashioned architecture. He had incorporated the safeguards Francesca had chosen to build into the fence itself.
It was already well under construction; Santino didn’t believe in procrastinating. Francesca was certain Gabriel and Santino would become good friends in time.