She turned her face up to the wind, relaxing, wanting to savor every moment. She was blind, but she was alive. She lived in a world of sounds and textures, rich and wonderful, and she wanted to experience everything life could offer. She was moving through space, across the sky, with the sea boiling and thundering below her and the clouds roiling above her. And she was safe in Byron’s arms.
What should have been the worst night of her life had turned into the experience of a lifetime. “Byron.” She whispered his name, an ache in her voice, thinking the wind would take the sound far from them, out over the ocean where no one would hear her most secret desire.
Byron buried his face in the fragrance of her hair as they soared across the sky. There was no fear in Antonietta. He rarely detected fear in her. Because her brain patterns were so different, it was difficult to read her mind, where he could most humans. Now that his heart had settled back to a natural rhythm, he could admire the way she fought for her life there on the cliffs. She was an extraordinary woman, and she belonged to him. She just didn’t realize it yet.
Antonietta had a strong personality and a determination to control her life and her business. Claiming her in the way of his people, Byron suspected, would not only make her resistant but would cause her great unhappiness. Years earlier, he had learned a hard lesson of attempting to take something too fast, for his own benefit, without thought of consequences.
Antonietta was his world. He could put aside his own needs and urges and the terrible hunger to give her the things she needed. He would have her, he knew that. There was no other choice for either of them, but he wanted her to come to him willingly. To choose him. To choose his life, his world. And even more, he wanted to give her all the things he suspected she had never had in her life. He wanted her to know her own worth as a woman. Not a Scarletti. Not a pianist. Not a shipping magnate. A woman.
“Are you afraid?” He whispered the words, half aloud, half in her mind. Knowing she wasn’t and wanting her to acknowledge what they were doing. He hadn’t protected her from their method of traveling. She might be blind, but she was more aware than any other human he knew.
Antonietta laughed, the sound one of joy. “How could I be afraid, Byron? I’m with you. I’m not going to ask how you do this until my feet are safely on the ground.” She answered him as honestly as she could. There was a wild exhilaration in her heart. If she was truly afraid, it was only of the unknown. Soaring through the sky was a dream, a fantasy come true. Her childhood dreams of flying had been so vivid she often believed she had soared across the night skies. “I do wish I could see the view.” There was a wistful note she couldn’t keep from her voice, and she was ashamed that he heard it. “I wish you had the time to describe it to me.”
“There is a way you could see what I see.” His heart was pounding now. The moment he noticed, he allowed it to seek the rhythm of hers. To connect them, heart to heart.
Antonietta’s grip tightened around his neck. For the first time, she turned her face into his throat. He could feel her breath warm on his throat, and his body tightened in reaction. In anticipation. “What are you saying?” Now it was her heart that was pounding. He could work miracles. Heal. Hear a call for help across the raging sea. Dive deep into roiling surf and pull a drowning man from the depths, carrying him to safety. Soar through the night sky while carrying two adults as if they weighed no more than small children. She dared not hope for the impossible.
Her voice was low, but her lips were pressed against his skin. Against his pulse. Byron’s body burned with heat, throbbed with need, with hunger. She seemed unaware of his reaction. He fought the nearly overwhelming urge of his kind, keeping his face turned from her, from the temptation she presented. He couldn’t answer her with his incisors lengthened and his body craving hers.
Fortunately, they were close to the great palazzo. Byron turned his attention to finding the location of every human in the area. He scanned the villa and the surrounding region. The aftermath of violence still vibrated in the air, but if the other conspirator had rushed back to the villa to find the manifest for cargo or the Scarletti family treasures, he had already managed to do so and was long gone, or he was in his bed feigning sleep. Byron could detect no foreign enemy present within the walls.
Family members were sleeping peacefully in their own beds. The entire household seemed to be unaware of the attack on Antonietta and Don Giovanni. Suspicion found its way into his heart.
Byron did not put Don Giovanni or Antonietta down until he entered the old man’s room.
“The alarms should be going off,” Antonietta said. “Intruders should have triggered them. How did they get in? How do you get in?”
“Not the same way they entered,” Byron replied with absolute conviction. “There is no intruder present in the palazzo at this time.”
“You can’t know that,” Antonietta pointed out. “There are over a hundred rooms in our home. They could be hiding anywhere. You haven’t even checked the office.”
“I will conduct a search later, only to see what they have been up to. There are no intruders, only your family in their beds,” Byron repeated patiently. “Don Giovanni is freezing from the seawater and chilling wind. His temperature is dropping at an alarming rate. Go to your room arid take a hot bath, Antonietta,” he said, his tone abrupt and clipped as he began stripping the elderly man. “You are shaking with cold.”
“I don’t much care to be ordered about,” Antonietta responded. Her teeth were chattering, although she tried desperately to stop them. She was cold through and through. “Don Giovanni is my grandfather and my responsibility.”
“Then give him the dignity he deserves.” Byron’s voice had gone so soft it was black velvet. And it made her shiver.
Antonietta took a step backward. For a moment a lump welled up in her throat, threatening to choke her. Her eyes burned. She hadn’t cried in years.
His fingers caught her chin in a firm grip. “I do not mean to sound abrupt, but I have little time for necessities. If I have offended you, I am sorry. Your grandfather’s heart is weak, and his resistance is low, even with my earlier ministrations.” He bent his head to hers. Touched his mouth to hers. Feather light, a mere brush. She felt it all the way to her toes. Heat curled in the pit of her stomach. For a moment she couldn’t think clearly, couldn’t think why she wanted to cry.
“Because someone tried to kill you and your grandfather,” he answered for her. “Someone poisoned him and most likely you and also drugged you both. You are tired and cold, and I was curt in my manner of speaking. Anyone would cry, Antonietta. I will see to Don Giovanni while you take a hot bath and get in a warm bed.”
Byron sounded so tender her heart turned over and tears burned behind her eyes. His hand dropped away from her, and she turned to go, compelled by the beauty of his voice, his soothing logic. She even took a step away from him before she realized what she was doing. “Grazie, Byron, but
Nonno
may need my assistance in the bath. I can’t see him, I’m blind, you know.” Byron was the only person who made her feel as if he never noticed she was blind.
Byron tossed Don Giovanni’s sodden shirt to one side. “You do not have to do everything,
cara mia
. Go now. I will attend him in the shower and get him settled.”
“Go.” Don Giovanni waved a trembling hand toward the door. “Do as he says, Toni, go to your bath. I will be fine. In fact, both of you go. I want you to look after her for me, Byron. See to it that she changes into something warm.”