Julie Garwood - The Gift

The infant's wail of distress echoed throughout the foyer. Without breaking his stride Sterns turned around again and started back up the stairs.

"What's the bigger battle?" Nathan demanded to know as he opened the front door and started out.

Caine was right on his heels. "The battle to win Sara back," he answered.

A tremor of worry nagged Nathan. He pushed the feeling aside immediately. "Damn it, Caine, lower your voice. You're upsetting my godchild."

Caine suddenly wanted to throttle his brother-in-law. "Nathan, I hope Sara makes you suffer. If there's any justice in this world, she'll bring you to your knees before she ever forgives you."

Nathan didn't tear down the rafters of the Winchester residence, but he did break through a couple of locked doors. While Caine kept watch from the foyer Nathan quite methodically searched every room from top to bottom. Luck was on his side. Both the earl and his daughter Belinda were away from the townhouse, no doubt searching for Sara, Nathan surmised, and at least he didn't have to put up with their interference. It wouldn't have stopped him, of course, but it might have slowed him down a little.

Sara's mother stayed out of his path, too. The fragile-looking gray-haired woman hovered next to the fireplace inside the drawing room and simply waited until the marquess had finished his task.

Lady Victoria Winchester could have saved Nathan considerable time by simply telling him that Sara had paid a brief visit and had already left, but the marquess of St. James overwhelmed the timid woman, and she couldn't seem to find her courage or her voice.

Caine and Nathan were leaving when Sara's mother called out to them. "Sara was here, but she left a good twenty minutes ago."

Nathan had forgotten the woman was in the drawing room. He walked toward her but stopped in the center of the room when she cringed away from him. "Did she tell you where she was going?" he asked softly. He took another step forward, then stopped again. "Madam, I'm not going to harm you. I'm worried about Sara, and I would like to find her as soon as possible."

His gentle voice helped her regain her composure. "Why do you want to find her? She told me you don't care for her, sir."

"She's been telling me these past weeks that I do," he countered.

Sara's mother slowly shook her head. The sadness in her eyes was apparent. Superficially, she looked like her sister Nora, but Nora had a zest for life, while Sara's mother looked like a frightened, defeated woman.

"Why do you want to find Sara?"

"Why? Because she's my wife," Nathan replied.

"Is it true you only want Sara back so that you can have the king's gift? My Sara's determined to find a way for you to have both the land and the treasure, sir. But she doesn't want anything from you."

Tears filled the elderly woman's eyes. "You've destroyed her innocence, m'lord. She had such faith in you all these years. We have both wronged my Sara."

"Sara has always had kind words for you, madam," Nathan said. "She doesn't believe you've ever wronged her."

"I used to call her my little peacemaker," she said. "When she was older she often took up my battles for me. It was so much easier, you see."

"I don't understand," Nathan said. "What battles?"

"Just family squabbles," she answered. "My husband Winston often dragged his brother Henry into our personal disagreements. Sara put herself in front of me to weight the odds more equally."

Nathan shook his head. He decided that Sara's mother had a little spirit left inside her when she suddenly straightened her shoulders and frowned at him. "Sara deserves to find peace and joy for herself. She won't settle the way I did. She won't be coming back here, either. She's very disappointed in all of us."

"Madam, I have to find her."

His anguish got through to her. "You are worried about her, then? You do care, if only just a little?"

Nathan nodded. "Of course I'm worried. Sara needs me."

Lady Victoria actually smiled. "Perhaps you also need her," she remarked. "She told me she was going home," she added. "I assumed she meant she was returning to you. She said there were several details she needed to see to before she left London again."

"She isn't leaving London." Nathan made that statement in a hard voice.

Caine walked forward. "Could Sara have gone to your townhouse?" he asked his brother-in-law.

Nathan frowned at him. "I don't have a townhouse, remember? It was burned to the ground by a few of my father's associates."

Caine nodded. "Hell, Nathan, where else could she have gone? Where is your home?"

Nathan turned back to Sara's mother. "Thank you for giving me your help. I'll send word to you as soon as I've found Sara."

The woman got teary-eyed again. She reminded Nathan of Sara, and he smiled at her. He knew where his wife had inherited her trait for weeping at the slightest provocation.

She put her hand on Nathan's arm and walked by his side to the front door. "Since my Sara was a little girl she's loved you. Oh, she would only admit it to me, of course. The rest of the family would have ridiculed her. She was always given to fantasy. You were her knight in shining armor."

"He's getting more tarnished by the minute," Caine said.

Nathan ignored that insult. "Thank you again, Lady Winchester."

Caine was astonished by the tenderness in Nathan's voice. When he bowed formally to the elderly woman Caine did the same.

They were both out the door and halfway down the steps when Sara's mother whispered from behind, "His name is Grant. Luther Grant."

Both Caine and Nathan turned around. "What did you say?" Nathan asked.

"The man who found out about your father," Sara's mother explained. "His name is Luther Grant. He works as a guard, and my husband paid him handsomely to look into the files. That's all I chanced to overhear," she added. "Will it help you?"

Nathan was speechless. Caine nodded. "Thank you. It saves considerable time, I assure you."

"Why did you tell us?" Nathan asked.

"Because it was wrong. Winston went too far this time. My husband gets caught up in his greed, and he doesn't consider what his plans will do to others. I cannot let Sara be his scapegoat again. Please don't let anyone know I told you. It would be difficult for me."

Sara's mother closed the door before either man could give her his promise.

"She's terrified of her husband," Caine whispered. "It sickens me to see such sadness in her eyes. No woman should have to live her life in fear."

Nathan nodded. His mind wasn't on Sara's mother, though, and when he turned to Caine he couldn't hide his fear. "Where do I look for her now, Caine? Where could she have gone? My God, if anything happens to her, I don't know what I'll do. I've grown accustomed to having her around."

It was as close as Nathan was going to come to admitting the truth, Caine realized. He wondered then if his stubborn-headed brother-in-law knew he loved Sara.

"We'll find her, Nathan," he promised. "I think we should go back to the wharf first. Colin might have some news for us. One of the men might have spotted her."

Nathan grabbed at that thread of hope. He didn't say another word until he and Caine had reached their destination. His fear was tearing at his nerves. He couldn't seem to think straight.

It was sunset when they reached the waterfront. The streets were cast in orange shadows. Candles burned bright inside the Emerald Shipping office. As soon as Nathan and Caine walked inside Colin bounded to his feet so quickly that shooting pains radiated up his injured leg.

"Did anyone find Sara yet?" Caine asked his brother.

Colin nodded. "She found us," he said. His forehead was beaded with perspiration, and he was taking deep breaths in an attempt to ease the pain. Neither Caine nor Nathan remarked upon his obvious distress, for they both knew their sympathy would only irritate the proud man.

Nathan waited until Colin lost some of his grimace, then asked, "What do you mean, she found us?"

"Sara came back here."

"Then where the hell is she now?" Caine asked.

"She demanded to be taken home. Jimbo and Matthew escorted her. Sara's back on board the Seahawk."

Caine's sigh of relief filled the room. "So she considers the Seahawk her home, does she?"

The tightness inside Nathan's chest began to loosen up. He was so relieved to know that Sara was safe, he literally broke out in a cold sweat. He snatched the linen handkerchief Colin had pulled from his vest pocket and wiped his brow. "It's the only home we've shared," Nathan muttered in a low, gruff voice.

"I guess that means Sara isn't holding a grudge," Caine said. He leaned against the edge of the desk and grinned at his brother. "Pity, that. I was really looking forward to watching Nathan practice."

"Practice what?" Colin asked.

"Getting down on his knees."

Nathan couldn't stand the idle chitchat long. He had to get to Sara. He needed to see for himself that she was all right. It was the only way he would be able to calm his racing heartbeat. He had to know she was safe.

Without a word of farewell he left Colin and Caine and rowed out to the Seahawk. He was surprised to find that most of the crew had already boarded. The men traditionally spent the first night back in port getting drunk enough to fight anything that moved.

A portion of the crew stood guard on the three decks while the others took up their positions in the wardroom area. Some of the men had strung their hammocks up between the hooks in the ceiling and slept with their knives on their chests for the sake of readiness.

The hammocks were used only in foul weather or when it was too cold to sleep on deck. It was warm that day-exceedingly so, as a matter of fact-and Nathan knew the men were there solely for protective purposes. They were watching over their mistress.

As soon as they spotted him they rolled from their swinging cots and filed up the steps.

The door to the cabin was unlatched. When Nathan went inside he spotted Sara at once. She was sound asleep in the center of his bed. She was holding his pillow against her chest. She'd left two candles burning in their glass globes on the desk, and the soft glow from the light played against the angles of her face like dancing shadows.

He'd have to have another talk with her about the worries of fire, he thought to himself. The woman was forever forgetting to douse the candle flame.

Nathan quietly shut the door, then leaned against it. He was so hungry for the sight of her, he stood there for a long while just watching her sleep until his panic finally dissipated and it didn't hurt so much to breathe.

Every now and again she let out a little hiccup, and Nathan realized she must have cried herself to sleep.

The sound made him feel as guilty as hell.

He couldn't imagine living his life without her by his side. God help him, he cared for her.

That acknowledgment wasn't nearly as painful as he'd imagined it would be. He didn't feel as though his soul had just been snatched away from him. Just as amazing as the admission itself, he hadn't been struck by lightning.

Caine had been right after all. He had been a fool. How could he have been so blind, so indifferent? Sara would never try to manipulate him. Sara was his partner, not his enemy. The thought of spending the rest of his life without getting to shout at her again was simply too monstrous to think about.

Her love gave him renewed strength. Together they could face any challenge, he knew, be it from the St. James camp or the Winchester den. As long as he had Sara by his side Nathan didn't think he could ever be defeated.

His thoughts moved on to ways he could please his wife. He was never going to raise his voice to her again. He'd start calling her by those ridiculous endearments he'd heard other men call their wives. Sara would probably like that.

He finally took his gaze away from her and looked around the room. There was clutter everywhere. Sara's dresses were hanging between his shirts on the hooks.

She'd made the cabin her home. Her possessions were everywhere. Her ivory brush and comb, along with a multitude of colored hairpins, littered his desktop. She'd washed out some of her feminine undergarments and had hung them up to dry on a rope she'd hooked from wall to wall across the room.