Midnight Star (Star Quartet 2)

He felt a surge of fear. “What the hell do you mean?”

“Upset about the fire and you. You’re all right?”

“Yes, of course. Please see to Brutus, Luc.”

Delaney strode into the house. He felt both exhilarated and exhausted.

Chauncey stared at him. He was filthy and his white shirt was burned at the shoulder. She let out a cry and launched herself at him.

“What is all this?” he teased her gently, stroking her tangled hair. She was trembling and he drew her closer, forgetting how dirty he was. “Hush, love. Everything is all right, I promise you.”

“I’m sorry,” she sobbed, clutching at his neck, choking him. “Oh God, Del, I’m so sorry!”

“Sorry for what?” he asked, kissing her temple.

“I . . . I shouldn’t have let you go! Not alone!”

“I know. It was selfish of me. Come, sweetheart, I survived. All of us survived. Even most of the goods survived. It was just a minor disaster.”

He gently pushed her back so he could see her face. She was utterly without color, her eyes huge and dilated. There were now two black smudges of soot on her cheek. There was something different about her; he sensed it. Not just her obvious fear for his safety, but something else.

“I couldn’t have . . . continued if you’d been . . .” The words choked in her throat and she pressed herself hard against him, burying her face in his shoulder. “I can’t hate you, I can’t!”

Delaney grew very still. Why in the world would she even think of hating him, for God’s sake? She had chased him down, not the other way around. It had taken the damned fire to make her realize that she didn’t hate him? He shook his head, bewildered. “I know you don’t, love,” he said. “Perhaps someone should have set that fire sooner,” he added, more to himself than to her.

“Someone set it?” she whispered.

“So it would appear. The warehouse doors were open. One of my men found some burned matches on the floor. Fortunately for me, the fellow must have accidentally tossed a match onto the Chinese fireworks and panicked. They make a god-awful noise. There’s some smoke damage, but for the most part, the bulk of the goods are in good shape.”

Her hand touched the rent in his shirt. “You’re hurt! Damn you, you told me you were all right!”

“It’s my shirt that’s hurt, sweetheart, not my body.” He cupped her face between his palms. “Now, stop carrying on like a mother hen who’s afraid her chick is in the soup pot. I am perfectly all right. I suggest we both go upstairs and clean up.” He rubbed the black smudge on her cheek with the tip of his finger. “You’re adorable, but a bit dirty.”

To his utter astonishment, her eyes fell and she began to twist her hands together. The words trembled on her lips. Dear God, what was she to do? She’d failed at every scheme she’d attempted, except marrying him, her enemy. Only now she loved him. Deep inside her, she could no longer accept that he could be guilty of swindling her father. He simply couldn’t do anything like that. “Delaney, I must tell you . . .”

“Chauncey, love, what is it? What’s wrong?”

“I . . . I love you!”

“Ah,” he said with great satisfaction, “finally.”

His odd words jerked her from her roiling thoughts. “What do you mean, ‘finally’?”

“Perhaps,” he said very softly, “perhaps someday you’ll tell me. Now, let’s get bathed and back to bed. I don’t know what’s the matter with me, but I feel ready to drop.”

He didn’t see her face twist with guilt.

21

Delaney was gone when she awoke late the next morning.

“Mr. Del have plenty mess to clean up,” Lin told her as she served breakfast.

“Yes,” Chauncey said dully, “I suppose he did.”

She wanted to ride to the warehouse and assess the damage she’d done, but Agatha Newton arrived and she was compelled to listen to the good woman carry on about the Sydney Ducks, the brutes most likely responsible for the fire. “At least,” Agatha said, “Del’s men kept the looters at bay, thank God!” By the time Agatha gave her a hug and left, Chauncey was ready to yell her frustration and guilt.

Lucas caught her just as she was preparing to have Olaf drive her to the wharf.