When Kieran left with Alice, Delia put away the primer that they had been working with, and as she had promised, she left Alice's art supplies right where she had pulled them out.

I don't think Kieran knows that children require a great deal of preparation and a routine if they are to be at their most comfortable.

She shook her head in some despair at her own thoughts. She had come here to be a spy and a saboteur, not a real governess. Still, she could no more stop herself from caring for Alice anymore than she could stop herself from smelling an apple that had been cut up and laid on the table in front of her.

When she returned to her room, Delia realized that this was the best opportunity she had to simply leave. With the storm coming up, her departure would not be easily tracked, and since Kieran was with Alice, she did not even have to worry about the little girl getting hurt before her absence was noted.

This is the most perfect opportunity I have to leave. It should take advantage of it.

She went to her room, and it took her less than half an hour to gather up her things. The precious enameled snuffbox she slid to the bottom of her valise, one of her extra night shifts wrapped around it. Before she was even done, fat drops of heavy rain were hitting the windowpane outside. Though she knew that time was of the essence, she couldn't stop herself from coming to the window for a moment.

It is a good thing I am leaving now. This storm feels like one that will last, and it could churn the roads into impassable mud.

As she made her way down to the rear doors, where she could slip out without anyone being the wiser, Delia heard a sudden commotion from the front of the house. Several housemaids dashed by her, panic on their faces. For a moment, she almost dismissed it, but when she heard a bellow, two things struck her with the force of the thunder rolling outside.

First, she realized that it was Kieran who was shouting, and that he sounded as if he were in pain. The second thing she realized was that he was crying her name.

Oh, no, something has happened to Alice!

She had just enough presence of mind to stash her bag behind a stand of decorative plants in the hall, and then she was pelting for the front foyer, where the noise was steadily increasing.

"Damn you, get off! Get Delia!"

The servants were milling around Kieran as if he were a bear at bay. Drenched and with blood flowing from a cut to his forehead, he looked like some kind of monster entering a decent residence. He held a terribly still Alice in his arms, and even when a maid came timorously to help him with the little girl, he drew away from her with a terrible snarl on his face.

Oh, no, Kieran...

Taking a deep breath, Delia walked into the fray. She caught one of the footmen by the arm, pulling him around so she could look him in the eye.

"Go to the stables, make them give you a horse, and ride for the doctor."

"But..."

"No buts. I promise you there will be no repercussions for following my orders, but there will certainly be problems if you choose to disobey them. Make sure he comes at once, do not return without him."

To her relief, the footman did not challenge her authority but instead left with alacrity. Good. That was one thing taken care of. Now she simply had to care for the rest.

She grabbed one of the maids, who gave her a suspicious and uncertain look. Governesses were suspended between their noble employers and the general servants of the house, never allowed to settle with either one.

Delia gave the maid a very stern look.

"Go to the kitchen, and have them send up hot water, enough of it to make a bath. Then go to the linen drawers and bring up enough fabric for bandages."

The maid went off quickly enough, and she supposed with that that she must be content. That only left Kieran, who was still backing away from his own servants as if they wished to murder the child in his arms.

"All right, the rest of you, clear out! Go back to your stations! If you are needed, you will be sent for!"

They dispersed, and Delia let out a sigh of relief. There was a chance that they would refuse to listen to her, and then who knew what she would do. All she really understood was that she would not allow further harm to come to Alice or Kieran at that moment.

She turned to Kieran, and all of the anger and animosity that had hung between them melted away.

The moment he saw her, something wild went out of his gaze.

"Delia?"

"Kieran, it's going to be all right."

"The storm came up so fast, and—"

"Shh, no one is going to blame you. We need to help Alice now. Will you follow me to the nursery?"

He nodded, and she was relieved when he fell into step with her. This close, she could tell that Alice was breathing strongly, even if she did not stir, and that there was a great deal of blood on her small face.

Oh, poor little mite.

She couldn't let her emotions get the better of her. She had been running her father's household ever since her mother died years ago, and she knew that grief and worry could always take place after the action.

By the time they reached the nursery, Kieran looked almost calm, and he laid Alice on her bed, as Delia directed.

"Kieran, do you wish to stay? I will take care of Alice—"

"I want to stay. Show me how I can help."

"All right."

She and Kieran stripped the unconscious Alice to her skin, and Delia took it as a great good thing that once or twice, Alice made a sound that resembled protest.

"That's good, that's very good. It's only if she does not respond that we have to worry."

"You are very good at this."

"I've had cause to be."

Just then, someone from the kitchen arrived with hot water and the maid returned with linens. While she sponged the blood and dirt from Alice's body, Delia checked her over for other injuries and was relieved to see that there were none besides the bump on her head.

"Good. With any luck, she'll wake up, and she'll just have a headache."

"She told me twice that she was worried about the storm. She didn't sound really afraid though, almost excited. I had her riding in front of me, as I thought it would be safer than having her on her own pony."

"Well, in most circumstances, you would have been right. Did she fall from your arms?"

Kieran laughed, a harsh bark of a sound that even to Delia's ears was full of self-hate and recrimination.

"She didn't. By the time we started back, the winds had kicked up. I held on to her tightly, because I was not going to let her fall from my arms. Hell, it might have been better if she had. The wind came up strong, and we were riding on the river road back to Brixby Hall. A thick bough was swept from a tree close by, and before I could swerve or draw the horse away, it fell straight onto us, first me and then her."

Delia and Kieran fell silent, drying Alice and dressing her in a soft nightdress. With the blood washed away, it was easy to see the large bump on the side of her skull, and the thin gash at the center of it. Beyond that, however, her color was good, and Delia was relieved to see that she was breathing easily and normally.

"All right, Kieran. Now we need to see to you."

Kieran scowled at her reflexively. "I am not leaving Alice."

"No one is saying we have to. But you are going to give the doctor quite a fright when he comes here looking like that."

Kieran started up from his chair in panic. "The doctor, I never called—"

Delia held up her hand. "Calm down, please. I sent the footman for the doctor and told him he was not to return without the man. All right? We have done everything that we can do, and Alice will not feel better if you sit there with blood in your face."

For a moment, she was afraid that Kieran would simply roar at her and send her away, but then it was as if some kind of tension finally drained from him. He nodded at her, and hesitantly, she pushed him toward a chair in the corner. He sat down as if he had been awake for a fortnight, and he gave no reaction when she approached him with a basin of warm water and a clean cloth.

At first, it was fine. She was only washing his face and cleaning his wound, which she suspected might actually be more severe than the one that had stunned Alice. For a while. Delia was occupied with dabbing at the fresh blood and cleaning away the dried blood on his face. She could smell the rain on him and feel how cold he had been in the wind.

Kieran winced a little as she cleaned his wounds, but it wasn't until she was almost done that she realized he was looking at her.

"You came."

"What?"

"When I called. You came. I had no idea what was happening, and all I could feel was this terrible fear. All I knew was that we both needed you so very much. Alice and I both."

"Of course, I came. There was no question I would."

In the dim light of the nursery with the storm slashing outside, Delia could see Kieran's green eyes cutting into her. It felt as if he could see every corner of her.

He looks like a man bedeviled. Is this enough for you, Lissa, if he loses his daughter like I lost you?

The thought almost made her sick, and she pushed it away. It did not bear thinking about, and no matter what, she knew in her heart that you could not exchange one life for another and pretend to call it fair.

"Things are very strange between us right now. I do not know how to proceed with you," he said softly.

"There's no reason to proceed any way at all. We shall continue as we are. You are the lord of the manor, Alice is your beloved daughter, and I am her governess."

Delia started to move away from Kieran, but instead, he grabbed her wrist, making her cry out. His grip was powerful, just short of pain, but she thought wildly that she had a better chance of breaking granite than she did of breaking his grip.

"Kieran!"

"There is nothing simple about the two of us, Delia, nothing at all. I want you, and I know that you want me."

To her shock, he stood up, sending the basin that had been on the table clattering away in a vast splash of water. In the dark, he should have been terrifying, but something in her cried out for him. They weren't meant to be apart. He was the one who could call that intense heat from her body, the one who could make her feel as no one else could. When he pulled her to him, she went, and when he lowered his lips to hers, she opened her mouth for more of him.

The heat that passed between them made her think of a forge's fire, where steel and iron were tempered. It was creating something new and wild between them. His body was hot against her, and she smelled the rain, his soaked clothes, and somewhere underneath that the healthy smell of his skin. She wanted nothing more than to be wrapped up in that scent, in Kieran himself.

There was no telling at all what would have happened if they hadn't both heard a soft cry from the bed.

"Papa? Delia?"

They froze, and then as one, they dashed back to the bed, where Alice was sitting up with a surpassingly cranky look on her face.

"My head aches!"

Kieran gathered her close to him, gently after her first squawk of protest. "I'm sure it does, little one. I'm so sorry, I did not mean for you to get hurt."

It was a private moment between father and daughter, but Delia couldn't stop herself from reaching for Alice's hand. The moment Alice felt her touch, the little warm fingers wrapped around Delia's, and Delia felt a rush of deep relief flood through her.

She's going to be all right. Oh, thank goodness, she is going to be all right.

Another bolt of lightning lit across the sky, and the rain came down even harder. It was a deluge, and from the way it was carrying on, Delia could tell that it was not going to stop any time soon.

Well, so much for my plan to leave.

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