Grievous (Wanted Men #5) - Nancy Haviland Page 0,117
her screaming his name. His heart slipped that much lower into his naval cavity.
Can’t you see I’m trying to forgive you for what you’re doing? I’m defending these decisions you’re making, excusing your behavior. But I’m scared I won’t be able to do that for much longer.
Yet she had. She’d forgiven every last thing he’d done to her.
Almost afraid to linger, he left the lower level and made his way upstairs. What looked to be a milk crate sat in the center of the bed. He frowned and slowed his approach. He couldn’t imagine what Yasmeen might want to gift him with. A few options drifted through his mind; a gun with a single bullet, a bottle of cyanide, a map to the nearest cliff.
The crate moved, and what he saw when he peered over its edge couldn’t have been more unexpected.
A kitten.
He stepped closer and the tiny dark brown creature looked up. They stared at one another for a long moment. It held Lucian’s gaze with unwavering hazel eyes that naturally had to remind him of Markus.
Cats come around when they want to come around. Any interaction you have with them is done on their terms. Even when it comes to affection, they’ll accept your efforts only when it suits them. You remind me of a cat.
As he reached in to scoop the tiny feline up under her belly, his demons once again started banging around in his skull, so hard his temples pulsed with pain.
She’d left him with a kitten. Why?
It was then he saw the envelope half-hidden beneath the small gray blanket spread out on the floor of the crate. He brought the kitten to his chest and ran a hand over its tiny head. At his third pass over the downy fur, a motor started up. The muffled, choppy sound came from the little thing’s throat. It was purring.
His attention was drawn to the envelope again. He reached for it and withdrew a folded sheet of paper with his letterhead on it. It was from the stock he kept in the car.
A Christmas gift I hope you won’t refuse. If you give her some time to get used to you, and you allow her the freedom to seek you out when she’s ready, you’ll become her world. Yas
He stared at the elegant way she scrawled her Y before reading the post script.
P.S. Please give her a prettier name than you gave me.
A choking feeling clawed up his throat. He allowed it to suffocate him for a few seconds before swallowing it. That took some doing.
He eventually tucked the note into his pocket and, gently stroking his new female, he strode out of the room. He made it as far as the end of the corridor before he had to sit. He fell onto the cushioned bench below the window overlooking the frozen moat.
It took a moment, but he eventually unhooked the tiny claws from his lapel so he could lift what would be his only Christmas gift this year. He and Markus had always made a point to exchange a few things of meaning…
He tried so hard to block the pain coming for him as he studied the feline, turning her this way and that.
“I understand you are female.” He spoke quietly, and in Romanian. Her hazel eyes disappeared when she blinked, but then held his once again as if she knew more was coming. “But I am afraid you, too, will suffer through a name not suited to you. But what does that matter in light of how I will cherish you?”
He brushed his thumb between her ears and felt the vibration start up again where he had his finger holding her chin up.
“You will be Markus. Because you are mine.”
He brought her down and tucked her close to his heart, wincing when her pincers dug into his skin. He concentrated on the way in which she was securing herself to her new owner.
He allowed it, welcomed it as he looked beyond the frosty glass to the darkening sky.
“Already I am feeling the need to lock you away.” He stroked her throat with his thumb and saw his father, sister, and little brother in his mind’s eye. He tried to stop it, but couldn’t, and Yasmeen’s image shimmered to life, overtaking the vision of his dead loved ones. Her throat…
“How could I trust that you would not leave me by choice or tragedy?” He continued his one-sided conversation with his pet, unsure to which he was now speaking.
As the sky continued to darken and he once more experienced the pleasure of Markus falling asleep in his arms, Lucian searched for the answer to his question. He eventually found it.