Page 49 of The Vampire's Guide to Wooing a Scholar
“Don’t get him started,” Jonathan said as he plucked a delicately carved wooden box from Marcus’s desk. It was a trinket Marcus had picked up decades before his involuntary confinement. A specific sequence of actions was required to open a secret compartment. Jonathan frowned as he tilted it around.
“Slide the—” Marcus started before Jonathan shushed him. Marcus left his younger brother to his curiosity and looked at Cordon, who was staring out the window with his arms crossed.
“Please, brother,” Marcus said. “Tell me what happened between you and Kitty.” He wasn’t sure why it was so important, but something deep in his chest told him he had to know what his brother had to say.
Cordon rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger. “Well, you know that when I met her, I had given up.”
“I recall it well,” Marcus said. Cordon had created a list of a hundred scandalous activities he’d wanted to complete before he died of mate atrophy. Marcus and Jonathan had scoffedat the idea. It no longer seemed so foolish.
“Kitty was impossible to resist,” Cordon said, his tone wistful. “She later admitted she felt it, too, but refused to acknowledge it.” He shook his head with a chuckle. “She willingly gave her body but held her heart back until the very end. Much as I did. But after tasting her, I knew I could have no other. Her blood healed parts of me I hadn’t known were broken.”
Cordon continued talking, but Marcus was too struck by the comparison between what his brother was describing and his own situation with Winifred. She’d been irresistible and her blood had caused a similar reaction. It was almost the reverse situation, where Winifred had been open with her affection from the day she’d arrived in the castle, but Marcus had kept his distance—or, at least, he’d tried. Staying away from Winifred had been as futile and stopping the sun from rising.
When Cordon stopped speaking, Marcus reluctantly asked the question that had been bouncing around his head for hours, but he’d refused to acknowledge. “You’ve spoken of it before, but would you remind me again how you formed the mating bond?”
The sound of wood hitting the floor with a thud made both Marcus and Cordon turn. The puzzle box lay discarded on the floor between Jonathan’s legs, with the secret compartment open.
Jonathan scowled. “I cannot believe this. Look at what you’ve done.” He picked up one of Marcus’s silver flasks. “This is science.Thisis innovation. You are an inventor, brother. If anyone can find a way to avoid mating, it’s you. Don’t give in to fate.”
The back of Marcus’s neck burned. Having his younger brother speak to him in such a way made his temper rise, but he tamped it down. Jonathan was only reacting the same way Marcus had when Cordon had presented his list of scandalous tasks he’d intended to complete before he died. Marcus had not believed his brother was dying, at first. It had taken Cordon’s miraculous recovery aftermarrying Kitty to change Marcus’s mind.
He staggered over to his chair and fell into it. “I love Winifred. Her blood heals me more effectively than any concoction. Shemustbe my fated mate, but we have not bonded. Is there something else I must do?”
Jonathan threw up his hands. “I’ve had enough. I’ll head to Glasgow. Anywhere is better than here.” Then he stormed out of the room, letting the door slam behind him. Marcus winced. He would have to mend things with his brother later, but for now, he was more concerned about making sure he had all the information he could gather from Cordon. His brother had told the story of his mating several times, but Marcus had been too focused on finding a scientific alternative to listen.
Cordon walked over to the mantel, removed a cigar from a box sitting there, then lit it in the flames of the hearth. “The bond comes first.” He put the cigar to his mouth and puffed, then came to sit across from Marcus. “If she is your mate, then when you are both open to love, the connection will snap into place.” He put his index finger and thumb on his temple, then gestured outward. “It was not something we attempted. It simply…happened.” He frowned. “I cannot explain it. One moment I was certain I was dying, and the next, Kitty was pressing my mouth to her neck and urging me to drink. It was at that moment that the bond formed.” He closed his eyes. “I will never forget the moment her mind first touched mine.”
Cordon’s blissful expression made Marcus want to strangle him. It wasn’t fair that Cordon had found his mate first. Marcus was the eldest. He should have been the one helping his siblings find their mates, not Cordon.
A bitter taste filled his mouth. Being jealous of Cordon was pointless. Marcus had surrendered leadership of the nest when he’d fled to Scotland. He waited for Cordon to open his eyes, then asked, “Was that when thesymptoms faded?”
Cordon took another puff. “Not immediately, but yes. Marguerite believed it was the lack of the bond that causes the atrophy.”
Marcus tapped his fingers on the arm of his chair. “But you did not need to turn Katherine into a vampire first. The bond formed while she was still human.” That meant there might be a way to let Winifred help him without risking her life.
Assuming she hadn’t already been captured. Her carriage had left a full quarter hour before Jonathan had followed.
He put his head in his hands. “I never should have let her go. If anything happens to her…” The hunters were merciless. If they decided Winifred was ‘tainted’ because of her marriage to him, they might treat her like any other vampire they hunted.
“Do not worry, brother,” Cordon said. He tapped his temple. “I can speak to my mate through our mental bond even when we are far apart. Kitty is watching your wife even as we speak.”
A wave of giddiness passed through Marcus. “Thank God.”
He would trust his brothers to protect her, and when she returned, he would tell her exactly how he felt.
Until then, he’d do his best to stay alive.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Winifred pulled openthe curtain in her room on the top floor of the Clarence Hotel and gasped. In the bright light of morning, George Square was beautiful, with four paths in the grassy plaza leading to a statue of a mounted general. Ladies wearing wide-brimmed hats lavishly piled with flowers and feathers promenaded along the sidewalk and the street was busy, with carriage rattling along the cobblestones.
It was such a change from the castle that she stared, openmouthed, for several seconds before remembering she was supposed to be meeting Felicity for breakfast. Keenan had awakened Winifred an hour earlier, but it had taken ages to sort out what Winifred would wear—a chartreuse twill walking suit—and then Keenan had done up her hair and selected a hat and proper shoes. It had been weeks since she’d last dressed appropriately for her station, during the dinner with the vicar and his wife.
She felt like a soldier wearing a suit of armor, preparing to venture into battle. Or, in her case, a crowded hotel lobby. It was exciting and intimidating, but most of all—lonely. Especially knowing Marcus was back at the castle. She already regretted leaving so abruptly. That he knew about her ancestors didn’t matter. He had only spoken to her cruelly because he’d wanted her to give up trying to help him, and she’d foolishly let him.
“Are you ready, my lady?” Keenan asked.
Winifred turned away from the window and joined her lady’smaid. “Yes.”
