Phantoms In Philadelphia (Phantom Knights Book 1)

  ***

  Two days later, I was standing before Guinevere’s house. I had taken the last two days to get my thoughts together and to form a plan of attack against Guinevere’s heart and mind, along with my own. When I rapt upon the door, only a moment passed before I was facing Martha. She looked me over as her smile bloomed.

  “I am so glad to see you again, Mr. Martin,” she said as she took my hat and gloves. There was a mischievous twinkle in her eye as she held a finger to her lips, silencing me. She led me to the parlor door, pointed in, and left me. I inhaled and slowly exhaled before looking into the room.

  Guinevere was upon the sofa, fast asleep. The longing that churned in my body caught me off guard. Her slender hands were tucked under her head as a pillow, and her light blue dress was slightly pulled up revealing a pair of stocking-clad, small feet and ankles. I smiled at the appearance that she presented. The love within me urged me to forgive, to rescue her from Richard’s clutches. Richard’s clutches. Her words came back to me. The words spoken that first night in Stark Manor. The words that I now knew were uttered by the woman that I was watching.

  My life may not be my own.

  Was that the truth? Was her life not her own? Did Richard force her to act for him? My teeth clenched, and I balled my hands into tight fists. I had to discover the truth. Hope sprang within me, but I could not allow it to develop roots, not until I knew the truth. I gave myself a little shake. It was not the time to get lost in my emotions. I advanced into the room and knelt beside the sofa.

  Strands of her hair had broken away from the tight knot at the back of her head. I brushed away the strands from her forehead as a poem sprang to my mind. “So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, so long lives this, and this gives life to me.”

  Her eyelids fluttered before her beautiful eyes narrowed in on my face. She stared at me as if she were trying to determine if I was real or a dream. She slowly, hesitantly brought her hand up and laid it against my cheek.

  Her eyes widened. “You are here. I was afraid I was dreaming again.”

  Unable to trust my voice not to betray my shaky emotions, I only smiled. Tears formed in her eyes, and my heart and my plans fell to pieces. I laid my hand over hers; soaking in her warmth that I had thought would never be mine.

  “Please, Jack, take me away from here, just the two of us. Let us go and never return.”

  She looked into my eyes clear to my soul, as she waited for me to reply. She was in earnest; her every look, every movement told me that she truly wanted me. All reason, all thought fled in her plea. It was possible. With my new fortune, we could go anywhere, do whatever we wanted. She would be mine. Without thinking of anything else, I took her hand and helped her to stand.

  Fear and love burst into my heart like someone taking a branch of candles into a dark room and making all things visible. Love was expected, but the fear was that she would suddenly change her mind. It caused me to speak with determination.

  “Let’s go, right now.” I looked around the room and found her bonnet lying on the chair. I retrieved it, but as I turned back to her and looked into her eyes the spell had worn off.

  She shook her head. “We cannot.”

  I dropped her bonnet, clasping her shoulders. “No, do not do that. Do not think. I love you, and I want to marry you, today if you will have me. I even know of a minister who could marry us, but we must go, now.”

  “I wish it were that simple,” she whispered.

  I released her and stepped back, again the poet. “You are right of course, forgive me, I do not know what came over me.”

  Something dawned in her eyes causing them to widen. “Did you just propose?”

  Heat crept up my neck, and I felt like a fool, but I was determined to continue. “It did not come out as I had planned.” I took her hand. We sat on the sofa together, and I angled my body to look into her eyes. “I must ask. Why me?”

  She looked surprised, but there was no surprise in her voice as she replied. “You allow me to be my true self. I do not have to pretend to be what I am not when I am with you.”

  Her words caused a deep ache to form within my chest, for her words exactly matched my feelings. It was part of the reason that I fell for her. Being with her felt right, like finally finding where I truly belonged.

  Bess had been looking to Andrew as her way out of the Phantoms. Was Guinevere looking to me for the same? If she was a victim of Levitas, then I would extract her from their grasp, and I would marry her, but until then I had to look upon her as the white phantom.

  That did not mean that I could not give her a proposal that she would remember.

  “Some say that when you meet the person that you want for life, you know. It could be a feeling or a moment, but for me there were several moments. The first was when we met. Do you remember?” She was smiling as she nodded. “I held my hand down to you, but your eyes halted me, so pure, so perfect. You had to recall my attention. That was the first moment.”

  I pulled a ribbon from my pocket. It was the exact deep purple blue shade as her eyes. I turned her arm over and placed it across her wrist. She stared down at it as I went on. “I had forgotten to ask your name, and I felt like a fool. I did not know how to find you, but you found me.

  “When you walked into my mother’s drawing room, you were wearing an ivory gown threaded with gold and I knew before me stood a vision of my future.” I pulled another ribbon from my pocket, ivory and gold. I laid it across the other. “The day that I showed you why I was called Saint John, you were wearing dark green, and I wondered not for the first time, why you would choose to spend time with me.

  “You were wonderful with the children, and when we were in the carriage, I knew you understood me.” I laid a dark green ribbon over the other two, then started to braid them together. “At the lake I knew that our hearts beat as one.” Her cheeks turned pink, and I knew she was remembering our first kiss, but her eyes widened when I pulled a small gold heart from my pocket. I slipped the braid through the loop on the heart then tied the ends.

  “As a braid, these ribbons, that were once alone, now become a cord, unable to be pulled apart. That is my promise to you. If you will marry me, Guinevere, I promise to be as constant and strong for you as this cord.”

  Tears sparkled in her eyes, but they did not fall as she said, “Yes, I will marry you.”

  I picked up her hand and kissed her palm then kissed the heart on the braid. “You will never know the full depth of my feelings for you.” That was true enough.

  She held my hand and looked into my eyes, her own looking serious. “There is one small matter. I would appreciate it if we could keep this between the two of us for the time being.” She smiled persuasively, “I have no desire to either take the attention away from your mother and Richard or to be the subject of so much talk, for people will talk when they learn of this.”

  “I assure you, I will not speak of this to anyone. For now, I shall leave you and call again on the morrow.”

  She waylaid me, grabbing my hand. “I am afraid that I have plans with Edith Harvey that I cannot cancel, but we shall see one another again at the Knowlton’s ball in four days time.”

  Edith? I said nothing, because I did not want to give offense, but I was surprised. Instead of speaking, I smiled, drawing her closer until my nose brushed hers. “It shall be the longest four days of my life.”

  Guinevere smiled, and I was undone. My hand went around her waist, pulling her against my chest as I kissed her like I had done at the lake, but this time I did not pull away. Her arms wrapped around my neck, holding me so tight that there was no space between our chests. I kissed her until we were both gasping for air.

  When she walked me to the front door, she raised her beaming face up and placed her soft lips against my cheek. “Goodbye, John.”

  “Goodbye, Guinevere.” I bowed low over her hand, kissed it, and left her standing there as I let myself out of the house.

  Whistling as
I walked home, my plans were falling together perfectly.