Lady in Red by Máire Claremont Page B

her. She rocked slowly back and forth, her skin shivering as it prickled from the cold.
    Holy Christ. What had happened to his Calypso? Her mind had been ruined, dismantled. Rage pummeled him. A blind, aimless rage at whatever bastard had done this to her. How was a man, even a man driven as he, supposed to change that ?
    Dry sobs shook her whole body as she continued to rock herself.
    Edward ground his teeth, his hands flexing and unflexing with pent-up frustration. He couldn’t just stand here. But what? What could he do? At last, he crossed to her and very slowly knelt before her.
    Her eyes were wide, staring up toward the ceiling.
    His heart demanded he reach out and pull her to him, but he resisted. “Who hurt you?”
    She didn’t answer, her body moving back and forth in a steady motion.
    “You’re safe, Mary.” His own limbs shook with fury as he willed her to hear him. “You’re safe. You’re here with me.”
    She hesitated in her rocking and her brows drew together as confusion spread across her face.
    Seizing on the change, he murmured, “It’s Edward. Your friend. Your protector.” It was true. He was. And it was more certain than anything ever had been in his life. She had been destroyed by another man, just like the girl his father had so brutally murdered. Just like that girl he had not saved. Now his very blood depended on protecting this woman. It was what he had been waiting for his whole life.
    Blinking slowly, she lowered her eyes to his. Her body slowed its rocking. “Edward,” she repeated carefully, her voice barely audible.
    “Yes. Edward.” He lifted his hand slowly, trying to draw her attention. “Look at me,” he said softly, yet firmly.
    Still shaking, she slowly turned her face to his. Her eyes widened in horror and recognition. “Oh—” She swallowed back her tears. “Edward.”
    Relief hit him as hard as a pugilist’s blow. She’d come back to herself, away from whatever nightmare had stolen her away. It was a sweeter feeling than he had ever known.
    “I—” The slender muscles in her throat worked as she swallowed again. “Forgive me.”
    “Cease asking for forgiveness. You’re not at fault for any of this.” How he longed to explain she never need ask for his forgiveness. It was she who needed the apologies. Apologies for a world that had taken her innocence and brutalized it until she was this broken woman.
    But she wasn’t broken. Damaged, certainly, but not undone. He knew it. Even now, blessed awareness and intelligence shone brightly in her violet eyes. And strength. Who else was as strong as she, who had survived so much?
    Mary looked down and her fingertips traced over her thighs. “I don’t know what to do.”
    He smiled, a gesture meant to assure. The very effort to turn his lips felt foreign, but it was important to set her at ease. “For now, all that matters is that you are here with me.”
    Edward started to reach out to her. She flinched and hugged herself tightly. He pulled back, holding his hands out to show he meant no harm. “I only wish to comfort you.”
    She lifted her fingers to her brow, worrying her forehead before nodding.
    His muscles ached as inch by carefully bought inch, he reached out his hand and gently took hers in his. “Will you tell me what happened just now?”
    Her fingers were still for a moment, then returned his grasp. “No.”
    His heart grew heavy, though he couldn’t help but feel a small measure of relief that she’d accepted his touch. “I wish to help you.”
    Her face contorted into a map of pain. “Perhaps—” She sucked in a sharp breath. “Perhaps you can’t.” She stared firmly into his eyes. A sad knowledge filled her young eyes with shadows. “Perhaps no one c-can.”
    Her lips trembled and her face twisted with the effort of speech. “Not even God,” she said.
    “I refuse to believe that.”
    A dry smile curved her mouth into a mockery of a grin. “Ever the optimist?”
    “I will not