Embrace the Night

Page 9



tears. And then she had smiled at him, a sweet, innocent smile filled with trust, and he had vowed to protect her for as long as she lived.

He had searched the rooms, looking for the child's mother, but there was no sign that anyone lived in the house. The furniture was covered; the closets were empty.

He had cursed softly, wondering who would abandon such a precious child.

He had learned later that Sara was the child of Adalaina Duncan, and that the woman had fled her home in the middle of the night. The townspeople had assumed she had taken the child with her.

Late that night, he had taken Sara to the orphanage run by the Sisters of Eternal Mercy.

When he handed her to the nuns, she had stared up at him, her little face looking sad, as if she realized she would never see him again.

He had watched over her ever since…

A long, slow sigh escaped his lips as he stared into the blackened hearth. Sara. What would he do if she tried to take her life while he slept? What would his life be like without her?

Have you come to take me to heaven? The sound of her voice echoed in his mind, as did his own cryptic reply: That I could never do. Truer words had never been spoken, he thought, for he was far beyond the reach of heaven.

And is your name Gabriel? she had asked, to which he had replied, If you wish.

A faint smile curved the corner of his mouth. He had lived many lives and worn many names, but none pleased him more than the one she had given him.

For this lifetime, her lifetime, he would be Gabriel.
Chapter Three

With a sigh, Sara closed the book she had been reading. Another happily-ever-after ending, she thought despondently. If only real life, her life, would end like that. If only there were a Prince Charming waiting in her future, eager to carry her off on his prancing white charger; a tall dark handsome man who could look past the wheelchair and see the woman.

She stared at the closed veranda doors, remembering the mysterious man who had come to her in the dark of the night. A faint smile curved her lips. All day, she had thought of him, her imagination creating one fantasy after another.

He was a prince in disguise looking for his own Cinderella.
He was an eccentric nobleman searching for the perfect mate, and she was it. He was a depraved monster from a childhood dream, and only she could save him…

A small sound of disgust erupted from her throat. No man, whether prince or monster, would ever want a woman bound to a chair. What prince would want a princess who couldn't walk? What monster could