Forever My Love (Berkeley-Faulkner #2)(129)

“I don’t see that there’s much you can do to stop Carr from leaving,” the matriarch said. “And your bullish temper isn’t going to convince him to change his mind either. He won’t be talked out of it.”

“Carr,” Mira interceded, “are you certain that leaving England to search for Leila Holburn is what you want?”

“It’s what I want,” Carr said, his green eyes sincere. “I know everyone thinks that it’s merely out of obligation to Holt, but it’s more than that.”

“I asked Juliana to help me. talk him out of it,” Alec said grimly, “thinking that she would take a practical view of it all. And instead—probably just to confuse me—she prattled to him for an hour about knights and quests and all sorts of chivalric balderd—”

Juliana interrupted with a derisive snort. “I never prattle, Alec. And I dislike your implication that my advice to him has been less than sound. Furthermore, he’s not a boy any longer, and he has the right to make decisions unaided by you, or me, or anyone else.”

“Not when he has no idea what kind of trouble he can bring on himself!” Alec said, scowling. “We’re not talking about sending him on a tour abroad! He’s going to a place where none of us will be able to help him out of his scrapes.”

“I daresay it will be safer than London,” Juliana said.

“Not for a greenhead like Carr, it won’t!”According to Guillaume, Leila had been kidnapped, sold by Stop Hole Abbey, and sent to Northern Africa. There was no way of knowing who had her or where she was now, but Carr had surprised them all with the announcement that he intended to find her. Perhaps it had been his recent visit to Leila’s family that had sparked the idea… perhaps it was merely out of a feeling of obligation to Holt’s memory… but whatever the reason, Carr seemed determined to search for her. Mira felt a wave of sympathy and understanding as she looked at Alec’s young cousin. Over the past few days he seemed to have left his boyhood behind. He had dealt with Guillaume with unexpected maturity, deciding to spare his life, and he saw to it personally that Guillaume was put on a ship to Australia. There Guillaume would have a difficult life to face, filled with work and hardship—and maybe it would change him for the better. Mira would always be grateful to Carr for his mercy toward her brother.

“Alec is just being protective,” she whispered to Carr while Juliana and Alec continued to argue. “He feels responsible for those he cares about—and though he won’t admit it, he’s become very fond of you.”

“I know,” Carr said, chuckling softly. “We’ll all be glad when the baby’s born—he’ll be too involved with his son or daughter to give much thought to the rest of us.”

“I wouldn’t lay odds on that,” Mira replied, and they smiled at each other.

“Are you against my going?” he asked.

Mira hesitated for a moment, then reached around her neck and took off the Falkner medallion discreetly. Wrapping the rope chain around the gleaming object, she held the solid weight of it in her palm. “You brought this back to me,” she said, looking at him steadily. “It was once given to Alec as a sign of his coming of age. Take it with you on your journey, as a sign of my faith in you, mine and Alec’s.” She grinnedat him. “And bring it back safely, or he’ll have my head.”

“Thank you,” he said simply, taking the medallion and pocketing it, ducking his head to hide the emotion in his eyes.

Mira smiled and called across the room to her husband. “Alec, I believe I’ll retire now. It’s been a very long day.”

“I’ll accompany you upstairs,” Alec replied automatically, throwing both Juliana and Carr a dark look. “We’ll finish this conversation tomorrow.”

Mira slipped her hand into his as they walked upstairs to the keep.

“Juliana’s filling his head with nonsense,” Alec grumbled. “Can you picture him prancing through Africa, looking for that girl? He doesn’t even know what she looks like!”

“Perhaps he should go. Have you considered what there is for him to do now? His brother’s death has been explained. His books no longer hold the interest for him that they used to. He seems to think that he has little in common with his friends now. He’s anxious to exercise his newfound independence. Perhaps he needs a quest.”

“There are more practical things for him to set his energies toward,” Alec said, picking her up when they reached the landing and carrying her to the bedroom.

“I agree.” She hooked her arms around his neck. “But none of your suggestions would be as romantic as the idea of rescuing a fair lady in distress, would they?”

Alec grinned down at her reluctantly, his eyes twinkling. “No, they wouldn’t.”

“There you have it,” she said reasonably. “Now, are we going to continue talking about this for the next few hours, or do you have any other suggestions about how we should spend the rest of the night?”

“I have a few,” he admitted, depositing her on thebed and sitting down beside her. “There’s only one problem.”

“What is that?”

“Tonight’s not long enough for everything I have in mind.”

“We have more than just one night,” Mira said, stretching lazily. “We have forever.”