Read Online Cates, Kimberly by Stealing Heaven - Free Book Online Page A

I'm scarcely at death's door. I'm not planning to die for a
very long time." He touched the tip of her nose with his finger. "The
angels wouldn't have me, and the devil would be afraid I'd take over his
domain."
    "It's
not funny, Papa. My mother didn't plan to die either. It just...
happened."
    Happened?
No, Aidan thought with a flood of bitterness, it hadn't just happened. Delia
Kane had put herself into danger on purpose, not giving a damn what the
consequences would be as long as she could get revenge on the husband she
hated. When the carriage had overturned, she'd had no one to blame but herself.
She'd been reckless and foolhardy, courting disaster the way she had wooed
countless lovers.
    Aidan
froze at the thought of revelations he didn't want to face. Truths about
himself that were sobering.
    Wasn't
that what he did every time he rode away from Rathcannon? Dash himself into a
hundred different situations where the mere flick of a sword blade, the blast
of a pistol barrel, the wild charge of horse or curricle could send him
catapulting into hell?
    He'd
made certain Cassandra would be cared for in the event of his death. His
solicitors had enough money in trust to allow her to live in the luxury she was
accustomed to. But as to who would protect her, shelter her... love her...
he hadn't dealt with that. It was too painful. But it was obvious from the
expression on Cassandra's face that she had thought about it enough for the
both of them.
    "Oh,
Princess..." Aidan stroked her cheek, aching for her.
    She
was peering up at him through tear-spiked lashes, contrite, chastened, in a way
that made Aidan suspect he'd do anything to see her smile.
    "Papa,
I'm sorry that I didn't warn you before Miss Linton arrived." A tiny
crease appeared between soft blond brows. "I know it was... was probably a
silly idea. But if you didn't want to marry anyone else, I guess I hoped you
wouldn't mind very much if I asked you to marry her. Her letters were so
wonderful. So..." She pulled the beribboned bundle from where it had been
half hidden by the folds of her wrapper. "I brought them to you. I
thought— thought you might want to read—" Her voice caught. "Never
mind. I love you, Papa. I'm sorry I ruined your birthday."
    With
that she slipped from his arms and started toward the door, leaving the bundle
of letters in his lap.
    "Cass,"
Aidan called after her. She paused and looked over her shoulder, her lips
trembling.
    "You
know, you could pull the whole castle down on my head, and I would still think
you were the most wonderful creature ever born. I would do anything in my power
to make you happy, Princess."
    "Would
you, Papa?" It was the softest of questions, the most moving of pleas.
    Aidan
turned toward the stone-carved fireplace and stared into the flames. He was
dead certain he would walk through fire for his beloved daughter.
    The
question was, did he have the courage—no, the stark insanity—to risk a far more
dangerous hell? To repeat to another woman the wedding vows he had exchanged
with Delia so many years before? Vows that had sent them both upon their
separate paths down to perdition?
    Blast
it, that was too much to ask of him. Too much even for Cassandra.
    Papa,
I don't want to be alone....
    His
daughter's words wisped back to him, curling deep into his soul where his own
most painful secrets lay, shattering him more deeply than any other words could
have.
    They
pulsed there inside him as the night wore on, tugging at him the way Cass's
tiny fingers had when she was small, insistent, compelling, the only thing that
could move Sir Aidan Kane's jaded heart.
    Twice
he nearly threw the bundle of letters into the fire. When he finally pulled the
ribbon free, and the first pages fell into his hands, he cursed himself for a
fool.
    I
understand the pain of searching for a kindred spirit, needing someone to
banish the loneliness. I have often felt the same. Ghosts of the past can be a
horrible burden, yet so can a future without