Chapter 85 - Reunited

Delaney screamed for only a second before she was grabbed around the waist and plunged under the water. When she came up a moment later, sputtering and coughing, she was in familiar arms and a grinning face was looking down at her.

"Y-you scared me half to death," Delaney managed to get out before a deep chuckle rumbled in her husband's chest and he kissed her.

Delaney wrapped her arms tightly around him and he held her close too. She was so excited and relieved he was home again, she felt tears stinging in her eyes. She felt the warmth of his skin against hers, cool from the lake, tasted his familiar taste, and reveled in the feeling of them being together again.

"I love you so much," she whispered to him as they came apart, "Please don't leave me for so long again."

Vincent chuckled and rested his forehead against hers, "I'll try not to love. But I see you're enjoying your surprise I arranged."

Delaney giggled as he looked over her shoulder at the others. She turned around too, making sure to keep his arms around her, not wanting to be apart from him again any time soon.

"You're getting slow old man," Miles teased, "That took ages. Luckily you have us to come to look after your wife for you."

Delaney frowned at him in annoyance, "I don't believe I needed any looking after thank you very much."

Miles grinned, looking like his older brother before Delaney splashed him.

Vincent gave Miles and Bernard his thanks before saying hello to Constance and Cora, thanking them for coming as well.

"Edgewood has been lovely," Constance admitted, "But after this, I think we'd all prefer to be at your beach house."

Delaney felt Vincent tense behind her but turning to look up at his face, she saw he had managed to keep his happy expression in place. Under the water, she found his hand and held it in hers.

"We'll have to see. I never sent ahead to have it opened for the season. I'll speak with Delaney this evening though and we'll have to consider it."

"Good," Constance beamed, "I've never been to the ocean."

Vincent smiled at her before turning to his brother with a serious expression.

"Tell me what you found in the woods. Nothing?"

Miles swallowed, seeming suddenly smaller than his older brother. "We found strange tracks near the spot Delaney saw the thing. We searched in the woods all around there though and up into the hills and we didn't find anything. The tracks didn't go far."

Vincent turned to look down at his wife, "And what did this thing look like exactly?"

Delaney felt embarrassed. She was the only one who'd seen this creature and now there was no real evidence it had ever been there at all. She wondered if they all thought she'd just imagined it.

At least if they did think she was crazy she was thankful they hadn't said anything.

She took a deep breath before quickly and quietly explaining exactly what she had seen in the forest... which wasn't much. To her relief, her husband didn't question her sanity either. Instead, he frowned in concentration.

"It wasn't a bear or a wolf," he muttered to himself, "I don't know what it could be. It doesn't sound like... anything really."

"I'm sorry," Delaney looked down at the water.

"No," he said quickly, shaking his head as if shaking away the thoughts and letting his smile return, "Let's not worry about it for now. I just got back and it's hot but this water is refreshingly cool. We can talk about it more later."

The others seemed to agree because Miles and Bernard immediately started drilling him with questions about the state of things at his other estates.

They all talked, catching up and answering questions, but as soon as she could, Delaney pulled Vincent away to herself. They swam a bit away from the others and deep enough until only their heads and shoulders were above the water.

Delaney wrapped her arms around her husband's neck, smiling at him lovingly. She tugged on his collar then and giggled.

"Why are you still wearing your shirt? The other men are in just their breeches."

Vincent looked down, "Ah well I thought it would be best not to scare them. Miles has seen me undressed but not Bernard. And the girls I definitely wouldn't want to submit to that."

Delaney's smile slipped from her face as she pulled herself closer to him, kissing his scarred cheek. "They know you have scars love. Cora has seen much worse things in her time nursing other soldiers. Bernard was in the war with you so he knows how horrible things were. And Constance is made of tougher stuff too. She wouldn't have been offended by the sight."

"You may be right my lady but I would rather not have their pity either. If people aren't afraid of me they tend to smother me with pity."

Delaney tucked one finger under his chin and turned him back to face her. She met his green gaze with a smile before playfully kissing the tip of his nose.

"It's alright if you want to keep on your shirt. But I do think you're underestimating our friends."

"You're probably right but I just don't want to take the chance right now," he sighed before a smile began to tug at his lips, "Right now I just want to hold my beautiful wife who I've missed and receive every sweet kiss she's saved for me."

Delaney laughed before obliging him, twisting her fingers into his black hair to tilt his face to meet hers. She kissed him deeply and as she did, his hand slid down to take a hold of her leg which she hooked around his waist.

"God I want you," he whispered when they eased away from their kissing, "I want us naked in our bed together this very moment."

She giggled and held his face in her hands, happy to just look at him after not seeing him for days. She kissed him again and felt the familiar spring winding up inside her.

"I don't think we can go home and lock ourselves in our bedroom for the rest of the day without looking terribly rude."

"I don't give a damn about how we'll look," he whispered to her, his voice coming out like a growl as he spun in the water, making her laugh and hold on tighter to him.

"What if I steal you away into the woods and we curl up on a blanket in the grass?" he questioned with a mischievous grin, "We could say I want to discuss the accounts with you."

Delaney smiled back at him before stealing a quick kiss.

"Alright."

"Alright?"

"Alright," she giggled "But you have to go get the blanket from one of the horses. We brought some for after we were done swimming."

"My pleasure," he grinned before hurrying out of the water to do as she'd said.

The others were too distracted to notice their hosts slip from the water and sneak away into the trees. Vincent and Delaney held hands as they worked their way through the woods, careful to make sure they weren't in view of the guards.

At last satisfied they wouldn't be discovered, Vincent took the blanket from where Delaney had held it wrapped around her and spread it out in a little clearing they had come to. When he turned back to look at her, she saw something flash across his eyes.

Looking down at herself, Delaney saw her soaked underdress clung to her skin, leaving nothing to the imagination. She blushed and automatically moved to cover herself but he caught her hands and instead pulled her to him.

Delaney pulled his shirt over his head before reaching to hang it over a close branch and beginning her work on his breeches. The wet cloth stuck to them but he managed to get them off at last before pulling his wife to him again and kissing her passionately.

Vincent didn't bother with her thin, film of covering, picking her up and letting it rise on its own as she wrapped her legs around him. Turning, he lowered her to the ground and she felt all of his muscles tighten and move as he did so. Delaney found herself again in awe of how strong and powerful her husband was.

When they came together it was slow and loving as they soaked in their happiness at being reunited. They had to be quiet so as not to draw attention to themselves but neither really minded.

After they had finished, Vincent dropped down beside her on the small blanket, laying on his stomach with his hands creating a sort of pillow for his head. Delaney moved closer to him, curled on her side and resting her head on his arm.

Lulled to sleep then by the summer heat, they didn't think to move or return to the others, simply enjoying being together again.

It was more than an hour later when something woke Delaney from her sleep. It was a noise of some sort. It came again and this time Vincent stirred, blinking awake but otherwise holding very still as he looked into Delaney's eyes.

The sound came again, something like a shuffling and creaking. It was close now. So close Delaney felt her heart begin to quicken and the hairs on the back of her neck raise.

They were so exposed. Why had they fallen asleep here so exposed and far from their friends and guards? So far from safety?

Vincent didn't say anything but he stared at her very seriously. After a moment, the muscles in his arms flexed as he slowly moved to lift his head to see over and behind her.

The noise came again and he breathed in quickly through his nose, freezing, as his eyes went wide. Delaney knew it had happened.

Whatever had been watching her from the woods was there.

It had found them.