concerned. Maybe in time you will come back. Maybe in time you will love me as I love you."
He cussed and stormed to her side. "It"s not that I don"t love you, Anne. You know I do. But-"
"But your pride will keep you from having all that should be yours," she interrupted again.
Merrick wondered what was wrong with the la.s.s. Couldn"t she see it was impossible for them to be together now? That he was cursed? That she would be cursed right along with him? Never mind she would have been regardless of what he was but because of who he was. It was foolish of him to agree to her proposal of marriage. What had he been thinking? That she could make him more than he was?
She had already made him more than he ever dreamed he"d be. Loved, by a woman like her. Thoughts of revenge against her cla.s.s had faded beside the wonder of her love. He"d judged all by the actions of one man. Anne had shown him there was goodness still left in the world, kindness to be found from others, never mind if they lived in a grand house or a stable.
Through her, he had felt hope. Hope that he might rise above who he was and be a better man. Now he knew being a better man had nothing to do with what side of the blanket he was born on or where he called home. But he learned these lessons too late. Now he was not even a man. He was something else.
Merrick stared down at Anne, standing with her blanket draped around her, chin held high. Even without her fine clothes and her fancy manners, she was a lady through and through. His mother would have liked her. And Anne was right. It was his cursed pride that made him less than he could be. It had always been his pride.
"What would you have me do, Anne?"
Her eyes softened. "I want you to marry me, Merrick. I want you to go to your half brothers and speak to them about what has happened to you. If they invite you into their lives, then you must accept and claim them as your kin. Just as I will."
He took a deep breath. His pride was a hard thing to set aside, but for her he would. "If that is your wish, Anne. For you, I will surrender my pride. For you, I will do anything."
Her face seemed to light from within. Her smile nearly blinded him. She started to reach for him, but the pain suddenly came upon Merrick again. He doubled over. He placed his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. The next pain sent him to the ground.
"Merrick!"
Anne"s voice came to him from a long way off. Sweat beaded his brow. This could not be happening. It was the light of day, not night, with a full moon hanging in the sky. Could this curse be something that grew stronger daily? Would he soon cease to be a man altogether?
"Merrick!"
He felt Anne"s hand upon his shoulder and twisted away from her. "Don"t, Anne," he warned. "Stay back. It"s happening again." His eyes frantically searched the camp. "The pistol, Anne! Where is it?"
"I won"t use it. I don"t need it," she said, bending down beside him. "I trust you, Merrick. You still haven"t learned to trust yourself."
She was vulnerable. She did not even have her clothing to protect her from his teeth, his claws, should he attack her. Trust was easy enough when he had control of himself, but when the animal took him...
"Where is the pistol?" he repeated, another sharp pain cutting into his stomach.
She didn"t answer, but her eyes moved toward the pack at the base of the tree where she"d spread their bedrolls for the night.
Merrick staggered to his feet and toward the pack. Anne was on his heels and they both grabbed for the pack at the same time.
"No, Merrick!" she sobbed.
He pushed her away and reached into the pack, removing the pistol. The pistol was cold in his hand and he shook so badly he wondered if he could c.o.c.k and shoot it. d.a.m.n if he would live his life as an animal. He steadied the gun, stared down the long,
smooth barrel; then his gaze lifted to Anne. Her beautiful eyes were awash with tears, pleading, loving. She held out a hand to him.
"Don"t do this to me," she whispered. "If you take your life, you take mine."
He hesitated.
"Trust in yourself, Merrick," she said. "Trust in me."
Could he? He"d never trusted anyone besides his poor mother. She"d trusted a man once. A man who had pushed her aside
quickly enough when he learned she carried his child. It was man"s nature, Merrick had since learned, to take the easy road. It
had been his... until now. Slowly, he lowered the weapon.
"For you, I promised I would do anything. I will trust as you trust, Anne." Suddenly Merrick was thrown backward against the tree. It knocked the air from him, and as he opened his mouth to gasp, a blue light spilled forth. His vision blurred. His throat burned. Tears ran from his eyes and he could not close his mouth, could not breathe. The light took form, took shape, that of a wolf. Only when the shape was complete and stood between him and Anne could he suck air into his lungs. The animal stared at him as he straggled to regain his breath. Merrick stared back.
"Begone with you, wolf," he growled.
The shape slunk slowly off into the woods.
"Merrick!" Anne was beside him, her cool hands brushing his hair from his face. "What happened?"
He wasn"t sure... but he felt different now. Different than he"d ever felt before. It was almost as if he were blind, deaf, but no, his abilities had only weakened to what he supposed normal people saw and heard. He glanced up at Anne"s pale face.
"I think it"s gone from me," he told her. "The gifts, the curse, whatever it was. It is gone."
"Gone?" she whispered. "Are you certain, Merrick?"
He was, and Merrick didn"t know how he felt about that yet. The gifts had been part of him; the curse had only come recently.
He was only a man now. But no, he was a man in love with a woman. One who would stand beside him, cursed or no.
"I"m certain," he answered.
Anne sat back on her heels, looking rather stunned by what had just happened. "What should we do?"
There was only one thing to do. Get on with the rest of their lives. He took Anne"s chilled hand in his and kissed her fingers. "I"m thinking we should be off to Gretna Green. I plan to marry you today, Lady Anne."
Her lips trembled when she smiled, but she was made of st.u.r.dier stuff than she knew. Then she frowned. "It has just occurred to me that you have no last name to give me, Merrick." He thought on that, but only for a moment. "My name is Wulf, Merrick Wulf, and I"m thinking after we get ourselves wed, it"s time to pay my half brothers a visit. We may need their help in the coming days."
Tears glistened in her eyes. "You would do that for me?"
Merrick pulled her into his arms. "I told you, I will do anything for you, Anne."
"Anything?" she asked, glancing up from beneath her lashes.
She was naked beneath the blanket and Merrick was thinking it wouldn"t take him long to recover from becoming a man and
only a man. He thought he knew what his lady love wanted.
"We"ve got all day to get to Gretna Green," he said, bending to kiss her. "What would you ask of me, Anne?"
She placed a finger against his lips to stop him. "I want to ride your horse, bareback, in nothing at all."
Merrick blinked down at her. It wasn"t the start he"d imagined to their new life together, but as he"d promised, he could deny her nothing.
"And you will," he a.s.sured her, bending to kiss her again. "But later."