She Knelt in the Rain and Called Him Raymond

CHAPTER 1 - THE MAN IN THE ALLEY

"Raymond! I said yes. I will marry you. Please save me."

The words cut through rain, traffic, and the rustle of wet newspapers.

The man crouched beside the garbage bags looked up slowly. He wore a worn dark gray work jacket. His shoulder-length brown hair hung in wet strands across his face. Mud and beard hid most of his features, but not his eyes.

Blue. Sharp. Frightened.

Amelia dropped to one knee in the puddled street, uncaring that the hem of her fitted ivory gown darkened with dirty water. Her blond hair, pinned low and neat only an hour ago, had come loose at the temples. Tears clung to her lashes.

Behind her, the bodyguards she had paid in cash formed a tense line, watching both ends of the block.

The man stared at her as if she were mad.

"Who are you?" he asked. "Why do you know my name?"

Amelia's breath shook. For three years she had searched hospitals, shelters, morgues, and police records. Three years of being told to let go. Three years of smiling beside men she did not trust while carrying one secret in the lining of her dress.

She reached into the hidden pocket and pulled out the old silver crest.

Rain slid over the worn metal, over the gryphon and curling vines carved into its face.

"Look at this crest," she whispered. "Please, Raymond, you have to remember."

His dirty fingers moved toward it.

Then stopped.

His whole body tightened. His pupils widened. He looked at the crest as if it had opened a locked room inside him.

"I... know this."

A black Mercedes G-Wagon screeched to the curb. Water sprayed across the asphalt.

A man leaned from the rear door, elegant even in fury.

"Amelia, stop!" he shouted. "Do not show him the crest. Do not let him remember!"

Raymond grabbed the crest.

His hand clenched white around it.

Then he threw back his head and let out a cry so raw it made even the bodyguards step back.

And as Amelia rose to reach him, the furious man in the car shouted a name that froze her blood.

"Get my brother away from her!"