Riding along a footpath that led through the pastures, she occasionally glanced behind her to make sure her escort stayed with her. Thea tried not to ponder her problems.If Freddie decrees I am to marry Ampleforth, I will have no choice. But then again, none can drag me to the altar.Cheered slightly by that thought, she knew no cleric could force her to marry against her will. “Perhaps I will simply refuse to marry anyone at all,” she mumbled, staring through the mare’s grey ears. “If he says I am to marry that vile man, I will simply refuse. Freddie can try to force me, can threaten me, can lock me in my rooms. But he cannot go against the laws of the church.”
Feeling better, Thea gazed around herself and her horse, noting the clouds deepening on the horizon and suspecting Felicity’s prediction of rain might be accurate. She halted the mare, then reined her around toward Liam and the other footman. “I suppose we should head back,” she said to them. “It looks like rain is coming.”
Both of them bowed. “I believe that is a good plan, My Lady,” Liam said, his voice stony and formal, as though he hated her through and through. “Those clouds may hold lightning and hail.”
“Come along then.”
Thea clucked to the mare, urging her onward, walking her between the two servants down the path. The sheep hustled away from her and her mount, bleating, even as the cows ignored their presence and continued to graze. Perhaps they sensed the coming storm and wanted to fill their bellies as quickly as possible. Her spirits higher, Thea enjoyed herself as she rode, looking out over the green hills and the purple heather.
Breathing deeply of the delicately scented flowers, Thea felt herself relax at last. “He cannot make me marry,” she murmured.
At that very instant, a man, clad in a black cloak with the hood pulled down over his face, sprang up from behind the stone wall that divided the pastures. He threw a blunderbuss up to his shoulder, pointing the deadly end in her direction. Her mare, normally quiet and not spooky, reacted violently. She lunged sideways, throwing Thea from the saddle. The rifle in his hands barked.
Thea hit the ground hard on her left shoulder, her left arm caught under her, snapping the bone. She screamed at the flare of white-hot agony slicing through her even as her head struck the heath. Sparks shot behind her eyes, her scream cut off short. Dazed, she lifted her head at the sound of yet another shot just behind her.
Spinning her face awkwardly, she blinked as the man in the black cloak whipped a dragon from the waistband of his trousers, at first pointing it down toward her. Then, he suddenly swung it up and to his right, aiming at the footmen. She saw the flash from the muzzle at the same time it exploded, smoking, and heard a choked off grunt, then the sound of a body striking the ground.
Liam!
She knew her panicked scream made no noise at all. Holding her broken arm with her healthy right hand, she struggled to sit up, to see, fear wrapped around her heart like a fist. The cloaked man turned and fled, running across the pasture, scattering a flock of sheep before vanishing behind a hill.
A footman in livery bolted past her as though to give chase, but halted at the wall. She could only see the back of him, his hair concealed under the white wig. She cursed the custom that made all footmen appear identical.
Is it Liam? Please, you cannot be shot, Liam.
Liam spun to face her, then trotted back to her, kneeling on the ground. Rage, fear, and panic mixed with the sweat on his face. She barely felt any relief as she half turned to see the body of the other footman. He lay still, but she saw no blood, nothing to show where he had been struck. His back was to her as he lay on his side, motionless. “Oh, God,” she muttered. “Is he dead?”
“I believe so,” Liam said, his voice thick with his fury and fear. “What of you? Are you hit? Did he shoot you, Thea?”
“N – no,” she stammered, unable to stop staring at the body of the footman, whose name she did not know. “My arm. It is broken.”
“Let me see.”
Thea finally turned her face from the dead man, permitting Liam to gently examine her left arm. He met her eyes grimly after taking a close look. “Yes, it is broken. Do you think you can get back on your horse?”
Thea shook her head, glancing once more at the other footman. “Make sure he is dead, Liam,” she told him, trembling, feeling cold. “What if he is still alive? Maybe we can help him.”
“Thea,” Liam said, his tone gentle, his brows furrowed as he gazed intently into her eyes. “The shot took him in the face. Do not look at him, I beg you.”
Feeling tears rise, choking off her breath, Thea nodded. “I will not look.”
“Good. Now listen to me, Thea. I am going to go over there and get his handkerchief, all right? Do not watch me, do not look at him. That is not something you need to see.”
Thea closed her eyes. “Just do it.”
She felt him rise and heard him step away from her, her guilt rising and adding to the need to weep.I should never have gone riding.“I killed him, Liam,” she said, her voice shaking. “Had I not wanted to go ride –”
“That monster killed him, Thea.”
Liam’s voice had never sounded more harsh, or more cold than it did right now. She shivered to hear it, feeling the cold within her deepen, and squeeze her heart. That warm, strong, sweet-natured Liam owned a voice that spoke of darkness and death chilled her to her very core. “That man will pay, Thea. I swear it.”
“It could have been you,” she whispered, unshed tears burning her eyes. “Oh God, it could be you lying there.”
Suddenly he was beside her, kneeling again. She opened her eyes, finding his handsome face, those incredible green eyes, so close to hers. While he did not exactly smile, his countenance lightened a fraction, warmed her and sent the icy chill in her blood fleeing under the intensity of that loving look.
“His name was John,” he said, his voice low and husky. “He was a good man. I watched as the man in black pointed the pistol at you, and I thought for certain you were dead. But John made as though to run at him and distracted him. He shot John instead of you.”
Chapter 22
