She glanced up at him, clutching Cressida’s body closer to her chest. Every last fiber of courage drained. She shook her head in silence. Over and over and over, but he continued walking toward her.
He raised his gun at her face.
She prayed to heaven he would pull the trigger.
CHAPTER 19
They were so close.
The rocks jutted toward the sky from the top of the mountain, just as the elder Lord Livingstone had said they would. Mist hovered across the valley, climbing the edges of the many mountains like a white shroud of doom.
William’s skin chilled with the light drizzle of rain. The distance was unbearable, because he knew not what awaited him.Dear Saviour, let her be unscathed.
“I fear this is out of the question.” Colonel Nagel urged his steed next to Lord Gresham. “It is no small wonder the elder Lord Livingstone could not retrieve his daughter. Send a regiment up that slope and they would be cut down before they even reached the rocks.”
“Some shall make it.” Edward ripped off his hat. “Enough to get Isabella out of that place.”
“If she so desires.”
Sharp anger drilled into William at the same time Edward snapped his head to the colonel. “How dare you imply that my daughter—”
“I imply nothing, my lord. But we must take all possibilities into consideration. As we have heard, Digby has many powers of persuasion. Perhaps Miss Gresham, like Miss Livingstone, ran away of her own accord—”
“You disgrace my daughter once more with such scandal and I shall have satisfaction now.”
The colonel tugged at his collar and cleared his throat. “Of course, my lord. I did not mean—”
“I do not give a devil what you meant. Are you sending your men or not?”
“Without knowing how many await us behind those rocks—”
“Answer the question!”
The colonel’s thin shoulders deflated. “Forgive me, my lord, but good conscience would not permit me to. I cannot risk the lives of my regiment. Even accompanying you this far has been more than I—”
William spurred his horse toward the mountain before Colonel Nagel could finish his excuses. Fire burned in his gut. What kind of frightened mouse ran from danger when a woman they all knew and respected was in jeopardy? Had the colonel no pride? Had he no manhood?
“William.” Lord Gresham hurried his horse next to Duke. “What do you think you are doing?”
“Stay here with the men and make camp. If I am not returned within two mornings, ride for more men—”
“You are not going up there alone.”
William wiped rain from his face.
“It is impossible,” Edward said. “It is certain death. Ride back with us now and we shall retrieve help. Men who are not women, too afraid to fight—”
“It could be too late.” If it wasn’t already. “One man, perhaps, can climb the mountain without being seen.”
“This is unreasonable madness.”
William rode faster.
“You cannot possibly rescue my daughter. You cannot possibly …” The sentence lingered and Lord Gresham kicked his horse in front of Duke. The strain of these past days, the lack of sleep, the torture of the unknown—all opened up in his expression and bled from his eyes. “Why are you doing this?”
William squeezed his fingers around the wet leather reins. Too many emotions coursed through him. Reasons he had no words for. The seashore and the scent of her hair and the pulse of his heart at every sight of her.
Swallowing hard, he said the only thing he could think of. “Because I do not run.”
