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It was her, but different, even with the same freckled cheeks and rosy lips. But she’d grown into herself, having shed her youth and blossomed into a woman. It was evident in the curves she boasted under that simple grey gown, in the way she carried herself, even though she held her cloak tightly around her to cover her torn gown.
“It is you,” she breathed, those eyes searching his face as if she truly couldn’t believe it. “How can this be? I’ve been searching for you for so long that now that you’re standing before me, I—”
William watched her eyes fill with tears, her hand covering her mouth as if to hold back her sob. The sight tore at him but he said nothing. He’d been struck dumb.
“What are you doing in a place like this?” Elizabeth asked him. She clutched his sleeve, her fingers digging into his arm. She didn’t seem to realize it as desperation filled her voice. “Is this where you’ve been all this time? Why haven’t you contacted me in so many years?”
Those were questions he’d spent seven years hoping he would never have to hear. Memories came rushing to the fore and William determinedly pushed them back down.
“What were you thinking following a stranger like that?” William snapped, his voice far harsher than he’d intended. Now that he knew the woman was Elizabeth, the weight of what might have happened had William not followed them grew heavier. He let out a shuddering breath, knowing very well that anger was filling his features and not knowing how to hide it.
The Elizabeth he’d always known would have scowled at his tone. She would have bit back at him, crossing her arms in a defiant nature. He expected her to come up with an excuse as to why she’d foolishly followed a stranger down a lonely street, an excuse that would have been obviously fabricated on the spot. Perhaps he might have laughed inwardly at her audacity, even though outrage was still filling him.
But Elizabeth didn’t cross her arms. She didn’t lift her chin and scowl and tell him a ridiculous reason for doing something so dangerous. She recoiled instead, her hand falling from his sleeve. As if she was afraid of what he might do, she took a step back like a frightened doe. Those tear-filled eyes didn’t make him feel any better.
“I…” She lifted her hand to the collar of her cloak, gripping it tightly. Her eyes slid away. “I…don’t know. I was afraid that—”
“Never mind,” William said curtly. He didn’t want to hear it. He didn’t want to listen to her soft voice while the image of her pressed against a cold wall by such a disgusting man filled his mind. “Stay out of trouble.”
He turned, tucking his hands back into his coat, intending to walk away. Her vice grip took hold of his sleeve once more. William’s heart thudded in his chest, his throat clogging. Waves of foreign emotions washed over him all at once and it was all he could do not to face her again.
“You can’t leave,” she whispered. The sound tore at him but he kept his back to her. If he dared to look into her eyes, the very thing that had always been able to bring him to his knees, he just might break. All these years, he’d held resilient. He’d kept himself away from the eyes of others, kept himself quiet, and put all thoughts of Elizabeth to the back of his mind. To have her appear so suddenly before him right now felt almost unfair to all the progress he’d made over the years.
“William,” she spoke again, her voice louder this time, though still hampered by her tears. William curled his hands into fists, fighting the insane urge to pull her into his arms. He’d only seen Elizabeth cry once before. It was a sight he never wanted to see again. “I came all the way out here to look for you,” she went on. “I can’t…you can’t…you can’t leave me again.”
He turned suddenly, forcing her to let go of him. Like that frightened doe, she winced when his eyes landed on her, but she didn’t look away.
This is the very last thing I need right now.
“Leave,” he told her.
She blinked at that. Then swallowed and raised her chin ever so slightly. “I have nowhere to go.”
That sounded more like the Elizabeth he knew, though her voice was timid. He didn’t lessen his glower, didn’t lift his dark gaze from her. He needed to scare her. “I hesitate to believe that you have truly run away from home. And if that is the case, then return. This is no place for a lady like yourself.”
“And what of you?” she asked before he could turn away. “Is this the sort of neighborhood you should be in? Are you accustomed to men such as the one who accosted me earlier?”
