“She took Cinnamon out about five hours ago,” the groomsmen explained, looking nervously between Winston and the lady’s maid. “I assumed that was why you are here? We were beginning to feel that she has been gone too long—we fear an injury.”
“Saddle my horse at once!” Winston ordered. A cold feeling had fallen over him, like he had been doused in water.Injury.If she was out there, alone and injured, he would never forgive himself. Especially when he was the one who had left her alone. He should have been out riding with her, making her feel welcome and at ease in her new home. Instead, he had been ignoring her for his own selfish reason.
The groomsman brought out his stallion, and Winston mounted him.
“The Duchess didn’t say where she was going, Your Grace,” the groomsman said. “How will you find her?”
“I know where she has gone,” Winston replied as his hands tightened on the reins. When you denied someone one thing and then ignored them, then of course they were going to go after that one thing—just to get your attention.
He would just have to ride as hard and fast as possible and pray that it was not too late.
It was getting cold and dark—so cold that Vanessa could feel the biting of the wind through her pelisse. She hadn’t worn a thick one, not thinking that she would be out so long or so late, and now, she could not stop shivering. Her teeth kept clattering, and the tips of her fingers were beginning to grow numb.
Even worse was the darkness because as it gathered around her, she knew that she could not go back into the woods. In the dark, she would never be able to find her way back out again.
But if I stay on the edge of this cliff, I could fall to my death.
She was trying not to look over the edge. Every time her eye caught on it, her stomach lurched, and she felt like her body was falling forward of its own accord.
Being atop the horse was part of the problem. As night grew, Cinnamon was becoming more skittish. When Cinnamon began to paw the ground anxiously, Vanessa finally dismounted.
“It’s all right, girl, it’s all right,” she said, nuzzling her horse’s snout. “There’s nothing to be afraid of.”
Behind her, she heard an owl hoot, and all the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.It was just an owl,she told herself.Nothing to be afraid of.
The horse, however, had frozen, her ears pricked.
“What is it?” Vanessa whispered. The prickling feeling on the back of her neck was stronger than ever, and she had the crazy feeling that she was being watched. She peered into the dark woods behind her.
“Maybe we should go back,” she murmured, but there were dangerous animals in the woods. She was safer on the cliff’s edge. At least, she hoped she was.
At that very moment, an animal sound came from the woods behind them. Vanessa couldn’t say what it was—it was something between a growl and a howl—but she screamed and fell back, fear ricocheting through her. At the same time, Cinnamon reared up into the air, her front hooves grasping at the darkness. She then turned and galloped into the woods, leaving Vanessa alone on the clifftop.
“No! Cinnamon! Come back!” Vanessa shouted. She began to run in the direction of the woods, but just as she reached the edge of the trees, she stopped. The feeling like she was being watched was stronger than ever. At least out on the cliffs, she could see if something or someone was coming for her, but in those woods, she would be completely in the dark.
What if someone is out there? Brigands or thieves? Or even worse—Lord Langdon!
But no. Lord Langdon was in London. He would not have followed her all the way to Dorset, surely?
“I need to find shelter,” she said out loud to herself.There must be a farmer or woodsman close to here. Or if I follow the cliffs to the west, I will arrive at Lyme-Regis.
Which way was west, though? She thought it was to her right. She had been approaching the sea from the north, making southright ahead of her and west to the right. But what if she had passed Lyme-Regis in the woods? What if it was really east? What if she went the wrong way and only to wander the cliffs for hours until she froze to death or was eaten by wolves?
The feeling that she was being watched was getting stronger. Fear was now so strong in her that she felt like she could barely move. The cold was freezing her, limb by limb. The numbness was now in her arms as well. It was spreading up through her body.
And then she heard it: the sound of hoofbeats. The mare had returned!
She turned back toward the woods, peering hopefully into them. There was a horse—she could make out its outline through the woods—but it wasn’t the mare. This horse was much larger, and there was a man sitting atop it. A man—heading straight for her.
Langdon!She knew it was him. He had come for her, and he was going to annul her marriage to Winston and carry her off. She couldn’t allow it. Not when she had finally escaped.
Fear and paranoia numbing all reason, Vanessa turned and began to run—toward the edge of the cliff.
Chapter Fifteen
“Don’t jump!”
The words left Winston's mouth in a desperate howl. He wasn’t even sure if she could hear him. The noise of the wind, the clap of the horse’s hoofbeats on the ground, and the roar of the sea below her probably drowned them out. He had to get closer—he had to reach her in time. Her very life depended on it.
