She jerked her off the road and onto a narrow foot path that shot straight up hill forcing her to scrabble with her hands to keep from losing her footing and tumbling backward.
Finally, they crested the hill. And there, nibbling some grass, was Daisy, Caroline’s favored mare from Sterling’s stable.
Annabelle bent at the waist, hands on her knees and gulped air. “You…brought…a horse.”
Caroline, breathing equally hard, sent her a beatific smile. “I did.”
The moment she could manage, Annabelle straightened, then staggered forward to wrap her sister-in-law in a tight embrace. “Thank you. Thank you. I can never thank you enough.”
Caroline held her close. “It’s nothing that you wouldn’t do for me.”
Annabelle swallowed, gathering her nerve. “Was this…was this how it was with Gaston? Did he try to force you, like Vane?” She could hardly say the words aloud.
Caroline went utterly still. Then she leaned back and met Annabelle’s eyes in the growing darkness. “Sterling…He didn’t tell you.”
Annabelle knew the statement for a question. She shook her head.
“When did you work it out?”
Her eyes welled with tears, but she blinked them away. “Just now, I’m embarrassed to say.”
By unspoken agreement they took each other’s hands. “Embarrassed? Whatever do you mean, Annabelle, dear?”
She heaved a sigh. “It was all right there, wasn’t it? I knew his temper. Knew he was drawn to your gentleness. Forever he’d been discouraged from having female maids clean his rooms. Did he attack you?” She felt sick at the thought.
Caroline’s expression turned shuttered. “It…wasn’t like that. Not exactly.”
Horse hoofs, pounding furiously over the earth and coming from the direction of the castle, had both of them hurrying toward the edge to the hill they’d just climbed.
“It’s Sterling,” Annabelle said. “He’s looking for us.”
In unison, they waved their arms, yelling for him.
In the next instant, horse and rider changed course to charge up the hill toward them.
In seconds, Sterling was out of his saddle, racing for Annabelle. He swept her into his arms, squeezing her tightly enough to crush the wind out of her one minute, then the next, holding her at arm’s length and scanning her head to foot and back again. “Are you all right?” His voice was hoarse with emotion.
“I’m…y-yes,” she said, then cursed her own weak nature as her face twisted and tears threatened. She fought them for all she was worth and managed a reasonably sober, “We are both fine, however—”
“What happened to your dress? Your hair.” His voice went eerily flat, and even in the vanishing light, Annabelle saw his features harden into granite.
Then she remembered her husband’s vow against risking life and limb over any woman. He might be angry, but he was no fool.
Still, she forced a light reply. “I was trying to tell you—”
Hands flexing on her shoulders, he turned his head toward his sister. “Caroline, are you all right?”
“Yes, Sterling,” she answered gently. “And, as you can see, Annabelle is safe. Let us go home and talk.”
His jaw flexed and he turned back to Annabelle. “You crossed paths with Lord Vane, did you not?Hedid this to you.”
She looked to Caroline for assistance, and with surprising gentleness, Sterling cupped her chin, and guided her face back to his. “Answer me, darling.”
“Yes. B-but he’s gone. And…he did not…that is…” She bit her lip.
He held her gaze. “Where has he gone, darling?”
“Away. Far away.” She glanced over his shoulder toward the small slip where the boat she’d noted previously had been, and where a large sailing vessel now moored. “Or soon will be,” she added, her voice rising an octave as he turned to look in the direction she’d inadvertently revealed to him.
