Page 47

“I don’t know! That’s what makes it worse!”

“You’re really upset, aren’t you?”

“Yes! I am!”

“Why?”

“Why? Why? You’re my husband, and someone is trying to kill you! Isn’t that reason enough?”

“Why are you upset with me about it?”

“Because you’re not taking it seriously. You’re acting as if I’m the one who is overreacting!”

“Well, you are a bit!”

“Oh! You’re impossible!”

Cecey flung away to the door, and Rick said in alarm, “Where are you going?”

“To Bedford!” she said furiously and slammed the door on Rick’s words.

“But I was going to take the curricle—” His words fell on empty space.

He sighed and sat down again and tried to eat his breakfast, but the argument with Cecey had ruined his appetite. He was just pushing the plate aside when the door flew open and Pagette appeared. “My lord, her ladyship has taken the curricle—”

“Yes, I know, she has gone to Bedford. I thought you would have gone with her.”

“She took the curricle while I was away. I’d put the horses to, ready for her, and I did a check over like I always do, and I noticed one of the wheels was loose. I’d just gone to get the buggy wrench to tighten it, and she must have come and seen the horses put to and just driven off! My lord, that wheel could come off at any moment!”

“Oh God!” A cold wash of horror passed over Rick’s skin, and his heart rate kicked up in alarm. “Saddle Sovereign; I’ll go after her. She won’t have got far!”

***

Cecey turned the curricle into the main road at the end of the driveway and settled herself into the seat. She was still furious with Rick, and it took her some minutes of thinking about it to realize why. He didn’t seem to care what affect his death might have on her. He didn’t care that she cared! Tears stung her eyes, and she blinked them hard to clear them; she needed to see the road.

She had known from the beginning of this marriage that he didn’t love her, but she realized with a jolt that she had been developing feelings for him for some time, and the realization that he didn’t care back and wasn’t ever likely to was so lowering it made her want to cry.

Demeter and Persephone were keeping a good pace, and the road seemed relatively free from ruts. It was a fine day, and she tried to shake off the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that had settled there as her anger cooled. She flicked the reins to get the horses to go faster, as if she could outrun her feelings.

They were approaching a bend in the road. She drew on the reins to slow the pair, realizing too late that the curricle was going too fast and wobbling in an alarming manner. As she entered the bend there was a massive jolt and a crack, the vehicle tilted wildly and ran off the road into a ditch. As it hit the embankment on the other side of the ditch, the body of the curricle pitched sideways, throwing her against the side of the carriage and hitting her temple.

Dizziness assailed her as she tried to pull on the reins to quiet the plunging horses, and in a wave of nausea, everything went black.

***

Rick set Sovereign at a spanking pace down the road, his pulse racing in time with the horses’ hooves. Pictures of disaster played themselves out behind his eyes as he leaned forward into the saddle, praying he would reach the curricle before catastrophe hit. From Pagette’s description, it wasn’t a question of if the wheel would come off, but only when. Please God don’t let anything have happened to her! he found himself praying with uncharacteristic fervor.

He pushed Sovereign into an outright gallop, willing his long legs to eat up the miles and catch Cecey before the wheel broke. Time seemed to have slowed to a crawl, despite the stallion’s rapid pace, and it felt like an age to his over-stretched nerves until he rounded a bend into a straight part of the road and saw the curricle up ahead. He urged Sovereign to go faster and watched as the curricle approached another bend up ahead. What is she doing? She is going too fast for that sharp a bend!

His heart leaped into his throat as the vehicle jerked, and he watch the left side wheel start to wobble violently and then part company with the rest of the vehicle. The horses jerked at the change in weight behind them and the vehicle tipped over as it careered off the road onto the shoulder and into a ditch. The body of the curricle came to a shuddering stop on its side against the embankment of the ditch and Demeter and Persephone neighed loudly in distress as they plunged in their traces.

Rick watched all this in horror as Sovereign ate up the distance, and a cold terror took hold of him. No! No! Please don’t let her be hurt.

Finally Sovereign drew abreast of the broken vehicle and Rick leaped from the saddle and approached the tip-tilted body. Cecey lay unmoving against the far side of the vehicle. Her bonnet obscured her face, and Rick moved to the horses and quickly soothed them. Then around to the right side closest to the embankment where he braced his legs and reached for Cecey’s still unmoving body.

“Cecey?” he said through numb lips. “Cecelia? Love, can you hear me?”

He leaned closer to look at her face around the bonnet’s rim. It was pale and her eyes were closed, her expression slack.