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‘If you fall, then I’m coming down with you!’ His tone was implacable. ‘You’re not giving up, Ianthe.’
‘I don’t want to give up!’ She looked down, catching a glimpse of the waves crashing against the rocks two hundred feet below. They seemed to be getting taller and more threatening, as if they wanted to reach up and pull her down with them. No, she didn’t want to give up. If Robert still wanted her, then she wanted to show him how very much the feeling was mutual. He was right about the past. She’d made a mistake with Albert. One stupid mistake. Why should it have the power to ruin the rest of her life? If Robert could forgive her, then maybe she wasn’t so bad after all. Maybe she could let go of all the shame and self-recrimination and be herself again after all—the her she wanted to be...
She swung her hand up again, throwing all her strength into one last desperate attempt to reach him as their fingers touched. And held.
‘Hold tight!’ Robert heaved on her arms, hoisting her up and over the side of the cliff, back on to the grass.
‘I thought I was going to lose you.’ He caught her in his arms the moment she was safe, rocking her back and forth as she clung to him, waiting for the fearful trembling sensation to subside.
‘It was an accident. I didn’t mean to get so close to the edge. I was just running, trying to get away.’
‘You have to stop running,
Ianthe.’
‘I know.’ She pulled her head back. ‘But I was so scared that you’d hate me. That was why I behaved the way I did this morning. I didn’t want to deceive you any more, but I was too afraid to tell you the truth. I knew that I had to, but I thought that if I could just convince Mr Harper to sign the papers first then I wouldn’t have failed completely.’
‘You haven’t failed me, or if you have, then I’m glad that you did.’
‘You’re glad I deceived you?’
‘I wouldn’t go that far.’ He gave a terse laugh. ‘But if you’d told me the truth at the start then I might never have taken the chance to get to know the real you. I thought that it mattered what society thought of me, what men like my father thought of me, but it doesn’t. All that matters now is what you think of me. Tell me the truth, Ianthe. Tell me how you really feel about me. If you can love me, then I don’t give a damn about anyone else’s opinion.’
‘Of course I can love you!’ She tightened her arms around him. ‘I do love you!’
‘So do I.’ His voice sounded hoarse. ‘Strange as it sounds, I think I did from the first.’
‘You called me a schemer!’
‘A schemer I still asked to marry me. I must have had a reason, even if I didn’t realise it at the time. The only mystery is why you said yes.’
‘Oh...’ She bit her lip, reluctant to tell him the story, but knowing that she owed him the whole truth. ‘It was Sir Charles. He followed me to Pickering Castle the morning after the ball and attacked me. He said he’d been in love with my mother for years—that if he couldn’t have her then he’d have me instead. He was obsessed.’
Robert clenched his jaw angrily. ‘Percy said something similar.’
‘Percy? Wait till I get my hands on him...’
He pulled her close again, pressing kisses into her hair. ‘I wouldn’t be too hard on him. If it hadn’t been for him, I’d probably still be drinking in a tavern on the quayside.’
‘Is that what that smell is?’
‘I’m afraid so.’ He made a wry face. ‘Apparently I’m perfectly capable of ruining my own reputation without you. But I think Percy’s genuinely sorry.’
‘He ought to be.’ She felt a fresh flicker of panic. ‘What about Lester?’
‘Yes.’ The Baronet’s voice behind them was positively glacial. ‘What about Lester? Touching though this scene is, it doesn’t change anything.’
‘It changes everything.’ Robert set her to one side, pulling himself slowly to his feet. ‘If I were you, I’d walk away now.’
‘I’ve every intention of walking away.’ The Baronet pulled a small pistol from his jacket pocket. ‘But I’m taking your wife with me.’
Ianthe cried out in horror. The Baronet was pointing the gun straight towards them, standing with his back towards the crescent. Anyone looking out of the windows wouldn’t be able to see the weapon at all. They wouldn’t come to help. On the contrary, they’d think that he’d come to help them.
‘I’m tired of waiting, Ianthe. You’re coming with me.’
‘She’s not going anywhere.’ Robert stepped in front of her, shielding her body with his own. ‘You can spread whatever rumours you like.’
‘I’m prepared to do a lot more than that.’ The Baronet jerked the pistol threateningly. ‘It would be such a shame if you fell over the cliff, especially having just saved your lovely wife, but then, accidents do happen.’
