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The earl grasped her shoulders and shook her.
Cassie stared stupidly down at the useless pistol dangling from her fingers. She raised her face to his and whispered brokenly, “Please, no, my lord. Please do not do this. I lied to you last night. It is you I love, you must believe me.”
He pulled the pistol from her fingers and tossed it aside. “So you will do anything to protect your lover,” he said coldly. “Even though he does not want you, you plead for his life.”
“No. You must listen to me, Anthony. Please, listen to me.”
“Are you ready to continue, my lord?” Edward asked, his face a set mask.
“Certainly, Lyndhurst. Scargill, take her away from here.”
Just as Scargill’s hand closed over her arm, the sky rumbled with grating loud thunder and rain burst through the thick gray clouds.
“En garde!” Major Andre’s command rang out once again.
“Major, you cannot allow this. We must stop them.” Cassie felt impotent tears sting her eyes and wet her cheeks, mixing with the raindrops.
“Honor must be satisfied,” he said sharply. He stared straight ahead at the earl and Edward, refusing to meet her eyes.
Through the heavy veil of rain, Cassie watched the earl and Edward, their clothes plastered to their bodies, their movements tentative on the slippery ground. Suddenly Edward slipped on a muddy clot of earth, and he clutched frantically at the empty air to regain his balance.
“Damn, the earl could have had him,” Major Andre said.
Cassie drew in an appalled breath. The earl had held back. God, what was he trying to do? Did he seek to kill himself?
Cassie suddenly went limp against Scargill’s arm, and her head lolled back against his chest. “Dear God,” she heard him cry. “Help me, sir, she’s fainted.”
The instant he released his hold upon her to lift her into his arms, Cassie whirled about and drove her heel against his shin. Scargill gasped more in surprise than in pain and stumbled backward.
“Madonna, don’t!”
Cassie rushed toward the earl and Edward, jerking off her sodden cloak as she ran. Their figures were indistinct through the thick haze of rain, and even the loud clashing of steel against steel was muted in the downpour.
The
earl saw her rushing toward them and quickly drew back from Edward. In the next instant, she threw her cloak between them, and flung herself against the earl.
Edward did not see her until the moment she covered the earl’s body with her own. His foil caught in the sodden cloak, but his momentum carried his thrust forward. The tip of his blade sliced through the cloak and sank with sickening ease into her shoulder.
He jerked the foil free and gazed, horrified, at the bright red blood covering the tip.
Cassie felt nothing, save a sharp prick high on her shoulder, near her left arm.
“Please,” she cried, her face buried against the earl’s wet shirt, “no more.” She clasped her arms tightly around his neck and sobbed softly against his chest. “Please, if there must be more fighting, let me be the one. I cannot lose you. I would rather die than lose you.”
She felt the warmth of his breath against her forehead. “You are forever a surprise, Cassandra,” he whispered, as his hands ripped through the bloodied material of her gown. He drew a relieved breath. The foil thrust was not deep.
“Please take me home, Anthony.”
“That will be in large measure up to Edward Lyndhurst, cara. Well, Captain? Has your thirst for honor been slaked?”
“Cassie, you are hurt,” Edward said, “My God, what have I done?”
Cassie turned slightly in the earl’s arms. “It is nothing, Edward. All that matters is that you and he are safe. Please tell me, Edward, that you no longer wish his blood.”
“Dammit, Cassie, think of what he has done to you. How can you want such a man?”
“I do not know, Edward, but the fact remains that I do. It is true, you know I would not lie to you.”
