AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He had told Richard that. He had asked Richard to speak with him privately once he had calmed down, and they had both apologised. They made amends, and Richard promised that he would not see Katherine again.
Rafe had made a decision to walk away from her as well. He couldn’t be with a woman who didn’t care that she was walking out with two friends, and they were fighting over her. She probably enjoyed the thrill of knowing she was doing it.
The talk had gone well. They were friends again, and Richard had even forgiven him for splitting his lip.
Less than ten minutes later, Richard was dead, and Rafe was being blamed.
The problem was, Rafe couldn’t fight it. He couldn’t even remember what happened after he walked away from Richard. Did he even walk away? He could remember the talk and how they loved each other in spite of everything. But after that, it was blank. Just nothing. Which left him confused. How could he not know what happened?
Even after six years, he still couldn’t remember what happened next. One second he was embracing Richard and saying he would always love him, and the next, he was waking up on the ground by shouts, blood coming from his head and the world spinning around with Richard dead close by. And Rafe’s rifle was close by, covered in blood, as were Rafe’s hands and his shirt.
One look at the situation, and everyone believed that Rafe had killed Richard in a fit of rage over a woman. Rafe had tried to deny it, that they had made up, but there had been no witnesses. Nobody believed him.
There were times, though, when Rafe didn’t believe himself. Had he and Richard gotten into a fight anyway? Was what he was remembering beforehand just a fantasy to hide the fact he had actually killed Richard? Was anything of that hunt before Richard was killed actually real?
Rafe didn’t know anymore. All he knew was he was glad that he had been given an opportunity to leave with his life. The Hayward family had been furious, and initially, they had wanted to see him hang. They believed it was an act of cold blood, no matter what Rafe said. Viscount Selkirk, especially, believed that Rafe was lying about not remembering what he did so he could get out of being punished for killing the Viscount’s son.
So, he had been given a one-way ticket to the New World. America was a place where everyone seemed to be travelling to, and if Rafe went the same way with no intention of coming back, they would not pursue charges. Rafe had agreed, terrified at the thought of being charged with murder. He would never do that to Richard. He couldn’t have killed him.
Or had he? Rafe had searched his head for answers, trying to figure out what had happened. But it was like that part of his life was completely gone now. Even the memories of him and Richard reconciling were sketchy. Rafe didn’t know what to think anymore.
He was stuck in America, his only contact coming from letters that his parents and brother sent him. They knew where he was, and while they didn’t approve of what he was doing, they knew he was alive and safe. That was enough for them.
It wasn’t enough for Rafe. He wanted to come back. He wanted things to go back to how they were before.
But it couldn’t. It could never get better.
Once he saddled up Dark Ash, Rafe mounted and headed out of the stables. Steven and the four other men who worked for him were waiting, Steven looking impatient.
“What on earth were you doing in there, Mowbray?”
“My apologies,” Rafe mumbled as he joined them.
Steven shook his head.
“Honestly, one would think you’ve never put a saddle on a horse before.”
“Well, he had people to do it for him,” said one of the other men with a grin. “He’s just used to the easy part.”
Rafe gritted his teeth and ignored that. Even after all this time, he was still sneered at for being part of a titled family. Out here, titles meant absolutely nothing. They didn’t get you anywhere, and Rafe understood that. He just wished that he wasn’t ridiculed for it all the time.
“Let’s get moving.” Steven turned his horse towards the hill. “It’s been over a week since the animals have been exercised. We’ve got a long trek soon, and I don’t want them collapsing on us.”
He led the pack, and the group started galloping down the hill. Rafe hung back, trying to ignore the annoyance that his title was brought up. The men he worked with seemed to find it amusing, although they didn’t seem to care how he grew up and who he was before.
He just wanted to be an ordinary person. Maybe he should have stayed in the cities on the East Coast. They had their own society, just like England, and things were very similar to what he was used to. But even across a huge ocean, rumours could fly around, and people would find out very soon why he was in America. Rafe didn’t want to go through that. He wouldn’t get a good reception from it at all.
It was easier to be further away from that, being around people with no titles and who didn’t care what you did as long as you worked hard. Rafe did work hard. That’s what he needed to occupy himself.
He just wished he hadn’t had to leave in the first place. That this had never happened. Much as he wanted to go back and be with his family, Rafe didn’t want to be put on the spot again. He didn’t want to be made a pariah for something he didn’t know he had done.
Pushing those thoughts aside, Rafe kicked his horse into motion, and they galloped after the other hunters. He didn’t want to be teased for being the last one. Again.
Chapter 2
Robin Hood’s Bay
The waves crashed against the rocks far below, the noise deafening even high up on the cliffs. Victoria sat near the edge, looking out into the cove that was Robin Hood’s Bay. On a day like this, when the sun was beginning to set, the place she had grown up in looked beautiful.
