AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Heard what? Is she harmed?”
“No. She’s gone. We don’t know where.”
The world tilted. Gone. Arabella was gone.
“What do you know?” he asked.
Sir Gordon shook his head. “Two days ago. She left a sealed note for you. It is with Lady Belinda.”
Guy spun around and went back out the door. It was still open. They had not even had a chance to close it behind him. On the steps, he had to stop and stand, to keep from falling over.
You’re not quite the worst thing that could happen to me, she had said.
Yet she was gone.
She had left everything: family, money, reputation, name. Her father would cut her off, her reputation would be in tatters, her family members would not receive her.
Why would she do this? Why would she give up everything rather than marry him?
Curse you, I am no one’s martyr, she had said. True: If Arabella wanted him, she would have held on with both hands and her teeth. But she had chosen to leave. She had chosen to be homeless, friendless, destitute, because that was better than being married to him.
It seemed he was the worst thing that could happen to her after all.
Humbling, that.
Above him, the night sky persisted, the first stars appearing, cold, splendid, indifferent.
She was somewhere under this sky too. Was she looking at these same stars? Was she frightened? Relieved? Did she think of him at all? Now he was getting pathetic. It was almost their wedding and she had run away. Of course she must spare him a passing thought.
He stood by his horse, but suddenly his limbs were too weak to mount. The horse shied away. Guy rested his hands on the saddle and breathed.
She had chosen ruin over him.
* * *
As soon asGuy’s feet hit the gravel outside Vindale Court, Lady Belinda emerged, a taut, tired thunderstorm in a dress.
“What did you do to her?” she demanded, advancing on him. “She would never have given up everything unless she was frightened. What did you do? You will tell me, my lord, and then you will stand still that I might shoot you in your rotten heart.”
“I swear I do not know, my lady. But if I have indeed harmed her, I will load the gun and hand it to you myself.”
Lady Belinda was not appeased. “I thought you would be the one to love her, the way she deserves to be loved, the way sheneedsto be loved. I thought you were strong enough for her. I entrusted her to you, tried to help you, and you— You must have hurt her too, and you know what happened to the last man who harmed my daughter.”
The implications chilled him, but Guy swallowed his questions. Now was not the time. Never was the time. If Lady Belinda had been involved in Sculthorpe’s death, he did not want to know.
“I will give her what she needs,” he said shortly. “So perhaps, madam, you would kindly resist shooting me until I have had a chance to do that. Her note, if you will.”
Without another word, she whirled around. He followed her through the house and into Larke’s study. There, among the dead birds, witnessed by a dead boy, Lady Belinda handed him the sealed note.
It trembled in his hands; they were shaking. His courage faltered. He stared at the lump of wax and tried to imagine what Arabella might have written. She would have argued, naturally, which would give him a reason to argue back. Or perhaps she had made a demand, which he would race to meet. Or she had sent him on a quest, and he would defeat the ogre and seize the gold and she would consent to marry him again.
He fumbled with the paper, but he still wore his gloves. He took his time removing them. Delaying the moment.
The note was his last chance. The note was his only hope.
The note said:
Hardbury—
