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Lose him when she’d just realized, in that instant, what she’d found in him.
Everything.
{ Chapter 19 }
“Why in the bloody hell did you follow me?” Rune strode across the field through the tall grasses toward her, his face a storm, his voice rumbling in exasperated anger.
Elle slid down from her saddle before he could reach her and slap her horse’s behind to send it galloping back to the dower house.
“You swore you would stay behind.”
She looked past him to the stable hand he’d enlisted in the wee hours to serve as his second. The boy, George—not even eighteen—moved toward Sangton’s second, nodding as the man talked to him in hushed tones. George looked nervously over his shoulder at Rune.
With her right hand gripping the reins so tight her knuckles were white, she widened her stance and set her feet solidly on the ground. Rune stopped in front of her, his body and ire filling everything she could see. She met his stare, her chin tilting up. “I lied. I was never going to stay behind, but I didn’t need you knowing that.”
A growl ripped from his throat.
She shifted to her right, angling her head so she could see the seconds talking. “Tell me that boy will talk some sense into you idiotic men. Tell me this will not happen.”
“The boy knows exactly what to say.”
Her gaze flew to him, her eyes slicing into him. “That this should end before it begins? For that is exactly what should be coming from his lips.”
“This is happening, Elle. There is no stopping it. But I know how painful this is for you and you need to leave.”
A scream started to bubble up her throat and she had to swallow it. She’d talked no sense into him last night. No sense into him this morning. She didn’t need to be saved from Sangton—she’d figure out a way to handle him. But there was no swaying Rune from this course. He was going to protect her and he had set a wall of stoic determination between them that she had no way to breach.
He was going through with this, no matter what.
As awful as it was for her to be there, she couldn’t abandon him and let him do this alone, with only the familiar face of George in the small crowd that had gathered.
She needed to be with him, no matter the outcome.
Turning around, she walked her mare over to a tree far from the other horses the spectators had brought and tied the reins to a low branch.
She spun back to him. He hadn’t moved from his spot, still glaring at her.
“I’ll be staying, Rune.” She walked back to him. “I may not be able to stop this, but I am bloody well going to be here. I’m not about to abandon you to Sangton and his jackals. His second, Lord Flatson is honorable, but the rest of them are horrendous.”
“I can take care of myself, Elle.”
“I never said you couldn’t.” Her eyes narrowed at him. “Never. This is for me. I’m staying soIknow you aren’t alone.”
His gaze went to the sky, his head shaking. “Fine.” His look dropped to her, his copper-green eyes piercing. “Then you need to prepare yourself—there’s about to be two shots. Try not to turtle.”
“Turtle?”
“Yes. Turtle.” He grinned.
A grin so goofy and out of character—out of place in the current situation—that she couldn’t help but grin back at him. Her hand lifted, going onto his chest and tapping the hard line of his breastbone. “Not fair. This is serious, Rune.”
He shrugged, the grin not leaving his face.
She heaved a sigh. She needed to try one last time. “Don’t do this. You can still call it off.”
He grabbed the back of her hand on his chest. “This isn’t the same thing as what happened to Lord Raplan.”
Her fingers curled into the tuft of his white lawn shirt above his waistcoat, her throat closing on her. “Except that it is—you’ll be shot and die.”
