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“I don’t think so, my fair one.”
“Leave,” she cried, her voice growing louder. “You’re not welcome here.”
“Oh, I’m leaving but you are coming with me.”
A scream wrenched from her lips as she pulled harder.
That’s when she heard Jacob. “Emily?”
“Jacob!” she cried. “Help me.”
But Tinderwell spun her about and suddenly a cloth reeking of something foul came over her mouth. She struggled for a moment but her eyes grew heavy and her limbs weak.
“That’s it, my beauty. Sleep. When you wake, you will be all mine.” She slumped against Lord Tinderwell, the world going black.
Jacob’s heart threatened to beat out of his chest, Emily’s scream still ringing in his ears.
He followed the sound until he found the open garden door, blood roaring through him as he saw a man up ahead with a limp body in his arms. He didn’t need to ask to know that was Emily.
The man disappeared into the forest and Jacob pushed himself faster. He didn’t carry a body, he could surely catch up to whoever had stolen Emily.
The patch of woods was dark as he entered, hardly even moonlight penetrating the thick canopy above.
But he could hear the other man breathing, straining to carry Emily. He pushed faster, nearly tripping on a root but managing to keep his footing as a shadowy figure appeared ahead.
Jacob was gaining on him. His lungs near bursting, he pushed even harder but then stopped suddenly as he entered a small clearing.
In the middle, a single shaft of moonlight illuminated the still figure of Emily. A worry so raw filled his lungs that he struggled breathe.
Without thought, he knelt beside her. “Emily,” he cried, looking down at her closed eyes and pale face. Was she breathing? A pain so deep cut through him that he dropped his forehead to hers. “Emily,” he said, his voice cracking on her name.
And that’s when he felt her breath fan his face. He started away for a moment before his lips crashed down on hers. “Emily,” he repeated between kisses. “Come back to me, my love. Come back to me.”
Her eyes fluttered open. “Jacob?”
Relief washed through him, making him limp. “Sweetheart.”
“It’s Tinderwell,” she gasped, wrapping an arm about his neck. “He’s here.”
Jacob should have guessed it was Tinderwell. “You can’t trust that man. I’ll explain everything…”
“Robinson,” Tinderwell’s voice echoed though the clearing, cutting off Jacob’s words. “It’s time to finish what we started the other day.”
Wrapping an arm about Emily’s waist, he lifted her off the ground, carrying her into the shadows. “You hide, my love.”
“Your love?” she asked, kissing him again even as he set her feet down on the ground.
“Always,” he returned, drinking in her lovely features one last time before forcing himself to spin away. He couldn’t outrun Tinderwell while carrying Emily just as Tinderwell hadn’t been able to outrun him.
They could hide together, or Jacob could fight.
He’d never been much for hiding and so the choice seemed clear. It was time to end this saga with Tinderwell once and for all.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Emily clung to the trunk of a tree as Jacob stepped into the clearing, Tinderwell appearing on the other side.
Her head was clearing but her legs still felt a bit like pudding. Anger welled up inside her to think she’d ever trusted that man. Thought of him as the one who might save her.
