Katherine hesitated just out of reach of the darkness. A feeling of breathlessness seized her, the low ceiling and wooden walls of the stalls closing in around her. She tried to step forward, but her legs felt too heavy to move.
Sultan stomped his hooves and called out, the sound loud and shrill in the enclosed space. Katherine drew a deep breath and closed her eyes. She rested a hand upon
the stall door, grounding herself. The walls were not creeping closer. The ceiling was not going to fall. The dark was not going to reach out to smother her.
It was time to return to some sense of normalcy, to reclaim her life. In the past, it had been her habit to come to the stables and see Sultan every morning. She could do it again. It would actually be no worse than going into the prison.
The thought brought Matthew to mind. She had tried to avoid thinking about him but again and again, he crept back into her thoughts. She wondered how he had felt about the letter she had left for him, explaining her reasons for leaving, and apologizing for having to do so.
He would understand. She hoped her absence did not cause him trouble with Edward or Lord Rudman.
With something else to focus on, her anxiety began to ease, and she moved slowly down the stable’s wide central aisle, pausing to stroke or pat each occupant who thrust a head out. Katherine hurried past the gaping blackness of a couple of empty stalls.
She sensed movement behind her and swung to face it bringing up the flintlock she clutched in her right hand.
Strong fingers grasped her wrist in a hold too strong to break aiming the pistol downward. Katherine jerked back in panicked surprise and lost her footing. A strangled yelp was torn from her as she stumbled backwards, the momentum of her fall encouraged by the pressure of a large masculine form forcing her back into the darkness of an open stall. The flintlock flipped end over end off into a corner. She landed in the thick hay, the hard masculine planes of the man’s body tangled with her own. She raised her knee, her intent vicious, and made glancing contact with the man’s thigh.
“I’m finding your penchant for trying to shoot me or unman me annoying, Mrs. Hamilton.”
“Matthew—” His deep voice, so devastatingly familiar, caught at her thundering heart, and her limbs went weak with relief. Just as quickly, her temper flared.
“What the blazes do you think you are doing? You scared me half witless.”
He smelled of outdoors, horses, and sweat. The masculine contours of his body adhered to her feminine
form in a way she found too disturbing to ponder. The stall was so dark that she could not see his features, but could make out the silhouette of his head and shoulders looming over her.
She attempted to free the hand tangled in her cloak and realized how helpless she was with his fingers still looped around her wrist holding the other down as well.
“Let me rise, Matthew.”
“When I’m ready.”
His implacable tone sent a jolt of anxiety through her. She realized the quiet even timber of his tone was deceptive. Without being able to see his expression, she couldn’t judge his emotional state, but obviously he was upset.
“Coming out here without escort, under the circumstances, was dangerous and foolish. Had I been the man you depicted in the bills you had posted, you would now be dead.”
Unable to argue against the truth, she turned aside the comment by saying, “I am sure you did not ride all this way to lecture me on caution.”
“No, I didn’t. I rode all this way because I don’t intend to bury another wife, regardless of the fact that you’re a lying, sneaky, manipulative bit of fluff who needs her backside blistered with the flat of my hand.” She caught her breath and fought against the instinctive desire to struggle against his greater strength.
She knew from experience how easy it was to provoke a man already angered. “I expected that you would be annoyed because I left, but I thought it would be better for you, your aunt, and uncle if I distanced myself from you. I explained all that in the letter.” As Matthew shifted above her, Katherine grew more aware of the intimacy lent to their positions by the darkness of the stall. The bold masculine lines of his body fit with hers like two links in a chain, his thigh resting between hers, the heat and shape of his male member pressing against her hip. Her heart began to thunder anew as a familiar tempting heat pooled between her thighs. Her lower limbs began to tremble.
Inexplicably, Matthew pushed up and off her drawing her to her feet as he stood up. Shackling her
wrist with his fingers, he pulled her out of the stall to the open door. His jaw was covered by a heavy growth of beard, his clothing wrinkled and coated with dust. Travel weary and dirty, he was heart-stoppingly handsome despite the angry scowl that marred his features. He turned to face her, the movement aggressive enough that she took a step back.
“I warned you once that should you ever put yourself in harm’s way on purpose that I would lock you up. Do you remember my saying that, Katherine? Do you really think I don’t know what you’re doing here?” His fingers tightened about her wrist and he gave her a shake.
“You have no right.”
“Oh yes I have, Mrs. Hamilton
. We have consummated our marriage and as of two nights ago you are physically, officially, and morally my wife
. You may even now be carrying my child, or has that possibility just slipped your mind?” His blue gaze bore into hers, his brows clapped together in a frown that grew more harshly intimidating by the moment.
She forced her chin up though her lips trembled with a combination of guilt and anger. “Yes, it occurred to me, but I mean to stand by the original agreement, regardless.
You do not want a wife anymore than I want to be one.” She jerked her arm free of his grasp. “Go back to London; I do not want you here.” She turned and stormed away from him, so frustrated and angry, she was afraid she might resort to scratching, kicking, and biting at any moment.
The weight of his angry footsteps behind her made her want to break into a run, but she fought the impulse.
Never again would she be intimidated by a man’s anger.
She reached the front of the house before he snagged her arm just above the elbow and jerked her to a stop.
They both froze at the loud clinking sound of a firearm being cocked.
“Are you all right, Lady Katherine?” a man asked from just beyond the corner of the house.
Katherine focused on Matthew’s face, dark with anger. “Yes, I am fine, William.” In an attempt to smother her own frustration and bring a more amiable clime between them, she turned to
introduce the two men. “Matthew, this is William our coachman. William, Captain Matthew Hamilton—my husband.”
William tipped the barrel of the weapon skyward and approached them with the blunderbuss resting against his hip, his finger still on the trigger. He eyed Matthew with more than a little distrust. “There was a disturbance down the hill a ways. Rory and I left for just a moment to see what or who was about.”
“You were gone long enough for me to stable my horse and for Katherine to come down to greet me. Is it just the two of you guarding the house?” Matthew asked.
William’s gaze shifted to her, and she gave a brief nod. He turned his attention back to Matthew. “There are ten of us. We’re taking it in shifts.” She saw Matthew’s jaw tense as he absorbed the information. He turned a looked of amazed disbelief upon her and shook his head. He drew a deep breath in an obvious bid to control his temper. “My men will be arriving later in the day. There are an even dozen of them, all armed.”
A sharp crack sounded from down the hill and chunks of masonry from the corner of the house splattered outward just above Katherine’s head. Matthew shoved her to the ground and covered her body with his own.
“Crawl,” he ordered. “Get in the house.” She struggled with her skirts but managed to make it to the front door. William waited for them there.
Stretching his arm upward, William turned the knob and opened the portal. He motioned Katherine in ahead of him and she rushed to comply.
Matthew pulled the door shut behind them and leaned back against the wall to avoid the windows on each side. “They were hoping for a lucky shot and almost found it.” His pale blue eyes fairly blazed as they settled on Katherine’s face.
“Anyone hit?” called a voice from the stairs. A man appeared from the second floor landing pulling on a shirt, his carrot red hair disheveled, his suspenders hanging around his hips.
“No, Franklin. We’re still in one piece,” William yelled back. “There’ll be two coaches coming. ‘Twill be
help coming to join us. Pass the word.”
“Aye,sir.”
William passed Matthew a pistol. Matthew nodded his thanks. ”I left mine in the stables.” Katherine felt naked and helpless without a weapon of her own to make her feel in control. Time stretched as they waited for a barrage of fire. After ten minutes passed, Matthew got to his feet careful to stay clear of the windows.
She took the hand he offered to help her up then bent to brush the dirt from her skirts to hide the fact that she was shaking. She straightened her shoulders in an attempt to project more confidence than she truly felt and pushed impatiently at a curl on her forehead. “I will make some tea and start breakfast. The men will be hungry. I imagine you are too, after riding all this way.” She felt Matthew’s gaze boring a hole between her shoulder blades as she walked away from them.
Matthew stared after her for a moment then shook his head, part in amazement and part in admiration.
“Lady Katherine has more steel in her backbone than any man I know.” William spoke from beside him.
Matthew glanced at the man. “She’d better have.
She’ll need it before this is over.”
Matthew wiped the streaks of dirt from his face with a linen handkerchief. The time he and five of the men had taken to circle the grounds and look for the shooter had been well spent. “They’ve pulled back for now, but it won’t last long. We don’t have much time to secure the house and grounds. Is there any place we may hide the horses and coaches when they arrive?” Matthew asked. “The first thing they’ll do is cut us off from them.”
“We can hide them on one of the tenant farms, but we’ll have to keep at least a few horses in order to reach them quickly. The Cooper’s and Sunderland’s farms would be the closest.” William pointed at two areas on the rough map he had drawn.
The man had been agreeable to everything Matthew had suggested thus far, but it didn’t escape his notice that the deference William had shown Katherine was conspicuously missing.
“Keep the tack in the house and turn the horses out in one of the pastures. Better to have to run them down than to have them burnt alive if they set fire to the stables.”
“Yes, sir.”
The “sir” was offered more from habit than respect.
Matthew pushed back a feeling of irritation and concentrated on the task at hand. It didn’t matter as long as they could pull together when needed.
“Your men are more experienced with the animals than mine. I’ll trust you’ll see to this.”
“Yes, sir.”
“As much as the kitchen needs the light, I don’t like that open bank of windows at the back of the house. We’ll have to find something to cover them that won’t appear too conspicuous. Have you any ideas?” William shook his head.
“I ’ave a idea,” one of the men said.
Matthew turned. With the exception of himself, the man standing close to the fireplace towered at least a head above everyone in the room. His shoulders and chest looked thick with muscle beneath the rough fabric of his coat. “Andy, isn’t it?”
The man removed his cap as he stepped forward.
“Aye, sir.”
“How do you propose they might be secured?”
“Interior shutters can be built, to secure them from the inside. ‘Twon’t look pretty, and they won’t protect the glass from bein’ broke, but they can be removed when the trouble’s past.”
He nodded. “Can you do it?”
“Aye, sir, but I’ll need materials and tools.”
“We’ve tools and lumber enough to see to it. I’ll show you where they are,” William said.
“See to it Andy.”
“Aye, sir.”
“Then that should do it for now.” At his nod all the men, but William and two others, began filtering out to assume their duties.
Matthew stood at ease against the desk behind him.
“Please close the door behind you, Andy,” he said as the last of the men exited the room. The man flipped his cap back on his head and swung the portal shut.
William stepped forward, his gaze serious. “James the driver killed that night, was my brother. I mean to see justice is done for him.” William rested his hands on his hips, defiance in his stance. “I’m here for Lady Katherine’s sake as well. She put herself between me and her father from time to time in the past as did her mother and brother. I’ll do whatever I can to protect her.” Matthew folded his arms across his chest. “I appreciate that. Katherine’s health and safety are of the utmost importance to me.” He purposely aligned his features into lines of control as the cold wave of anger he had held in check since learning William was responsible for bringing Katherine here came crashing to the fore.
“Should you ever transport my wife from beneath my protection again, without my knowledge or my orders, there won’t be a force on earth that will keep you safe
from me.”
William’s fair skin flushed bright red. He opened his mouth to speak only to close it. The movement of his two companions behind him had him raising his hand to stay them. “You have a valid point, sir. Had it been my wife or daughter, I’d be angry as well. It won’t happen again.” Matthew continued to study the man’s features for a moment. William’s gaze remained steadily on his. Certain as he could be of the man’s sincerity, Matthew nodded.
“My uncle, Lord Willingham, is doing all he can to call attention to this matter in London. Hopefully it will do some good.”
“Hopefully, sir.”
“I’m committed to seeing this through, William, for my wife’s sake. But I can only spare three days here. I have to return to London, and Katherine is returning with me.” Even if he had to tie her up and bodily carry her and put her in the coach.