Chapter 25
T
he sunlight streaming in through the windows woke him. Like the big bad wolf in the tale of Little Miss Riding Hood, he thought all the brighter to see the beautiful woman beside him. One part of his anatomy was certainly big and wickedly hard. Damn his exhaustion last night. He’d wanted more than that brief encounter.
He rolled to face Rheda, his groin throbbing at the prospect of making love to her again.
But the space beside him was empty—the outline where her head had rested on the pillow and her lingering scent on his sheets the only evidence that she had ever been in his bed.
A sense of unease gripped him before his rational mind told him she’d probably been called to see Lady Hale.
He rolled away to look out the window, and a lingering flicker of doubt became a certainty. The sun was only just over the horizon. It was too early to have been summoned anywhere.
He tossed back the bedcovers and collected his clothes. Where the hell was she? He should have stayed awake last night and talked. There were things that needed to be said. Thanks for saving his life. Assurance he would honor his proposal ...
His rejuvenating sleep seemingly forgotten, Rufus dressed and strode to the bedchamber Rheda had been assigned. It was empty, the bed not slept in.
Downstairs the breakfast room, too, lay empty. He stopped Lady Hale’s butler and inquired if her ladyship was awake and was told she had been given another dose of laudanum during the night and would likely sleep until midday.
“Has any of the staff seen Miss Kerrich?”
“No, my lord. Not since last night. She may have taken an early-morning stroll. I saw her brother, Baron de Winter, out near the stables.”
“Thank you.” Rufus almost ran down the steps and across the stable yard.
Daniel looked up from saddling his horse as Rufus approached. “Well met, Rufus. Stephen’s asked me to ride into Deal and request more men to help search for Samuel, but I need to talk with you urgently.”
“Have you seen Rheda?” he asked.
Daniel’s eyebrows rose. “I visited her room just now and it was empty. She’d obviously not slept there last night. I assumed she was with you.” The young baron gave him a thin smile. “Actually, it is of Rheda which I wish to speak.”
Rufus held up his hand. “I am marrying her, Daniel, if that sets your mind at rest.” He paused. “If she’ll have me. Her opinion of marriage and of men in general is not high.”
Daniel’s face relaxed, and he laughed, his grin infectious. “Rheda taught me that nothing worth having comes easy. I’d love to be a fly on the wall when you propose.” He gave Rufus a shrewd look. “I’m counting on you to convince her. I’ll not stand by and see her suffer a further scandal when, once again, she is the innocent party.”
“I intend to lock her in a room with me until she says yes.”
“If I know my sister, that could take a while. I hope you have plenty of provisions.” Daniel laughed.
Rufus looked around the yard. “I have to find her first.” Both men shifted uneasily.
“You don’t think anything has happened to her? Daniel voiced Rufus’s deepest fear. “We still haven’t caught Samuel.”
In unison they turned and ran for the house.
“My goodness, where’s the fire?” Lady Umbridge called as she descended the stairs, a vision in layers of lavender silk.
Daniel’s mouth fell open, but Rufus found himself totally unaffected by the bountiful amount of flesh on display. “We’re worried about Rheda. She appears to be missing, and with Samuel on the loose ...”
The woman flashed Daniel a dazzling smile, and the boy gazed at her like a lovesick calf. “Rheda left a short while ago. The poor child felt awkward at having to face Helen when she woke.”
She’s lying, thought Rufus. With calmness he did not feel, he asked, “Did she say where she was going?”
“Why, home to Tumsbury Cliff of course,” Fleur replied with an easy smile. “I’m famished.” She took Daniel’s arm. “Come. You men need sustenance. Why don’t you keep me company for breakfast?” And this time the look she focused on Rufus told him food was not what she hungered for. It made the thought of eating repugnant.
“You keep Lady Umbridge company, Daniel. I must find Miss Kerrich.”
He was already halfway down the steps before Daniel called, “Of course, Rufus. I’ll expect an announcement later this afternoon.”
An hour later he stood outside the baron’s house rubbing the back of his neck and trying to get the mixed emotions of panic and anger under control.
Jamieson swore she wasn’t at the manor and that he hadn’t seen her. Rufus believed him only because he, too, seemed to grow concerned when he learned that Rheda was no longer at Hastingleigh.
“Where else would she go?” he asked the man. “Where would she go if she had some issues to think about?”
Jamieson’s eyes narrowed, and he frowned. “Meg. She’d go to Meg.”
Rufus swung up onto Caesar’s back before Jamieson finished the sentence and was galloping down the drive a few seconds later.
He pounded on Meg’s door like a knight besieging the castle, rescuing the damsel in distress. It only took a few thumps before the door was thrown wide, and Meg stood there wiping her hands on her apron.
“Is Rheda with you?” he demanded.
“Good morning, my lord.”
Her greeting tempered his impatience, and he gave her a proper greeting, adding, “My apologies. It’s just Rheda has gone missing and with Samuel still at large, I’m worried.”
“Rheda hasn’t gone missing.” Meg hesitated before adding, “She felt it appropriate to leave.”
“She’s confided in you? Appropriate?” He captured Meg’s wrist as she made to close the door. “What are you not telling me?”
Her gaze flicked to his hand wrapped around her wrist, then up to his eyes. She glared at him until he let go. “Rheda doesn’t wish to see you. I think it best you leave.” And she shut the door in his face.
Rufus stood staring at the door in shock. How could she have given herself to him with such tenderness, such passion, and then coldly walk away?
He tried to tamp down the flare of panic inside him. It was quickly replaced with anger. How could she give up on them before they had a chance to ... ?
He sunk down on the doorstep. He’d never told her of his love for her. Or how much he admired her.
But he couldn’t rid himself of the sick feeling squeezing his heart. Perhaps she had meant every word she’d thrown in his face. Perhaps marriage was an institution she would never contemplate entering. What filled him with overriding dread, however, was the thought she had never loved him. That perhaps, all along, her true goal had been to protect her smuggling operation.
Abruptly he rose and mounted Caesar. He had every intention of establishing the truth—no matter what the cost.
As Rufus stalked to his horse and galloped off, Rheda’s breath let out in a rush. She’d had visions of him forcing his way into Meg’s house and carrying her off. That would destroy their plan. She didn’t want Rufus to know the truth; he’d likely strangle Fleur and rise to Rheda’s defense, destroying any chance of the Strathmores taking their rightful place in Society.
She was a tad disappointed that Rufus had so little faith in her ability to aid his endeavors. He should realize that she wouldn’t run away.
Meg filled the kettle and sat it on the fire. “A cup of tea is in order,” she said over a lot of banging and clashing of kettle, cups, and saucers.
“I take it you’re cross with me, Meg.”
Meg’s lips thinned, and she ignored Rheda’s question until she’d placed a cup in front of her. Then she snapped, “You should have told him the truth. He’s a grown man and can make his own decisions. Besides, look at the worry you’re putting him through.”
Rheda looked up through eyes welling with tears. “How could I put him in that position?” She wiped her cheeks. “No. I’ve done the right thing. I’ve caused this mess, and I’ll fix it. For once I’ll help someone else—selflessly for a change.”
Meg sighed. “The two of you need your heads banged together. You’d probably deal with Fleur quicker with Rufus’s help.”
Rheda kept her silence. But what if Rufus told Fleur to go to hell, which he likely would? If he lost his only chance of redemption, would he come to resent her? When he looked at her in years to come, would the fact he gave up everything for her destroy the love he had for her? She couldn’t risk it. Not when this plan would work. A little while later, after the two women had almost finished clearing the plates from the boys’ midday meal off the table, there was more pounding on the door. Rheda looked at Meg and shook her head.
Wiping her hands on her apron, Meg moved and opened the door. Before she could react the door was pushed open and Lord Worthington and one of his men entered. His narrowed gaze latched on to Rheda. “You’re to come with me, under orders from the king.”
Meg pushed between Stephen and Rheda. “On what charge?”
“Smuggling.”
Rheda gasped, and then fury overtook her common sense. She’d underestimated her foe. “But I did exactly what Lady Umbridge said—” she began.
Stephen’s gaze swung from Meg’s angry face to Rheda and asked incredulously, “What has Fleur got to do with this?”
Rheda open and closed her mouth. Perhaps this had nothing to do with Lady Umbridge. “Nothing, I don’t know what I’m saying.”
“This is a mistake.” Meg tried to pull Stephen’s hand from Rheda’s arm. “Let her go. What does Lord Strathmore have to say about all this? When he finds out that you’ve manhandled Miss Kerrich ...”
Stephen looked down his nose at them. “Who do you think sent me?”
Pain like that from a festering boil grew and throbbed as Rheda heard Rufus’s title. Was this his revenge on her for leaving him? Did he have so little faith in her? In their love? At the first fence he’d faltered. Rufus still didn’t trust her, and the knowledge made every hollow in her body ache.
To her dismay, Stephen and his men escorted her like a common criminal back to Hastingleigh, and she soon found herself locked in her bedchamber.
Quite some time later, when her nerves were stretched to breaking, she heard the sound of heavy footsteps nearing her door and knew instinctively whom they belonged to.
This time it did not crash open; he simply unlocked the door and stepped inside, quietly closing the door behind him. Rheda scrambled up from where she was sitting on the edge of the bed, her mouth open to berate him. Instead she froze, made speechless by the raw anger in Rufus’s eyes.
Her tone hardened. “I don’t deserve this.”
“Don’t you?” Rufus answered, his tone clipped.
“I can explain—”
“Can you? Last night was one of the most unforgettably passionate nights of my life. I woke eager for more, only to find you gone. What was last night to you? Was it supposed to stop me from arresting you for smuggling? If so, it appears to have backfired.”
His scathing tone caused a hot flush to spread up her neck and flood her cheeks. “You don’t trust me. After all we have been through you still don’t trust me,” she said, utterly bereft.
“Trust?” He gently raised her chin, and she saw the stormy tempest of his eyes had softened. “What is this all about, minx?”
She jerked her head away from his touch. “I’m not sure you deserve to know after this behavior.”
“What has Lady Umbridge got to do with this?” he demanded.
His grip on her chin stopped her from averting her gaze.
Blast.
She was a terrible liar, always had been. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”
“Stephen mentioned you’d thought Fleur had something to do with your arrest. I want to know why?”
Feeling the sting of unwanted tears, she cried, “Can’t you just trust me?”
“Not if it means I lose you,” he swore furiously.
“For once in my life let me do the right thing. Please don’t force the truth from me.”
He rubbed his thumb over the corner of her mouth and leaned in close. The scent of him sent her pulse ricocheting to every corner of her body. “The right thing is to tell me you love me, too, and that you’ll gladly become my wife,” he whispered against her ear.
Her breath faltered. What was love without trust? Is that why she felt dampness on her cheeks?
“I do hope they are tears of joy.”
When she remained silent, he prodded her in the ribs. “Are you not going to give me an answer?”
“ No. ”
“No, you won’t answer? Or no
is
your answer? I warn you, the answer better be yes or I’ll strip you naked, lay you on this bed, and make mad passionate love to you. Then I’ll tell your brother. You know he’ll insist we marry. I’m sure he’ll be ecstatic at our union.”