Authors: Beth Trissel
Ever the gentleman,
Cole lowered the weapons.
He returned Cameron’s sword
, hilt first,
to its owner with a
bow.
“We shall consid
er the matter resolved. I will
escort you from the house.”
The mounting hum of conversation buzzed around
Julia
as
Cole walked Cam
eron across the hall
.
T
he intoxicated man
stopped
just before the doorway. Then h
e
did the unthinkable.
Pulling a
silver-handled
dagger from his side, he raked it across Cole’s sword arm in a wild swipe.
The crimson silk was torn.
He jerked back, scarlet running
down his
sleeve.
Julia’s dismay resounded
from the throats of many women
.
“
Foul cheat!”
one man shouted.
“Ought to be taken out and horse whipped!” belted a second.
Jerking up her skirts, Julia
ran at
Cole
.
She pushed through the crowd
in a decidedly unladylike manner
and stopped only a few feet from the two men.
E
very feature
of Cole’s handsome face
was
tight
ly
rein
ed
.
“Leave now
, sir,
and
do not return on pain of death
.
”
After that gross insult, he was letting Cameron walk away?
Julia couldn’t take it in.
Cameron blinked at
Cole in
glassy-eyed
disbelief.
“Y
ou are intoxicated
and not yourself,” Cole said by way of dismissal.
Lady
Pembrook’s
face was a barel
y contained mask of fury.
“It’s a far
sight more sporting than he deserves.
If your aunt were not abed she would
have choice words for this wretch.”
Even with blood dripping from
his arm, Cole quipped
,
“I t
old you Mama
regrets not having a dungeon at Foxleigh.”
Laughter lessened the grim mood of the uneasy assembly.
Julia
wasn’t appeased.
She snatched
a
snowy
napkin f
rom a table and
rushed to Cole.
“Get out, Mr. Cameron! I never coveted
your affections and don’t ever
wish to see yo
u again!” she shouted, and pressed
the
cloth to
Cole’s
wound
.
“
As you wish,” Cameron slurred.
The emerald in the dagger’s hilt caught the light as he sheathed it
.
With a
look
somewhere
between indignation
and shame, he
turned and tracked unsteadily out the door.
Lady Pembrook mot
ioned to the shaken
parlor maid. “Summon, Peter.
Tell him to go and fetch Doctor Morris.”
Cole was a shade paler than he’d been only moments
before, but he shook his head.
“There’s no need for a
physician, Mother.”
“That wound will require
stitching
, I shouldn’t wonder
.”
“A poultic
e will serve until the morrow.
Don’t drag the good
doctor from his bed at this
late
hour.”
His mother hesit
ated
and stayed the servant with a
regal
hand
.
“Old Tom is
heavily asleep from
imbibing
too much wine
.
Tell Peter to gather
yarrow root and pound it well.
Old Tom has put
him to use in the garden.
The
boy
knows his
herbs
.”
“Yes,”
Ju
lia
agreed
. She’
d
often seen
Peter
in the company of
the
head gardener
.
A former slave
, wrinkled and wise
,
Old Tom
was
renowned for his knowledge of plants
.
With the matter apparently settled
for the night
, Cole held up his uninjured
arm to
hail
the rattled
gathering
.
“Pray excuse me, al
l.
Forgive my abrupt departure.
”
Everyone in the hall
applauded his gallantry
.
Julia
peeled off
her
blo
od-stained gloves, dropping one
in her haste to help Lady
Pembrook assist Cole
to his
chamber.
And
then
it struck her with unbearable heaviness,
like flood waters engulfing her in a choking tide
,
that she never saw him alive again.
****
Will
had to get to Julia.
He
couldn’t mount the torturous st
airs to the attic fast enough.
The electricity was out at this level and he shone a flashlight as he hammered up the narrow confine. Reach her
––
reach her
––
drummed in his mind with every pounding step.
He’d
insisted
on coming for her alone,
even pushed
Lyle back
.
Hell, he’d practically snarled at the Aussie like a wolf claiming its own, and left
Paul with Father Seth.
God on
ly knew what
kind of shape she’
d
be in emotionally.
What on earth
w
as that
crazy juvenile thinking to shut
her up here?
This was a stretch
even for som
eone of Paul’s limited cap
ability
.
Will was sorely tempted to wring his puny neck.
Panting from the
adrenalin rush
and
rapid climb, he
reached the top of the flight.
As
expected, the door was locked.
Fortunately
,
Will
didn’t need a key.
Paul probably would have hidd
en it if he had
, damn him
.
Rather than unlock the heavy door, he turned the bolt and stepped
inside.
He wanted to explode
into
the dark space, but feared
further alarm
ing
Julia.
Fighting for
calm, Will
skimmed
the light over
the
dusty trunks and shrouded cost
umes
. “Julia?
It’s
me,
Will.”
No reply.
Then,
he heard
the
weeping
, soft at first and rapidly increasing in volume
.
He shone the light in
to
the corner beside the chimney.
There!
Seemingly unaware of him, she
lay
curled on the floor
s
haking like a reed in the wind
.
Relief at find
ing her rose beside
the
fresh alarm washing through him
. She sounded
crushed beyond
all
bearing.
“
Oh, Julia
.
It’ll be all right
,” he half-promised, half
-pleaded, and bounded across the creaking boards to her.
Will knelt beside the distraught young woman, glad for the flask of brandy Charlotte had the presence of mind to slip into his pock
et.
He laid the flashlight on the floor
.
The w
hite beam made unworldly shadows
on the walls
and left Julia mostly in the dark
as he reac
hed
down to gather her
against him.
“I’ve been out of my mind with worry over you,” he sai
d, battling
breathless emot
ion.
One of them had to be in control
.
Scooping her
up in
to his arms, Will
held her to
him as if he’d never let her go
.
Never.
He instinctively knew s
he was dearer to him than
anyone and anything in
the world
, tho
ugh not entirely sane
.
She wept racking sobs against his chest, the sort that rendered coherent speech impossible.
For a tim
e, he
simply
held her and
let her cry.
“I’m so sorry, so sorry,” he said over and over.
He pulled out the
h
andkerchief Charlotte had also
stuffed in his pocket and ge
ntly mopped Julia’s wet face.
“No one had any idea
you were up here.
Paul had some
crazy idea he was keeping you safe from Lyle.”
Still
,
she made no attempt to speak.
Will unscrewed th
e flask and held it to her lips.
“Here, sip this.”
She did as he urged, coughing a little.
He pli
ed her with more brandy, praying
it would calm her
hysteria
.
She was in even worse shape than h
e’d
feared.
He should get her out of this attic and tucked into bed.
Maybe even call a doctor.
“I’m going to
help
you up
now
.
Ok
, Julia
?”
No answer.
He glanced down and saw
that
s
he was clinging to something,
red cloth, by the looks of it.
He hesitated a moment and st
ayed as he was.
“What have you got
there
?”
“Cole’s coat
––
stained with blood
,
”
she choked out.
A cold chill ran down Will.
She
dre
w in a quavering breath
. “Oh, Will.
H
e’s dead.
Cole’s dead.”
With that, she completely broke down.
She must have had another one
of her vivid dreams. Even so, Will was stunned by the depth
of her grief.
He cradled her con
vulsing against him.
“Y
ou already knew this
, sweetheart
.”
“But I saw
––
” she gasped out.
Will was suddenly intent on her every word
.
Maybe in her odd way, Julia
had picked up on something.
“You
know how he died?”
“Not the very end
.
But
Cameron cheated after he and Cole
dueled
and
slashed Cole’s arm.
I bound his wound
––dropped my glove
.
Cameron
must have
come back later in the night and stabbed him.”