Light to Valhalla (10 page)

Charley
gulped
, curling her fingers in her husband’s coat
.
“Saunders?”

Alex
shook his head
.
“He didn’t make it
.”

A sob clogged
her throat, and she sucked a whistling breath into her lungs
.

Her husband
strode from the thicket, steering
her
away from
the wreckage, but
Charley
spied the splintered carriage from the corner of her eye
.
Sidney
draped
a blanket over the still form of her faithful driver
.
She buried her face in the thick wool of
Alex
’s uniform, a fresh wash of tears rushing forth
.

Gently Alex set her down beside
Letty
.
“
Hush,
there is no need for tears
.
Never look back at what could have been different.
”
H
e caught
her cheek in a rough palm and smoothed a thumb across her cheek, wiping away the slick of tears
.
Compassion and understanding glistened in the depths of
his
piercing blue eyes
.
He slipped
burly
arms arou
nd her, folding her in an
all encompassing
embrace
.

“
Oh, Alex.
”
S
he
crumbled
,
clinging to
his
waist
, using his strength to hold her up
.
“
This is
all my
fault.”

“
D
on’t think that way
.
None of this is your doing
.
You had no way of knowing you’d be abducted on your way to a dinner party.
”

Except that
she hadn’t been on her way to a dinner party
.
Guilt settled hard in her stomach
.
If she’d gone to Lady Carmichael’s after all none of this would have happened
… Saunders would still be alive
.
Instead she’d selfishly flown from London
.

“This isn’t about you, Charl
e
y
.
It’s about me.
”
Alex
smoothed a
hand over her hair and drew back
.

“No, Alex, you don’t understand, those men were hired to kill me.”

“Kill you?
”
He shook his head in bewilderment
.
“Charlotte, those bastards were holding you for ransom
.
I have the note to prove it.”

“I heard them talking, Alex
.
Someone hired them to kill me for one thousand pounds
.
The lead man,
Johnston
, saw you riding through town and they decided to hold me for a higher ransom instead.
”
Questions, uncertainty, and more than a little fear
left her terribly off balance
.
She held to her husband’s arms as an anchor
.
“Who would want to kill me, Alex?
”
Miserable t
ears
slid
down her cheeks, blurring his handsome face
.

Alex took her face in h
is hands, smoothing
calloused
thumbs
across her cheeks
.
“
None of it matters, love
.
I have a very good idea who is behind this and rest assured no
further
harm will come to you.”

For a long moment he gazed down at her, expression soft and yielding
.
A spark lit his eye
,
holding her transfixed
.
S
omething forbidden and powerful
lurked in his gaze, sending heated shivers along her spine
.

He
leaned just a bit closer
,
his hooded gaze
tracing the curve of her face, coming to rest on her mouth
.
White mist
s of breath
rolled
through the air, mingling between them
, and her lips
lit
with
silent
yearning
.
For the briefest instant
,
intimacy banished the chasm of marriage contracts and scandal between them
.
For one perfect moment nothing in the world existed save for them and she knew the silliest, fleeting thought that he might kiss her
.

“Have faith,
Charley
.
I’ll protect you.
”
Without warning
he closed the distance between them
.
His lips whispered over hers in a caress so gentle it was barely palpable, but left her entirely breathless all the same
.
A fuzzy haze overtook her senses, fusing her with warmth
.
Charley
swayed into him, wanting just one
…
more
…
tender
kiss
..
.

“Wait here.
”
Abruptly Alex
moved back
.
“I’ll go see to
Sidney
’
s arm
and
then we’ll ride home
.
We’re not more than an hour or so from London.”

The moment shattered, bringing reality back into clear focus
.
Charley
crossed her arms over her chest and
shiv
ered
.
“I’m not going back to
Coverstone
House.
”
She could well imagine
Regina
’s tirade
once they returned
, s
omehow all of this would be
Charley
’s fault
.
“My
parent’s
estate is
no further than London
.
I
want to go home… to
my
home.”

Alex’s eyes hardened, blocking the glow of soft compassion evident just moments before
.
“Is that why the carriage was so far outside of London? 
Because you were traveling to your parents’ house?”

She met that hard gaze and curled her fingers into her palm to stay the trembling
.
“Yes.”

“I see.
”
Her husband
turned crisply
away
from
her
, unlas
hing the strap of his leather sa
ddlebag
.

I see
.
Nothing more
.
Not even a glance back in her direction
.
T
he acrid bile of rejection
burned her throat, and s
he stared at the daunting width of his back as though to
hurl musket balls
.
Gone was Alex, her childhood friend and companion
.
The depressing
truth
descended over her like a swift, dark shadow
.
Lord Major
Coverstone
had taken his place
.
Brooding, surly, and cold as onl
y an English lord could be
.

*
             
*
             
*

She was leaving me
.

Alex yanked open the leather flap on his satchel and thrust an angry fist into the depths
.
Well, that was bloody marvelous
.
As if he hadn’t spent the last eighteen months losing everything he’
d ever worked toward
.
N
ow he’d returned home
to find
his wife
walking out on their marriage
.
The fact hit his gut hard
.
Too hard
.
This was not at all how he’d anticipated his reconciliation with Charley.

Alex rummaged
through the leather bag
, searching for a bandage roll
—
or perhaps a bloody noose so he c
ould hang himself now and be do
n
e
with it
.
This was supposed to be his second chance on life
.
His opportunity t
o set right all he’d put
awry
.
Instead he’d successfully botched everything to this point
.
“Ready
to wrap that arm
, Sidney
,
”
he grumbled
.

And if leaving him wasn’t enough, Charley
now
wanted
him to accompany her
to
Grayson Hall
.
Her parents
’
damn castle
.
Not
a
chance in Hell
.
Alex would rather be hog tied, tarred
,
and feathered
than face his
in-laws
.
Hell, he’d sooner be captured by the French than face the Grayson family. T
he bards were wrong, t
ime did not heal all wounds, a lesson Alex had learned well, and b
itterness was sure to run thick
through the
Grayson
waters
.

“Did you hear
my request
, my
lord?”
Charlotte
’s query held
ingratiating formality
.
“I would like to travel to my parents
’
estate.”

“
I heard,” Alex snapped
.
A vision of staring down the sm
ooth bore of Lord Grayson’s duel
ing pistol flashed through his mind
.
“
Would you like to measure me for a pine box now or after we’ve arrived
.”

Charlotte start
l
ed, hastily distancing herself from him
, and he instantly regretted the
harsh
words
.
Damn
.
Could he
say or
do nothing right?
 
S
he st
ared at him as though the devil a
gain
.
Alex
scrubbed
a hand through his hair,
feeling the worst of failures as a husband
and
her
friend
—w
hich was fitting because he’d proved a failure in every aspect of his life to date
.

“W
hat
’s happened
?
”
Sidney
approached from
behind him
, the lilt of
protective
concern
running
deep
through
his voice
.

Charlotte
cast Sid a pleading glance, and instantly
moved
to
the
rake’s
si
d
e
.
“I do
n’t wish to return to London.”

“Can’t say as I blame you,” Sid replied
, slipping his good arm about her shoulders, giving a reassuring squeeze
.
“Regina’s bound to explode, and if word of this gets out…”

Alex
clenched the bandage roll
tight enough to d
raw water
.
That was
his wife
Sidney was fondling
, not some barmaid
.
For
heaven
’s sake
the
girl
had
run straight into
Sid
’s arms
.
Damn
it
all to hell
,
but
holding her
, being the knight in shining armor women so often blathered on about
was
his
job
.
Not
Sidney
’s
.
With
concerted
effort
Alex
stifled the
chord of jealousy
strumming through him
.