The Duke's Temptation (28 page)

The stranger placed Phoebe on the bench facing the front while he positioned himself opposite. Elizabeth took the open spot next to the child, who instantly pressed against her side.

Despite the blanket wrapped around her, Elizabeth could feel shivers rack Phoebe’s tiny body.

“Here.” He held out a dry blanket. “Use this before the child takes a chill.”

She didn’t bother thanking the scoundrel, kind gesture or no. Elizabeth stripped off the rain-soaked blanket and swaddled the child in dry warmth, from her shoulders to her toes.

“Here is one for you.”

His voice remained soft, gentle. Elizabeth couldn’t detect any type of evil in his tone. Though she’d never had a conversation with a killer before; maybe they all spoke as if in the midst of sipping tea.

Her dress was thoroughly soaked, and given the puddle growing on the floor at her feet, dry garments were not forthcoming any time soon. She wasn’t going to complain, though. The blanket he’d handed her was better than nothing. Unfolding the soft wool, Elizabeth pulled it around her.

Settled and drier, Phoebe curled into Elizabeth’s lap. “Are we going home now?”

“Not yet. You just snuggle in and get warm.” Elizabeth tried to sound cheery but the turn of the day’s events caused her voice to wobble, and her chattering teeth didn’t help matters.

It wasn’t until after they were off—to God only knew where—and she heard the rain hitting the top of the carriage, that pure panic set in. She hadn’t given a second’s thought to the storm. When she’d rushed from the house the rain hadn’t been more than a nuisance. Now, confined to the carriage, it became her greatest obstacle.

She wouldn’t surrender to it. For Phoebe she had to be strong. If she allowed her affliction to take control, she might not be able to keep the child safe.

To prevent the sharp edge of terror from cutting into her composure, she turned her full focus to the man sitting across from her. The lamp made it easy for her to study him.

He was younger than she expected. Though equally soaked, she could tell he wore decent clothing and maintained proper grooming. He didn’t appear to be a typical commonplace kidnapper. He seemed too refined for that.

Save for the slump of his shoulders and the way his gaze never left Phoebe, he appeared as if their drive was an everyday outing.

In an attempt to block out the clamor of the storm, Elizabeth concentrated on his eyes. Sadness rimmed the dark brown orbs, as if he struggled with something. Perhaps the very thing that had led him to sneak into the ducal house and steal away with the duke’s child.

She tenderly regarded Phoebe. The child’s lowered lids masked the vibrant blue of her eyes. She had fallen asleep. It was probably better that way—especially if Elizabeth could no longer fight the swell of anxiety rising in her.

“Where are you taking us?”

“Away.” Although he replied to Elizabeth, he didn’t take his eyes from Phoebe. A gentleness had mixed with the sadness. If she’d made his acquaintance in other circumstances, she’d never suspect him capable of kidnapping.

The rain beat harder against the carriage. Sweat immediately broke out over her chilled skin. She pushed away the blanket, now a smothering weight. Her breathing grew shallow.

Oh, no. This can’t be happening.
Not when she needed to protect Phoebe.

She must continue to push through it. “The duke will find you.”

“Not where we are going.”

Apparently he wouldn’t be sharing any pertinent information. So much for using sterling conversation to keep the panic at bay.

How pitiful that she hoped to converse with the very man who had attacked her and had subsequently become an abductor. Elizabeth felt desperate enough to do precisely that if it would take her mind off the storm.

The thunder filling the night made the carriage walls close in on her. Not even deep breathing could prevent her heart from racing and the blackness from coming.

At this point she could only pray she wouldn’t lose consciousness before they reached wherever they were headed

Chapter 40

Gabe’s day and subsequent evening had been hell. When he’d set off after Elizabeth’s attacker, he’d been so damned sure they’d find him and he could finally pound some answers out of the man.

Gabe entered the house and slammed the door, well aware he was taking his frustrations out on the panel of wood. When they’d started to pursue the man’s tracks it had been so promising. Then the rain set in, and before they could follow the hoof prints to their conclusion, they had been washed away.

Not about to admit defeat, Gabe had pressed on. There weren’t many places to hide, so odds should have been in their favor. However, despite all his best efforts, the man had eluded them.

He could be anywhere by now.

Intent on disposing of his drenched garments, Gabe had begun to stalk up the stairs, when Millie rushed from the drawing room.

“Gabe, you’re back. Thank God they found you.”

Worry echoed in her voice and her usual calm demeanor had frayed.

“What’s wrong? Who found me?” He glanced behind the older woman. “Where is Elizabeth?”

“Gone. Looking for Phoebe, who seems to be . . . missing.”

“Missing! What do you mean, missing?”

He never thought his day could go from bad to nightmarish, yet his world had just crumbled around him.

A month ago if someone would have told him two females would become the center of his life, he would have laughed at such a preposterous notion.

Tonight there was no doubt his heart had been taken captive.

“When were they seen last?” he managed to ask, afraid to hear the answer.

“No more than a quarter hour ago. When Wilkes was taking a turn outside to see if Phoebe had wandered from the house, he observed Elizabeth following a man headed toward the grove of trees on the back side of the garden. He couldn’t be sure—his eyesight not being what it used to be—but it looked like the man might have been carrying Phoebe. Wilkes ran after, but lost them in the trees. Then, he heard a carriage roll away.”

“Damn. They’ll disappear before we find them!”

He sprinted to the foyer as if the hounds of hell were on his heels. Grabbing his wet coat from where he’d thrown it, he reached for the latch just as the door flew open. If he hadn’t stepped back it would have hit him square in the forehead.

“What the—”

His brother, shouldering his way out of the rain, cut off Gabe’s profanity.

“If I would have known I’d be riding through a hammering storm, I’d have delayed my return.” Nate shook rain from his hair.

When he stopped and locked eyes on Gabe he asked, “What happened?”

Sensing Elizabeth slipping away, Gabe had no time to go into detail. He ground out, “Phoebe and Elizabeth are missing. We think they are with Elizabeth’s attacker.”

God only knew what Elizabeth and Phoebe were facing.

Nate’s eyebrows rose. “Missing? Attacker? I leave for a few days and everything goes to hell.”

The look Gabe shot his brother was more than enough to convey his fright and worry before he slipped out the door. Wordlessly, Nate hurried to Gabe’s side.

Not one to ask for help, it settled Gabe to know his brother understood him well enough to decipher what he didn’t say. It also helped he’d never known Nate to walk away from someone in need.

“What is the plan?” Nate shouted over the thunder.

“Find them.”

“And then what?”

“Kill the man who took them.” Gabe’s wooden voice was warning enough of how serious he was. He’d already lived seven years haunted by the ghost of someone he killed. He could somehow learn to live with two. Maybe their spirits could keep each other company.

There were no more words spoken as they retrieved their horses from the stable. Once he’d rounded up every able man, Gabe led the charge to find his daughter . . . and the woman he couldn’t live without.

Chapter 41

Elizabeth was surely going to swoon. She didn’t have the strength to resist any longer. Her head already pounded from struggling with it. At this point, the darkness to follow would be a blessing.

She almost gave in to the desire, then Phoebe shifted in her sleep. Elizabeth feared what would happen to the child if she capitulated. A glance at their unwanted companion confirmed the man had yet to remove his eyes from the sleeping girl.

But instead of his absorption being sinister, there seemed to be something else driving it. Either way, Elizabeth fought anew the urge to slip into oblivion.

After the lack of success with her first attempt, she hadn’t tried to further engage a conversation with their abductor. Consequently she knew nothing more about where they were headed than when she’d first stepped into the carriage.

The storm might be creating mayhem on her body, but at least it bore some benefit. Given the bumpy ride and slow pace, the heavy rain must have turned the traveling path into a muddy mess. Combined with the strong winds, that meant they couldn’t have journeyed far from Gabe’s estate.

None of this would have happened if Gabe hadn’t be hunting the very man sitting across from her. Panic mingled with her confidence that they’d be rescued before they disappeared into the night. Even so, Elizabeth refused to surrender.

I must remain cognizant until help comes.

As she pulled a few calming breaths into her lungs, a sudden jarring shook the carriage, sending it tilting to the left. Phoebe tumbled across Elizabeth’s lap as the conveyance jerked to a sudden stop.

“Stay here,” their captor rumbled before he exited the carriage.

The door had barely slammed shut from the strength of the wind before Elizabeth turned to Phoebe. The hard jostle had awoken the tiny girl and her sleepy eyes, full of confusion, settled on Elizabeth.

“Hello, sweet. I see you are awake.”

She didn’t get a chance to say anything else as the door reopened and with it blew in a rainy gust of wind. Their abductor stepped through the frame, blocking the elements.

“One of the wheels is stuck. We need to free it. Don’t leave the carriage,” he warned, before he stomped away.

Elizabeth stared at the door for a moment and thought about what impression she had gleaned of the man. Other than stealing Phoebe in the first place, he’d not threatened nor used a harsh hand on them.

She had struggled with him in the garden that first night, yet he could have hurt her far worse. As it was, she had resisted his hold, frightened of what he would do, which caused her harm rather than evil intent on his part. However, none of that explained his presence in London. Or why he was fixated on Phoebe. And why he had followed them to the country.

As much as she wanted answers, she wasn’t about to hang about and discover what he might be capable of.

“Want to outsmart a pirate?” she whispered to Phoebe.

As if sensing the situation, Phoebe stayed silent and only answered with a quick nod.

“Good. But we have to be quiet.”

With Phoebe’s acquiescence verified, Elizabeth needed a plan of escape. Unless someone else had magically appeared, Elizabeth assumed the “
we”
the man had mentioned included himself and the driver. With those two outside the carriage, sneaking away would be difficult. Hopefully not impossible for a woman and a child to creep away into the night without anyone being the wiser.

As for figuring out what they’d do once they were away, Elizabeth would tackle that later. The hammering in her head was too strong for her to think through more than one life threatening predicament at a time.

If the ever increasing racket of the storm were any indication, the weather continued to rage around them. Aware they’d need a barrier against the rainfall, she gathered the dry blankets as she whispered to Phoebe, “Almost time.”

As prepared as possible, Elizabeth and Phoebe waited. The deafening thunder muffled most of the sounds from outside the carriage, but if she turned her head just right, she could isolate the men’s voices from nature’s symphony.

Absorbed with filtering the voices through the noise, she wasn’t prepared to ward off the effects of a particularly violent crescendo of sound that seemed to explode through the walls of the carriage. Blackness edged her eyesight.

Not no
w
!
Not when she was so close to breaking free of her internal prison. If she could withstand the agony for a trifle longer she would be free of the carriage and no longer under the power of her infirmity. A few moments longer was all she asked for.

When several good, chest expanding breaths didn’t make the darkness recede, she focused on Phoebe. On the defenseless child who at this moment had no one else to protect her from the evil in the world. If she failed to do this one thing, she not only failed Phoebe but she also failed Gabe.

Somehow she had to find the strength to beat it.

At last, silence. She thought they’d never stop moving about. With the men gathered to the other side of the carriage, their chance to escape had arrived.

“Here we go. I’m going to lower you out the door. Once you hit the ground, run to the trees. I’ll be right behind you,” she whispered to Phoebe, hoping there were trees wherever they were.

In steady movements, praying the carriage wouldn’t bounce and give away their intentions, Elizabeth sidled to the opposite door, and motioned to Phoebe, steadying the handle against the strength of the wind. Her idea of stealth didn’t involve the door crashing against the side of the carriage.

She had opened it only a crack when it was ripped out of her hand.
Oh no!
Not even the storm of the century would be able to mask the sound.

A few seconds passed before she realized there hadn’t been any noise beyond the hum of the storm. The door had never made contact with the carriage. Something—or someone—stopped its progress.

The idea of
who
that someone was froze the blood in her veins. There was no time to formulate a new plan, for a dripping wet male blocked their only escape route; large and dark in the shadow of the lamp.

She pushed Phoebe behind her and eased from the door. How had she not realized someone else had been outside the carriage? She swore there had been only two different voices.

“Hurry, Minx. We don’t have much time. Nate will be upon those miscreants any moment now.”

“Gabe?”

“Papa!”

How had he found them? How had he managed to slip up to the carriage without being noticed?

She didn’t have time for anything besides concentrating on the uneven, slippery ground as Gabe rushed them from the carriage and to the waiting horse.

It wasn’t until Gabe tossed Phoebe onto Brutus’s back and turned to do the same for her that she thought to ask, “What about those men?”

“As soon as I have you and Phoebe safely away, Nate and the others will deal with them.”

Elizabeth didn’t need to see his eyes through the heavy rain to know they were filled with vengeance. She almost felt sorry for her captor.
Almost
.

Any other questions, she swallowed with a gulp when Gabe hoisted her onto Brutus’s solid back and joined her. With three to carry, the stallion’s imperial strength became evident.

Gabe grabbed the reins, easily able to reach around her and Phoebe. Though he was equally wet, the heat of his body warmed her through her thin dress as soon as he encased her in his arms. The sweet sensation almost caused her to forget about the letters that spoke of Gabe’s love for another woman. A woman he cared for to the point of spending the rest of his life with her.

She shrugged off the thought. Now was not the time to dwell on her lack of future with the only man who would ever possess her entire heart.

There would be plenty of time to submerge herself in despair when they were safe and dry.