If You Were Mine

by King, Rebecca

  “Don’t scream,” the harsh voice snarled in her ear. Isobel immediately froze, and closed her eyes against the wave of sickness that swept through her. Briefly, she wondered if she might just throw up there and then. Anger swelled as she wrenched her head away, tempted for a brief moment to sink her teeth into the soft leather of his gloves, in retribution for the shock he had given her.

  Squirming, she tried to pull away only to find herself held tight against the solid wall of his chest.

  “Damn it let me go!” Isobel snapped, tugging ineffectually at the arm across her chest.

  “Stand still woman, and for God’s sake keep quiet!” Dominic growled dropping the arm across her waist to place it firmly across her hips and in doing so, tightened his hold as he waited patiently for her to stop squirming.

  Temper seething, Isobel rolled her eyes and eventually stood motionless in his arms.

  “Oh, so you are talking to me now,” Isobel snapped waspishly, piqued at his earlier callousness.

  Dominic snorted cynically. “I’ve recently returned from war; you would be surprised what I can do. We aren’t on a casual stroll through the woods where we can chat amiably as we just wander along.” Inwardly, Dominic shook his head at his wife’s dexterity, and hoped she never discovered the lie he had just told. She had indeed been deuced difficult to ignore as she had copied his every move with a speed and efficiency that unnerved him. It had taken all of his skills to think of her as anything other than his wife.

  “I have to do this Dominic,” Isobel argued, refusing to be cowed by his anger in spite of the bitter regret that coursed through her. She relished the last moments of being held by him, even if it was partly in anger, and took the opportunity to lean upon his strength at her back.

  “So what do you think we should do? Knock on the front door and ask for work?” Dominic loosened his grip to move beside her, flicking a cool look of derision up and down her.

  Squaring her shoulders, Isobel’s eyes locked with his defiantly. “I’m going to break in and get the documentation I know exists.” She knew that if he took it into his head, he could quite easily throw her over his shoulder and carry her back to Havistock Hall.

  Dominic’s condescending sigh was all it took to light the embers of her temper. Her nerves and emotions were already shattered. The last thing she needed was his temper. She leaned her face closer to his, going up on tiptoe to meet his gaze. She was aware that he squared his shoulders to stare coldly down at her.

  “I am not asking your permission. I am not seeking your help,” Isobel’s voice cut through the night air like a knife. She glared at her husband standing stoically before her without fear. This wasn’t a time for fear and retribution. She needed to get him to understand. “This is something I have to do, for me.” A red hot wave of fury flowed like molten lava through her veins, and she poked a finger into the solid wall of chest in an attempt to get make him understand just how deeply this affected her. “It was me he beat half to death. Me - who thought I wouldn’t get out alive. Me - whose life he destroyed. I am getting those papers.” Once again she jabbed a finger into his chest, harder, and with more determination that she had realised she had. “I am going into that house to get the documents I have seen and know exist. Do what you want! Go home if you want to, but you will not stop me. I refuse to simply wait at home for you to do it for me.” Isobel pulled her cloak around her, still riding high on the tide of anger, and moved back along the tree-line, very much aware of his frosty silence behind her.

  Suddenly she was sick and tired of having men dictate her life for her. As woman of five and twenty, with enough wealth to live in luxury for the remainder of her life, she was not going to allow men to control her life any more, and that included the man who held her heart.

  She resisted the urge to look behind her to see if he had actually left her alone and had her answer when, having taken no more than ten steps deeper into the woods, she was spun around by his hard grip on her elbow.

  “Damn you to hell,” he snarled, grabbing the back of her head to hold her still as he slammed his mouth down upon hers.

  Temper raging, Isobel met the hot plunge of his tongue without fear or trepidation. His hard lips raged against hers, demanding her compliance with a determination that was relentless, until she succumbed. Plundering until she acceded; but she refused to give in to his masculine strength. In return, she grabbed the back of his head and pulled him down, deepening the kiss and drawing the soft mounds of her breasts tighter against his chest.

  “God, woman,” Dominic growled with a shake of his head. Inwardly he was still seething. He had been hoping that being out in the cold darkness would be enough to dampen her enthusiasm, and she would want to go home to a nice warm bed. He was annoyed that she was still adamant she was going to go through with her stupid scheme. He wanted to slam a fist into a tree.

  Dominic sighed deeply, and glared at his wife. “Do you have any idea what they will do to you if you get caught?” He knew he didn’t have to remind her of the beating he took, or hte daily abuse she had been subjected to. “Death would be the easy way out, darling.”

  If being out in the frosty night air, facing his anger weren’t enough to deter her, then he would have to take the harsh option. “There were, at Peter’s last count, four men inside the house.” He nodded brusquely across the gardens to the looming menace of Rupert’s house. Isobel paused, her back towards Dominic as she stared out across the grounds towards the hulking menace of the house.

  Silence settled between them for several minutes as she stood in quiet contemplation. Her voice was a mere whisper but was carried on the still night air. Standing deep in the shelter of the trees, within the relative anonymity of the darkness of the night gave Isobel the strength to voice her thoughts.

  “He beat me, you know that,” her voice was cold and flat.

  Dominic moved forward until he was standing directly behind her. He wanted to place his hands on her shoulders and pull her into his arms, but his instincts warned him to allow her to speak.

  “The last time he beat me, he just didn’t stop. It was a week after he told me that you had married another. I said it couldn’t be possible, but if it was, I was happy that you had found somebody you wanted to spend the rest of your life with. Obviously it wasn’t the answer he was looking for, because he hit me repeatedly until I fell to the ground.” Tears pooled in her eyes. Strangely she could remember the blows, but not the pain. With eyes that stared sightlessly out at nothing, Isobel continued in a monotone voice, as though recounting a story from a book.

  “Something inside me broke: I don’t know what. He had already told me that Peter had died the night I had my first beating. But when he told me about you, all doors suddenly closed on me, and I had nowhere to go. I lay curled up on the floor as he kicked me, and I knew that if I didn’t leave and take every risk to leave, then I would die. If not at Rupert’s hands, then at DeLisle’s.”

  Isobel recounted the night she had met DeLisle’s third wife at the Marchington’s Ball. She described the devoid, emotionless features of a woman who had given up all hope of escape, who had been beaten into submission, and knew it.

  “I didn’t care what my chances of survival were, but I knew I had to take the risk,” Isobel declared softly. “That is why, no matter how hard it got living on the streets, I bore it with everything I had within me. If I was to die of cold or hunger, then it would be a far less of an ordeal than the future Rupert had in store for me. I was colder than I had ever thought possible. So hungry sometimes, that I thought I should keel over. The pains in my stomach were so bad that I even stole a farmer’s loaf of bread to eat. I had to keep walking.”

  Strangely, she felt no sense of relief by telling someone of her plunge into the criminal world. “At first I went to Hubert to ask for his assistance, but knew I couldn’t stay with his family. There was still the question of guardianship. So, having set up the necessary arrangements to fake my own death, I knew I
had to hide. After Rupert’s news about you, I knew I couldn’t appear at your door - your wife would not have been happy in the least. Kitty told me to head to Coniston up in the Lake District, but as I travelled further north, the weather became colder, and I knew that I didn’t want to go there. But after several weeks of wandering aimlessly, trying to keep as inconspicuous as possible, I knew that cold or hunger would take me.”

  Isobel slowly turned to gaze up at the solid features of her husband, standing so silent and strong behind her. She couldn’t tell if he was angered or repulsed by her revelations. He hadn’t moved since she had begun talking, but had made no attempt to stop her talking either. Looking at him, her eyes met and held his. “I knew that I wouldn’t survive the winter alone. I also knew, or thought, your door was closed to me,” Isobel’s voice shook as the memory of those solitary nights she had lay huddled in the cold rose before her. She had been hungrier than she had ever thought possible and loneliness had been her constant companion. “I needed to be near you.”

  Isobel sucked in a breath of cold night air, oblivious to the clenching of his fists beneath his cloak, and she turned and stared at the house.

  “I would have gladly curled up on your doorstep, and passed away there and then, just to have my last few moments near you.” She felt acutely embarrassed by revealing the depth of her love for him, especially given his anger with her. She had never revealed her emotions to anyone to such an extent before. It should have been liberating, but something within her was still wary, and she stood waiting for his reaction. Strangely though, it was somehow easier to reveal her thoughts to the stark warrior behind her, than to the lovable rogue she had become familiar with.

  Dominic moved to stand beside her. “I visited your grave,” he declared softly, as silence settled between them. Dominic slowly took her small hand in his, curling his fingers around it protectively. “I spent three years at war and saw so much horror and bloodshed, words cannot begin to describe the misery, but nothing was like the moment I stood beside your brother, next to your grave. My world was swept out from under me, when Peter and I were told you had died.”

  “I’m sorry,” Isobel said. “It was my fault, but in my defence, it was planned before I knew you were looking for me. I did know Rupert and DeLisle would give chase once they realised I had gone, and pretending to die would give me the opportunity to start again – somehow.”

  “I know,” Dominic replied, his voice harsh in the cold night air.

  “We owe it to ourselves to get those papers, and make Rupert’s life difficult for a change.”

  “It would be enough to see him transported,” Dominic declared firmly.

  “I will never forgive him for what he has done to us, for all of the pain and suffering he has caused everyone. I cannot contemplate having a family with you, bearing your children, spending my life with you, only to find myself alone again and at Rupert’s mercy should he escape, or wriggle out of punishment somehow. Given everything he has done to me personally, I have to be involved in bringing about his downfall.” Isobel wished he could understand.

  “Then let’s do this together,” Dominic suggested, giving her hand a quick squeeze.

  “Really?” Isobel was unable to believe her warrior would relent so easily. “I can’t imagine you getting through the small window next to the kitchen door,” Isobel teased, needing desperately to lighten the gloomy atmosphere.

  Peering through the darkness, Dominic spied the small, partially open window offering a clear route into the lower floor of the house and shot her a dour look.

  “What’s wrong with the door?” he asked, smiling slightly at her look of astonishment.

  “Surely it is too obvious?” Isobel couldn’t believe he meant it, surely he didn’t expect to just waltz in without being noticed.

  “Not if we are very quiet,” Dominic replied carefully taking note of the upper windows.

  “What about the watch?” Isobel asked, with a quirked brow.

  “What watch?” Dominic whispered, frowning at her.

  Isobel sighed before pointing out the window at the end of the upper floor furthest away from them. Even at this distance, the faint flickering glow of the candle light in the upper window was clear to see.

  “It moves across the upper hall, and then presumably down the stairs, and will appear in the lower corner over there.” Isobel pointed to the black windows of the corner room to the left of the front door. “Then it circles around the house this way until it reaches the kitchen. It stays in the kitchen for some time, before leaving going across the ground floor over there.” Carefully pointing toward the far bank of windows facing the gardens, she turned to look at her husband, catching his astonished look with a smirk. “If we time it right we might be able to get in if the watch is on the opposite side of the house. They won’t be able to hear us.”

  Dominic nodded, clearly impressed with her cool logic and observance. “We could have done with you in the Army,” he muttered, shaking his head ruefully as he watched the candlelight take the exact route she had pointed out.

  As the candle paused in the kitchens, Dominic and Isobel settled back against the large bulk of a tree trunk to wait the next round, quietly planning which rooms to search.

  “Promise me one thing,” Dominic turned the determined point of her chin around to face him. Placing a soft kiss upon her lips, he gave himself up to her soft warmth for several moments before releasing her with a sigh. “If anyone does come back, you leave. Run hard and fast, straight for home. Don’t try and hide anywhere, and don’t wait for me to catch you up. I will be right behind you, but whatever you do you must promise me that you won’t take any chances. Your aim is to get back to Havistock Hall and fast. Do you promise?”

  Concern was clearly etched in his voice, and Isobel was left in no doubt as to the dangers of what they were about to do. She nodded without hesitation. “I promise; home it is.” Although she agreed, she still needed a few reassurances of her own. “Promise me though, that you won’t play the hero and stay behind to fight. Promise you will leave with me.”

  Dominic looked down at her. “Darling, I will be right behind you, btt you must not stop. I can run faster than you, and no doubt am far fitter due to the lifestyle I have led.” She would probably smack him if he said because he was a man.

  Isobel looked at him haughtily. “I will out-run you, my dear man,” she argued, with a confidence that was ruined by a cheeky smile that lit her face. “Just make sure you can keep up.” She pointedly ignored his guffaw.

  Isobel shook her head astounded at their strange situation. Here they were standing in the middle of woods, in the darkest hour of the night, staring at the home of one of the vilest men in England, teasing each other.

  She was about to remark upon the fact, when the candle in the kitchen began to move through the established route. Nudging her husband in the ribs, she nodded quietly to the house and moved away.

  “Are you sure we should go through the door?” Isobel still wasn’t sure it was a good idea, but found comfort in Dominic’s confidence.

  Nodding quietly, he pointed out the route they would take through the shrubbery, keeping to the shadows as much as possible. Within moments, they melted into the shadows of the hedgerow.

  Several minutes later, heart thumping, Isobel stood at Dominic’s back trying desperately not to stop and think about what they were doing. Her knees were already trembling, and they weren’t even in the house yet. She listened to a faint squeak as Dominic jiggled the latch, and winced at the loud click that seemed to explode in the night like gunfire. Surely someone would hear that and come running. They paused for a few moments, and waited. Nothing stirred.

  Slowly easing the door inwards, they had entered the large cavernous kitchen area. Their eyes had long since grown accustomed to the darkness. It wasn’t any hardship to see the large mass of the kitchen table, and two pot-laden dressers along the far wall. Silently nodding, Dominic moved across the kitchen w
ith cat like grace. Careful to keep her flowing cloak close to her legs, Isobel followed closely, fighting the urge to cling to him like a frightened rabbit. She had, after all, insisted she be included in this, she couldn’t now announce that she had changed her mind and demand to go home.

  It felt like it took them a lifetime to get to the upper floors and begin searching for Rupert’s room. Isobel was certain dawn would be approaching at any moment.

  Dominic had already found the master suite, and two guest rooms. After several moments of opening doors, luck appeared to be on their side when Isobel spied Rupert’s trunk at the base of the bed in the last room they entered.

  After carefully closing the door behind them, they paused and waited while the candle passed by the gap at the bottom of the door. They searched the writing table beside the window, the clothes press and the small table beside the bed but found nothing. Intensifying the search, Isobel was emptying drawers when Dominic appeared behind her, quietly tapping her upon the shoulder.

  Turning, she spied the roll of papers in his hand. Raising her brows she unrolled them, squinting through the gloom to read the wording that was visible to her. Relief swept through her as she found herself looking at the two documents that would seal Rupert’s fate. A delighted smile of triumph lit her face and she nodded with satisfaction.

  Dominic had never seen such beauty. Even with her hair carefully buried beneath her flat cap, and dressed in manly work trousers, her body shrouded by his voluminous cloak, Dominic had never seen a more alluring feminine sight. He only wished they were at Havistock and they could make good use of the bed there. Unable to resist, he placed a hand on either side of her face and tipped her head upward for a quick, yet very thorough kiss.

  Several moments later, her mind turned to mush by Dominic’s thoroughness, Isobel eyed the bed with something akin to regret. It had been ridiculously easy to get into the house and find what they were looking for. So easy in fact that Isobel wondered if there was something they hadn’t picked up on, as they slowly eased the kitchen door closed behind them moments later. Carefully hiding in the shrubbery, they waited long enough to see the candlelight vanish from the upper window, presumably to take the internal staircase down to the ground floor, and swiftly retraced their steps back across the gardens until they were once again in the secluded protection of the trees.