by Mari Carr
Determined to keep Hayley safe from his uncle until he could speak to her himself, Jack rushed into the house. He overheard the earl in the library with Alex and Erin.
“I can’t tell you how distressed I am to hear your young friend was injured. I do hope it isn’t serious.” Wilshire’s voice oozed fake sincerity.
“She simply needs to rest for a few days. Nothing to worry about,” Erin replied.
“How did you hear about her injury?” Alex inquired.
Jack paused, curious to hear his uncle’s response.
“My man, Rawlings, ran into one of your tenants this morning. They informed him of the search for the attacker and how the marchioness’ young friend had been harmed,” Wilshire answered smoothly. “Do you have any idea when she will be up for visitors? I was hoping to express my concerns for her wellbeing personally.”
“I’ll be sure to let her know you stopped by,” Jack replied from the doorway. “There’s no need for you to call again.”
The earl scowled, his anger blazing. “I would think you would have the sense to stay away from me, boy. How is my bride-to-be faring these days?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Jack answered with a smug smile.
“She is my betrothed. Surely, the marquis has informed you I have a special license from the bishop to marry her upon her return. If I find you have been hiding her all this time—you and that red-haired trollop of yours—I will make you both pay.”
“Trollop?” Erin asked incredulously. “Are you referring to Hayley?”
Wilshire smirked. “You would be wise to warn your friend to be careful who she is seen with. An innocent, young woman in the company of a faithless rake can have her reputation ruined rather quickly.”
“And when,” Jack asked, “have you ever seen me in a compromising position with Miss Garland?”
Rawlings had seen his passionate embrace with Hayley the night before, but his uncle couldn’t reveal that without exposing Rawlings as the man who had attacked her.
“People talk,” Wilshire answered vaguely.
“What people?” Alex asked angrily. “What are you talking about?”
“The people in his head,” Jack answered coldly. “No one in their right mind would speak to my uncle, especially not after his brutal attack on that young stable boy and the fact he drove away his ward.
“How dare you insult my reputation?” Wilshire bellowed. “I will have you know I am highly revered in this community. I am a peer of the realm—wealthy and well respected. Damn you for insulting me so!” With his last words, Wilshire lashed toward Jack with his ever-present riding quirk.
Dodging quickly, the tip of the whip missed Jack’s cheek by mere inches, but smashed into a vase on the table by the door.
Unable to restrain his fury any longer, Jack lunged for his uncle.
Chapter 18
Hayley jerked awake to the sound of breaking glass. Listening closely, she heard raised voices downstairs and immediately recognized Jack’s booming baritone. Gingerly lifting her head from the pillow, she took a deep breath and rose. The afternoon sun was shining through her window. She was amazed to realize she’d slept so long.
Someone had removed her dress sometime during the night and left her clad in only her chemise. The pounding in her head had receded to a dull thud.
Again, she heard arguing downstairs. Determined to see what was wrong, she pulled on the first dress she found in the wardrobe. Fortunately, it buttoned up the front. She slipped on her shoes and walked to the bedroom door.
When she approached the top of the stairs, she heard Wilshire angrily accusing Jack of taking Julia from his house, while Jack retorted that Wilshire was losing his mind. Glancing through the open doorway to the library, Hayley saw Erin attempting to calm the Campbell men down, while Alex restrained the earl who was trying to attack Jack with a whip. The scene was total, noisy chaos. Wilshire pulled a piece of paper from his jacket pocket and waved it in Jack’s face. According to him, it was the special license granting him permission to marry. Only instead of Julia, Wilshire kept insisting the license was for him to marry a woman named Isabella.
That was Jack’s mother’s name. Good lord. The man really was off his rocker. He was drifting between the reality of the present and a past he’d fictionalized in his mind.
Suddenly, Hayley realized there was a large man standing in the corner of the front hallway. He was partly obscured in the shadows and looking directly at her. His malevolent gaze held hers as his lips formed a single word, yet made no sound.
“Whore,” he mouthed, smirking. Stepping back from the railing, Hayley struggled to stifle her sudden shaking. This was the man from the woods who had attempted to abduct her.
Turning suddenly, she stumbled back down the hallway, away from his hard stare. She passed her bedroom and continued to the servant’s stairs, which led to the back garden. She had to get to Julia. She had to warn her Wilshire was here and he knew Hayley was hiding her.
Dizzy from moving so quickly, she concentrated on placing one foot in front of the other until she found herself outside the cabin door. Shocked, she heard voices inside. Someone had discovered Julia’s hiding place. Rushing in to protect her friend, Hayley flung the door open. She stopped just inside, stunned as she witnessed Simon and Julia in a lover’s embrace. The crashing of the door surprised the young couple and they hastily jumped apart.
“Simon.” Hayley said. “What the hell are you doing here? When did you get back from London?”
Simon heaved a sigh of relief when he realized the intruder was her and not someone else. “I never went to London.”
“I don’t understand,” Hayley said. “What do you mean?”
Noticing Hayley’s pale face and the bandage around her head, Simon walked across the room and offered his arm. He led her back to one of the chairs by the table. “You’re hurt.”
“Hayley.” Julia knelt before her. “Simon heard a couple of the stable hands talking about you being chased through the woods by a stranger last night and that you’d been injured. I’ve been so worried. What happened?”
“Just a little accident.” She was unwilling to upset the overwrought girl. “I’m fine. Forget about my head.”
Glancing up at Simon, Hayley repeated her earlier question. “I want to know why you’re here and not in London. If you never went there, where the hell have you been these last few weeks?”
Blushing slightly at her curse, Julia answered. “He’s been here with me.”
Hayley frowned, but before she could question Julia, Simon continued to explain. “I knew Julia was in danger and I refused to leave her unguarded, even for a moment. However, I have duties I must attend to for Alex. In order to be able to stay here constantly, I told Alex that my mother and sister had invited me to London for a visit. They’ve been after me for quite some time to find a nice girl to marry and I alluded to that so Alex would assume they found someone they wanted me to meet. They spent years trying to marry him off, so he understood they would not be deterred.”
Simon looked down at Julia and put his arm around her shoulders in a proprietary manner. “I guess you can see I’ve already found the perfect woman.”
Julia blushed at his words. “Simon and I have been secretly meeting for nearly a year. We were waiting until he was more established before he approached the earl to formally request my hand in marriage. Unfortunately, my sister passed away…” Choking on the words, Julia wiped away a tear. Hayley was able to figure out the rest.
“After your sister’s death, the earl locked you up deciding he would marry you himself.”
“Yes,” Julia whispered. “He’s an awful man. I don’t think anyone could even begin to understand the depth of his depravity. He beat my sister for the smallest things. If she broke a dish or spoke too loudly, he would hit her. Every month, when her courses came, he would beat her mercilessly. He’s desperate for an heir. Helena’s inability to conceive drove him to madness. When she final
ly became pregnant, he was elated. For seven months, he treated her like a princess. He coddled her and indulged her every whim. It was the first time she had ever been treated so kindly by him.” Julia stopped as if unable to go on.
Simon, sensing her distress, looked at Hayley. “I don’t know if you can imagine how difficult life was for Helena and Julia.”
Hayley simply nodded. She understood abuse better than the young couple realized.
“She was desperate to give the earl an heir,” Julia said so softly Hayley had to lean forward to hear her. “She began to wonder if her inability to conceive was her fault or his. You don’t know how badly he hurt her each month. It was awful.” Tears were streaming down Julia’s cheeks. Hayley began to tell her to stop. Julia didn’t owe her any explanations, but she continued anyway. “Helena had an affair with one of the grooms in the stable. She became pregnant.”
“He found out,” Hayley said, suddenly understanding. “Somehow, he found out. The young groom he beat—”
“It was Rawlings who discovered the truth,” Simon interrupted. Julia began to cry in earnest and he gently rocked her as he spoke. “One of the other grooms knew about the affair. He and Rawlings got drunk together one night and the groom let it slip. Rawlings immediately ran to the earl and told him his unfaithful wife had every intention of passing a common groomsman’s child off as the heir to his earldom. Wilshire—” Simon paused, unwilling to say more, afraid of upsetting his beloved.
“I can imagine the rest. He pushed Helena down the stairs. He killed her and her baby and then he went and crippled the groom. I heard Jack and Templeton discussing how badly Wilshire had beaten the poor man.” Hayley had sensed Wilshire’s malevolent nature when he’d threatened her, but she had no idea how deeply that evil ran.
The room fell silent except for an occasional sniffle from Julia. Hayley’s thoughts ran over the events of the past month as all the pieces began to fall into place. Obviously Julia and Simon were very much in love, which would explain why she was desperate to escape from the earl. However, there were several other things that didn’t make sense to her.
“Why didn’t you tell me you weren’t in London?” she asked Simon.
“We thought you would disapprove of us spending the nights alone together. The times of your visits were quite regular, so I would slip off into the woods right before you came and then return after you left.”
Hayley nodded.
Simon—unaware of her twenty-first century sensibilities—thought she would be uncomfortable with two unmarried people shacking up together. She quickly covered her mouth with her hand, so he wouldn’t see her smile. “I see.”
“Why were you so adamant about keeping Jack in the dark? You must know he would never stand between the two of you marrying when he realized you were in love. He would have helped you.”
“That was my decision.” Julia attempted to stem the tears that were streaming down her pale cheeks. The revelations, hidden for so long, had obviously taken their toll. “The night Wilshire beat me, he told me if I approached Jack for help, he would kill him.” Julia stopped and looked up at Simon. “I—I was there—the night Wilshire killed my sister. Rawlings held me and he made me watch as he pushed her to her death.”
Hayley felt nauseous at the thought of such cruelty. Struggling to catch her breath, Julia continued to speak through the sobs shaking her entire body. “I vowed I would never let him harm anyone I loved ever again. The earl is looking for an excuse to kill Jack and I won’t give it to him.” Simon wrapped his arms around her, wiping her tears and whispering soft words Hayley couldn’t hear.
After several moments, Julia regained control of her emotions. “I’m sorry if Jack’s been worried, but I couldn’t risk his life that way, I mean…” Her voice broke on a sob and she couldn’t finish.
“Never apologize for loving someone,” Hayley answered. “Your sister was lucky to have you. I’m afraid I still don’t understand why Wilshire beat you so badly the night you ran away.”
Julia offered her a sad smile. “Wilshire came to my room and informed me I was to be his wife and if I attempted to escape or contact Jack, he would kill him. I was stupid—a fool. I told him I would rather marry a goat and then—” Julia shook her head slightly as if unable to believe what she had done. “I ridiculed him for being unable to produce an heir. I wasn’t thinking clearly—he’d killed my sister and I was furious—out of my mind with grief. I wanted him to kill me. If I couldn’t marry Simon, then I didn’t want to live. I’d lost everything to that evil monster. I couldn’t bear anymore.” Julia shivered and Simon reached out to grasp her hands.
“He went crazy, hitting me and yelling. He said I would marry him or die. I didn’t speak after that. I fell and hit my head. I lost consciousness for a few seconds. When I awoke, he’d stopped hurting me. I suppose it’s no fun hitting a target that won’t cry or scream,” Julia said. “I pretended to be insensible and he left. For the first time since Helena’s death, he didn’t bother to lock my bedroom door. I guess he decided I was in no condition to go anywhere.”
“So you ran away and came here to find Simon,” Hayley said.
“I thought Jack was in Portugal. I didn’t know he was back in the country until that day you found me in the garden.”
“That’s why you panicked when I told you Jack was inside,” Hayley said. “I see now. You were trying to protect him.”
Hayley stood up and walked over to the door, glancing out into the woods. Ever since Rawlings had seen her on the staircase, she couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that things were about to go terribly wrong.
“Well,” she said, still looking outside, “much as I hate to disturb this cozy, little love nest the two of you have created, the jig is up.”
“I beg your pardon?” Simon asked, brows furrowed.
“I mean,” Hayley continued, walking back toward the center of the room, “the earl’s nasty henchman, Rawlings, knows that I know where you are.”
“How?” Julia’s voice was laced with feared.
“He was watching the Grange and saw me creeping home through the woods last night. Actually,” she pointed at her bandaged forehead, “I got this attractive headpiece trying to lead him away from the cabin.”
At Julia’s cry of distress, she immediately regretted her flippant words. “Oh, Julia, I’m sorry. This isn’t your fault.”
“But it is.” The confessions of the past few minutes had drained the last of Julia’s strength. Simon helped her sit in a chair by the fire, before taking a blanket from the bed and gently wrapping it around her shoulders.
“No, Julia. It’s Rawlings’ fault and that damned nasty earl. I promised I would help you see this through to the end and if that means getting stitches all over my body, I’m glad to do so.” Hayley smiled, hoping her words would cheer the desolate girl.
Julia laughed softly, shrugging off the blanket and rushing to embrace Hayley in a tight hug. “You’re such a wonderful friend, Hayley. I don’t know how I’ll ever be able to thank you for all you’ve done for me.”
“For us,” Simon added.
She hugged Julia back. “I didn’t do anything anyone else wouldn’t have done in my place. But enough,” she said, breaking away. “We need a plan—and fast.”
“That’s enough!” Erin shouted over the raised voices of Alex, Jack and his uncle. “I’ve had enough. Lord Wilshire, Julia is not here, nor has she been here since her disappearance. You have my word on that since you seem so unwilling to take your nephew’s. Now if you have no other business, I suggest you leave.”
Erin walked to the doorway, but stopped when Wilshire suddenly said, “Where is that impertinent redhead? I wish to speak with her. She knows where Julia is.”
“Excuse me?” Erin asked. “That impertinent redhead is my friend and if you value your health you will refer to her only with respect in my presence.”
“I told you before, Julia is not here. Leave Miss Garland out of it,” Jack gro
wled.
“She is involved and I will see her. In fact, I demand to—” The earl never finished his statement.
“Excuse me, my lord,” Rawlings interrupted, peering into the room. “I was wondering if I might have a word with you.”
“How dare you interrupt me. I’m speaking,” Wilshire yelled.
“Just a moment of your time, my lord,” Rawlings insisted.
Wilshire retreated and after only a brief consultation, he turned to the McCormicks and offered a hurried, smug farewell.
“What was that about?” Alex wondered aloud.
“I don’t know, but I hate that asshole,” Erin said when the front door closed.
Alex—apparently immune to his wife’s foul language—heartily agreed.
Jack, furious beyond words, walked to the nearest wall and soundly punched a hole in it. Grimacing at the pain in his knuckles, he turned to see Alex chuckling.
“Feel better?” Alex asked.
“No,” Jack replied.
“Well, maybe this will help,” Alex continued. “I’m sorry about earlier.”
At Jack’s blank look, Alex elaborated. “I’m sorry for accusing you of ungentlemanly behavior toward Hayley and for interfering in your personal life.”
Jack grinned and looked at Erin. “Do I have you to thank for this?”
Erin attempted to act coy, but failed miserably. “Me?”
“Don’t play innocent with me, Lady Dorset,” Jack said with a laugh. “You of all people should know the marquis never admits he’s wrong and he certainly never apologizes. What did you do to him?”
Erin giggled while Alex scowled.
“Obviously,” Erin replied, “you don’t know how to handle headstrong males, being one yourself. Just accept the apology, shake hands and go make sure my best friend is okay. I cannot believe she just slept through World War Three.”