But then she saw a light off in the distance, bobbing up and down it seemed. That couldn’t be. She rubbed her eyes, but the light remained. “Hello?” she called, even as she pushed to her feet again. “Over here!” she cried and took off as fast as she could go in the direction of the light.
Something ran into her feet—or perhaps her feet ran into something—and she fell forward, nearly flying through the open air before smacking the entire front of her body hard against the ground.
She moaned, certain she’d done herself significant harm. Her left arm throbbed in pain, and her head felt like she’d cracked it open. Or maybe she only wished she had cracked it open. Either way, it wasn’t pleasant in the slightest.
She tried to roll over, but it was no use. Every inch of her body ached like she couldn’t remember it ever aching before. Moving so much as a muscle was more than she could ask of herself at the moment. She lay there, moaning but not doing much else.
Oh, heavens. What if that light had belonged to whoever had tried to harm Morgan? Would they come after Emma now? She should have thought before she acted.
Until the light she’d seen came to her, floating above her head as though it were a supernatural creature of sorts. It hurt her head, and nearly blinded her. Emma blinked, squinting up into the brightness.
“Is she all right?”
Emma knew that voice without a doubt, so soft and melodic. It belonged to Morgan. But how was that possible? Morgan was missing, and Emma was supposed to find her—not the other way around.
Then a rough, wet tongue licked the side of her face.
“Kingley?” Emma said on a groan.
“I think she’ll be fine, once we get her back to the estate and see to her injuries.”
A man’s voice. She knew him too.
“Can you carry the lantern for me, Lady Morgan? I’ll have to carry her, and you can hold my arm as we go back.”
Then his strong arms went beneath her, and he lifted her up into the air. Emma had enough wits about her that she was able to put her arm across his shoulders, to better support her weight in his arms.
Kingley grumbled and growled when Morgan put her hand on the man’s arm, as he’d instructed her to do, but the dog didn’t attack.
Emma squinted into the man’s face as the lantern light swung near.
“Lord Jacob?” she rasped.
“We’ll have you back to the estate safely in no time, Miss Hathaway,” he said firmly. “Try not to worry yourself.”
Then he took off walking, with Morgan at his side and Kingley at hers, growling his menace at the man he’d never liked with every step he took.
They’d been traveling some minutes, Lord Jacob and Morgan talking all the while, by the time the pounding in Emma’s head calmed enough she could concentrate on what was happening around her. The events of the night left her so confused; however, she feared that attempting to sort it all out would only leave her with a more blistering headache than she already had.
“Lord Jacob,” she finally asked, her voice far more tentative than she would have liked, “how did you find Morgan?”
He let out a mirthless chuckle. “Your Mr. Cardiff woke the entire household sometime after we’d all taken to our beds. He was yelling about how Lady Morgan had been attacked, and now you’d gone missing as well.”
Aidan had been upset she was gone? How did he know? He couldn’t have discovered her absence unless he’d gone to her chamber…but why?
“At that point, it was decided as many men who were willing would go out again, with lanterns and torches and whatever else could be found, in order to locate you both.”
They were all out looking for her, because she’d been so impatient and irresponsible. What if someone else had been hurt in the dark? Emma would never be able to live with herself if that had occurred. She never should have left her chamber. She should have waited until day, like they had planned.
But she hadn’t, and now what?
“Kingley found me first,” Morgan said softly. Her voice seemed to calm Kingley somewhat, as his growls lessened in intensity. “But he made such noise that only a few moments later Lord Jacob arrived.”
“Lady Morgan was frightened, of course,” he continued, “after being lost alone in the woods for so long, but she was unharmed. We started to return to the estate when we heard you crashing through the woods and moaning in pain.”
Lord Jacob was beginning to labor with continuing to carry her—his breaths came too rapidly, though she doubted he would ever voice a complaint.
Nonetheless, Emma shifted a bit, to determine if she could walk. Her legs and feet ached, certainly, but she was fairly certain she could manage.
“Set me on my feet,” she said after a moment.
“Certainly not. Not until all your injuries have been examined.”
“I can walk,” Emma insisted, more firmly this time.
Eventually, he relented and set her down. Even so, he put an arm around her waist for support. Once she was walking again, she was glad for it. She couldn’t remember a time she felt less steady.
That wasn’t entirely true. Aidan left her feeling unsteady at every turn, but she couldn’t help but wish it was his arm supporting her now. Lord Jacob’s arms were strong and sure, but Aidan’s made her feel safe. She felt so conflicted, wanting to get back to him as quickly as possible to reassure him she was fine, and wishing she could delay their reunion as long as possible, since she couldn’t be certain of what his reaction would be when he saw her.
The most perplexing part of it all was that, no matter how easily he had blamed her again, she still loved him. She only wished he could love her equally.
But what if he did? What if what he’d said to her had been the truth?
They walked along for some time in silence, aside from the low rumblings coming from Kingley because of Lord Jacob’s presence. By the time they returned to the main path, however, the curiosity that had been niggling at Emma’s mind for quite some time became too much for her to bear.
“Morgan?” she asked tentatively. “What happened?” There was no need to be more specific with her question. Morgan would know what she meant.
“Kingley and I had been walking along with Mr. Deering, some distance behind the others. One of the men called out ahead of us, asking Mr. Deering to come to his assistance. I told him to go on, that Kingley and I would be along at our leisure. He did, promising he would return to us in short order. He’d been gone for ten minutes or so, and Kingley and I had been wandering around, listening to the sounds of nature, when someone whistled. Kingley took off running, and I was only able to keep up for so long. Eventually, I turned my ankle and let go of Kingley’s lead, and then I was all alone. I called for him, but he didn’t come back. I had no choice but to wait for Mr. Deering or someone else from the party to find me. My ankle feels better now…”
“Good heavens! Do you know who whistled for Kingley?”
The path before them widened. They were close to the estate. Close to warmth and comfort. Close to Aidan. Emma’s pulse roared in her ears from the realization.
“I haven’t a clue,” Morgan said. “It would have to be someone he knows and likes, or he wouldn’t have gone to them.”
As though to prove her point, Kingley growled at Lord Jacob again.
“But there is no possibly means of knowing how many people from the village he knows and is comfortable with,” Morgan went on. “He’d been on his own until you took him under your wing.”
A few minutes later, they emerged onto the Heathcote Park lawn. Lord Jacob called out, “I’ve found them!” Instantly, the heads of everyone gathered on the lawn spun in their direction, and chaos ensued.
Servants rushed to them with blankets and hot drinks. David wrapped two blankets around Emma and carried her the rest of the way. Lord Trenowyth did the same with Morgan while Lord Jacob rejected the hot tea offered by a servant.
“Brandy,” he said. “And keep it coming.”
>
“Here, Kingley,” Mr. Deering said, and the dog went straight to him. “I found your lead out in the woods—not a flaw on the thing.” A moment later, the leather was back around Kingley’s neck. He’d stopped his growling, now that he was with Mr. Deering and not with Lord Jacob.
Everyone kept rushing around, trying to take care of all of their needs at once—but the one person Emma strained to see more than anyone else never appeared. No matter how hard Emma tried to find him, Aidan was nowhere to be seen.
“Mr. Cardiff?” she asked David while he and Vanessa tried to warm Emma’s skin. “Where is he?”
David shook his head. “He hasn’t returned from the woods yet. He’s the last one we’re waiting on.”
The relief she’d felt at being back to safety once again deflated, and her chest felt tight with worry. The night would not be kind to him. The clouds that had gathered earlier still clung to the night sky, thick and heavy and ominous.
Her thoughts kept returning to one thing: why would a man who hated her so thoroughly be out risking his own life and safety in order to find her?
He does love me. She was sure of it all the way through to her bones.
Emma stood, moving to where she could see the tree line. Until Aidan came out, she wouldn’t budge.
Thunder rattled the sky overhead, but still Aidan had found nothing but Emma’s discarded candlestick. Still, it meant he was on the right path. She had been there at some point in the night, though he had no way of knowing how long ago—or what direction she’d gone when she left there.
For two hours after finding the damned thing, he’d kept looking, circling around the spot in search of another sign. Something. Anything.
But now, he knew he had no choice but to go back. The heavens were preparing to open up and release a torrent, and he’d lose the bit of light he had from his lantern. Feeling like the worst sort of failure alive, Aidan turned around and made for the main path.
He hadn’t just failed Morgan, now he’d failed Emma, too. Somehow, the realization that he’d failed Emma struck him deeper in the gut than he’d been prepared for. It wasn’t just tonight that he’d failed her—as long as he’d known her, he had let her down over and over again.
A few cold drops hit him just as he reached the well-travelled trail, so he increased his pace. The entire way back to the estate, Aidan kept berating himself over and over again for his poor treatment of Emma, all the while searching his mind for a plan of action for what he’d do when he finally found her again.
Groveling for forgiveness seemed his best option. Not that he ever groveled. But given the circumstances, this seemed as good a time as any to try his hand at it. And then he’d apologize. Then he’d tell her he loved her, and he’d repeat as many times as it took for her to believe him.
The closer he got to Heathcote Park, the louder the thunder grew overhead. When the wind picked up and blew out his lantern, Aidan ran.
He didn’t stop until the end of the path opened out onto the lawn. Lightning flashed in the sky, illuminating the scene before him.
Morgan.
She was huddled in blankets and being carried back to the house by Niall, but there wasn’t a doubt in Aidan’s mind that it was his sister. Her blonde hair shimmered in the burst of light, a piece of brilliance amidst the darkness surrounding her.
Better yet, she was moving. That meant she was alive. Hurt, possibly, but alive.
He breathed a bit easier, racing toward the mad assemblage trying to get back inside the manor house before the rain drenched them all.
He had every intention to follow Niall and Morgan inside the house, but he changed his mind with the next bolt that hurtled to the ground. On the other side of the lawn, David and Vanessa attempted to drag Emma inside the house but she fought against them both like her life depended upon it.
Aidan changed his trajectory to intercept them. Niall was with Morgan. She would be fine.
Emma needed him now, though.
“Emma!” He doubted she could hear him over the howling of the wind and the rumbles echoing from the sky.
David tried to toss her over his shoulder, but she flailed and kicked against him so much that he was forced to put her down again.
“Emma!” Aidan shouted again. This time, she heard him. In an instant, her head turned toward him, and then she dashed across the lawn to meet him. The blankets they’d wrapped around her fell off and she wore nothing but a nightrail and wrapper, but that didn’t deter her in the slightest.
His heart leapt at the sight, but then it froze. Now was the time he’d been dreading, the time when he’d have to apologize and grovel and beg for her forgiveness—a forgiveness which he hardly deserved, but desperately needed.
She didn’t stop until she’d flung herself into his arms, her tear-drenched cheek buried against his neck. “You’re all right? I’ve been so worried.”
But she shouldn’t have been worrying about him. With the way he’d treated her for so long, she ought to have been praying for his demise. Aidan pulled back, prepared to begin what would be his life’s work for the remainder of his days—making Emma realize just how deeply he loved her and how very much he needed her in his life—but she stopped him before he could even start by kissing him.
Her arms tightened around his neck and she pressed the length of her body against him so he had to hold onto her or they would topple to the ground. She pressed her tongue between his lips and then drank from him with a desperation near to matching his own.
A new flash of lightning struck through the sky, and the air fairly crackled with the electricity as thunder crashed all around them.
“Get inside,” David demanded.
But Aidan couldn’t move a muscle. Not while Emma was kissing him with such abandon, like he was her breath and heartbeat and soul, all combined. Or perhaps it was him kissing her in that way. He couldn’t tell any more. He didn’t much care, either.
The sprinkling of raindrops turned into a deluge, an icy torrent pelting them from above.
Emma trembled in his arms, and he forced himself to pull away. “We have to get you inside,” he shouted over the noise of the storm.
She looked up at him, as earnest as he’d ever seen her, and shook her head. “I love you!”
“You’re mad!” he shouted. As mad as he was. And yet her declaration warmed him to the core. Still, he took her hand in his and tugged, trying to draw her closer to the warm, dry house.
Emma dug in her heels and put her hand on his chest. “Wait.” He couldn’t possibly deny her anything in that moment, despite the water plastering her hair to her head and drenching her from head to toe. “I know why you’ve been angry with me—”
“I’m not angry with you anymore. I was a fool. I blamed you because—”
“Because you couldn’t blame Morgan,” she interrupted. “I know. But I know that it wasn’t really me you were so angry with, and it’s all right. It’s all right because I love you and you love me and for now, that’s enough.”
Aidan shook his head. “It’s not enough. How can it possibly be?”
She couldn’t be serious. He’d blamed her time and again for things which couldn’t be further from her fault—and she knew it. Worst of all, he’d done it again after making love to her, and declaring that he loved her. How could she simply brush it aside, like it had never happened? He didn’t deserve such devotion.
But standing there beneath the pouring rain, shivering in her nightrail, she smiled up at him with the most radiant smile—wide lips, too-large teeth, and all.
“Aidan,” she shouted over the pounding of the rain, “it’s enough because I love you. And I didn’t believe you loved me earlier, but I was wrong. I know that now. Why else would you have come searching for me when it was madness to do so?”
Never in a thousand years would he understand how her heart could be large enough to love all the broken and helpless things that she did. But he was grateful for it—it was precisely what he was.
Broken and helpless.
Until she’d fixed him.
September, 1819
The wedding had been a quiet affair in Knightsbridge, since Sir Phillip Hathaway was not readily able to travel to see his youngest daughter wed. From what he’d observed, Lady Hathaway had been beside herself with all of those of Quality present. Not only was one daughter a baroness, the other was now sister-in-law to the Earl of Trenowyth, and one of her dearest friends was to marry the Marquess of Muldaire. That happy couple had made the journey to join them, along with Muldaire’s brother and cousin, their fellow houseguests from David’s house party.
Aidan was not nearly so enamored of all the grand events of the day, but he was more than happy with the end result, particularly since there had been no more talk between David and Niall about protecting Emma from him.
No one would keep him from his wife.
He still worried about Morgan, particularly since they had never discovered the source of the whistle which lured Kingley away from her that day in the woods. But after they’d all been located and none had been found the worse for wear, life had just gone on as before with a few modifications.
The most obvious of those was that Kingley now went with Morgan everywhere, including back to the family home…and Morgan was granted much more freedom than she had been in years, due to his assistance.
Finally, Aidan was allowing her free rein to fail. He had Emma to thank for such a change, and he did so at every opportunity he was granted. She’d helped him to learn that, while Morgan was blind and had her scars, and had at one point been a bit touched, it was he who was still stuck in the past.
With Emma at his side, however, he was able to move forward with his life.
He’d resumed his sculpting and finished the angel piece, which was now listed for auction. After seeing the portraits he’d done of Emma, he’d begun to take commissions for other portraits, and was attracting quite the attention from this new venture.
Cardiff Siblings 01 - Seven Minutes in Devon Page 27