Pride & Passion
Page 30
“Adrian, now,” she begged, and he obeyed her, only to collapse against her. They sank to the floor, still holding each other, panting and whispering, caressing and kissing each other with soft, loving mouths.
“I’ll come back to you,” he whispered, not meaning to say it out loud. “And I will ravish you over breakfast, and I will never leave you alone another night of my life.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
HOW HAD HE gotten here? He had no clue. His head still pounded and the taste of ether made him gag. The pain in his shoulder where he had been stabbed ached, the wound stiff and crusted with his dried blood.
The steps to Sussex’s town house seemed an enormous mountain to climb, but he endured it. Beth was gone, and he couldn’t find her. He’d been out for days searching for her when he had been accosted, stabbed in a fight with none other than Nigel Lasseter as he’d come silently upon the man known to him and his Brethren as Orpheus.
He’d almost had the bastard, too, thanks to Lady Larabie, who led him straight to his nemesis. But as he cornered Lasseter in his room, another had come out of the shadows, bashing him over his head until he crumpled to the floor. He had awakened in a back room of the Adelphi, Sutherland had discovered him, only because he had sent his valet to follow Nigel Lasseter. By the grace of God he was still alive, alive and relieved to find Sussex returned home from Yorkshire.
He did not have to ring the bell. It opened as if by magic and the sound of a gun being cocked and pointed between his eyes greeted him.
“You’ve saved me considerable trouble, Alynwick,” Sussex said with deadly calm.
“Where is Elizabeth?” he demanded, trying to figure out what the hell was happening.
“You tell me…what have you done with her?”
“Goddamn it, Sussex, if you think you can just take her from me when I’ve been all she’s had these past weeks, you are sorely mistaken.”
“You traitorous bastard,” Sussex snarled. “I’d shoot you dead right now if I didn’t need you to tell me where my sister is.”
“I don’t know, damn you!” he snapped. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Orpheus is Nigel Lasseter. I’ve been to the club, I’ve seen him.”
“We know what you’ve done, and who you have been with, Alynwick. Betraying us. Betraying me. We found the correspondence between you.”
“What!” This couldn’t be happening. It just couldn’t. Sussex was wrong, there was a mistake.
“No mistake. It was all there in your study drawer. You should have been more careful, but then you probably never imagined Lizzy would write to me to tell me of your bizarre behavior.”
He couldn’t think; the world was suddenly spinning. “Damn you, Sussex, it’s a trap. I’m not one of them. I only want to find Elizabeth. Someone has taken her, and it sure as hell wasn’t me!”
Something flickered in Sussex’s gaze, and he slowly lowered the gun.
“I swear,” Alynwick vowed, falling to his knees, “I do not know where she is. I want only to find her. We’re wasting time, Sussex, time we don’t have—time that is running out for Elizabeth. If you cannot believe me about anything else, then believe me about this. I love your sister.”
Lucy appeared at her husband’s side then closed her hand around Sussex’s arm. “Come inside, it’s late, and there are people about. We don’t need to perform such a show.”
Sussex gathered her close and rested his head against hers. She brought him closer until he was covering her with a tight embrace. “She’s alone, in the dark…afraid,” he whispered. “What if I can’t find her…”
“We’ll find her,” she whispered, “we will.”
“Stay, Lucy—” he gripped her tighter “—stay with me at all times because I can’t lose you, too.”
“I will. I promise.”
Pulling away, he turned back to Alynwick. “Finding Elizabeth is paramount. The rest, Black and I will deal with. Hastings,” Sussex ordered. “Send Lord Black a message to meet here.”
Alynwick looked distraught. “I can’t waste any more time knowing she’s out there all by herself. I have to keep searching.”
“We have nothing to go on.”
“You gather the clues, with Black,” he called as he started back down the stairs. “I’ll tear that club to pieces searching for her.”
“The hell you will. I don’t trust you, you bloody bastard!”
Lucy reached for Adrian. “Let him go,” she whispered. “He’ll prove no use to you in this state.”
He stared at her, his expression perplexed. “He said he loved her.”
Her eyes were wet, she loved this man so much, and she loved Elizabeth, who she was truly frightened for. “He does. And I believe him. No man could look so wretched if he was lying about such a thing.”
With a nod, he reached for her hand and brought it to his mouth, pressing it softly to his lips and holding it there.
“Promise me, Adrian, you’ll find Lizzy and bring her back home.”
“I will, love. As you know, I always keep my promises.”
IN THE DARKNESS, Lizzy listened to the distant echo of water dripping onto stones. She was quite alone now, with only her thoughts. Fear had long since left her, and she was left to lie upon the cold, damp stone in nothing more than her night rail.
She had no way of knowing how long she had been gone, if Sussex had received her letter and was even now on his way back home. She didn’t dare hope that Alynwick knew she was missing—they’d fought, and he swore never to grace her door again.
Oh, stupid, pigheaded fool that she was! She had let her pride get the better of her, and now she was trapped here, quite alone and at a madman’s mercy.
She began to twist and cry, to claw at anything around her, searching fruitlessly for a way out of this tomb she found herself in.
Laughter echoing off the walls made her still.
“It’s quite useless, you stupid chit,” the voice said, and she stilled, cocked her head to the side. She knew that voice.
“Yes,” the voice said again. “You thought it was over? Well, my dear, I’m here to tell you, it’s just begun. And in the end, I will be back where I should have always been.”
ISBN: 978-1-4592-8162-2
PRIDE & PASSION
Copyright © 2011 by Charlotte Featherstone
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