Sophia raised blonde brows. “Should I have?”
She gave a rueful shake of her head, not fooled for a moment by the older woman’s air of innocence. “I… Zachary believes he is undeserving of love. That to bring a wife, anyone, into the scandal of his past would be wrong on his part.”
“Your father suspected as much after speaking with him.”
“Speaking to him about what?” she prompted cautiously.
Sophia eyed her mischievously. “I do believe my darling Magnus, your doting papa, may have threatened to shoot the earl if he tarnished your reputation but made no offer of marriage.”
“That is… It is preposterous for Papa to have done such a thing.” She frowned her exasperation with her father. “I am a woman grown and quite capable of making my own decisions.”
“We do not doubt that for a moment, my love, and we trust your judgment implicitly.” Sophia gave her arm a reassuring squeeze. “Harrogate, however, can be very stubborn about the past. I believe your father only wished to give him a nudge in the right direction.”
“Which is?”
“Why you, my darling.” Sophia gave a soft laugh as Rissa raised her brows. “We could not have wished for a better man for you.”
“Whether I love him or not?”
Sophia snorted. “But of course you love him. It is there in your face, both your eyes and smile, whenever you talk about or to him.”
Of course Rissa loved Zachary, else she would not have entered into intimacy with him in the first place. But that did not mean he felt the same way about her. Indeed, he had never once mentioned emotions, either hers or his own.
She gave a shake of her head. “I still cannot believe Papa ordered me to remain here.” A dictate, for all of her father’s indulgences toward her, she dared not disobey.
“It is for your own sake, not his,” Sophia reasoned gently. “None of them has any idea what they will find if or when they locate Clara. Magnus prefers you not be present. Nor will he have you exposed to possible harm from Royston.”
Rissa could see her father’s reasoning. She even understood it from a practical point of view. Emotionally, it was quite a different matter. She felt responsible for Clara’s predicament, as she knew her parents and Zachary did also. At least the men, by going off in search of Clara, could do something about it, rather than being forced to sit here and wait for news.
But that was exactly what she and Sophia were forced to do for the next three hours.
The two women sat, paced, talked softly together, and Sophia fed David, all with the specter of what was happening to Clara, and if she had been found yet, looming over their shoulders.
Until finally—finally—they heard the clatter of horses’ hooves down in the stable yard below.
Rissa immediately jumped to her feet and hurried over to press her face against the window. “I recognize several of our neighbors… There is Papa!” she cried out excitedly. “And Zachary,” she added with relief. “But— Dear God, the man riding between them is the Earl of Royston.”
But there was no bright red head of hair visible amongst the riders. No pretty face adorned with dozens of freckles. No ready and mischievous smile to be seen.
There was no Clara.
Chapter 13
“Clara is alive and well and on her way back to her aunt’s house accompanied by her father and Ezra Stone,” her father assured the moment Rissa rushed down to greet the duke and Zachary as they entered the house and handed their hats and gloves to the butler.
Rissa’s feeling of instant relief upon learning Clara was alive was quickly followed by puzzlement. “Mr. Stone?” It seemed an odd choice to accompany Clara and Lord Catchpole.
Her father shrugged. “Lord Stone was the one who found her, tied up and gagged, in one of the barns on the edge of the estate. Clara did not seem inclined to be parted from him after that.”
Zachary could have phrased it more succinctly in that Clara Catchpole had clung to Ezra Stone, and continued to cling to the older man, long after he had knocked Royston to the ground before untying and then carrying her out of the barn and into the late-afternoon sunshine.
Clara had refused to lift her face from his throat to so much as look at her kidnapper once they had Royston tied up as their prisoner. The taciturn horse breeder, Zachary had noticed, had seemed uncomfortable with the attention being drawn toward him by the situation, but nevertheless, he remained stoic as he continued to hold Clara in his arms.
In any case, they had decided, after brief consultation, that it would be for the best if Clara was returned to her aunt’s house with her father and the silent Lord Stone, while they removed Royston and brought him back to Weston Park.
“Clara truly is unharmed?” Rissa pressed for reassurance on that point.
“Physically, yes,” the duke confirmed. “But I believe her usual joie de vivre might take longer to recover,” he added affectionately, having grown fond of Rissa’s friend this past year.
“I should go to her—”
“No, you should not.” Rissa’s father was the one to firmly squash that idea. “I believe the fewer people Clara has to see at the moment, the better.”
Rissa frowned. “But you said Lord Stone is with her, and he is a virtual stranger to her.”
“He is also her rescuer,” the duke reasoned in a gentle voice. “She is comfortable with him in a way she will not be comfortable with anyone else for a while after her ordeal. No doubt Clara will visit you when she feels up to facing and being with people again.”
“Royston did not— He did not—” Rissa bit her lip, unable to finish the sentence.
“No,” her father confirmed grimly. “But Clara was left tied up and remained at his mercy for many hours, including overnight, always with that danger as a possibility.”
Zachary knew that for several of those hours, he and Rissa had been together in his bedchamber as Zachary pleasured her into unconsciousness. Something he doubted Rissa would forgive herself, or him, for.
The shadow of that guilt was in Rissa’s eyes as she glanced at Zachary from beneath lowered lashes before turning back to her father. “What will happen to the earl now?”
The duke’s mouth thinned. “We have sent for the local magistrate and are waiting for him to arrive and take Royston into custody, then the earl will no doubt stand trial for the cold-blooded murder of three people.”
“I hope he hangs,” she said vehemently.
“I believe he will, yes.” Weston nodded without mercy. “There is no doubting that the man is quite mad, but in such a way that makes him wily and dangerous. I cannot say I will be sad to be rid of the man once and for all,” he added in a hard voice.
Rissa could not say she would be in the least sorry either if it meant the earl was no longer a danger to her family and friends.
A lengthy silence fell between the three of them, with nothing more to be said, either on the subject of Clara or the Earl of Royston. Indeed, she and Zachary had not spoken a word directly to each other since the men returned.
Because they had nothing to say to each other?
Or because there was too much to say, and none of it could be said in front of her father?
“I believe I will go upstairs to see and be with Sophia and David.” Her father spoke briskly, glancing briefly at the two of them, before nodding his head and departing.
Rissa was now the one who felt uncomfortable, but she knew it was from being in Zachary’s company again, after all they had shared earlier today. A physical closeness, Zachary’s lips and hands touching her intimately after she had begged him to do so, that now caused Rissa to blush just to think of it.
She glanced up at Zachary. “Is Lord Stone a married man?”
“I do not believe so, no.” He gave a puzzled frown “Why do you ask?”
She shrugged. “It was something to say. Idle curiosity, as I had never seen him before today.”
Zachary felt it was more than that, but he had more
important things on his mind than the taciturn Ezra Stone. Unless, of course, his Angel was attracted to the other man… “The two of us need to talk about more important things than your distant neighbor,” he bit out.
Rissa’s eyebrows rose. “I have no idea what those things might be,” she dismissed. “Now, if you will excuse me—” She broke off, a frown between her eyes, as Zachary took a firm grasp of her arm. “Release me at once.”
His fingers tightened instead of relaxed. “You know we need to talk, Angel!”
She inhaled sharply. “I wish you would stop calling me by that ridiculous name,” she snapped. “Surely events have shown I am no one’s angel, least of all yours.”
Zachary felt as if Rissa had physically slapped him. Even so, his fingers remained firm about her arm. “You are not to blame for Clara Catchpole’s abduction.”
Rissa’s eyes flashed darkly. “If she were not my friend, she would not have been abducted.”
“And if Sophia was not your stepmother, you would not have been included in Royston’s plans for vengeance,” Zachary reasoned. “If I had not been Royston’s friend all those years ago, I would not have been accused of a crime I did not commit. And so it goes on and on. Do you not see, Ang—Rissa,” he corrected as her eyes narrowed. “The events of life fall one on top of the other, the bad as well as the good, but without them, we would not be where we are today.”
She tossed back her head as she wrenched her arm free of his hold. “And where are we today? Three people have died, my aunt and two more people yesterday, because of those events. Clara might easily have gone the same way.” Her voice broke emotionally. “I do not care what my father says.” She gave a shake of her head. “I have to go and see Clara. Have to see for myself that she is physically unharmed, even if she will need time to emotionally recover from her ordeal.”
Zachary looked at her searchingly for several long seconds. He could see Rissa did need that reassurance. “Would you prefer to go in one of your father’s carriages, or shall we ride to Banford Manor?”
She looked startled. “We?”
He nodded. “I intend to accompany you if you insist upon going there.”
She blinked. “Royston is no longer a danger to any of us.”
Zachary drew in a slow breath to control his own impatience. “That might be so, but you still cannot ride about the countryside unaccompanied— Your father would agree with me on this,” he added firmly when he could see Rissa was about to continue arguing with him.
His hand was actually twitching with the need to once again place this young lady over his knee and give her arse a hard spanking. It might come to that before this day was over.
A day of such highs and lows, Zachary admitted his head was spinning.
Making love to his Angel; she would always be that to him, no matter what she might say to the contrary.
The realization Clara Catchpole was missing.
The hours of searching for that young lady and then the relief when she was discovered alive if severely traumatized.
It was only because Zachary knew Rissa had spent those same hours fretting and worrying that he was agreeable to accompanying her to Banford Manor. The ride in the fresh air would do her as much good as seeing Clara Catchpole at the end of it.
Some of the tension eased from Rissa’s shoulders. Her smile was rueful, but at least it was a smile. “It is unfair of you to bring my father into our argument.”
Zachary returned that smile. “You give me no choice when at the moment, you are more in awe of his disapproval than you are mine.”
“At the moment…?”
Zachary gave in mocking inclination of his head. “The spanking I gave you yesterday will, I believe, be only the first of many before you accept my authority over your father’s.”
Her eyes widened. “I will never accept your authority, over my father or anyone else.”
Zachary grinned. “Then be prepared to find yourself over my knee often in the future.”
Rissa was not sure it was quite appropriate for her to feel warmed by Zachary’s mention of the future, or for that warmth to have now gathered between her thighs at the thought of him spanking her often.
She drew herself up to her full height of just over five feet. “I will meet you down in the stable yard in ten minutes.”
His gaze was derisive as he repeated her threat of yesterday. “And if I am not there, you will go without me.”
“I am sure, at your advanced age, you must be feeling tired after your other…exertions today,” she returned pertly, her gaze challenging.
He gave a shake of his head. “I believe my hand and your bottom are going to become reacquainted sooner rather than later!”
“You would have to catch me first,” Rissa dismissed with a mocking laugh before running up the stairs.
Oh, Zachary fully intended to catch her, and when he did, he was going to keep her.
Rissa gasped and came to an abrupt halt just inside the stable as she saw the Earl of Royston lounging there on some bales of straw. His hands were tied together behind him, and there were half a dozen burly men surrounding and guarding him. There was also bruising and a cut on his cheek, presumably where Lord Stone had hit him before rescuing Clara.
Rissa had not thought as to where her father might be keeping the earl prisoner until the magistrate arrived to arrest him and take him away.
The earl roused into a sitting position, his gaze mocking as it swept over her from her head to her toes. “Are you wearing those delectable breeches again beneath your skirts?”
Rissa suppressed a shiver of revulsion, determined not to allow this hateful man the satisfaction of seeing how much he disturbed and repelled her. Rissa’s maid was not the only one who had known Clara’s maid, Maria. Rissa had known the young woman too, and this man—this man had killed her, in the same callous way he had admitted killing Rissa’s Aunt Susan. Although that had yet to be confirmed by the recovery of her aunt’s body.
Rissa’s chin rose as she looked down her nose at the earl. “My riding attire is none of your concern.”
His gave a mocking grin. “You prefer to save all that for Harrogate’s pleasure, I presume?”
Her nostrils flared, and she glanced at the six listening guards. She was embarrassed to be talking in front of them this way, even if the earl was not. “You are a disgusting human being, and I have no intention of wasting another moment of my time conversing with you.” She turned on her boot heels.
“It should have been you I kidnapped.” His words taunted her. “It was meant to be, but then I discovered your father had employed all these fellows as protection. But if it had been you, they all would have suffered. Sophia, Weston, and Harrogate,” he added with satisfaction. “And think of all the fun we could have had together before I killed you.”
Rissa turned so quickly, her skirts billowed briefly about her suede breeches. “I would have preferred to kill myself rather than have allowed you to touch a single hair upon my head. Merely looking at you makes me feel ill.”
“Do not fool yourself,” he replied, undeterred. “Once I had you down on your knees and begging for your life, you would have given me anything I demanded. Afterwards, I could have claimed to have had the stepdaughter as well as the stepmother—”
“Shut your disgusting mouth, Royston, or I shall shut it for you!” a furious Zachary cut in on what he could only assume, from the pallor of Rissa’s cheeks, had been a most unpleasant conversation. “Gag him,” he instructed one of the guards as he took a firm hold of Rissa’s arm and led her farther into the stable, where their horses waited in their stalls.
Zachary could feel his Angel trembling against his hand, but neither of them spoke again until after they had saddled their horses and left the stable.
All without so much as glancing again at the gagged Earl of Royston.
Chapter 14
“He is a cruel and despicable man.” Rissa spat the words out as soon as they were out in
the fresh air and she felt as if she could breathe again.
Zachary nodded tersely. “I am sorry I did not arrive earlier to prevent him from talking to you that way.”
She glanced at him from Starlight’s back. “The sickness that drives him is of his own making, no one else’s.”
Zachary knew that, but there was still a residual guilt inside him regarding the other man and the path of destruction and pain Royston had left in his wake for others these past eleven years. Zachary had always wondered, if he could only have discovered Royston at the ball that evening before he attacked Sophia, then perhaps none of the events that followed would have come to pass. Not that it would have made Royston any less insanely obsessed with his cousin Sophia, and might only have resulted in Royston attacking and killing Sophia at another time. So perhaps it was a selfish wish on his part and best left in the past where it belonged.
Where it all belonged.
This past few days, his Angel had helped him to see, and accept, that it was the future he should be concerned with. A future he very much hoped would have her in it.
He turned to look at her as her horse cantered beside his own. “Angel—”
“Could we not dawdle in this way?” She frowned her impatience. “I need to ride, and ride hard.” She urged her mare forward into a gallop.
Zachary was so taken aback by the comment and all its connotation that for a few seconds, he remained exactly where he was, as he imagined his Angel riding him hard.
By the time he had brought his wayward thoughts under control, Rissa was only a dot on the horizon as her mare crested a hill, and then horse and rider disappeared over the other side of it.
Spanking his Angel’s arse was looking more and more of a certainty. Either before or after she had ridden him hard, Zachary had no preference on the subject.
Whatever Rissa had expected when she was shown up to Clara’s bedchamber by Lady Catchpole, Zachary having opted to stay down the stairs with Lord Catchpole, it was not to find Lord Ezra Stone sitting beside the window in a chair that looked far too delicate to withstand either his height or weight.
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