“You are mad. We can’t leave,” Trenton insisted.
“Not we; me. And I am too going. I have to!” Dane shot back. “I must protect her, Trenton! She cannot defend herself, and Gaston may have difficulty gaining entrance to the keep,” he sat back down, less agitated and far more serious. “Do not you see? I can tell my father that I have returned home to see him and he will let me in. He won’t imagine that I have come to protect my mother from him; if I pretend hard enough, mayhap he shall believe I am truly glad to see him and he won’t suspect how… how much I hate him.”
Trenton watched Dane with big eyes. “You would kill him?”
Dane shrugged, averting his gaze. “I won’t let him hurt my mother.”
Trenton eyed him for several long moments, trying to determine his intentions. He knew how badly Dane resented his father, and how much he feared him. “You are going to kill him, aren’t you?”
Dane did not answer the question. “I have got to leave now.”
Both boys stood up. “I am coming with you,” Trenton said firmly.
Dane shook his head firmly. “Nay, Trenton. You will stay here. I must do this, not you.”
“But my father is riding north to rescue your mother, is he not? My father might need me, just as your mother needs you,” Trenton was already walking away from him. “I am going and you cannot stop me.”
Dane caught up to him angrily. “Well….just do not get in my way, agreed?” he demanded, just to show Trenton that he was still in charge. “And you do what I say.”
Trenton snorted. “I always do what you say.”
“Aye, you do. Do not forget I am smarter than you are.”
“And I am bigger.”
Foiled, Dane tried to maintain his superior stance. “I am always right, Trenton. You would not get anywhere without me.”
Trenton, a head taller than Dane and thirty pounds heavier, put his hands on his hips in a gesture reminiscent of his father.
“Then tell me, Oh Keeper of the Brain. How are we to get to Mt. Holyoak? Walk?”
Dane smiled smugly. “Hardly. Come on.”
It was only at supper that eve that the earl realized he had not seen Dane since the morning. Trenton, for that matter, but he wasn’t overly concerned. Only when de Norville returned from a search of the keep saying that the boys were naught to be found did he begin to worry.
Good Christ, Gaston would have his hide if Stoneley succeeded in not only capturing Remington, but young Dane as well.
*
Guy and Remingtonrode the rest of the night and all day, without stopping. Remington thought she fainted, twice, but she couldn’t be sure. Mayhap she had only fallen asleep, because she was so damn tired she could hardly think. Yet one thought occupied her horror-glazed mind continuously; she was in Guy’s clutches.
He held her tightly, not a word spoken between them. Remington was literally sick; she knew he was going to kill her, without a doubt. The only question was when.
Toward sunset that day, Guy finally reined the frothing steed to a halt. He did not bother to help Remington from the horse; he merely tossed her onto the ground and dismounted. While she struggled to stand, he led the horse to a small stream to water it.
Remington wildly considered running, but she had no idea where she was or where she would go. Moreover, Guy would simply catch her and use it as an excuse to beat her silly.
She gazed at his taut back as he watered the animal, wrestling with her disbelief. She still could hardly grasp the very fact that he had captured her right from under Gaston’s nose. It was enough to bring horrified tears to her eyes, tears she quickly dashed away. She would not let him see her fear.
“By now your lover should be on his way,” Guy commented, gazing off across the rolling fields. “Lord, it’s been a long time since I have seen these sights. I never knew I would miss the smell of grass or the stench of an opossum.”
Remington did not say anything; she was too terrified to reply. Guy looked up from the horse, his ice-blue eyes focusing on her. “You look quite delicious, Remi. De Russe spares no expense on you, does he?”
She did not know what to say, keeping her head down and her eyes averted.
Guy let go of the reins and stalked toward her. Remington could feel him coming closer and her breathing quickened, all of the terror in her heart rushing to her veins and causing her to shake violently. She heard his footfalls on the grass like crashing boulders, deafening to her ears. When his hand reached out to touch her face, she nearly fainted with fright.
He felt her sway and grabbed her by the hair. “No, you do not. You will not shy from me. It has been far too long since I have seen you or tasted you, Remi. You shall not back away.”
