“It is, Your Grace.” The stableboy bowed deeply. “I am so sorry for disturbing you, Your Grace. I thought not to, but with the storm the way it is, I knew I wouldn’t forgive myself if I said nothing.”
“Is it the horses?” Gabriel asked. “Is something wrong?”
“Not the horses, Your Grace,” Marcus assured him. “It’s Her Grace – I am sure she is fine. I know that she is. But with the storm, like I said, I wouldn’t forgive myself if –”
“Speak plainly,” he cut the rambling stableboy off. “What has my wife done now?”
“She…” He kept his head bowed, unable to look Gabriel in the eyes. “She came to me an hour ago, Your Grace, adamant that she wished to take one of the horses for a ride.”
“She… she did?” His face paled.
“I tried to warn her off, Your Grace. I swear I did. I even suggested seeking your approval first, but she is…” He swallowed. “Forgive me for saying, Your Grace, but she is bold. Very bold.”
A smile touched Gabriel’s lips.She is bold, isn’t she.But that smile fell as an ear-splitting crack of thunder ripped from the sky and shook the walls around them.
Gabriel spun and looked out the window where he saw the storm in a different light to earlier. It was a harrowing hellscape outside, the type of storm that brought homes down and uprooted trees as if they weighed nothing. And his wife was trapped in it…
“Sophia is out inthis?”
“I am so sorry, Your Grace,” Marcus said again. “I tried to stop her. I would have, but she refused to listen!”
“How long?” He turned and stormed across the room. “How long, man?”
“And hour, Your Grace.”
“Which direction did she ride?”
“North, Your Grace. I could send men after her, if it pleases you? It will only take a moment to – Your Grace!” he yelped as Gabrielstrode from the office. “Your Grace, the men? Shall I organize the men?”
“Don’t bother,” Gabriel called without slowing down. “I’ll go myself.”
For a full week, Gabriel had convinced himself that he did not care about Sophia. For a full well, Gabriel had done everything he could to pretend that this marriage did not matter to him, and by extension, neither did his wife. And for a full week, Gabriel had lived in a state of utter denial.
It was a week wasted, and his wife was in danger because of it. Because of him.
If anything has happened to her… no, do not think that. She is fine, she is going to be fine. She has to be fine…
It was easy to think the words but nearly impossible to believe them. The heavens screamed, the manor shook, and Gabriel’s world came tumbling down around his ears.
Gabriel rode as fast as the weather would permit.
Hardly able to see more than a few inches in front of his face, every step taken was a danger to him and his horse. And he simply did not care.
It was not yet night, but the thickness of the clouds, and the intensity of the rain, made the going tough. The ground was sloppy with mud, and it forced his horse to move at a trot when he would have preferred it to run at full pelt.
As he rode, he called as loud as he could for Sophia.
“Sophia!” his cry drowned out in the rain and the wind. “Sophia!”
It was naught but sweeping green fields in every direction. Not a soul in sight. No signs of his wife, who he knew must be lost and terrified.
The thought of her alone struck fear into Gabriel like he could not believe. For a man who had spent his entire life caring only about himself, it was a strange thing to worry so deeply for another.
While it might have been easy to deny why he was so afraid, Gabriel was just about done with all the lies.
He had tried to fight it. He had tried to deny it. He had tried to argue against it. Oh, how he had tried. But as he rode through the storm, battering against the rain and the wind, he could lie to himself no longer. Gabriel cared about his wife, he feared for her safety, and he would not rest until she was in his arms.
What did this mean for his future, and that of his marriage? In truth, Gabriel did not care. The only thing he cared about was the present, that being finding Sophia alive and in one piece.
