He raised his fist and if only she’d had her hands free, she could have tried to deflect the punch. Redirect, Stone had told her. But with her hands tied firmly behind her back all she could do was watch it grow larger and larger and then, shooting pain and then…
Nothing.
Chapter 26
Damn Culpepper
“We didn’t hear yelling last night. Or vases hitting the wall. Does that mean Lady Tabetha isn’t going to demand that annulment?” Chase stepped out of his room at the same time Stone pulled the door to his chamber closed behind him.
“What are you going on about?” The morning light streaming through the window at the end of the hall was almost unbearable.
He’d half-hoped he’d find his wife waiting under the covers for him, but after consuming copious amounts of scotch, when he’d fallen onto an empty bed, thought perhaps waiting to talk to her until morning was best.
Chase glanced up and down the passageway and then rubbed his chin, frowning.
“Where is she, anyhow?” Stone asked.
Tabetha’s sister stepped out and peered around her husband. “We’re all packed up. Just waiting on Tabetha. Is she ready yet?” Bethany was dressed for travel, wearing a bonnet and carrying a small valise.
“I wouldn’t know,” Stone said. “Didn’t she stay with you?”
Instead of answering, Bethany turned in the corridor and began counting the doors from his toward the direction she’d come from.
Damn Westerley. He must have arranged for her to share a separate chamber with her maid. It irked him. Despite the unconventional nature of their marriage, the fact remained that Tabetha was his wife now. He would be the one to take responsibility for her lodgings.
But Lady Chaswick was pointing at the door Stone had just emerged from. “She slept in there. Westerley reserved the chamber for both of you.”
The hairs on the back of Stone’s neck lifted.
“What did Westerley do?” The earl himself emerged from the adjacent chamber, joining them in the corridor and holding matching valises in each hand. “How is my sister today?”
Not taking the time to answer, Stone whipped the door behind him open. What had he missed?
He’d been too soused to notice her valise tucked in the corner. And another one that must belong to her maid.
A small bottle of perfume and a lady’s hairbrush rested on the wardrobe. Barely aware that the others had entered behind him, Stone’s gaze swept the room.
“She wasn’t here when I came up last night,” He ran a hand through his hair. Remembering that she’d been willing to ask for her own room on another occasion, he glanced toward the stairs. “If she wasn’t with any of you, then she must have asked for a separate chamber.”
“I watched her enter myself,” Westerley said.
“But wouldn’t she have taken her belongings with her?” Bethany asked.
And then a flesh-colored creature dashed through the open door and leapt onto the bed, staring at Stone accusingly.
Archie.
“She wouldn’t have gone anywhere without the cat.” Stone crossed to the window. One of the curtains was torn.
His heart all but stopped and then adrenaline shot through his veins.
“Culpepper.”
Chapter 27
He will come!
“Itold you to bring the cat too!”
