He started to leave, but Jo stopped him. “Thom, wait!”
He turned, his spine as rigid as a steel rod, and said through clenched teeth, “Tell me it isn’t true. Tell me she hasn’t agreed to marry Randolph.”
Jo flushed; it was clear she couldn’t do that. “She tried to find you, but you were gone.”
“Is that supposed to make it all right?”
She bit her lip and shook her head.
“Where is she?”
Jo hesitated. “She was tired and retired a little while ago.”
“At her own party?”
“She had some things she wanted to do for tomorrow.”
She seemed to be preparing him for something. “Tomorrow?”
“The betrothal ceremony.”
For the second time in the space of a few minutes he staggered. Once those vows were uttered she’d be lost to him. He didn’t know why he was surprised, but he was. “Your husband isn’t wasting any time, is he?”
Joanna winced but didn’t bother trying to deny it; they both knew it was true. Now that she’d agreed, James Douglas wasn’t going to take any chance of letting his sister change her mind.
Thom swore and turned to leave again.
“Wait, where are you going?”
He looked down at the arm she’d latched onto. “To find Elizabeth so that she can tell me herself.”
“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. Why don’t you wait a little while—maybe have something to drink?”
He knew why she was stalling him. “She’s with Randolph, isn’t she?”
She nodded, and he swore again.
Joanna tried to stop him, but he wasn’t capable of listening to reason. He left her standing in the entry as he stormed off across the yard toward the abbey guesthouse.
It was nearly dark when he caught sight of the shadowed figures in the garden. He slipped behind the pillar of the arched walkway, watching from the shadows. But hiding wasn’t necessary, the fine lord and lady facing each other in the beckoning moonlight seemed to only have eyes for one another.
He stilled, every muscle in his body tensing as if preparing for battle. He sensed what was going to happen even before Randolph’s hand moved to her face. Thom’s moved to the hilt of the sword at his side. He’d never felt the urge to kill so powerfully.
But something stayed his hand. The need to torture himself? The urge to see if she could go through with it?
Push him away. Tell him no.
She did neither. She let Randolph tilt her face to his and then his mouth touched hers.
Thom flinched, the stab of pain as hot and searing as a blade straight from the forge. But he couldn’t turn away. He forced himself to watch even as rage exploded through his body and a red haze dropped like a thick curtain over his vision. But it was the fire in his chest that hurt the most.
It didn’t matter that there was not a hint of passion in the chaste brush of lips, or that it was over as soon as it began. The betrayal cut deep and hard.
She’d let another man touch her—a man she had agreed to marry—and Thom felt like he was being ripped to shreds all over again. He felt like that young boy looking up at what he couldn’t have.
He couldn’t have let this happen, damn it. Not again. It was different this time. She wasn’t blind and unaware of her feelings for him anymore. She wasn’t a clueless young girl. She lovedhim—and he would prove it to her.
Elizabeth felt a chill sweep behind her neck right before Randolph kissed her.
