A martial gleam lit in her eyes. She paused, then went back to the sofa and grabbed up her reticule. “I take it the carriage is still outside?”
“W-Where are you going?” demanded her husband.
“Not I.We.” She clarified. “We are going after them as soon as you fetch your pistols. Sebastian may need our help.”
“You arenotcoming along, Cecilia. It may be dangerous?—”
The door slammed shut.
“Oh, bloody hell.” After heaving a resigned sigh, Ashton hurried after his wife.
Nineteen
The carriage lurched to a stop. Hammerton grabbed Alex by the arm and shoved her roughly through the door that his cousin had opened. Her foot caught on one of the steps and she fell to the ground. A flash of anger roared through her, as raw as the scrapes on her palms. Rising slowly, she scooped up a handful of dirt and flung it in Hammerton’s face as he was dismounting.
“Ahhhggg,” he cried, his hands clawing at his eyes, which were momentarily blinded by the grit.
Alex turned to run towards a copse of trees she had spotted from the carriage window—and collided smack into a male chest.
“Hold her, you bloody idiot!” roared Hammerton
Standish threw his arms around her. Scratching and kicking proved ineffective, but a well-placed knee to the groin had the desired effect. Free once more, Alex bolted for the shelter of the woods. Though she hadn’t seen any signs of habitation for miles, perhaps she could lose her captors and find some way of intercepting her brother.
However, her cursed skirts entangled her legs, making it easy for Hammerton to catch up.
Shaking her hard enough to rattle her teeth, he kept a viscous hold on her arm and marched her back to where his cousin lay writhing in pain.
“The bitch,” moaned Standish, still curled in a fetal position. “I’ll make her pay for this. I’ll …”
“Later,” snarled Hammerton. “We need her untouched until we have her damnable brother in hand.” He gave Alex a nasty leer before adding, “It won’t be long. Then you may do whatever you like with her.”
Leaving Standish to recover on his own, he propelled Alex toward a small, rustic lodge made of thick timber and masonry. It was surrounded on three sides by a tall, crumbling stone wall. To the left sat a neglected orchard whose unpruned branches dangled over its mossy top. The rutted drive snaked to the right, past the wall, down to a small outbuilding that served as the stable. Hammerton lit a taper as he entered the dank center hall, then pushed her through an open door on one side of a narrow corridor. The meager rays of sunlight that managed to penetrate into the room did little to relieve the oppressive feeling of the place. Hammerton paused to light the fire in the hearth, but even its flames seemed unable to ward off the chill.
“Sit down,” ordered Hammerton as he pushed her towards a simple wooden chair. “If you try to escape again, I promise you I will make itveryunpleasant for your brother.”
Alex lifted her chin. “Do with me what you wish. Justin will not be fool enough to fall into your trap, I assure you.”
Hammerton gave a nasty laugh. “Of course he will, my dear. Family loyalty runs deep in the branches of this family, doesn’t it?” The laugh trailed off into a nasty sneer. “And you can’t expect your erstwhile friend Branford to rush to your rescue this time, can you?”
Alex’s face must have betrayed a flash of emotion for he laughed again. “Oh yes, that was rather clever of me, wasn’t it? .”He perched a hip on the rough oak table and regarded his well-manicured nails.
“What do you mean?” said Alex in a hoarse whisper.
His look of satisfaction clearly showed how disappointed he would have been had she not asked.
“Accidents aresomuch easier to contrive in a rural setting, I came up with a plan to ensure your family would be forced to return to the country,” he explained. “Knowing the earl’s reputation with the ladies, I took advantage of finding him foxed one night at our club and bet him that he couldn’t mount you.” An ugly laugh. “That would have been one bet I wouldn’t have minded losing to him.”
Hammerton shook his head in disgust. “It would have worked perfectly. Once he had succeeded, I would have oh-so carefully seen to it that word spread throughout theton. You would have been ruined—and the rest of your family with you. Your aunt would have had no choice but to take the two of you back to the country—assuming she didn’t simply toss you out onto the street.”
He looked down at his nails once again. “I can’t fathom why he called the bet off. Apparently, it was quite a scene when he stormed in and scratched the wager out of the betting book, announcing that he didn’t toy with innocents.”
Alex closed her eyes for a moment, feeling slightly sick.
“Ha!” Hammerton’s voice was becoming more agitated. “Who is he to flaunt a code of honor? Everyone knows he murdered his cousin for the title and got away with it.
Why should he be treated with such respect and awe? He isn’t nearly as clever as I am!”
“You are quite mad,” remarked Alex calmly.
