“Is that why you married Robert? To get back at Ridge?” She asked the question, but she knew it was so. She needed confirmation.
“Yes.”
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” Caroline whispered. “No one marries for love. It’s foolish nonsense. Stuff of a young girl’s dreams, not a woman full grown. You passed on a life with a good man. Agoodman. And for what? Childhood dreams of stuff and nonsense?”
Tears rolled down Lucinda’s cheeks. “I was a fool.”
Some of the anger left Caroline at the sight of Lucinda looking so dejected. But she wouldn’t leave until Lucinda knew the full extent of the misery she had caused.
“Robert is dying, Lucinda.”
Lucinda whipped her head up to look at Caroline. “What do you mean?”
Caroline yanked the crumpled letter from her reticule and shoved it at Lucinda.
Lucinda took it and bent her head to read. Her hands began to shake, and she dropped it to the floor.
“No.No,” she cried. Tears fell in earnest now. She turned tortured eyes to Caroline. “I told him not to come back.” She was crying hysterically now. “I told him that if he left not to bother ever coming back.”
She buried her face in her hands, rocking back and forth as her sobs echoed through the room.
Caroline stood frozen for a long moment. Then, stiffly, she turned and walked from the room, Lucinda’s sobs following her into the foyer.
“God help us all,” she whispered.
Chapter Twenty-Five
India reached forward and grabbed Juan Miguel’s wrist. He flinched in surprise but made no effort to wrest his hand from her grasp.
She stared at the tattoo wondering why it was familiar. In England, she had never been able to get more than a passing glimpse. She had been much more involved with escaping the man’s clutches.
Now, as she gazed at it, it took on a different meaning. A mountain with the sun high over head. Her mouth fell open in shock then she looked at Juan Miguel who regarded her with a calm expression.
“Your knowledge is great, Senorita. The most we have ever come across.”
She let his hand fall from hers and stepped back. “I don’t understand.”
He smiled at her. “You understand far more than you give yourself credit for. But come. We still have far to travel. We will only be safe when we reach the city.”
She frowned at his enigmatic words. Numbly, she mounted her horse and fell in behind Juan Miguel.
Guardian. The tattoo was the symbol for guardian. In Pagorian. The man who had broken into her home wore the same symbol. Somehow he was connected to Pagoria. As was Juan Miguel.
She urged her horse forward until she drew abreast of Juan Miguel. “I have questions.”
He nodded. “I expect you do. But I am unable to give you the answers you seek. Have patience. In the end, you will be rewarded.”
India sat back, emitting a sigh of frustration. She would get nothing from this man. And patience had never been her strong suit.
###
“They aren’t far ahead of us now,” Ridge said as he examined the tracks in the dusty terrain.
From his perch atop his horse, Robby grunted.
“Do you need to stop and rest?” Ridge asked, as he rose from his squatting position.
“No, we can go on. I’ll rest once we’ve overtaken India.”
