Charlotte hurried into the stable yard clad in a dark blue riding habit.
Julian rose slowly to his feet.No. She couldn’t possibly be so foolish.
She mounted the block and swung herself up into the saddle.
His fist met the glass, but neither the groom nor Charlotte turned at the sound. They were too far below to hear him. The groom was speaking to her, his expression earnest. He hadn’t relinquished the reins to her yet, and now Julian focused every particle of energy he had on the man as he pounded again and again on the window.
Don’t let her ride out. Refuse her—
Charlotte tapped her crop impatiently against her boot. She shook her head at the groom and thrust out a hand, beckoning with her fingers for the reins.
No! For God’s sake, don’t let her—
Julian held his breath, but it was no use. The groom handed the reins over to Charlotte. She grabbed them, brought her crop down lightly on the horse’s flanks, and in the next breath she was off, the whirl of her dark blue skirts lost in the great cloud of dust kicked up by the stallion’s heavy hooves.
Julian raced for the door, his chair toppling to the floor with a crash behind him. He didn’t notice the bedchamber doorways flying past him as he tore down the hallway, and he didn’t hear the startled squeak of the maid he nearly trampled in his fury to get down the stairs.
Dear God, but the front door was miles away and, incredibly, retreating farther with every one of his pounding strides to reach it.
This house truly was haunted, haunted and cursed.
At last, at last he was through the door and flying toward the stables, his heart sinking in his chest as he realized how deep the shadows around the house had become, deep and ominous, and that horse, Jesus, he’d never seen a larger horse, and the way it twitched and stamped to be off it looked almost wild—
No, don’t think about it. Don’t think about Charlotte’s fragile body broken, her neck twisted…
Don’t think on it. Just get to her.
It took years to reach the stables. Decades. A lifetime, and at some point the words became an endless refrain set to the rhythm of his ragged, panicked breaths—don’t think on it just get to her—until it became one word only, echoing over and over in his frenzied brain—
Please, please, please…
He began shouting before he reached the stable yard. “A horse, at once! Now, damn you!Move!”
The groom whirled around, his mouth falling open in shock as he saw Julian barreling toward him, but he darted into the stables and returned at a run, pulling a tall black stallion behind him. The groom tossed him the reins and Julian mounted in one quick, fluid move.
“I’m sorry, sir! I tried to go with her, but she—”
“Later.” Julian’s reply was tense, clipped. “Where will she go?”
The man looked up at him. “Maybe to the summerhouse? She likes to go there sometimes—”
“Are you sure?”
The groom shook his head miserably. “No, but she went off west, and that’s the direction—”
Julian didn’t wait to hear the rest, but set his heels into the horse’s sides with one sharp jab and headed west, urging his mount into a full gallop as soon as he’d cleared the stable yard. Charlotte had a hell of a start on him—he couldn’t see any hint of her in front of him, not even a telltale cloud of dust. It was too dark.
But he was cavalry. He knew how to handle a horse.
He leaned low over the animal’s neck until he could see the ground flying beneath him through the horse’s ears. The refrain still echoed in his head with each beat of the hooves against the turf…please, please, please.
And with each soundless plea came the truth, as sure as the beat of his heart in his chest. He’d never leave Charlotte here. If Cam wanted him out, he’d have to drag him out, and Julian would claw and bite and kick with everything inside him to stay. He’d never give up on her.
He would catch her. He had to.
Chapter Twenty-one
No one could catch her. She wasn’t running anymore—she was flying.
