“We’re going to leave now. Do not follow us. Try, and Iwillkill you,” Caroline said and the two began backing away.
“I won’t. I won’t. I promise,” he hastened to say in a wheezy, pained voice from his half-hunched position.
“Wait,” Annabelle said and dashed back to the man who was just beginning to straighten. His trousers had dropped around his knees, she noted with renewed outrage.
She grasped the lapels of his waistcoat, ripped them apart to bare his sweaty shirt and snatched out the pistol that had been jammed up against her ribs a moment ago. Eyes narrowed on him, she aimed, held it with two hands and cocked the barrel.
His eyes widened in fear as it dawned on him what she intended to do. “Milady, no, I beg you.”
“As I begged,” she said bitterly. She took one step backward and aimed the small pistol straight at his loins.
“Lady Randall, think of your husband, the scandal he’ll face.”
Nowhe called her by her married name.
“Annabelle, don’t,” Caroline said, her voice very calm and very sure. “Don’t. He’s not worth it. Not worth the nightmares that will follow.Trust me.”
“He tried to force himself on me,” she gritted out.
“I know.” The two words conveyed a wealth of understanding. “Iknow.” Something in her tone struck Annabelle.
Never lowering her arm, she turned her head to study her sister-in-law. Read the world-weary look in her eyes. Suddenly she understood. The truth had been right there in front of her all along.
She hurried to Caroline’s side. “He’s not alone. He has two men with him. Hired muscle.”
“I saw them. They should be reaching the shore about now, but there’s no saying they won’t be back for him.”
“No. No they won’t,” Vane assured them. “You have my word. Just let me leave and you will never see me again.”
“Annabelle?” Caroline asked, eyes holding hers.
“I trust you.”
Chapter 38
In his haste to return to the castle, to get inside the stone fortress and assure himself that his wife and his sister, were safe, Sterling disembarked the coble and rode Zeus like the devil himself was at his heels. Once he reached the forecourt, he did not bother with the stables.
Just as soon as he laid eyes on Annabelle, he would return to care for his horse.
Pounding up the curving ramp, he felt like an utter fool, but reining in his panic at this point seemed nigh on impossible. Especially considering that the last thirty minutes aboard the ship, a sick certainty had gripped his insides like a vise, leaving him vacillating between the urge to cast his oats overboard or swim for it to see if he could get here faster than the meandering fishing boat.
Of course she was inside. Packing, no doubt. Stewing over his decision to send her away, but inside. He’d told her quite plainly not to go out.
He threw open the front door—then froze. Babette, Chip, and Cogsworth hovered in the foyer, apparently waiting for him. Babette’s eyes, more stark than he’d ever seen them—even on that fateful night—met his.
“What is it? What’s happened?” he demanded.
Cogsworth gave Babette a speaking look before answering, though his own expression did not convey any sort of reassurance. “As to that, my lord, nothing’s to say anything’s amiss. It’s only that Babette has had one of her feelings.”
“Her feelings?” Sterling’s gaze traveled between the three servants. Then he narrowed his eyes on Cogsworth. The butler had not offered to help him from his greatcoat. Something was wrong. “Concerning what?”
“Lady Randall appears to have gone on a walk, and Lady Caroline, at the prompting of Babette, went out looking for her some twenty minutes ago. And she…er…took your rifle.”
From the wordsLady Randall,his skin went clammy and his heart lurched, rising into his throat before plummeting to the ground. Fear, unlike anything he’d ever known, had his breath stuttering in his lungs. Annabelle…he’d known something was wrong. And now his sister’s safety was also at risk.
He pushed past them, making for his office. He was not at all surprised that one and all dogged his heels. But he was in no mood. He jammed to a halt. Turned to face them. “Kindly await me in the foyer.”
Not one argued. But their facial expressions said plenty. They were not pleased by his response.
