Caversham’s Bride

Chapter Nine-3

The moon was beginning its descent, and the fog was losing its eerie luminescence. Soon the sun would rise and dry the town. She and her brother would have to be on the ship, already hidden, in order to make good their escape. They could not walk on in broad daylight.

Hiding among the empty barrels and boxes piled along the edges of a warehouse, Lia tried desperately to ignore the scratching sounds of the creatures around them. Nearby a cat yowled and hissed, sending something running across her feet. Chills coursed through her body at the thought of what it might be. She fought the urge to scream over a mere rat. She must be strong for Luchino.

Lia scanned the dock for the next few minutes, waiting for the opportune moment to make her move. Finally, the last two drunken sailors boarded the vessel alongside the ship she and Luchino needed to get on. With no one else about, they had to get on it quickly.

“Luchino, can you run, or should I carry you again?”

“I can make it, Lia.”

He didn’t sound convincing, but it was quicker and easier for him to run with her, than for her to carry him.

“We have to do it now.” With that, she and Luchino broke into a run for the boarding plank of the ship some twenty yards ahead. With one hand she held down the cap covering her hair, in the other she held her brother’s hand.

“Aspetto!” A voice behind her shouted.

“I think that’s them,” she heard a second man say, this time in English.

Luchino stumbled and fell, bringing Lia down with him. She quickly regained her footing, and heart racing, scooped up her brother and ran for the boarding plank, never looking back at those who followed.

Her cap flew off and her hair tumbled down in a thick, single braid to the middle of her back. She kept running as fast as she possibly could while carrying her brother.

Just as she was about to step onto the plank of wood that led to freedom, an arm wrapped about her waist, yanking her back. Luchino held onto her neck tightly, even as she dropped him. Her arms snaked out, preventing him from falling into the water.

Her back slammed into the hard, solid wall of the Englishman’s chest. She knew it was him even though he didn’t speak and she couldn’t see him. His scent surrounded her, just as his arms did, while she held onto her brother. One of his men came around and took Luchino from her grasp as she cursed Ren in Italian.

“No! Don’t take my brother,” she cried, as she struggled to free herself from his vice-like grip. “Bring him back! He’s all I have left.” Struggling was useless, his hold on her was unforgiving.

“Lia! Lia!” her brother cried out for her, prompting Lia to struggle more.

“Quit fighting me, Lia. He’ll be fine.” To the man holding her brother, he said, “Take the boy to Sea Witch and tell Cully to keep an eye on him. Then find Flynn. Send him and two more men to me.” Lia pulled free from his grasp as he spoke and turned to run after her brother, but he caught the collar of her jacket and yanked her back to him. The Englishman lifted her effortlessly, tossed her over his shoulder and began the hike back up the steep, narrow street to the inn.

“Let me down!” She pounded her fists against his back and thrashed her legs. All it got her was a painful swat across the bottom.

“Continue behaving like a child, and I’ll s***k you again.”

“Let me down! Bestia! Let me down!”

“Shut up,” he said, holding her tight across the back of her legs. He did not say another word to her the entire way back. He continued to carry her in that manner through the lobby of the inn, thankfully empty at this hour of the morning, then up the stairs, where he deposited her, with a thud onto the single chair in her bedroom.

The maid entered with the innkeeper, her eyes red-rimmed and swollen. She looked as though she had been beaten, and for that Lia was deeply sorry.

“My lord,” the innkeeper said, “I regret the inconvenience that Ghita here caused you. She has been duly punished and now wishes to apologize.” The short, skinny man pushed the girl forward.

“Mi dispiace,” she said through her tears, without once lifting her eyes to either Ren or Lia. The poor thing then ran from the room as though the hounds of Satan were on her heels.

Lia instinctively moved to follow her, to console her, but Ren blocked her path. Just then three men, Flynn and two others, entered. The innkeeper, still apologizing, backed his way from the room, closing the door behind him when he left.

What was she going to do now? She had to get back to Luchino. He was probably afraid. He didn’t know these men who took him. A knot began to form in her throat and she struggled to keep it down. “Give me back my brother. He’s all I have.” Swiping the offensive tear that spilled down her cheek, she continued, “It’s taken me so long to get him back.” Lia sat in the chair next to the table, feeling deflated, but not defeated. “So long.”

“I want both doors of this inn under guard,” Ren said tersely. “And I want someone under her window. This is not to happen again.” He turned his clear, icy gaze to her. She shivered at what she saw there. Disappointment and distrust.

His men left to assume their posts, leaving her standing in the middle of the room and Ren holding the door.

“I can’t believe you would jeopardize your brother’s health after everything you’ve done to save him.”

His penetrating gaze unsettled her and she turned away and stared out the window. “Because I want freedom. Unlike some women, I don’t see being forced into a marriage with anyone, as being free.”

“You weren’t forced. We made an agreement. I have lived up to my end, and have rescued your brother, and now you run. Why?”

She swung around and met his hardened gaze. “Because all you want is a broodmare!” She saw him wince, but she pressed on, “That was your word to describe me! You said you would take my children from me and dispose of me. I heard you say this, Your Grace. Since my own aunt tried to have me killed, how am I to know you won’t try the same and be successful?” Lia stood and went to him, her ire rising again. Staring into his face, she tried to read any emotion from him, but saw none but anger. Unafraid, she continued. “I don’t know who you are. You know everything about me, yet I know nothing about you. I don’t know why you need an heir now, but evidently you need one badly enough that you are willing to marry me, someone who wants to be more than a broodmare.”

He looked at the open door, and tempering his voice he said, “We can discuss it tomorrow.”

The cold eyes, and tightened muscles in his cheeks told her he wanted no argument just then, but she wasn’t giving in so quickly. He had her brother. “No! I want to know now,” she shouted at him. “You’ve taken my brother from me. You tell me now, why you want me to marry you. Why not find someone agreeable to marriage, why force me?”

“I will not let you go, because you may already carry my child.”

“That’s not good enough,” she countered. “Let me and my brother go. I will find my relatives in Rome. Maybe one day I might even find love. But one thing is for certain Your Grace, no one wishes to live their life as a possession. Even if it is pampered and protected. A gilded cage is still a cage.”

“You belong to me, Lia.” he said tersely. “Get any thoughts of escape out of your head.” He stalked from the room and slammed the door behind him. She ran to the door, and pounded on it before she heard the sound of the key turning the lock from the outside. Exhaustion and frustration finally catching up with her, she sank to the floor in tears, wondering why this was happening to her.