A Duke's Promise by Jamie Carie

Author:Jamie Carie [Carie, Jamie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-03-19T15:44:13+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

Ian sprawled onto the thick carpet with a head-jarring

thud. The guards, two of them this time, mock bowed

and turned on their heels toward the door. He stayed

down a moment, trying to get his breath back, and then

slowly rose to his knees, looking around the opulent

room full of life-sized portraits of the family d’Luca.

“Katherine.”

She rose and rushed toward him, kneeling beside him

and taking his face into her hands. Her gaze washed over him, her face turning sad, regret heavy in her blue eyes.

“What have they done to you?” She looked thinner too

but still had that steel in her eyes. Still strong.

“The same thing they’ve done to you, I imagine.” He

stood and held out his hand to help her up, his tone

grim. “What’s happened? Why are they leaving us alone

together?”

Her eyes shuttered, as if a curtain had been pulled.

She shrugged. “I haven’t puzzled it all out yet. Their

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plans are not good. But perhaps there is something we

can work with.”

A shaft of unease filled his chest. Whenever Katherine

got that calculating look in her eyes, it boded ill. They often ended up in places and positions he’d never imagined himself in. “Tell me everything you know.”

She took a step away and turned toward the fireplace,

staring into the flames. “They told me they were tor-

turing you.” She shivered and shook her head. “They

didn’t hurt me physically, just torturous lies I refused to believe.” She spun around to face him, her chin jutting

out in that familiar way that made him ache for her. “I

suspect they did the same to you?”

“Yes.” He looked down at his worn boots, seeing them

for a moment back on Holy Island, in the pasture, sheep

manure on one toe and how he’d worried he would have

to wash it off before going home, often forgetting. Those had been the first days of his marriage. “I believed them too much, I’m sure. I told them everything I know.”

“Good thing that isn’t much.” Her voice sounded

hard, but he knew the reasons behind it and only

shrugged, agreeing.

“Franco says he will have Alexandria soon within his

grasp.”

His head flew up. “What? Have they gone to Holy

Island for her?”

Katherine laughed, another harsh sound, pained and

hollow. “Alexandria isn’t on Holy Island. I suspect she

left months ago. Searching for us.”

“Where is she now?”

“He says she is in an air balloon, heading this way.”

“That is preposterous. You believe him?”

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“Yes, I think I do.” Katherine came close and took his

hands. She stared down at them, a sigh escaping. “You

know I’ve felt it. She is coming for us. To rescue us.”

“Your intuitions aren’t always right.” The words flew

out of his mouth, but another part of him knew they

usually were exactly right or pointed to some truth.

“It’s our daughter. There is no one but you I feel more

connected to.”

Ian took a deep breath. “A balloon. It’s so dangerous.

What did Franco say? What does he want with her?”

Her face crumbled. She brought his hands to her face,

a shudder going through her body.

Panic rose to his throat. “Tell me.”

“He wants to use her as a bargaining tool.

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