Judith Stacy by Outlaw Love

Author:Outlaw Love [Love, Outlaw]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

“What?”

“Take off all your clothes and get in bed.”

Her cheeks burned with indignation. “I’ll do no such thing.”

Clay glanced over his shoulder and pulled loose his string tie. “The sheriffs on his way up here. He thinks you stole Mrs. Henry’s jewelry.”

Panic sliced through Kelsey. “But why? I mean, how could he think that? I only saw her jewelry for a moment.”

His eyes narrowed. “So you did see the jewelry.”

“Yes, she showed it to Mallory and me. Mrs. Hig-gins-Smythe was there, too. She even told Mrs. Henry to be more careful with it.”

“And you knew where she kept it hidden?”

“Well, yes, but—” Kelsey bit her bottom lip. The incident had seemed innocent at the time, but now it made her seem as if she were a party to robbery.

“Have you got an alibi?” Clay popped open the top button of his shirt

“A what?” Fear tightened her chest.

“An alibi, Kelsey. You haven’t been at the party or on the terrace. Where have you been?”

Holly. A lump of emotion rose in her throat She’d been with Holly. But telling him would compromise the cover they’d spent months concocting. At the very least, he would question Holly, and he might link her with the stagecoach robberies.

Clay grasped her upper arms. “Where were you, Kelsey?”

She looked up at him and swallowed hard. “In the gardens. I was in the gardens.”

He glanced over his shoulder again. “Who were you with?”

“No one.”

“Damn it…” Clay shrugged out of his coat and flung it across the room. “The sheriff thinks you stole those jewels. He’s on his way up here to arrest you.”

“Me! Why would he think I did it?”

“I’ve got no time to explain.” Clay yanked his shirt from his trousers. “Get out of those clothes. Now.”

Her eyes bulged. “I will not—”

“Have you got a better alibi?” He caught her wrist and pulled her closer. “Have you?”

The breath went out of her. Her only alibi might implicate Holly, then Mallory, and eventually even lead to her own arrest

“No.” The word came out in a whispered rush. “I have no alibi.”

Clay released her arm. “Hurry. The sheriff is on his way.”

Panic seized her, and she struggled with the fasteners on her dress, stepped out of it and kicked off her slippers, her ears straining for the sound of footsteps in the hall, a knock at the door. Images of herself on the hang- man’s scaffold, Toby crying, the ruined name of the Rodgers family on everyone’s lips, raced through her mind.

“Take down your hair.”

His voice sent a shiver through her. In her rush, she’d forgotten about Clay. He stood before her now in his bare feet, shirt off, trousers unfastened. The fabric of his long Johns stretched across his wide chest; dark hair curled at the opening. She shrank back.

“Take down your hair,” he repeated.

She pulled her dress in front of her. “I…”

Clay froze and leaned toward the door. “I hear footsteps on the stairs. Hurry.”

A little squeal slipped from her lips, and she tossed the dress aside.

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