The Wayward Bride by Anna Bradley

Author:Anna Bradley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2018-10-31T11:02:38+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Hugh clutched Isla to his chest, his boots scraping across the ice as he stumbled through the snow toward the house. His heart was still lodged in his throat, and every one of his limbs still shaking with delayed panic.

He’d only been two floors above her when she’d wrenched open the door and fled into the dark night, but it had felt as if there were hundreds of steps between them. He’d seemed to move in slow motion as he chased her, his arms reaching for empty air again and again until he’d caught her against him at last.

He tightened his arms around her now, relief and regret flooding through him as he carried her through the entryway to his study. He’d lost control of himself in the schoolroom. He’d been so desperate for answers he’d pushed her too hard—even frightened her, perhaps.

But it hadn’t been fear that had sent her fleeing into the night.

Isla wasn’t faint-hearted. She had brothers the size of trees, and she’d learned long ago how to hold her own with them. Hugh had never seen her run away from anything until tonight.

Something had gone terribly wrong the night of Lady Entwhistle’s ball. Isla was trying to hide it from him, but Hugh was done with secrets. He would have the truth from her, and he’d have it tonight.

He laid her carefully on the sofa and turned to the sideboard, trying not to think of all that had passed between them since the last time she’d sat shivering before his fire in a wet gown, her face pale with shock. Three days—had it really only been three days since he’d brought her out of the woods? It felt like he’d lived a lifetime since then, and yet he was as far from knowing the truth as he’d ever been.

Hugh’s hands were unsteady as he poured them each a glass of port. “The night you got lost, I watched you ride into the woods from that window, right there.” He nodded toward the window behind his desk. “Do you know what it did to me, to stand there helplessly and watch you ride straight into peril? The entire time I was searching for you in the woods, I was picturing your broken body crushed under a tree.”

She gasped softly, and when he turned to face her, her blue eyes were huge in her face.

“You may not be mine, Isla, but I care very much what happens to you. Don’t ever run from me again.” He crossed to the sofa and held out the glass of port to her. “How far did you think you’d get in only a day gown and a pair of thin shoes?”

She accepted the glass without meeting his eyes. “I didn’t think at all.”

“No, evidently not,” he muttered, but he could already feel the anger draining out of him. He was upset with her, yes, but he was just as upset with himself. This whole thing had become such a tangle, he no longer knew who was to blame for any of it.

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