The Enticement Of An Earl by Chasity Bowlin

Author:Chasity Bowlin
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2015-08-25T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

Mary huddled on the floor of the small round chamber sobbing softly. Water dripped down on her from the stones above, soaking her clothes, and left her cold and shivering. Her shoulder was either out of joint or her arm was broken. She didn’t know which, only that it hurt. Huddled against the rock, she prayed not for help but for forgiveness.

The rock above her trembled, and Mary sobbed louder. For the last five minutes the walls had taken to shaking and trembling. It was her punishment, she thought bitterly. She’d allowed them to sway her with the promise of coin and done something she knew was wrong. They’d sworn to her that the tonic she put in the tea was to keep him calm, but he’d been calm enough when she’d seen the earl in his study. She’d wondered then if they spoke the truth, but then he’d drunk it and it had been too late.

Afterward, when he’d attacked Miss Walters, she’d been unable to deny the truth any longer. They’d played her for a fool; she’d poisoned her employer and was responsible for him near murdering another person. She’d burn for it for certain.

Another sob wracked her and she buried her face against her knees just as one of the stones from overhead shifted and fell. It crashed to the floor beside her, shattering. Bits of stone flew at her, pricking her skin. She wiped her hand over her face and it came away wet with blood. It would just be added to the list of her injuries, assuming anyone ever found her to see them.

More stones fell. The tiny chamber rattling with the sound and reverberation of it. She screamed in spite of herself as they crashed to the floor and huddled closer to the wall. There was no door within her reach, only the one that she’d been pushed through several feet above her. The small opening in the wall was covered with a heavy metal grate and too small for her to crawl through, and having looked through it, she knew there was nothing but the sheer drop to the loch below anyway. Unable to climb with her injured arm, it was clear to her that she would die down there.

Other noises, beyond the falling of rock intruded. Voices from above teased her with hope. She dared not glance up. Instead, she kept her head down but began to call out. “Help! I’m down here! Please help me!”

From above, she heard the heavy groan of the door. “Mary? Are you hurt?”

She recognized the earl’s voice. Guilt clawed at her. “My arm, m’lord. I fear ’tis broken or my shoulder is out of joint.”

“I’ll climb down and get you,” he said.

“No!” she protested. “It’s not safe, m’lord. The whole place is about to come down around me!”

As if to punctuate the statement, a large stone fell from just beneath the door, crashing to the floor with such force that the whole room shook. She cried out and covered her head with her good arm.

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