“Who’s there?”
She sounded scared. Good, she deserved it. He was furious now with her; she’d roused him from a deep sleep—well, it had obviously been some sort of nightmare—but still, it was her fault. She’d forced him to come looking for her. She’d made him worry; she’d made him suffer needlessly; she’d made him feel guilty.
“Please, who is there?”
He set the lamp down.
“You move an inch and I will beat you,” he said and walked to where she was standing. Garth, recognizing his master, whinnied. Fanny twitched her head around and whinnied in response.
“Take off the bridle.”
It was time to take a stand. “No,” Alex said. She wanted to drop the saddle for it was very heavy, but she clung to it, holding it against her chest.
“You were planning to steal my sister’s mare?”
“No. Well, just for a while. I’m not a thief. I would have returned her.”
“Drop the damned saddle before your arms fall off.”
Instead, Alex hefted the saddle onto Fanny’s back. The mare twitched her tail and leaned around to take a nip of Alex’s shoulder. It was close, but Alex managed to draw back in time.
“May I ask where you intended going?”
“Home. Now will you leave me alone? I’m leaving; annul the marriage, I don’t care! Do you hear me, I don’t care! Just leave!”
Douglas leaned against Garth’s stable door and crossed his arms over his chest. “I had believed you many things, but not stupid. However, with the proof of your stupidity before me, I must bow to the obvious facts. You are incredibly stupid. You are a blockhead. Were you planning to ride Fanny all the way back to Harrogate?”
“Yes, but very slowly, and only at night. I also took some money from your strongbox in your desk.”
“Dishonest and stupid.”
“I have to eat. I would have returned it.”
“Ah yes, your father who has all the guineas in the world would have paid me back. I think I shall beat you.”
Alex knew a man’s anger when she saw it. He hadn’t been content to humiliate her. Now he wanted to beat her. Until she was bleeding and senseless? She wondered if he would use a riding crop. “Why did you wake up? I was very quiet.”
He frowned. “I just did, that’s all. I was in the army. I am a light sleeper.” It was a lie but it would serve. He always slept like the dead and had very nearly died because of his habits two times in Italy. Thank the Lord for his valet cum batman, Finkle. “I?
??m a very light sleeper and I heard your every movement.”
She didn’t know how that was possible for she’d been so quiet she’d barely heard herself. But he obviously had heard her and followed, why, she couldn’t begin to guess. “Why do you care if I leave? You don’t want me here. I’m a stranger and I betrayed you as much as Tony did. So I am leaving and I will never return to bother you. Isn’t it what you want?”
“I will tell you what I want when I want to tell you. You will take no action until I tell you to.”
“That is absurd! You wish me to wait around like some sort of slave until you decide to boot me out? Damn you, my lord, it is you who deserve to be beaten!”
It all happened very quickly. Douglas was more amused than concerned when she grabbed a rake that was leaning against Fanny’s stall and ran toward him carrying the rake in both hands over her head. Then, at the last minute, she lowered it, like a knight brandishing a lance in a tourney, and sent it into his belly with such force that he reeled to the side, then landed on his back. Then she struck the lamp and it promptly went out, plunging the stable into darkness.
He jumped to his feet, his belly feeling like it had a hole poked through it, only to have Fanny snort in his face and nearly run him down. He leapt out of the mare’s way. He twisted about to see that damned girl riding bareback, her hair flying out behind her head, hugging herself low to Fanny’s neck. The saddle lay on its side in the straw. She was riding like the devil was after her.
The devil would very soon be after her. Douglas was so furious, so disbelieving of what she’d done to him, that for an instant, he was overwhelmed with the force of his rage. He drew a deep breath, removed Garth from his stall, put a bridle on him and swung up onto his bare back.
He would, quite simply, kill her once he caught up to her.
Alex continued to ride like the devil. She was an excellent horsewoman and the feel of the horse against her thighs and bottom gave her a feeling of great control, much more so than the decorous sidesaddles society had forced upon females.
She pressed her face against Fanny’s neck, holding her legs close against the mare’s sides and whispering encouragement. The mare quickened her pace. Her neck felt warm against Alexandra’s cheek, warm and alive and the mare was giving all she had. She was smooth-paced and fast as the wind and Alex simply gave her her head.