Her Wicked Proposal novel Chapter 46

Cedric struggled to breathe. "You mean the night I met her she was raped?"

"The way Andrews told it, he pounced on her in an empty room. He didn't give Anne a chance to fight or flee." Despite the calm way in which he spoke, anger laced Ashton's words.

Cedric's fists were clenched so tight his hands were going numb. "How did you learn of this, Ash?"

"He saw me having a drink, and he was already foxed. He demanded that I congratulate him, of all things. He either did not realize who I was to you or mistook me for someone else. Andrews claimed that soon he would have a hold over your fortune once he said that your firstborn was actually his. He planned to blackmail you both. Said he knew Anne would do anything to keep her secret from you, or, failing that, you would pay for his silence about your wife's past."

"The bloody fool addressed the letter to me," Cedric said. His plan must have been made half out of a bottle to begin with.

"Dearest Anne, we have plans to make..."

Her reaction that night to Crispin in the theater hadn't been about concealing her old lover, but hiding from the man who had hurt her, violated her. Stolen her innocence.

If I ever find him again, blind or not, there will be a duel. I'll pin a bell over his black heart if I have to.

Cedric struggled to remain calm. Dread and grim terror swept through him. He'd lost Anne forever because he'd refused to listen to her explanation. But he had been so enraged, would he even have believed her? Would he have been as foolish as the rest of the ton and believe a scoundrel's word over hers?

He'd accused her of the worst sort of betrayal, but it was he who'd betrayed her.

"Cedric...what have you done?" Ash demanded quietly.

"She tried to tell me...but I wouldn't listen. That letter, I'd read so much into it. Invented a story that suited my own self-pity and thought the worst of a woman who had never for a moment thought to do me harm. I lost my temper and shouted at her to leave my house. I threw her out when she was at her most vulnerable." A shudder wracked his body. "Ash, if I am at risk of earning a place in the fires of hell, it's certainly for what I did tonight, above all my other sins."

"Where is she now?"

"Quite possibly on her way to London. I gave instructions to have her delivered back to her father's house in the morning. I was planning to stay here for a few days. Couldn't bear the thought of staying at Rushton until she was gone."

"I just came from the main road to London. Because of the storm, no coaches were traveling the road. She didn't pass me." Ash started moving about the room, gathering Cedric's clothes.

"Then she must still be at Rushton Steading."

"Good. Get dressed. We leave immediately. We'll have to ride since the coaches can't get through the mud." Ash started shoving clothes into Cedric's hands and went to call for a pair of fresh horses.

"Ash..."Cedric hissed. "You know I haven't ridden a horse since the accident."

"Bloody hell, man. You'll ride behind me on my horse."

In a matter of minutes, Cedric and Ashton were mounting a sturdy beast in the pouring rain. Cedric clung to Ashton's waist, his friend's body the only lighthouse in the storm around them and the darkness he could never escape.

Ashton spurred the horse into a mad pace, one that would surely wear the beast down in minutes, but Ashton refused the creature any second of rest. The horse kept its breakneck pace for nearly half an hour before Cedric's home was in sight. Cedric couldn't see it, but he could smell the thickening forest and hear the slowing tempo of the horse's hooves on the gravel walk leading up to the manor steps.

Mr. Bodwin's voice cut through the pattering of rain upon stone. "My lord! Thank God you've returned. I was going to send a rider out, but no one knew where Taylor took you."

He'd never heard Bodwin's tone so pitched with panic. "Bodwin, what's happened?"

"It's her ladyship. She's had an accident..."

Cedric was already barging up the steps, using Ashton's arm for support, but his rain-and-mud-slicked boots skidded on the marble and he nearly fell. Ashton's arms caught him and kept him on his feet.

"Where is she?" Cedric demanded.

"Her room. Sean Hartley is with her. He won't leave her side, my lord. He found her hurt by the lake. He said you'd quarreled with her and that it was your fault."

"Mine?" There was, perhaps some truth to that, but to hear such an accusation from the staff...

"He quite boldly said he was going to have a word with you. I told him you wouldn't tolerate that behavior in this house. I tried to have him escorted from the room, but her ladyship won't let go of his hand and-"

"Hartley can go soak his head while he seeks another employer. No man stands between me and my wife." Cedric didn't care that he sounded like an ogre. All that mattered was getting to Anne.

"What happened to her? You said he found her by the lake?" Ashton interjected.

"As far as we can tell, she fell at the top of the north hill and landed by the shore on the lake. Sean knows the truth of it, I suspect."

Cedric was barely listening as Ashton helped him hurry up the stairs to the room he'd chosen for her. Almost wrenching the door from its frame, he burst into Anne's quarters.

"Anne?" he called out. A hard body blocked his path.

"She's been unresponsive to our questions whenever she has her lucid moments. The doctor thinks she has suffered memory problems."

Unresponsive. The word was as devastating as an axe blow to his neck. Cedric moved to sit on the bed and spoke to his footman.

"Can she be moved?"

"Sir?"

"Can I hold her in my arms?"

"I don't think you deserve that, given your treatment of her," Sean replied.

"Now see here!" Cedric hissed. "I've always liked you, Hartley, but if you continue to defy me I won't just sack you. I'll see to it you have no references, and no hope for future employment. Do I make myself clear?" Cedric's anger was foreign and strange. He'd never threatened a servant before. It had always been his way to aid those who were not blessed with the same privileges he was.

Perhaps it was because at this moment Hartley was being the man Cedric wasn't. The man Cedric should have been all along. Loyal. Trusting. Brave. The man who had cast Anne out had been none of those things.

"Oh, I understand, my lord. But the lady's life and safety matter more to me than your bloody English pride, or references," the footman snapped back.

Ashton, as always, knew when to intervene.

"Hartley, I can assure you that no harm will befall Anne. There has been a grave misunderstanding. A letter had been sent, filled with lies and slander that your master unfortunately had reason to believe. Lord Sheridan now knows the truth of the matter and of Anne's innocence. She is safe with him, and you cannot imagine the guilt that he feels, which you are not helping. Now, can she be moved?"

Sean still seemed reluctant. "Yes."

Cedric drew Anne into his arms and buried his face in her hair. Her orchid scent was faint, as though mirroring Anne's fading life force. He whispered soft words of love and prayers for her to forgive him, hoping to coax her into fighting for survival.

"Please, my heart, fight for life. Please." The depths of his wretched despair brought a rawness to his voice that had never been there before. Part of him expected her to move, to stir and open her eyes. But when Anne continued to lie motionless in his embrace it shattered his last bastion of hope.

Immense, wracking sobs scraped his throat and burned his lungs. Never in his life had his grief been so great. Not even the loss of his parents had wrought such intense suffering. This time, he had brought it upon himself.

Cedric needed time to grieve, to cope with the loss of his last hope.