Her Wicked Proposal novel Chapter 73

Ashton rode up to Rushton Steading, glancing around at the lack of life inside the house. No groom rushed out to meet him. The hairs prickled on the back of his neck as he slid from the saddle and hastily looped the reins of his horse's bridle over an iron post by the door.

"Cedric?" he called out and walked up the main steps.

The front door was ajar. Ashton tried to push it open, but it only shifted a few inches. He rammed his shoulder into the door and it finally gave. When he was able to slip inside, he froze at the sight of blood streaking across the floor leading to the body of a young man, the body that had been against the door he'd just forced open. Sean Hartley, the footman, lay half-dead on the floor by the door. Around him lay two corpses of men Ashton didn't recognize. Their rough clothing and the weapons they still held in their hands identified them as dangerous men.

"My lord." Sean's words escaped on a raspy breath.

Ashton removed his hat and clenched his fist in rage as he tried to soothe the younger man. He'd been stabbed and wasn't long for this world.

"Can you speak, lad? Tell me what happened? Where are the other servants?" In a house this large, they should have been everywhere, seeing to their duties.

"It's the...sheik." Sean's ashen face scrunched with pain. "The staff fled to the Pickering estate...going to find help...safe I think...but they don't know..." He shuddered, his eyes briefly closing.

"Don't know what? Where are Lord and Lady Sheridan?" Ashton asked the question, surprised his voice was steady. With the rage burning inside him, he could barely think straight.

"Taken...ship in port. The Maiden Fair, heard one of the men say it as they left," Sean said. Ashton pressed a hand to the young man's wounds, but he'd lost too much blood. Still, he had to try.

"I'm sorry." The lad's eyes began to dim.

"You did well, so well, lad." Ashton tried to think of what to tell the dying man.

"Aye," the young man sighed, and his head drooped. It wouldn't be long now.

Ashton struggled to his feet as a loud clattering outside caught his attention. He moved Sean back from the door, hands trembling as he did so.

"What in God's name?" Lucien's voice cut through the haze of rage clouding Ashton's mind.

Ashton saw Godric, Lucien and Charles in the doorway, staring at him and Sean in shock.

"It's Al Zahrani. He's taken Anne and Cedric to a ship called the Maiden Fair. They'll still be docked in Brighton if we're lucky. We have to go."

Charles knelt by Sean, who looked at him helplessly, and sighed.

"I'm so sorry," he said, taking the man's hand. Sean seemed to be having trouble staying conscious. "Listen to me, Sean. Listen. We will find them. We will save them. And when we do it will be because of your actions here today. You have done a great thing."

Emily and Horatia returned with what they needed to tend to Sean's final moments. Charles stepped back and looked at Ashton, his gray eyes were like dark storm clouds. It was rare to see this side of Charles, the side of the man who'd nearly drowned, instead of the carefree joker they'd come to expect. Fear and anger sparked in his eyes, the only part of him that betrayed his fraying control. As long as they'd been friends, it was these small details that Ashton didn't miss.

"I have the fastest ships, and one of them is currently in Brighton, ready to sail. If Al Zahrani's ship is not in dock, we will track it to the ends of the earth if need be."

Charles rose and clenched his jaw. "And when we find him?"

Ashton's body was coiled like a tiger ready to strike.

"Then we kill him."