“You’re still young,” Caine interjected.
“I don’t feel young,” she admitted. She straightened her shoulders and continued. “My mother died when I was just an infant, so I don’t have any memory of her.”
“What happened to your father?” Caine asked.
“He died in a carriage mishap.”
“He had a premonition, then?” Lyon asked.
“No, he had an enemy.”
“And you believe your father’s enemy is now after you? Is that the reason for your fears?” Lyon asked.
She shook her head. “No, no,” she blurted out. “I saw someone murdered. The men who killed him did get a good look at me. The only reason I told you about my father was because you asked me to explain to you my ... background. Yes, Lyon, that was your very word.”
“Sorry,” Lyon said again. “I didn’t mean to jump to conclusions.”
“What happened after your father died?” Caine asked. He was suddenly feeling immensely superior to his good friend, as Lyon now looked thoroughly confused and bewildered. It was nice to know he wasn’t the only one muddled around Jade. Damned nice.
“After the burial service, Harry came to get us. When the summer was over, he sent Nathan back to school. He knew our father would have wanted my brother to finish his education. I stayed with my uncle. He isn’t really my uncle, he’s actually more like a father to me now. Anyway, he took me to his island where it’s always warm and peaceful. Uncle Harry was very good to me. He’d never married, you see, and I was just like his very own daughter. We got along well together. Still, I missed my brother. Nathan was only able to come and visit us once in all those years.”
When she paused and gave Caine such an expectant look, he gently prodded her into continuing. “And then what happened?”
“I came back to England so I could see Nathan, of course. I also wanted to see my father’s house again. Nathan had made several changes.”
“And?” Lyon asked when she paused again.
“Nathan met me in London. We went directly to his country home and spent a wonderful week together catching up. Then he was called away on an important personal matter.”
“Do you know what this matter was?” Caine asked.
She shook her head. “Not all of it. A messenger arrived with a letter for Nathan. My brother became very upset when he read it. He told me he had to return to London and that he would be back in two weeks. His good friend was in trouble. That’s all he would tell me, Caine. Nathan’s an honorable man. He would never turn his back on a friend in need, and I would never ask him to.”
“So you were left alone?” Lyon asked.
“Oh, heavens no. Nathan had a complete staff in residence. Lady Briars . . . she was a good friend of my father’s . . . well, she’d hired the staff and even helped Nathan with his renovation plans. She wanted to raise us, you see, and was going to petition the court for guardianship. Then Harry took us away, and she never could find us. I will have to go and see her as soon as this has been settled. I dared not go before, of course. They’ll probably burn her house to the ground if they . . .”
“Jade, you’re digressing,” Caine interjected.
“I was?”
He nodded.
“I’m sorry. Now where was I?”
“Nathan left for London,” Lyon reminded her.
“Yes,” she replied. “I now realize I did do something foolish. On my island, I could come and go as I wished. I never had to worry about an escort. I’d forgotten that England isn’t at all the same. Here, everyone must lock their doors. Anyway, I was in such a hurry to get outside, I wasn’t looking down, you see, and the heel of my boot got caught up in the carpet loop on the way down the stairs. I took quite a tumble,” she added. “And hit my head on the knob of the banister.”
She paused, waiting to hear their remarks of sympathy. When both men just continued to look at her so expectantly, she decided neither was going to say anything. She gave them both a disgruntled look for being so insensitive, then continued. “About an hour later, after my head quit pounding from my fall, I set out on my own for a brisk walk. I soon forgot all about my aches and pains, and because it was such a glorious day, I forgot the time. I was just about to look inside the pretty church when I heard all the commotion, and that’s when I saw the poor man being pitched to the ground.”
She took a deep breath. “I shouted and went running,” she explained. “I had lost my direction though, and I ended up on the rise directly above my parents’ graves. That’s when I saw the men again.”
“The same men?” Lyon asked. He was leaning forward in his chair, his elbows braced on his knees.
“Yes, the very same men,” Jade answered. She sounded bewildered. “They must have decided it wasn’t worth their effort to chase after me, and they were very . . . occupied.”
“What were they doing?” Caine asked.
She didn’t immediately answer him. A feeling of foreboding settled around his heart. Her hands were clinging to his now. Caine doubted she was aware of that telling action.
“The digging,” she finally answered.
“They were digging up the graves?” Lyon asked, his voice incredulous.
“Yes.”
Caine didn’t show any outward reaction. Lyon looked as though he didn’t believe her. She thought it odd indeed that she could tell a lie and both men easily accepted it, yet now when she was telling them the full truth, it was quite another story.
“It’s really true,” she told Lyon. “I know it sounds bizarre, but I know what I saw.”
“All right,” Caine answered. “What happened next?”
“I started shouting again,” she answered. “Oh, I realize I shouldn’t have made a sound, for now I’d drawn their notice again. But I was so outraged I wasn’t thinking properly. All three men turned to look up at me. The fancy dressed man held a pistol. Odd, but I couldn’t seem to move until the shot rang out. I ran like lightning then. Hudson, Nathan’s butler, was working inside the library. I told him what happened, but by the time he’d calmed me down and gained the full story, it was too dark to go looking for the men. We had to wait until the following morning.”
“Were the authorities notified?”
She shook her head. “This is where it becomes a little confusing,” she admitted. “The next morning, Hudson, with several strong men, went to find the body I’d seen pitched from the rooftop. Hudson wouldn’t let me tag along. I was still very upset.”
“Of course you were,” Caine agreed.
“Yes,” she replied with a sigh. “When Hudson and the men returned, they were trying to be as kind as you are now being, Caine, but they had to tell me the truth.”
“What truth?”
“They couldn’t find any body. The graves hadn’t been touched either.”
“So they believed you were just . . .”
“Imagining, Lyon?” she interrupted. “Yes, I’m certain they did. Because they were in Nathan’s employ, they didn’t dare tell me they thought I was . . . addled, but their expressions spoke for them. I immediately went back to the grave to see for myself. The wind and rain had been fierce the night before, yet even so, it didn’t look as though the ground had been touched by a shovel”.
“Perhaps they’d only just begun to dig when you interrupted them,” Caine suggested.
“Yes, they had only just begun,” she admitted. “I’ll never forget their faces.”
“Tell us the rest of this,” Caine suggested.
“I spent the rest of the day trying to understand what their motives were. Then I went to Hudson and told him not to bother Nathan with this problem. I lied to the butler and told him I was certain it was just the setting sun playing tricks on me. I must tell you Hudson looked very relieved. He was still worried, of course, since I’d taken that fall down the stairs and bumped my head.”
“Jade, couldn’t this be your . . .”
“Imagination?” Caine asked. He shook his hea
d. “There were at least five men chasing us last night. No, it isn’t her imagination.”
She gave Lyon a suspicious look. “You don’t believe me, do you?”
“I do now,” Lyon replied. “If there were men after you, then you did see something. What happened next?”
“I refused to give up,” she told him. She tried to fold her hands in her lap and only then realized she was clinging to Caine’s hand again. She pushed it away. “I can be a very stubborn woman. And so, the next morning, I once again set out to find proof.”
Lyon smiled at Caine. “I would have done the same,” he admitted.
“What morning was this?” Caine asked.
“Yesterday morning,” she explained. “I set out on horseback. I didn’t make it to my parents’ graves, though. They shot my horse out from under me.”
“They what?” Caine asked in a near shout.
She was pleased with his stunned reaction. “They killed Nathan’s fine horse,” she repeated with a nod. “I cannot tell you how upset my brother’s going to be when he finds out his favorite steed is dead. It’s going to break his heart.”
Caine reached for his linen handkerchief when he thought she was about to cry again. “And then what happened?” he asked.
“I went flying to the ground, of course. I was very fortunate because I didn’t break my neck. I only sustained minor injuries. Surely you noticed the bruises on my shoulders and arms when you snuck into my bedroom last night.”
She turned to look at Caine and waited for his reply. “I didn’t notice,” he whispered. “And I didn’t sneak into your room.”
“How could you not have noticed my bruises?”
“I wasn’t looking at your shoulders.”
She could feel herself blushing again. “Well, you should have been looking at my shoulders,” she stammered. “A gentleman would have noticed my injuries right away.”
Caine lost his patience. “Jade, not even a eunuch would have . . .”
“Do you want to hear the rest of this or not?”
“Yes,” he answered.
“After they shot my horse, I ran all the way back to the main house. I don’t know if they chased after me or not. I was very upset. This sort of thing has never happened to me before. I’ve led a very sheltered life.”
She seemed to want agreement. “I’m sure you have,” Caine supplied.
“I found Hudson again and told him what happened. I could tell right away he was having trouble believing me. The man kept trying to force a cup of tea down me. This time, however, I had proof.”
“Proof?” Caine asked.
“The dead horse, man,” she cried out. “Pay attention, please.”
“Of course,” he returned. “The dead horse. And did Hudson apologize to you when you showed him this dead horse?”
She chewed on her lower lip a long minute while she stared up at him. “Not exactly,” she finally answered.
“What do you mean by not exactly?”
Lyon had asked that question. Jade turned to look at him. “I know you’re going to find this difficult to believe, but when we reached the spot where the horse had gone down . . . well, he’d vanished.”
“No, I don’t find that difficult to believe,” Lyon drawled out. He leaned back against the chair again. “Do you, Caine?”
Caine smiled. “It makes as much sense as everything else she’s told us.”
“Hudson insisted on returning to the stables,” she continued. “He was convinced we’d find the horse had found its way back home on its own.”
“And was he correct in that assumption?” Caine asked.
“No, he wasn’t. The men searched the grounds for the rest of the morning but they couldn’t find him. There were fresh wagon tracks along the south trail, though. Do you know what I think happened, Caine? I think they put the horse in the wagon and carried him away. What do you think of that possibility?”
She sounded so eager he was a little sorry to have to disappoint her. “You obviously don’t have any idea how much a fully grown horse weighs, Jade. You can take my word it would require more than three men to lift it.”
“Difficult,” Lyon interjected. “But not impossible.”
“Perhaps the animal only had a flesh wound and wandered off,” said Caine.
“A flesh wound between his eyes? I doubt that.” She let out a groan of frustration. “Nathan’s going to be so upset when he finds out about his house and his carriage, too.”
“His house? What the hell happened to his house?” Caine muttered. “Damn, I wish you’d tell this in sequence, Jade.”
“I believe she has finally gotten to the fires,” Lyon said.
“Why, it burned to the ground,” Jade returned.
“When did the house burn down?” Caine asked with another weary sigh. “Before or after the horse was killed?”
“Almost directly after,” she explained. “Hudson had ordered Nathan’s carriage made ready for me. I had decided to return to London and find Nathan. I was good and sick of the way his servants were acting. They kept a wide berth around me, and kept giving me odd looks. I knew Nathan would help me solve this riddle.”
She didn’t realize she’d raised her voice until Caine patted her hand and said, “Just calm down, sweet, and finish this.”
“You’re looking at me the very same way Hudson . . . oh, all right then, I’ll finish. I was on my way back to London when the footman shouted that Nathan’s house was on fire. He could see the smoke coming over the hilltops. We immediately turned around, of course, but by the time we arrived back at the house . . . well, it was too late. I ordered the servants to go to Nathan’s London town house.”
“And then you set out for London again?” Caine asked. He was absentmindedly rubbing the back of her neck. It felt too good for Jade to ask him to stop.
“We stayed on the main road, but when we turned a curve, they were waiting for us. The driver was so frightened, he ran off.”
“The bastard.”
Lyon had made that remark. Caine nodded agreement.
“I don’t fault the man,” Jade defended. “He was frightened. People do . . . peculiar things when they’re afraid.”
“Some do,” Caine allowed.
“Tell us what happened then, Jade?” Lyon asked.
“They blocked the doors and set the carriage on fire,” she answered. “I was able to wiggle out through the ill-framed window. Nathan spent good coins on that vehicle, but it wasn’t at all sturdy. I was able to kick the hinges away from the branches easily enough. I don’t believe I’ll mention that fact to my brother, though, for it would only upset him . . . unless, of course, he thinks to hire the same company.”
“You’re digressing yet again,” Caine said.
Lyon smiled. “She reminds me of Christina,” he admitted. “Jade, why don’t you go and find my wife for me? She was going to pack a satchel for you to take with you.”
Jade felt as though she’d just been given a reprieve. Her stomach was in a quiver of knots. She felt as though she’d just had to relive the terror.
She didn’t waste any time at all leaving the room.
“Well, Caine?” Lyon asked when they were alone. “What do you think?”
“There were men chasing us last night,” Caine reminded his friend.
“Do you believe her story?”
“She saw something.”
“That isn’t what I asked you.”
Caine slowly shook his head. “Not a damned word,” he admitted. “And you?”
Lyon shook his head. “It’s the most illogical story I’ve ever heard. But damn, if she’s telling the truth, we’ve got to help her.”
“And if she’s not?” Caine asked, already guessing the answer.
“You damned well better watch your back.”
“Lyon, you don’t think . . .”
Lyon wouldn’t let him finish. “I’ll tell you what I do know,” he interrupted. “One, you’re not being objective. I ca
n’t fault you, Caine. I reacted to Christina in much the same way you’re reacting to Jade. Two, she is in danger and has put you in danger, too. Those are the only facts we can take as true.”
Caine knew he was right. He leaned back against the settee. “Now tell me what your gut reaction is.”
“Perhaps this has something to do with her father,” Lyon suggested with a shrug. “I’ll start looking into the Earl of Wakerfield’s history. Richards will be able to help.”
Caine started to disagree and then changed his mind. “It couldn’t hurt,” he said. “Still, I’m beginning to wonder if her brother might not be behind all this. Remember, Lyon. Nathan went to London to help a friend in trouble. That’s when all this started.”
“If we accept the story she told us.”
“Yes,” Caine answered.
Lyon let out a long sigh. “I only have one question to put to you, Caine.” His voice was low, insistent. “Do you trust her?”
Caine stared at his friend a long minute. “If we apply logic to this bizarre situation . . .”
Lyon shook his head. “I value your instincts, friend. Answer me.”
“Yes,” Caine said. He grinned then. For the first time in his life, he pushed reason aside. “I trust her with my life but I couldn’t give you one valid reason why. How’s that for logic, Lyon?”
His friend smiled. “I trust her, too. You don’t have the faintest idea why you trust her, though, do you, Caine?”
Lyon sounded downright condescending. Caine raised an eyebrow in reaction. “What are you getting at?”
“I trust her only because you do,” Lyon explained. “Your instincts are never wrong. You’ve saved my backside more than once because I listened to you.”
“You still haven’t explained what your point is,” Caine reminded him.
“I trusted Christina,” Lyon said. “Almost from the very beginning. I swear to you it was blind faith on my part. She led me a merry chase, too. Now I must side with my wife. Christina, as you know, has some rather unusual opinions. She’s on the mark this time, though.”
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