Does The Earl Love Me

by Jasmine Ashford

  As they mounted up, briskly, and rode out.

  They rode along the roadway, lost in thought. The silence held them close, both smiling as they thought about their conversation, and their kiss. The silence was broken by the sound of hoof-beats coming along the road behind them.

  Leo turned, unconcernedly.

  “There's a party of riders coming along,” he said idly to Alicia, who turned around.

  The riders were coming closer. Alicia watched them, impressed by the beauty of their horses, particularly the big stallion in the front. As they neared her, her eyes widened.

  “Leo,” she said urgently. “Are those the duke's men?”

  “What?” Leo asked lazily, turning to face her. Then he turned around.

  “Oh,” he said, very quietly. “Time to get moving.”

  Just then, they heard a shout.

  “Lord Leo Grey! Stop!”

  “Stop in the name of the Duke of Lennox.”

  Hooves beat the cobbles around the inn, coming around the back toward the stables. From the sound, there were at least six of them, and all were on tall horses, coming closer.

  Alicia looked at Leo. He stared back, eyes wide and skin pale.

  “Time to go,” he said, softly. Alicia nodded.

  They rode. Their horses exploded from the back gate, just as their assailants burst around the side of the building. Faster than Alicia would ever have thought possible, they rode, wind whistling past, leaves whipping their cheeks, hair flying in the breezes. Behind them, the duke's men rode as well, getting closer.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  SURPRISES

  SURPRISES

  The road wound swiftly into the trees. Desperate, Leo threw himself forward on his horse for extra speed, launching forward into the woods.

  “They're catching us,” Alicia shouted, looking back behind her.

  “Ride! Ride,” Leo called back. He looked back desperately, slowing to keep up with her.

  Alicia rode, catching up with him. She closed her eyes, held her breath, and twisted around to hold onto the pommel of her Spanish side-saddle.

  She could not imagine who pursued them, except to guess that they were the ones from whom Leo hid. She looked back to see them coming closer. She turned sideways again and rode ahead.

  The wind whipped her bonnet away and tore through her fine red curls. The ground was damp and treacherous, and more than once she felt Bluebelle slide on the slick leaves. She closed her eyes and bit her lip and rode.

  “Are we losing them?” Leo called to her, riding beside her.

  “I don't think so.” The sound of horses’ hooves, in hot pursuit, was getting closer. If she had had the energy, Alicia would have cried out. Instead, she gritted her teeth and hung on to the reins.

  “Halt!”

  Suddenly, a pistol fired and a bullet whizzed past Alicia's ear. Leo wheeled toward her, putting himself between her and the danger. His hand went to his belt, reaching for a pistol he had not actually brought. Alicia, terrified, almost screamed, and then felt the fear fade into a hot rage inside her. That shot had been aimed to kill! She was tired of this. Tired of being in danger, tired of running.

  “That is enough!” she screamed, her voice raw and hoarse and very loud in the silence. “Do you have any idea who I am, who this is?” She indicated Leo, who was just ahead of her.

  “Alicia...” Leo, his face white, skin around his eyes gray with fatigue, reached out a hand to her.

  “No!” Alicia shouted back. “I have had quite enough of this.”

  “Hand him over, then.” A voice cracked over hers, harsh as whip-strikes. “If you are such a fine lady, then hand him in to us. Whatever he calls himself, he is just a mannerless cur.”

  “I am the Lady Alicia!” Alicia snapped. “I say he is not to be harmed. Who, pray, are you, sir?” Her voice was cold.

  “He's the lad who's gonna have his head shot off if he doesn’t keep very still.”

  A voice spoke from behind the pair of them, and Alicia whipped around.

  She was looking straight into the black level gaze of Art Guthridge.

  “You!” She wanted to laugh, to scream, to rejoice.

  Art, gaze calm, lightly jerked his head, indicating quiet. She nodded and smiled, radiant.

  “You!” he said to the man facing them, who was clearly the leader of the band in pursuit, “You lower that gun right now, or I'll riddle you with holes.”

  “You think you can do that?” the voice sneered. “When I have all these men to protect me? And you have that?” His eyes drifted down to the archaic pistol in the man's hand.

  “Not alone, no. But, if you would care to turn around?”

  Five dark-clad men turned. Behind them was another masked figure, hat pulled low to shade his eyes. Alicia recognized Silas.

  “There's two more behind each of you,” Art continued calmly. “So, I expect you to behave in a calm and rational manner? Yes?” He paused. “Good.”

  All five men had put their pistols back in their holsters. The central man, furious, gestured at Art with the barrel of his gun.

  “Down!” Art snapped. “Now.”

  The man obeyed, reluctantly.

  Art nodded.

  “Very good,” he said, approvingly. “Now. We will give you twelve seconds to get out of these trees – no funny business – and then we will escort you to the road. And if you don't allow these young people unhampered passage to their home, we'll catch you. And then shooting you'll be like a picnic compared to what'll happen next,” he added grimly.

  The men swallowed hard. They all nodded. Art and his men, pistols in hand, some waving them ominously, escorted the silent, fuming men to the road.

  As the sound of hoofbeats died away, Alicia and Leo looked at each other.

  “Oh...” Leo breathed out. He ran a hand through his hair and then looked down at it, seeing the fine tremors that made it shake.

  “Leo,” Alicia sighed, the sudden relief making her weak.

  They dismounted. Standing beside each other, they embraced.

  Alicia looked into his golden eyes. The pupils were wide.

  “I was so scared,” he admitted, laughing shakily. “And then, when you faced them, I was scared for you. You are so brave, Alicia!” he murmured. “My heroine...”

  He held her and the embrace was fierce, flavored with his growing respect and love.

  “I was not frightened,” Alicia admitted. “I knew we would be safe.”

  “How?”

  “I trusted,” Alicia said simply. “Something good just has to happen sometime. People are not so bad, you know.”

  Leo swallowed hard. “You amaze me,” he said softly. “I was scared. It's different, when it's not just your own life in danger...”

  Alicia stared, then looked down, amazed. That was the first time she had ever heard a man admit to fear. Most of them blustered and acted, trying to cover their feelings no matter what they were. This was the first man who had ever admitted to her that he was afraid.

  “You are also brave,” she whispered, voice raw with her emotion.

  “I don't know about that.” Leo swallowed.

  Alicia smiled. “You just admitted to feeling fear. That makes you the bravest man I know.” She chuckled. “Most of them are too afraid of what people think to dare to say that.”

  Leo laughed aloud, delighted by her observation. “You are precious, you know? I have never known anyone like you.”

  Alicia blushed. “Nor I anyone like you.” Her voice was husky.

  He kissed her, his lips warm. They tasted of the warmth and the salt of her tears that dampened them. She clung to him, fiercely.

  “Oh, Leo!” she said, impassioned. “I am so glad we are here, together and alive.”

  “Me, too,” Leo said, laughing.

  They were silent a moment.

  “I think we should go back to Wilding?” Leo proposed.

  “Good idea,” Alicia said, shuddering. She had momentarily for
gotten that the threat, though diluted, was still present. Those men were still somewhere out there, and Art and his men could only hold them back for so long.

  Together, Leo and Alicia rode softly out of the woods.

  The silence swallowed their horse's hoofbeats and any signs of their passage.

  Soon, they were riding back through the side gate at Wilding.

  “Oh,” Leo hissed, as they neared the stables. “The groom is there.”

  Alicia bit her lip, then thought of something. “Let me.”

  In the gathering darkness, they were near-invisible behind the stable wall. They slid down from their saddles, and then Leo, nodding, with a finger to his lips, passed the reins to her.

  “Abel?”

  Alicia called to the groom, Abel Barns, as she led the horses back to the musty stables.

  “Miss?”

  “I just came to bring the horses,” she said, trying to hide the tremor in her voice. “Henriette and I went riding,” she explained, “but she went back to the house. She had a headache.”

  “The Lady Henriette rode Russell?” the groom asked, amazed, looking at the two horses Alicia led back. Henriette, when she visited, usually rode Her Majesty, a beautiful white mare with the gentlest personality and even gait. It was necessary – Henriette was not an enthusiastic rider.

  “She felt like a challenge,” Alicia said lightly, her back to him. She could not hide the tremble in her voice, and, when Abel Barnes came over, frowning with concern, she shook his hand off.

  “I am well, truly,” she said, blowing her nose on her handkerchief and wiping away the sudden, shocked tears. “I am just tired.”

  Abel stood back and let her leave, walking shakily back to the house.

  She slid in through the side entrance, gesturing to Leo, who waited there, to follow her.

  Together, they fled up the service corridor and to the attic, the last of the ragged evening light pouring through the high, narrow windows to light their way upstairs.

  There were too many questions to which she needed answers. Too many things they needed to solve. Now was the time to solve it.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  PLANS

  PLANS

  Leo and Alicia sat in the darkened attic at Wilding. It was three hours since their narrow escape, and the sun shed slanted orange rays though the attic window. The place was warmer than it should have been, catching the last of the day's light. Musty and cluttered, it was a place of refuge at the top of the house where no one often came.

  “We cannot continue like this,” Leo said.

  The two sat together drinking a little stolen whisky to calm their nerves. Alicia closed her eyes, letting the warm fire of it spread through her body. Still in her white cotton riding-gown, a red velvet riding-habit wrapping her, she shivered, though she was not cold.

  Leo had just explained to Alicia the bare bones of his story. He left out the bit about the gambling debt, but all the rest he told her, even about the duel.

  Alicia had said nothing, except to be horrified by the danger he had faced, and by the threat which faced him now.

  “We cannot continue like this,” Leo repeated softly, his voice strained with the long discussion.

  “No,” Alicia said, very softly. “We cannot.”

  “Those rascals would have killed us both... or at least done us grave harm.” Leo reached out a hand and stroked Alicia's fine hair. “I know that man. He is clever, but dangerous, and I would not make the mistake of underestimating him. It was only your quick thinking that saved us. That, and your unusual friendships.” He reached out and wrapped his arms around her. Sitting on the floor at his feet, she leaned back and felt herself enveloped in his arms. It was the most beautiful sensation, and she tensed, not wanting to move and break the magic. Here, in the attic, with the dust settled on old boxes and the last of sunset slanting through the low windows, was an enchanted world.

  Alicia sighed. “We shall have to do something,” she agreed, and tipped her head back to look up at him.

  “Yes,” Leo agreed, fingers tangling in her hair as he bent down to kiss her.

  “Not that sort of something.”

  “It helps,” Leo said, shortly. They were silent a while, then Alicia felt his fingers tense. “I cannot live like this!” he said, suddenly. “We cannot spend out our lives hiding, running, always fugitive.”

  He stood, and paced a moment, then abruptly dropped to his knees beside Alicia. She looked into his gold eyes, level with hers.

  “I cannot risk you like this, Alicia,” he said. “I want to take you with me. Take you away. Back to Germany.” He sighed. “But I would only risk your life. I cannot ask such of you.”

  He bowed his head. When he did not look up, Alicia realized he was close to tears. She raised her hand to his shoulder, feeling the tremor run through him as he tensed, and then went very still.

  Slowly, he turned. He lifted her hand. He held it to his lips. His breath was warm on her palm as he kissed it. Gently, he licked the moist, warm palm of her hand, and moved his tongue along her fingers, tickling them.

  Alicia held her breath as the sensation raced through her body. She closed her eyes, almost frightened of the intensity of feeling that rose like a crescendo through her. The warm sensation of his tongue, probing the space between her fingers, was almost too much to bear. She lifted her hand to his hair and stroked the fine gold locks.

  “Alicia,” Leo breathed. His voice was rough, and Alicia stopped the movement of her hand, stroking along his neck.

  He sat up, his eyes wide, the pupils round and large. “I am so sorry,” he breathed. “But if we carry on like this, I shall do something we shall both regret.” He laughed, shakily, and sat back, catching his breath.

  Alicia, eyes wide and solemn, regarded him. She did not fully understand what he meant, only that the feelings racing through her body were leading her to do things she had never considered doing before, and she had a dim sense that these were things of the bedchamber, things she should only do if they were married.

  Leo came to sit beside her, somehow understanding.

  “I would not stain your virtue or your reputation. I cannot take you with me, but I also cannot stop you.” He smiled, rueful. “I would not pit my own will against you.” He laughed, shakily. “But, whether you stay, as I implore you, or whether you follow me, it is with the promise that you will be my wife when I return. Would that be acceptable to you, sweet Alicia?”

  Alicia stared at him. Her heart felt as if it would burst. She swallowed. Then, abruptly, she laughed.

  “Acceptable?” She could not stop the waves of joy flowing from her mouth, the sound as delicious as summer rains. “Oh, Leo!” She fell into his arms. “How can you ask such a silly thing?”

  “Silly?” Leo looked askance. Of all the things he had been called in life, silly was not one of them. He grinned. “Why?”

  “Oh, Leo!” Alicia groaned, playfully ruffling his gold hair. “Of course!”

  “Of course?”

  “I shall marry you!” Alicia laughed. “Of course I shall. Oh, Leo. With all my heart, yes.”

  Now he was laughing, too. The laughter was long, and slow, and rusty, as if he had so long withheld it that he had forgotten how. Now that he laughed, it seemed he could not stop. Still laughing, they collapsed together onto the floor.

  They lay a moment in each other's arms. Then Leo sat abruptly, turning away.

  Alicia frowned at him in confusion.

  “If we carry on like that,” he said, voice husky, “I shall have no choice but to forestall our vows. And I do not think we should, Alicia.”

  “Forestall our... Oh,” she gasped, understanding. “No, my dear. We should not.” She reached out and gently stroked his neck.

  “Well, then,” Leo said, gruffly. “We should be going, then. We have to pack, after all.”

  “Pack?” Alicia looked confused, then her face cleared. Of course! They were going to travel to Germany! The pla
ce she had always wished to go. And she would be there with him. Until they could return, and become man and wife.

  “Oh, Leo,” she sighed.

  “Alicia,” he breathed.

  They kissed, and then they parted. Alicia smiled all the way to her bedchamber.

  She would miss her parents and knew it would break their hearts. But she would return, and they would be reconciled. She had to follow her own heart in this.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  DEEP OBSESSIONS

  DEEP OBSESSIONS

  At the imposing Whetstone House, the duke's elaborate London residence, five men stood in the office, stiff and tense with worry. Before them, the duke heard their report and then paced slowly before them, delivering his reply.

  “You went out with four men. And you missed Lord Grey.”

  The duke's voice was very quiet. He had sent these men out two days ago. They had returned post-haste, but without what he had sent them to collect.

  “Leo Grey is dangerous, my lord,” Barnett said. He looked at the floor. “We underestimated his resources. It seems he has a small force to protect him.”

  “Really?” The duke was surprised. He himself occasionally took a bodyguard or two on hunting trips, in case someone over-eager to alleviate his debts took aim at him instead. But Leo Grey had bodyguards? That was surprising.

  “Yes, milord,” a second man spoke up. Barnett had provided a force of five men, assuring the duke that they were perfect for the job. “A force of about five men, or so.”

  “So,” the duke said, steepling his fingers. He faced Barnett, though he looked down at his hands and spoke, still, very softly. “I sent a force of five of your best men to catch one man. You returned without him. How am I supposed to interpret that, pray tell?”

  Once again, his voice was soft, at its most deadly. Barnett, at the front of the group, was beginning to sweat, despite the late-autumnal chill. The duke paced past, contemplating the floor.