“That’s certainly the truth,” agreed Alexander, taking a long sip of wine and feeling it warm his body. “But this is the duty we were given at birth.”
“Very true,” said Graham. “Tomorrow is another day, though.”
Alexander just nodded. The wine was certainly getting to his head, but he had been drinking it during much of the night. The warmth of the fire and the wine was tiring him quickly, and he knew he would have to retire to his chambers soon. He took his last sip of wine, and when the footman came to refill the glass, he shook his head and placed his hand over the glass. He was done.
“Well, Graham,” Alexander said to Graham. “I think it is time for me to bid you good night. Feel free to finish your wine before you leave.”
The men nodded to each other, and Alexander walked through the open door into the hallway. Most of the lights were off as he walked through toward the stairs, and he couldn’t help but note the similarities between this night and the night where he and Laura had kissed. It was dark, he couldn’t see well, and he wondered about the chance that he might pass her in the night once again.
He walked slowly, trying to make the walk to his chambers as long as possible, but he got to the door to the schoolroom faster than he thought, and he had to stop himself from opening the door and walking in.
Alexander continued to walk down the hallway and soon got to the door to Emily’s chambers. He paused outside and could hear her speaking to Sarah, her lady’s maid. She didn’t sound like she was crying, so he believed she would be fine tonight. Sarah was a trusted member of his staff, and she knew Emily best.
He continued the short walk down the hallway from the schoolroom and Emily’s chambers until he reached his own door, opened it, and walked in.
Laura was tossing and turning. It seemed like every time she would close her eyes, she could only see a vision of Alexander. She pulled the blanket up around her head and tried to find sleep again. She was consistently moving between being asleep and being awake, and she was coming in and out of a dream.
She could see Alexander in front of her, and he was smiling. His ginger hair was almost shining in the bright sun, and his green eyes were sparkling with love for her. He pulled her into him and began kissing her passionately. In her dream, she could feel his body react to her touch, and she yearned to feel him inside of her.
Suddenly, Alexander grabbed her violently, and in her dream, she could see his face abruptly change from loving to angry. Though she was dreaming, she could physically feel his hands gripping her arms. It hurt so badly that it shocked her awake. It wasn’t Alexander at all…
She struggled against the large figure who was now holding her down in the bed. He hit her across the face with his fist and covered her mouth with his other hand, stopping her from screaming. From the light coming in from the window, she could see that the attacker was a man and he was clothed all in black with a hood over his head. It wasn’t bright enough in the room to see his face.
The man hit her again, and Laura felt wetness slowly dripping from her forehead. Blood. He was straddling her now, holding her down, and covering both her mouth and nose. She was struggling against his weight, but he was much larger than the small-statured woman. Though Laura was strong, she was no match for her assailant.
He stopped hitting her momentarily and covered the top of her chest with his arm, so she couldn’t sit up. He kept his hand over her mouth, but moved it slightly, so that she could breathe out of her nose.
“You didn’t do your job,” the man snarled and pushed down on her chest even harder. Laura couldn’t see his face because of the hood, but his voice sounded familiar to her. She first thought that it was the mystery man who had come to the farm, but she didn’t think that this man sounded like that man.
She was terrified and still trying to struggle against his weight, but she was quickly losing her strength.
“I asked you to kill the Duke, but you didn’t,” the man said quietly, as to not wake anyone else up. “Now, I will have to do it myself. But, before I do, I’m going to kill you.”
Laura’s eyes widened, and she could feel her heart trying to pound right out of her chest. The man shifted his weight a bit, and where he had been straddling her around the waist, he moved his body closer to her chest. Now with the full weight of his body on top of her, there was no possible way that she could sit up.
She could barely make out his movements in the dark room. He removed the arm that was holding her down but tightened his grip around her mouth. She could see him reach around behind him, and then she saw a reflection of light. It was a knife, and it was only inches from her neck.
The man leaned forward, and she could smell alcohol on his breath as he spoke, “Are you ready to die, Laura Irving?” He laughed quietly, and then spoke again. “If you would have just followed the orders you were given, none of this would have been necessary. Now I have to kill you both. I’ll kill you first, take your body to him, and after he suffers a bit, I’ll kill him.”
The man gently ran the edge of the knife along her neck. It wasn’t enough to cut her, but she could feel the coldness of the metal against her skin. He quietly laughed as he did it. It seemed like a game to her.
“I have been waiting for this day for years, and now it’s here,” he said to her quietly. “I supposed I should thank you for this before you die. It’s all his fault, and now I will make him pay by first killing the woman he loves and then killing him.”
The man held the knife high and readied it to stab Laura. The quick movement made his body shift, and right at the same time, Laura bucked again, in one final attempt to get him off of her. This made him lose his balance, and he instinctively moved the hand that was covering her mouth to catch his body.
With nothing covering her mouth for a brief moment, Laura screamed.
Alexander shot up in his bed with a start. What was that? Did he hear something? Did someone scream? Was it Emily? Laura? Suddenly he heard it again.
He scrambled off of the bed and flew through the door into the hallway. Everything was dark except for a sliver of light coming through the door to the school room, which was slightly opened.
“Laura!” he yelled, as he ran down the hallway, his nightshirt flapping.
Alexander pushed the door to the schoolroom open and entered the darkness. It was empty, but he could hear a loud commotion in Laura’s sleeping quarters.
He opened the door, and thanks to the light coming in from the window, he could see the back of a man in black on top of Laura, and he was holding a knife ready to stab her. Forgetting his injuries, Alexander leaped onto the attacker's back and pushed the knife out of his hand. Since Alexander had the element of surprise at his disposal, the man was momentarily stunned.
Alexander took that opportunity to pull the man off of Laura and pushed him to the ground. He knew that he was strong, but he felt some type of extra strength coursing through his body. The man was now lying on his back on the floor, and Alexander began punching him with all his might.
The man was fighting back, and Alexander struggled to keep the upper hand. He didn’t see Laura in the bed anymore and hoped that she had run out. Though he was doing his very best to keep the man down, one of the assailant’s random punches made contact with Alexander’s cheek, and he was stunned.
There were stars in front of his eyes, and the man’s face was now exposed, as the force of the punch shifted his hood. Alexander could barely make it out because his vision was blurry. The man punched again, this time lower on Alexander’s face, and this was enough to make the Duke lose his balance and lean over to the side.
The man pushed Alexander off of him, and then was able to get another punch in. Alexander was struggling to see what the man was doing, but he could see that he was feeling around on the ground.
The knife.
As much as he tried, Alexander could not focus his eyes on what the man was doing. Perhaps he had taken too many punches to the head, but he had to stop this. He pulled hi
mself up, and once again lunged at the man. He landed directly on top of him, and the man shifted his elbow quickly and directly into Alexander’s face.
He fell backwards and tried to pull his vision back into focus, but everything was swimming in front of him. He felt a sharp pain in his nose and felt blood flowing down his face. He was sure it was broken.
Suddenly the room was filled with lamp light and several people began shouting. There was a lot of commotion to his side, and he could make out at least three people punching and fighting. One of the figures fell to the ground, and the other two fell on top of it. Alexander blinked a couple of times, and his environment came back into focus.
Robert Hardy, his butler, and Francis Grove, his steward, were holding the man in black down on the ground. Laura was standing in the doorway with Sarah, Emily’s maid, holding a bloody cloth against Laura’s head.
“Hold him down!” Alexander yelled to his most trusted staff members. He wiped the blood from his face and nose and pulled himself up into a kneeling position. He crawled over to the man being held down by Robert and Francis and pulled away the hood.
“NO!” Alexander shouted. He was looking into the face of his best friend in the world, Graham.
Graham looked at him and smiled a wide smile. “So, you win again, friend,” he said.
“Tie him up,” Alexander said as he pulled himself to his feet. He immediately turned to Laura and started walking over to her. He took the bloodied cloth from Sarah and held it in place on Laura’s forehead.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
She nodded, and he could see the tears welling up in her eyes.
“You are going to be fine,” Alexander said, gently stroking her cheek with the back of his free hand. “I’m never going to let anything like this happen to you again.”
Her tears were flowing freely now, and he turned to Robert and Francis, who had tied up Graham with pieces of sheet from Laura’s bed. They also had a tie around his mouth so he couldn’t speak or yell. “Take him downstairs into the sitting room and be quiet. I don’t want to wake Emily.”
The men immediately pulled Graham up to his feet, and Alexander corralled Sarah and Laura into the school room so that the men could lead Graham out of the sleeping quarters.
Alexander then turned to Sarah and said “Please go check on Emily. If she’s awake, tell her I will come speak to her soon. If not, which is what I hope, make sure she stays in her room.”
Sarah nodded, and said “Yes, Your Grace,” and she walked out of the room followed by Robert and Francis leading a tied-up Graham.
Alexander looked at Laura and said, “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what else to say.”
“You don’t have to say anything, Your Grace,” she replied, staring into his eyes.
“Laura,” he said. “Please, call me Alexander.”
He could see the tears filling her eyes once again, and she nodded. “I have to go talk to Graham, and I want you to go down to Mrs. Cooke. She will look at your injuries and bandage you. Before you go, though, you have to know something.”
Laura looked at him with her big hazel eyes, and every ounce of anger he had felt for her over the last day left his body.
“I am falling for you, Laura, and I want to see how far this relationship can go,” he said.
She began crying harder and said, “I feel the same, Alexander.”
Now he could feel a lump forming in his throat. He took her hand with his free hand and pulled her close to him. He leaned in and kissed her gently, considering his broken nose and her injured forehead. He took her hand and placed it on the bloody cloth he was holding against her head.
“Go to Mrs. Cooke,” he said. “I will come find you when I finish with Kirkwall.”
Chapter 15
Alexander walked into the sitting room holding a cloth against his throbbing nose. He had stopped in his room to pull on some trousers and a different shirt, and he found a cloth to further stop the slow flow of blood from his nose.
Graham was sitting on a chair flanked on both sides by Robert and Francis. He had a smug smile on his face.
Alexander approached him. “Why?” he asked.
Graham laughed. “Isn’t it obvious?”
Alexander tried to think about what he might mean. What had he ever done to Graham? He was his best and oldest friend.
The look on Alexander’s face must have given away that he was confused, and Graham started laughing once again, and then got very serious. “She was in love with you and you rejected her!” yelled Graham.
“What?” said Alexander, confused by what Graham was saying. “Who?”
“Joan!” growled Graham. “My sister loved you with every ounce of her being. You rejected her, you broke her heart, and because of that, she rushed into marriage with a man who killed her. Joan’s death is your fault.”
Alexander was shocked. How could Graham think that Joan’s death was his fault?
“You can’t possibly blame me for this!” said Alexander.
“Oh, but I can,” snarled Graham. “I set this up weeks ago. I hired a man to set it up with the farm girl. He spied on you too, in the brewery.”
Alexander could not believe what he was hearing.
“We told the girl that you had killed her brother. Very convenient, right?” said Graham. “She was out for blood, but then she fell for you. I admit, that was unexpected. I spent a lot of time here, trying to urge her to just do it by sending her letters, and to keep your focus elsewhere, like on John Howe. But your little sweetheart refused. I then threatened her mother.”
“You are a horrible person!” Alexander yelled. “I trusted you. You were my friend.”
Graham gave a hearty laugh. “You were never a great judge of character, Alexander, and you are way too trusting. My hired man tried to take you out once, and then you went out alone again, giving him another try. He failed once again, and that’s when I knew I would have to do it myself. I chose tonight because I knew you would be weak due to the attacks, and you would also expect your…best friend…to come check on you. It was perfect. You went to bed early, and I pretended to leave…but I didn’t. I waited until the house was quiet, snuck upstairs, and I suppose you know the rest.”
Alexander could do nothing but shake his head. He then heard noises in the hallway, and a footman opened the door. “Your Grace, the constable is here.”
“Please let him in,” said Alexander.
The constable walked in, and Alexander quickly explained what had happened. There were plenty of witnesses, so there was no way Graham could deny his crimes. The constable placed handcuffs on Graham’s wrists and led him out of the sitting room.
Alexander took a deep breath, and then turned to Robert and Francis. “I cannot thank you enough for what you did for me and for Laura. I will forever be in your debt.”
“You are welcome, Your Grace,” said Robert with a nod.
“Thank you, Your Grace,” Francis said, and then added, “I suggest you see Mrs. Cooke to look at your nose. She will know how to fix it.”
Alexander nodded. “Yes, I will go to her now, and then I have one more thing to do tonight.”
Laura was laying on her bed, holding a cold cloth against her head. Mrs. Cooke had cleaned her wound, bandaged it, and gave Laura some medication. The housekeeper also advised her to rest and keep a cold cloth on her face where she had been hit.
Rest was the last thing on Laura’s mind. Every sound she heard made her jump, and it was impossible to settle herself down. She also kept replaying the words Alexander had spoken… “I am falling for you, Laura.”
She wondered where he was now and what had happened with the Earl of Kirkwall. She assumed that he had been arrested, but she guessed that she would have to wait until morning to know for sure.
She shifted in her bed, and tried to find a comfortable place to sleep, but she couldn’t. Just then, she heard a light rapping on the door. She sat up quickly and could see light coming throug
h the cracks. Whomever it was had a lantern.
She jumped out of bed and opened the door slowly.
“Alexander!” she said happily. His face was bruised and swollen, and the skin under his eyes and around his nose was black, but he had a smile on his face as he looked at her.
“I couldn’t stay away from you any longer,” he said, and he sat the lamp down and wrapped his arms around Laura. He picked her up in his strong arms and kissed her passionately. She could feel his tongue dancing with her own and tasted his mouth.
He set her down gently and took her hand, leading her to the small bed. He took her head in his hands, and once again, leaned in to bring his lips to hers. With the kiss, Laura felt her body give into him, and she knew that she would do whatever he asked of her. They both moved slowly due to their injuries, but the pain was beginning to fade as Laura’s mind was on Alexander.
His body was tense, and she could feel his hard muscles beneath his shirt. She ran her hands down his chest and he moaned as he continued to kiss her passionately, moving his tongue in and around hers. He brought his hands down to her breasts and every touch was like an electric current running through her body.
He began kissing her neck, and he pulled her into him, pushing his bulging manhood against her. She gasped as he began rubbing his hips on hers, and the fire she was feeling between her legs was almost unbearable. She pulled him closer to her and moaned as he brought his hands lower down her body. He pulled her night dress up and over her head, and then dropped it on the floor.
Alexander grabbed her buttocks in his hands roughly, and then began to kiss her breasts, his tongue darting around her nipples, causing them to ache with desire for him. She was breathing heavy now, and placed her hands on his head, running her fingers though his hair.
He stood up and took her body into his arms, picked her up and laid her on the bed. He then unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it off, and Laura could see the bruises on his chest. The bulge in his trousers was evident, and she reached out and gently moved her hand over it. He moaned loudly and began to unbutton his pants. He pulled them down and the size of his manhood was now apparent. It was completely grown and almost seemed to be moving on its own.
Seduced by the Brooding Duke Page 13
