Unrequited Love

by Rebecca King

  “Would you?” Mabel eyes lit with hope. “You are ever so kind.”

  “Why would I leave her out there?”

  “Well, it is good of you to show so much concern for her. You have shown more concern for her welfare than her own father has,” Mabel replied.

  Ryan mentally cursed. “I think I might know where Sian is. I will round up some men to help look for her anyway. If we find the girls, we will send them back to my house rather than home. They can’t be running around in this weather either. Where are Martha and Lucinda likely to be heading, do you know?”

  “I didn’t see which way they went. I think Lucinda may have gone to the stream. It is where they usually like to sit when the weather is nice. I doubt any of them will go back to the house until they absolutely must. Nobody likes being there now that Wilhelmina is there.”

  Ryan nodded. “If I find them, I will bring them back. I won’t return without Sian, so I may be gone a while.”

  Several minutes later, Mabel found herself inside a luxurious parlour, staring at an empty doorway. Sliding into a seat, she listened to Ryan’s retreating footsteps and turned to stare blankly into the fire. Now that she was truly alone and unlikely to be disturbed, Mabel caved into the misery that had plagued the last several years. It was time to make a few decisions about which direction her life was now going to take. One thing was certain, she couldn’t pretend to love her husband anymore.

  Ryan raced across the fields as fast as he dared allow his horse to run in the middle of the storm. It was foolish for anybody to be out in such atrocious weather but that wasn’t what concerned him. All Ryan could think about was Sian, and what he was going to do if anything happened to her before he could find her. Or, worse, what Cedrick would do if he found her first. He doubted the man would be sitting in front of the fire without a care in the world, not with Wilhelmina determined to marry him into the family. He would be out here, undoubtedly under the harridan’s orders, doing everything possible to hunt down the woman he would undoubtedly do everything to ruin just to force her into marriage to him.

  “Sian?” Ryan stepped over the moss-covered boulders and peered into the church that he knew was her secret retreat. “Sian? Are you here? Sian?”

  He paused and tipped his head to listen, but the whole area had an empty feel to it. He doubted that if Sian had been there she had stayed for long. There was a gap in the canopy of the trees that allowed the rainwater to fall upon the now lethal stones. It made the usually quiet place cold and eerie.

  “Now where could you be?” Ryan placed his hands on his hips and studied the area but couldn’t see anything untoward. Still, in case she might be hiding, or huddled up against the weather somewhere, he searched the area.

  He was at the edge of the trees when he saw movement in the meadow beyond the trees and watched Cedrick stalk arrogantly across the field toward something in the far corner. Ryan squinted at it and knew immediately what it was. Racing for his horse, he vaulted into the saddle and went after it. He had an advantage over Cedrick because he could cover more distance on horseback and was the first to reach the thin shawl that had been caught by a rusty nail protruding from a decrepit fence. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the shawl’s owner.

  “What are you doing?” Cedrick called breathlessly from several feet away. He was walking as fast as he could but was still unable to catch up with Ryan.

  Ryan barely threw him a second look. “Go home, Cedrick. I think you and Wilhelmina have caused enough trouble, don’t you?”

  “Sian is a little averse to marriage, that’s all,” Cedrick replied with a shrug. “I am sure that once the wedding is over, she will settle down.”

  “And what would you know about Sian?”

  “Well, no more than you, I expect,” Cedrick countered. “You are interfering in family business, Lord Carson. I suggest you go home and let me find my wayward fiancé. It is about time someone made her do as she was told. I am not going to allow my future wife to go running around this county like an errant child. She has to be curbed.”

  Ryan threw him a filthy glare. “Why don’t you just hobble her while you are at it? You do know that she is a real person, don’t you? We are not talking about a horse.”

  “Leave me to deal with my fiancé.”

  “You really think you are going to marry her, don’t you?” Ryan snorted. “Over my dead body.”

  “You are in no position to stop our union,” Cedrick warned. “I can assure you that Wilhelmina will do everything possible to block your interference.”

  “Wilhelmina? Really? Her, an avaricious nobody, assumes to challenge me, a Lord of the Realm?” Ryan cried sarcastically, and with all the arrogant contempt he felt. “Might I remind you that I have more fortune in my little finger than you have ever had in your entire life? Might I remind you that you are, at this present moment, trespassing on my land? Might I remind you that I have a title and connections to the Royal Court, and some of the most influential land and business owners in the country as my friends. And you, a mere nobody, presume to threaten me?”

  Ryan snatched Sian’s shawl off the nail and threw a glare at Cedrick before he wheeled his horse around to face away from the trees. He drew his mare to a stop inches from the smaller man, who stumbled back to prevent himself from being trampled on.

  “Get off my land before I send for the magistrate, and don’t ever presume to threaten me again,” Ryan hissed menacingly. For good measure, he grabbed Cedrick by the cravat and yanked him up until he was teetering on tiptoe. “Moreover, stay away from Sian, or I will destroy you. You and that harridan you call a friend, and that is no idle threat.”

  Before Cedrick could gulp an apology, Ryan released him with a violent shove, wheeled his horse around, and raced in the direction of the wind leaving a shaken Cedrick to stare after him.

  Ryan immediately forgot the squat little man. He focused on somebody far more important: Sian. He knew she wasn’t at the ruins. The shawl being attached to the fence warned him that she had headed away from the house she called home, the sanctuary of the woods, and even his house. She had instead headed to the bluff, the highest and, in this weather, the most dangerous place in the county. A wild thought slammed into him with such force that he felt sick. Ryan tried to discount it was possible, but wondered if Sian might have felt so desperate that she might indeed be determined to carry through with her threat that she would rather die than marry Cedrick. Not that he could blame her. Marriage to a man like that squat little snake would be enough to make anybody want to end their days, but Ryan hoped and prayed that Sian had a little more backbone, and far more resilience to do something so foolish.

  Still, the race through the countryside in search of her took far longer than he knew it ought. The rain continued to pour down upon him until he was soaked to the skin and the ground beneath his horse became too boggy for him to continue to ride. Dismounting, he dropped the reins onto the floor and left the horse to munch the lush grass while he continued his search on foot. For mile after mile he trekked, shouting and calling her name, but to no avail. Eventually, day turned into night, and it became almost too dark to continue his search safely.

  Now desperate, Ryan fell to his knees as he battled the exhaustion that took hold. He was cold, tired, hungry, and so hopelessly frustrated that he wanted to rage at Fate for being so cruel as to take her from him.

  “Ryan?” Norman sniffed and shook rainwater out of his eyes.

  Ryan looked up and eyed Norman who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with several stable hands, and slowly shook his head. “I have checked everywhere.”

  “We have searched the gardens, her gardens, and the surrounding land. The villagers have searched the village and are spreading outward, but light is against us, my friend,” Norman informed him. “Maybe she has been snatched?”

  “She can’t have been,” Ryan whispered. “I found this.”

  He held the shawl aloft but, when Norman leaned down to take it off him, Rya
n snatched it out of reach. It was his last hold on the woman he loved, there was no earthly possibility Ryan was ever going to release it.

  “She has to be around here somewhere.”

  “Have you checked the bluff?”

  “Twice, but she isn’t there.”

  “Maybe she fell. Did you check the cliff faces?” The groomsman immediately looked contrite when he realised how dire her situation would be if she had indeed slipped off the top of the bluff.

  “She might have just curled up somewhere and fallen asleep,” Norman suggested hopefully.

  “For five hours?” Ryan snorted incredulously.

  “We have everyone out looking for her,” the groomsman assured him. “If she is around here, we will find her.”

  The word ‘eventually’ hovered in the air between them.

  Ryan nodded, but his handsome face remained grim.

  “We have to go back up to the bluff and see if she has fallen.” He felt sick at the thought of what he might find. It was difficult to find a reason why he hadn’t stopped to think about checking to see if she had fallen before. It just didn’t seem like something Sian would do; go up onto the highest point in the county in the middle of a thunderstorm. She seemed far too sensible for that. But he knew she had been deeply upset, so it was possible that she might have, and something might have happened to her because of it.

  “If we take the longer route round, sir, we can come up from underneath it. That gives us a clear view of the cliff face. We will also walk the paths she is likely to take if she has been this way, sir,” the groomsman suggested.

  When Ryan nodded, he waved a hand at a couple of the men behind him. They swiftly dismounted and hurried past on foot and, within seconds, began to hurriedly climb the narrow path that led to the top of the bluff.

  “Here.”

  Ryan had barely dismounted before the cry echoed dully around the barren outcropping. He closed his eyes while his heart soared. Without hesitation, he broke into a run only to slam to a stop when he followed the direction of one of the men’s hand and saw where Sian now lay.

  “Jesus,” Ryan hissed, staring in horror at the legs dangling several feet off the ground over the end of the narrow ledge about half-way down the bluff.

  “That’s a good twenty feet or so,” Norman whispered.

  “The best thing we can do is come at her from up top, sir. We have some rope that should be long enough to lower someone over the edge but need manpower to get her back up.”

  “Send someone for the doctor,” Norman urged, his voice low for fear of worrying Ryan even more.

  Ryan raced along the narrow path which wound around in a wide arc and then climbed steadily. He was panting by the time he reached the top. He then ran along the edge of the outcropping until he could see Sian, lying all bent and twisted on a narrow ledge.

  “I am going,” he growled at the men who gathered around him.

  “Sir.”

  Ryan huffed an impatient sigh. “If you go and she wakes up she is going to be terrified. She knows me.”

  With the help of the men, Ryan tied the rope around his waist and was slowly lowered over the side of the bluff. He used his feet to make sure he didn’t slam into the granite outcrop as he slowly dropped until his boots touched the edge of the narrow ledge.

  “Sian?” He fell to his knees and touched her hand and cursed bitterly when he found her to be icy cold. All sorts of things ran around in his mind, and with such ferocity that his hand trembled when he reached out to touch her cheek. He swiftly yanked off his jacket and draped it over her.

  “Boss?” the groomsman called.

  “Wait!” Ryan ordered. “Sian? Can you hear me?”

  Sian blinked sleepily and stared at Ryan. Her heart leapt wildly in her chest when she saw him leaning over her. The intent, loving look in his eye was wildly thrilling, but was swiftly dampened by the cruel pounding in her temple.

  “Ryan?” she whispered.

  “Are you hurt anywhere?”

  “Hurt?”

  “When you fell,” Ryan explained. He placed a calming hand on her when she tried to sit up only to wince and fall back down again. “We have to get you off here.”

  “Here?” She blinked worriedly at him. “Where are we? Where am I? What happened?”

  Ryan eyed the small thin cut on her temple and suspected he wasn’t going to get much sense out of her. Hurriedly untying the rope, he tied it around Sian.

  “I am not going up there on that,” she protested.

  Ryan had to admit that it didn’t seem a particularly safe thing for her to do in her condition. Should she faint while she was being lifted, she would go limp against the rope and would become uncontrollable by the men up on the top.

  “Can you give me more rope?” he called.

  The rope was dutifully loosened. “That’s all there is, or we can’t haul you back up,” the groomsman replied.

  Ryan swiftly tied the rope around Sian, leaving enough to tie himself to her. Once they were secured, he shouted up to the men who began to haul them off the ledge and back up to safety.

  “Ryan?” Sian cried, clinging to him with desperate hands.

  “Just hold on to me,” Ryan ordered.

  Sian had no intention of doing anything else. In fact, she didn’t just hold on, she clung to him with desperate fingers and buried her face in his neck when she happened to glance down at the ground far, far, below, and felt a wave of dizziness sweep through her that made her cry out.

  “We won’t be long,” he soothed, holding her so tightly his arms began to ache.

  It only took a few moments for them to reach the top whereupon the men grabbed the ropes around them and hauled them both to safety. Sian lay and stared blankly up at the sky while she contemplated how she had managed to get onto the ledge in the first place. Before she could recall the hazy memory, which hovered teasingly in the darkest recesses of her mind, Ryan’s face appeared before her, mere inches away.

  “Are you all right?” he murmured gently.

  “I think so,” she mused, but really couldn’t be sure.

  Ryan saw the cloudy confusion in her eyes and knew she was far from it. “We need to get her out of here,” he told the men gathered around them. “And quickly.”

  Norman had already led his horse closer. Despite Sian’s protests, Ryan gathered her into his arms. Within minutes, they were racing toward Terrell House. Sian barely looked up when he kicked the front door to the huge mansion wide open and stomped into the hallway. She was sound asleep by the time he lowered her gently onto a huge four-poster bed in the middle of a large bed chamber minutes later.

  Ryan eased her gently onto the covers and stood back while he contemplated what to do next. He had no experience in dealing with young women who were struck down. Was he to undress her? Should he leave her as she was? If she had been any of his friends then he would have had no hesitation leaving her as she was, but Sian was a young woman who was drenched. She was apt to catch influenza if she remained in wet clothing. But he couldn’t bring himself to risk making her angry if she woke up to find him in the process of removing her dress.

  “Sian?” He prompted gently when she moaned and tried to turn over.

  Sian heard the voice of the man she so longed to hear. She listened intently but then wondered if she had imagined it. When sleep lulled her back into the darkness, she felt the soft touch of something brush her cheek and whatever she lay upon dip alarmingly. Her eyes immediately sprang open. A gasp of delight escaped her when she saw Ryan, who immediately smiled at her.

  “Thank God you are awake,” he breathed. “The doctor is on his way.”

  “The doctor? Whatever for?”

  “You need to have him look at your head.”

  “My head is fine,” she replied. But it wasn’t. It was far from fine. Even lying perfectly still, it pounded wildly and made her vision blurry. She winced when she tried to lift her head only for a white-hot lance of pain to slide from h
er crown, down the length of her neck and settle somewhere in between her shoulder blades. It was so sharp that she felt sick, and the world began to swim once more, but she willed herself not to cave into the encroaching darkness.

  “What happened?” Ryan’s voice was barely above a whisper.

  “I don’t remember,” she moaned. “I don’t. I wish I did. I think I was standing on the bluff but cannot remember anything after that.”

  Ryan nodded. “Your mind may have blanked it out. Whatever happened, you have fallen a long way and hit your head. It is imperative that you remain where you are for now. But you need to get out of those clothes. You are soaked.”

  Sian tried to look around the room, but without moving anything except for her eyes. What she could see she didn’t recognise but knew from the lavishness of the furniture next to the bed that it wasn’t her rather humble bed chamber back at home.

  “You have brought me to your house?”

  “It was closer,” he lied.

  “Where is everyone?”

  “I expect they will be on their way once they know you have been found,” Ryan reasoned. Right now, he didn’t care where they were. They were not going to come near Sian again until he knew she would be safe. “We have to talk.”

  Sian turned a reluctant gaze to his. “About?”

  “I have heard about your engagement,” he breathed. Even saying the words hurt. He hated them. He hated having to say them and, in that moment, hated her father for allowing it to happen.

  “I am not engaged,” she hissed fiercely. “Whatever my father says or does, I can assure you that I am most definitely not engaged.”

  “But your mother said your father had arranged it,” Ryan said.

  “I know but it was without my agreement,” Sian replied, her voice firm despite her exhaustion. “I am not marrying that fop.”

  Ryan studied the sodden material of her dress for a moment before slowly lifting his gaze to hers. “Did you try to take matters into your own hands to prevent being married to Cedrick?”

  Sian contemplated the hidden meaning in his eyes and in the tone of his question. It took her a few moments for her sluggish mind to work out what he meant. When she did, she looked horrified. “I would never do such a thing. I was contemplating how I could sneak out of the house first thing in the morning and catch the first carriage out of town. I was planning to go and see my cousin, Sophia, in Bath, you see? Father won’t agree to it of course because Sophia hates him, but it is the only place I can go where he isn’t likely to order me to return home.”