A Stranger at Castonbury(66)

‘And that’s when Webster approached you,’ Catalina said.

‘Yes. I was sure I had no choice, I—all I can do now is say I am sorry. I can never make it up to Lord Hatherton and his family. I can only hope to...’

Suddenly there was the sound of glass shattering from somewhere in the house. Alicia’s head whipped around, and Catalina jumped up from her chair.

‘I thought you said your maid was gone?’ she said.

‘She is. Whatever could that be? This is such a quiet neighbourhood.’ Alicia hurried to the door, and before Catalina could shout at her to stop, to lock it, she swung it open.

Everything happened in a swift, violent blur. Alicia had barely opened the door halfway when a large man shouldered it open hard, knocking her to the floor. He grabbed Catalina hard around the waist as she screamed. He clapped his gloved hand hard to her mouth, and she had a quick glimpse of blond hair and even features.

It was the footman from Castonbury, the one who had given her Jamie’s note.

She heard someone else rush into the room, and the footman pressed his hand even harder to her mouth. She could hardly breathe, but the raw fear made her fight like a wild beast. She kicked at him through her skirts, ruing the fact that she wore delicate kid half-boots. She twisted her head to bite his hand.

‘Crazy bitch,’ the man shouted. He lifted her up and forced her down onto the floor on her stomach.

‘There was only supposed to be the one,’ Catalina heard Webster say as she struggled to be free. There was a sickening crack when Webster slapped Alicia and she cried out. ‘But this is even better. Hatherton is sure to come after the Spanish bitch. I knew something was up when I saw her at Castonbury.’

Catalina kicked back again, struggling to break the man’s painful hold. The next thing she felt was a sharp, heavy pain quick against the back of her head. There was a shower of light behind her eyes, a strange stickiness on her skin. She thought she heard a scream coming from a long way away.

Then nothing.





Chapter Seventeen

‘Catalina? Catalina, wake up. Please, please, wake up!’

The words seemed so blurry and faint. Catalina felt as if she was slowly crawling up through a dark, thick cloud. It pressed down on her head, as if to drag her back down into peaceful sleep, but somehow she knew she had to struggle against it. There seemed to be something she needed just beyond her weak grasp, and that voice pulled her up out of the beckoning darkness.

Painfully, she pried open her gritty eyes. Candlelight pierced her brain, so faint yet so very bright. Her head pounded as if a hundred drums beat inside of it.

‘What is happening?’ she said. Her throat felt so rough.

‘Oh, thank goodness! You are alive.’ Slowly a face swam into view above Catalina. Alicia’s face. Her blonde hair straggled from its pins, and a bruise marred her cheek. ‘I was so frightened. I couldn’t bear for yet another person to be hurt because of me.’

Catalina winced, and found that she lay on a hard floor with her head resting on Alicia’s knee. Wherever they were it felt cold and damp, and dark with just that one flickering candle.

Then it all came flooding back to her. The shattering glass at Alicia’s house, Webster knocking her to the floor. They had been kidnapped by the very man they had been scheming to trap.

Catalina sat up too fast, wincing as pain rushed through her head. ‘Are you hurt, Alicia? Did he...’

‘Oh, no,’ Alicia said quickly. ‘He just knocked me out and somehow brought us here—wherever here is.’

Catalina pressed her fingertips to her temples and studied the dark room they were in. It was a place she knew—the sheepherder’s cottage in the woods where Jamie had brought her the day they had both got caught in that terrible downpour. It was the cottage where they had made love in front of the fire. She slowly pushed herself to her feet and went to try the door. It was securely bolted from the outside.

‘I am sure someone will find us very soon,’ she said, trying to push down the fear rising inside of her. Panic did no good. She went to the shelves along the wall and pulled down some blankets. She handed one to Alicia and wrapped the other around herself. ‘Surely two men can’t take two unconscious women out of the house without someone seeing.’

Alicia nodded, but Catalina could see how pale and frightened she was. ‘Thank heaven Crispin was with the neighbour today. My poor baby. If Webster had got him as well...’ She broke off on a ragged sob.