Lords of Honor (89 page)

Owen started
.
Those were the same words the Archangel spoke to him
after
he took Libby
from the top of
Cadbury Hill
.
The Light must prevail
.
His dearest
,
lifelong friend was gone
.
He wiped at the tears rolling down his cheek.
He looked up to see the others either wiping at their tears or lowering their heads
.

“Harry can you write the necessary l
etters
?
I must find my brother,
”
Trevan said
gravely
as he turned to leave the room.

“I’m coming with you, cousin,” Gabriel fell in behind Trevan.

“I will write the letters
.”
Owen
told Harry
as he rose from his knees
beside Charlie’s still body
.

Harry nodded and placed his hand on Owen’s shoulder.

Harry
called to Gabriel before he
could
exit the room,
“
Ga
briel, did you find Lachlan?”
Harry’s voice was thick with emotion.
He walked to where Trevan and Gabriel stood.

“Aye, h
e’s badly wounded, but I think he’ll pull through
, Harry
.
My men carried him upstairs
.
Our cousin was killed
.
It was Piers
Rosveare
.
There was a dead
brown coat
as well
, so I think Lachlan
or Piers
got him
.”

“So, everyone is accounted for except Tristan?”
Harry asked.

Gabriel and Trevan nodded
grimly
.

“Find him.”
Harry rested a hand on Trevan’s shoulder
.

As Micah and Harry started up the stairs, Tristan entered through the front door
.
Blood dripped down one side of his face
.
He held one arm bent and tight
against
his body
.
He held a wiry
, bruised and bleeding
man
with his good arm
.
“I got the one who
got
Lachlan
!
I chase
d
him down
.
He and another tried to drag me out back and finish me off
because I gave them a fight
.
The other one is dead
.
I broke his neck
.”

Trevan entered the
hall
upon hearing his brother’s voice
.
He
hurried toward him
.
He
c
arefully surveyed
the bleeding wound on his
brother’s
head
.
“Get upstairs, Tristan
.
That’s quite a gash
; i
t’s
d
eep
.
That arm
is no doubt
broken
.
Let the ladies tend you
until the
surgeon
arrives
.
Wyldhurst will be
here
in a moment
.
I’ll
handle this
riff-raff
until he gets here
.”
Trevan roughly took hold of the man
.

Tristan nodded to Harry and Micah as he
passed them on
the stairs.

“Tristan
!”
Caroline Bellingham shrieked
as
she
came to the landing an
d
hurried
on
down the stairs
in a swish of lace-trimmed lawn
.
She
headed
toward
Tristan
.
He
encircled her waist with his good arm when she reached him
.
“They couldn’t find you
!
I thought you might be dead
.”
She began to sob
as she leaned into him
.

“I’m fine, Caro
.
I’m fine
, d
on’t worry
.”
Tristan
said soothingly as he rubbed her back
.
He smiled down at her
.
“I don’t want to get blood all over you, Caro.”

Harry started
to take a step
up the stairs
to
ward
them
.

Micah put a hand out to stop him
.
“No, Harry
.
Let it be
.
They’re in love
.
It’s obvious.”

Harry stopped
.
He s
ighed
deeply
then whispered,
“I just don’t want him to hurt her
, Micah
.”

“He won’t
.”
Micah
smiled
as he watched Tristan tenderly kiss the top of Caroline’s head. “But you might
,
by denying her to marry the man she loves
.
What woul
d you have done if someone forbade
you to marry Rowena?”

“Hauled her
t
o Gretna,
”
Harry sighed heavily
.
He shook his head
.
“You’ve made your point, Micah
.”

“Tristan take
yourself upstairs!” Trevan
boomed
.
He was unable to leave the prisoner
he held
at the foot of the stairs
.

“He’s fine,
Trevan.
” Micah said
.

“
Trevan
, w
e can no longer deny the inevitable
.
We’ll talk about
Tristan and Caroline’s
formal
court
ship
tomorrow
,” Harry said.

“Truly?
O
h
,
Harry!” Caroline beamed at him
.
Tristan turned and f
lashed him a grin
.
He gave Harry and Micah a
nod
.
The couple embraced, and Harry suspected
they
kissed after they disappeared around the turn in the stairs
.
Thank God he hadn’t seen it!

Trevan chuckled
.
“We
might be family soon,
Harry!”

Harry rolled his eyes at Micah.

“I
’d best see about my wife
!” Micah
continued up
the stairs
with a large grin on his face
.
“
Formal courtship
,
Harry
?
” he whispered
and shook his head
. Did Harry
truly believe
that delaying marriage further between Caroline and Tristan would help
anything
?

Owen and Grace were tending to Libby.

“I think she’s fine, Micah.” Owen said as he
glanced at
his brother
-
in
-
law
.

Micah
bent and kissed Libby’s forehead.

“Owen told me about Charlie.” Tears welled in Libby’s eyes.

Micah sat in the chair beside the bed and took his wife’s hand in his.
He brought it to his lips
.

“How is Sophia?” Libby asked.

“Don’t you worry about Sophia, p
et,” Owen bent to
assess
the gash on the top of Libby’s head
.
Every time he looked at the knuckle marks on her cheek anger surged within him
.
Thank God Micah killed that bastard
Davitt
.
“Just lie quiet
, pet
.”

“Lyon said he thinks Sophia will be fine, Libby,” Micah offered.

Libby nodded and
settled
back against the pillows.

Micah remained beside his wife
keeping her hand tightly in his
while they waited for his grandfather’s physician
.

Lyon sat in a chair beside Sophia’s bed
.
He watched Harry lead the weeping Rowena from the room
.
He
ju
st
informed
her of Charlie’s death.

“I’m sorry about Charlie, Lyon
.
I know he was a good friend,” Sophia whispered
from the bed
.

“He was
.
Thank you, darling.” Lyon took his wife’s hand in his
.
He brought her palm to his lips
.
He
gazed upon
Sophia with tenderness
.
Her face was bruised where Crow
hit
her
.
There was already a dark circle beneath
one
eye
.
He knew the
large lump on her head and
the
bruises on her body
brought her pain
.
Her lip was split
.
Lyon
thank
ed God
she was alive.
He prayed she had broken no bones or received any internal injuries
.

His mother came in
.
“The physician has arrived
.
He is with
the Earl of Gryfe first
.
H
e will
come to
Sophia
next
.”

“Thank you, mother
.
Come sit
.
You look tired,”
Lyon rose and seated his mother in the chair next to his
.

Micah and Owen stepped into the hallway when the
physician
came to Libby
’s room
.
Grace remained in the chamber with her.

Micah fidgeted nervously while they waited.

“If he violated her will it make a difference to you?” Owen asked him softly.

“No, Owen
.
No,” Micah shook his head adamantly, “I just worry for her emotional state if he did
.
She’s been having nightmares since they took her from Horethorne Hall.
”

Owen nodded
.
“I
worry
for her
too
.
I did not think it would matter to you, Micah, but I asked because I am her brother
.
I needed to be prepared to help her through such a thing
.
There are some men who would cast a woman off in the same situation
.
I seriously doubted you were one of them
.
But for Libby’s sake, I told Grace to have the doctor examine her.
”

“I am not
that kind of man
, Owen
,
as you
well
know
.
Libby is the most important
person
in my life
.
I am worried for her sake, Owen
.
It is good the doctor will check her.
”

Grace called them back in
.
She whispered to them both before they entered, “He did not find any evidence that Libby was violated.”

Micah and Owen both sighed in relief as they came into the room.