Punish Me With Roses - a Victorian Historical Romance (19 page)

Alex would come down the stairs, practically running from the joy of seeing her. He would never expect her at his house, especially after she'd turned him away in town. "Victoria!" he would exclaim. "What a surprise!"

They would go into the drawing room and she would start her explanation at once. He would know that every negative emotion between them had only been caused by "the secret." She would ask his forgiveness and ask him to love a woman who may have committed murder.

"I'd love you no matter what you've done!" he'd say, and pull her into his arms. He'd kiss her passionately and whisper that she mustn't have killed those men. They would look for an alternate explanation. Together, they would clear her name and go back to Blackmoore.

Everything would be perfect and they would live happily ever--

Jane? Victoria stopped in her tracks, then reflexively jumped behind a tree. Alex wasn't waiting upstairs for her, dreaming that she would knock on his door. He was outside, walking to the stable, and caught in the claws of Jane Winston.

No!

That wasn't how things were supposed to happen. How could they have their moment while Jane was there? And what would Jane say when she saw Victoria? No one could know where Victoria was hiding out.

She watched them enter the stable and considered what to do next. How could Alex even know Jane? He'd never mentioned her. Then again, he'd never mentioned any of his friends. Maybe she wasn't a friend. Maybe she was much more. That might be why she never knew...he wouldn't want his latest conquest to know about his last.

She shook her head, even though there was no one to see her but the leaves. Alex would never go for someone like Jane. She had probably come to visit Michael and he was entertaining her while his brother was out. That
would
be the polite thing to do. If they were going into the stables, they must be going for a ride. That wasn't very intimate, was it? Just a couple of acquaintances, passing time. Victoria had intimated that she didn't want to spend time with him, hadn't she?

The stable doors were open and Victoria wondered if she might be able to discover more about their relationship to one another. She crept closer.

"Hugh was a friend of mine, Alex," Jane said. "I think he felt quite seriously about me."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning that I can't watch that
vixen
go unpunished while Hughie is no more. I just may return to Blackmoore very soon."

"We've known about it all this time, and we haven't done that."

She grinned. "You do it your way and I'll do it mine. Except I secretly suspect that there's more than logic dictating
your
actions."

It all came down on Victoria like a wooden beam falling from the rafters. It was both painful and illuminating. She clutched her chest and stared at the couple. They
both
knew.

They still hadn't seen her, both captivated like children on the storyteller's lap. Then, Alex did something that made her want to turn away, as though she were witnessing a terrible accident. He moved in for a kiss.

Jane was the one, however, who would make it much more. She pressed herself up against his body with a seductive growl.

Victoria felt as though she would be sick. She could hardly breathe. Couldn't think either. Her only impulse was to flee.

She stepped backward, straw crunching beneath her feet. Why did fate choose to reveal her just then? The couple broke apart immediately and both their gazes flew to Victoria.

Alex looked...she just didn't know. There was too much pain to be able to analyze anything he said or how he appeared. All her heart knew was that it hurt. Oh lord, how it hurt.

"Hello, Victoria."

Victoria's ears perked up--as she'd often seen Hugh's bloodhounds do during the hunt--at the catty tone. She looked at her and found it less painful than facing Alex. "How do you do?" she replied, refusing to show her that she'd won.

"Quite well, thank you. I thought I'd see what this quaint town has to offer. I must admit that besides the obvious draw that Coverack possesses." She paused for a wicked smile. "I'm disappointed."

"I wouldn't think it would hold any interest for someone so...worldly."

She smiled a little more, then frowned, unsure of what reaction she ought to have. "I suppose you hoped to see Alex this afternoon? I'm so sorry that I have to keep him from you."

"Don't worry. I only came to deliver a message from my uncle."  

"Really? And what was that?"

Her limbs felt like jelly.
Why
wasn't he saying anything?
Close to tears, she tried to focus on the question she'd been asked. "He just wanted Mr. Trevelyn to know that his...maid is going away and will likely
never
return."

She laughed meanly. "What does that have to do with Alex?"

"He was...uh, hoping that he knew of someone that would be a suitable
replacement
." She gained bitter pleasure from the subtle jab. "Knowing what I know about Mr. Trevelyn, I'm sure that he does."

Jane looked at Alex and preened.

"I'll leave you two to your...business." She turned and forced her feet to move and promised herself she wouldn't run. She wouldn't show them what they'd done to her. It was bad enough that it had happened at all.

When she continued her slow walk for a little bit longer, she looked back. They weren't following.

She ran like the devil was on her tail, and soon she didn't know the difference between the drizzling rain and the tears that streaked down her face.

Chapter 10

It had done funny things to Alex's insides, seeing Victoria standing there, pretending not to be affected by what she had just seen and probably thinking she was making a decent job of it. Except that it was obvious to him that it had upset her. Tiny indications of her discomfort were far more telling than if she'd run out of the stable and never looked back.

"Stupid girl," Jane said, after Victoria left the stable.

He almost didn't trust himself to respond. His heart was breaking. All he wanted to do was run after her. But his damn self-control refused to let him. It knew that his immediate flight would put her danger from a jealous, vindictive Jane. So he just said, "Yes."

Apparently, that wasn't good enough. "What makes her think that she can barge in here like that? I wonder how much she heard?"

As did he. Had she figured out what he knew and that he had known all along? What was the information doing to her at that very moment? He had to know the answers and to know them; he had to get rid of Jane.

"Alex? Are you even listening to me?"

He tore his gaze from the empty space where Victoria once stood. Quickly, he considered his next move. "Let's saddle up then."

She smiled, somewhat satisfied for the moment. It wasn't the derogatory comments towards Victoria that she had hoped for, but it was something. She would probably note that he had ignored her. If only she knew all the painful reasons why.

Alex stepped forward and, as he did, thought of something that would afford him both time and an opportunity to get away. He purposely tripped himself up and fell to the ground with a hard moan.

"Oh, what happened?" She rushed to his side and looked down upon his prostrate form. "You fell?"

No, I just decided to take a nap
, he thought. Aloud, he replied, "I don't even know what I tripped on."

"Are you all right?"

"I'm sure that I am," he said. "I'm made of tougher stuff than that." But he proceeded to test his theory by attempting to stand up. He didn't make it.

"What is it, Alex?"

"I think it's my ankle." He felt the spot through his pants with a groan.

"We have to get you back to the house."

"I think you're going to have to call someone. I'll crush you if we try to make it alone."

She nodded. "I'm sure you're right." She brushed off her skirt. "I'll go right away then. Don't try to walk while I'm gone."

"I won't," he lied.

Jane hurried out of the stable.

Alex immediately stood up and approached the open door. He watched her until she was safely inside, then he made a run for it.

He would catch Victoria easier on foot.

It had started to rain while he was in the stable, the skies a romantic purple that he'd only seen in his native Cornwall. He shivered with both a chill and the premonition that he wouldn't find Victoria before she did something drastic.

Although she'd tried to hide it, he'd seen how effected she'd been by what she'd seen. Her sorrow had been palpable. But it wasn't just that. She may fear that his unintentional revelation of what he knew was cause for flight.

What he feared the most was that he would
never
find her.

"I'm a silly, silly girl," Victoria said to no one but herself. She shouldn't have gone to Alex's for many reasons, but one of them had been the impending storm. But she'd ignored the dark skies and the thunder's audible heralding and went anyway. Now she was paying for it. Even with her hat on, her hair was plastered to her neck and her shoes were disgustingly soggy. She might have expected the rain, but she never could have guessed so much.

Why hadn't she been able to see through him?

Oh, Alex!
It befuddled her to think of why he'd kept it from her, why he'd pretended not to know any more than what she'd told him. Wouldn't he have turned her in by then if that had been his goal?

It hit her then and she realized that part of it, she should have known. All the questions that she'd instinctually become suspicious of...all a part of his mysterious plan. "But why?" she had to keep asking herself. "Why?"

"Victoria!"

The sound of Alex's voice, entirely unexpected, made her heart melt. It also had the unpleasant effect of making her stomach turn upside down. But at least he was there. He had followed her.

Then he was at her side. "You need to get out of the rain."

"What difference does it make to you?" One look at his similarly rain-soaked clothing and some of the anger fell from her voice. His wet breeches clung to his muscular thighs. He had come
and
he looked like...that. Her nether regions became even more turbulent.

"I don't want you to get sick. I care about you."

"For reasons that I am sure you understand, I find that hard to believe."

He shook his head and pulled her closer to the trees. "It is you who doesn't understand. You don't understand what you saw."

"I think I do." She wished she had the strength to run away from him. But she didn't. She
wanted
him to prove her wrong.

"First, Victoria, tell me how much you heard."

She met his gaze with icy aim and said, "Enough."

"You know that I know everything," he stated calmly.

"And have known for a long time," she replied.

His voice was pleading, softening her heart into malleable mush. "I want to explain it all to you. Come with me."

He was urging her off the path when at the end of it lay her uncle's house. A warm bed and silent walls beckoned her. "I should get home as soon as possible. My uncle is expecting me."

"I don't intend to kidnap you, dear."

"Alex..." She'd taken to calling him by his shortened name. It bespoke of an intimacy that she couldn't honestly say they had any right to. If only things were different. Her parents could still be alive and Alex could be a guest at their home...entitled, gentlemanly, and suitable. She hated how her present situation made everything between them taste of decadence. She hated how it didn't matter.

Most of all, she hated how even her silly dreams had been crushed by the day's occurrences.

He ignored her weak protestations and guided her off the path. She let him. It suddenly became darker beneath the wet canopy of leaves. His fingers felt warm on her arm--regardless of how many layers protected her skin--and she quivered with anticipation. That her mind would betray her at such a time was unthinkable. The way he'd hurt her had been more than wrong. But he promised an explanation.

Thunder boomed overhead and she jumped closer to him.

He smiled wickedly.

"Where are you taking me?"

"A secret place that only I know about." The rain still dripped onto their heads even though it had to journey first through a thick umbrella of leaves. He squinted against the droplets. "Don't worry. I think you'll like it."

Oddly, the enigmatic answers only served to heighten her anticipation.
What if he were to harm me?
she silently asked herself. Her two answers were separated by a rift of unanswered questions. First, she couldn't imagine him intentionally hurting her. Second, she would accept it if he did. Death in his arms was preferable to life in any others.

His grip on her arm suddenly tightened. "I wanted to run after you immediately. You looked so...distraught."

"Why didn't you?"

"Jane was there and--"

"On second thought," she said, "I'd rather not hear it."

"Oh, Victoria!" He pulled her into his arms. "I hate to use a cliché, but it's not at all what you think!"

The smell of wet leaves overwhelmed her. She squirmed out of his arms with difficulty. "Please, Alex."

His expression was pained. "You'll let me explain, won't you?"

She laughed ridiculously. Deliriously. "Yes, but please explain
first
." She covered her head with her hands. "I feel like I'm drowning."

"Yes, of course!" he said, ushering her forward once again. "What am I thinking keeping you in the rain like this?"

They walked for a bit more, her heart hardly able to withstand the wait, when finally they came upon a small structure.

"Here we are," he said, sparing the gallant introductions.

Her interest was captured by the almost hidden structure, so cleverly built so that it was nearly invisible until you were right upon it. There was no indication of what its purpose was. She certainly couldn't tell much from the outside, except that it looked small. Intimately small.