Page 176 of A Perilous Passion

On her part, she knew it was love. She’d felt it before, with Justin, but not like this—not this gut-clenching certainty that there was only one person in the whole world that mattered, only one person whose company was more precious than gold, and whose disapproval or indifference could break one’s heart completely.

Damn Rafe for what he’d done to her! She could no longer see straight, think straight, or even walk straight. The bramble scratches on her arms were testament to that fact. Yet, each time she’d come closer to exploring what was between them, he’d pushed her away.

If she didn’t love him so much, she could very easily hate him!

How would he feel if, this time, she rejected him? Once she’d delivered her news, she would say farewell and make it clear she’d merely been doing her duty, and never wanted to see him again.

Let him see how he liked it!

But beneath the notion lurked the faint hope that, hearing her indifference, Rafe would realize how much he needed her and was going to miss her.

Steeling her nerve, she set off again at a swift pace and soon reached Dovehouse Farm. The house was strangely quiet, with no sign of Rafe’s lookout, Paynter.

Her heart sank. It had never occurred to her that he might not be in when she arrived. Rafe could be anywhere, so how was she to get her important message to him?

She ran around the corner of the barn toward the farmhouse, and in her haste, failed to notice a timber beam propped against the barn’s open midstrey. She collided heavily with it, sending it crashing to the ground with a crack like a musket shot.

Well, that should bring Paynter out of his hiding place. Or wake him up…

When she reached the house, she thundered on the knocker and waited.

Still nothing.

Fear prickled along the back of her neck. Was she truly alone here? A place that had formerly felt so safe now seemed to bristle with menace. Hearing the creak of a hinge, she ran back to the side of the barn and peeped round the corner.

Someone was in the stables. One of the doors was still swinging gently. But if it was Rafe or one of his henchmen who’d been there, why hadn’t they come out to see what the noise was?

Battling the urge to flee and hide, she crept out from the shadow of the barn and padded cautiously toward the stables.

Peering into the rich, warm darkness, it took her eyes a moment to adjust.

Good God.

“Rafe?” Oh lord! She yelled, “Goves! Hamblett! Paynter! Where is everyone? Help! Oh God, Rafe, speak to me!”

He was lying across the back of the horse, trussed up like a Christmas goose, with a bag over his head.

He wasn’t moving.

But the horse was. Her shouting and its unfamiliar burden were making it champ and toss its head.

Thinking quickly, she grabbed a nose bag from the wall and scrabbled about in the pungent darkness for the stash of oats. All fingers and thumbs, she somehow managed to pour a measure into the nosebag, then tugged the beast’s nose down and secured the bag over its head. After a couple of irritable snorts, the animal settled down to a wet snuffling and munching.

She spun back to Rafe.

Quickly, she removed the bag from his head. His eyes were closed, and there was no sign of life. He was gagged with a strip of cloth tied so tightly it bit into the edges of his mouth. She fought desperately with the knot until, at last, it came free.

Summoning all her strength, she dragged Rafe’s limp body from the horse. He thumped unceremoniously onto the ground, and she prayed he wasn’t injured in the fall, though, surely, that landing must have hurt.

He still didn’t move.

Refusing to despair, she slapped his face a few times, but his head just lolled from side to side. Seeing a bucket, she caught it up, raced to the horse trough to fill it, and threw the whole pail of water straight into his face.

Rafe made a choking, gurgling sound, and she fell to her knees, wiping the streaming water from his brow. Her heart, which had forgotten to beat for the last five minutes, leaped into life.

He wasn’t dead!

He gasped and coughed for a full minute, then sucked in a ragged breath. “In…my…boot.”