AllFreeNovel
Share Us
* * *
Patricia’s heart was in her mouth as she followed the Watchman up the rickety staircase of the derelict house. The man was on high alert, brandishing a pistol. He had entreated her to wait outside with Adam while he went inside, but she was having none of that.
She glanced back at the boy, who was on her tail. His eyes were wide. She hadn’t been able to convince him to wait outside either. It seemed that Adam the street urchin had decided that he was her protector through thick and thin now.
“Stand back,” said the Watchman, brandishing his pistol.
He burst through the door. Patricia didn’t listen to him. There was no way she was standing back. Whatever was happening in that room, or had happened, she was going to confront it head on. This was Jackson. This was her husband. A man she loved with her whole being.
The time for being meek was gone.
Her head reeled in shock. Jackson was lying on the floor alone. There was no sign of Lord Reynolds and Lord Reading.
He looked dreadful. He had obviously been badly beaten. There was dried blood on his face and his nose was twisted. Slowly, he gazed up at her, his eyes wild with longing.
She rushed forward and sank to his side, putting her arms around him tenderly. They didn’t speak. There was no need for the moment. He put his head against her chest, gasping. Tears silently slid down her cheeks, falling upon his hair like raindrops.
He was alive. He was alive!
She sent up a silent prayer of fervent gratitude. Whatever happened afterwards – whatever happened between them – it didn’t matter. He was alive. Come what may.
* * *
Patricia’s heart was full as she gazed down upon Jackson. They still hadn’t spoken a word to one another. He had just clung to her, shuddering. Her heart was breaking for what had been done to him. It would take a long time for him to heal from the injuries he had sustained tonight.
“What has gone on here?” rapped the Watchman. “Who has done this to you?”
Jackson stared at the man. “It was Lord Archibald Cardigan,” he whispered. “He was just about to kill me before Lord Reynolds and Lord Reading intervened. He tried to escape, and they are after him now.”
Patricia gasped with shock. “Lord Cardigan. He did this to you?”
Slowly, Jackson nodded, his face twisting. “He hired thugs to abduct me off the street.”
The Watchman sheathed his pistol. “I shall pursue as well. Are you quite well enough to stay here? Time is of the essence.”
“I shall look after my husband,” said Patricia, in a tremulous voice. “Please find the scoundrel who did this to him.”
The Watchman nodded grimly, leaving the room with Adam trailing in his wake.
Patricia turned to her husband. He was staring up at her, with wide eyes. Her face twisted in sorrow again for what had been done to him.
“I am sorry,” she whispered at last, into his hair. “So very sorry about everything.” She took a deep breath. “I should have told you immediately of my family’s financial woes. I was trying to find the courage to do so. But we were growing so close I did not know how…”
He gazed up at her, smiling gently. “I was foolish too, Patricia. I acted rashly, indulging in self-pity. I should have stayed at home and talked to you about it, rather than rushing off to drink away my rage.” He paused. “I thought that you had never cared for me – that it had all been a pretence from the very start. And that thought made me crazy…because I have come to care for you so very much.”
She started crying again. Silent tears, slipping down her cheeks. She did not even try to stop them.
“Idocare for you,” she cried, her heart twisting. “I…I love you, Jackson. I have been falling in love with you from the very first time we met. At first it was about the money.” She sobbed for a moment. “I felt I had no choice but to secure a wealthy husband since my dowry had been gambled away. So had my sister’s. I was desperate. And my mother was pressuring me. But it became so much more than that.”
He kept gazing up at her, his eyes burning. “You love me?”
She nodded slowly. “Yes, I love you. More than life itself. I so wanted to tell you the truth, so that there was nothing between us. But I was so scared that you would despise me because of it, and I could not stand the thought of that…”
He smiled ruefully. “Despise you? How could I? I love you desperately, Patricia. Even when I was angry and drinking myself into oblivion, I still loved you. It was because I love you that it hurt so much.”
She shuddered. The tears were drying up, now, and a strange light had entered her soul. He loved her. He loved her as much as she loved him. Hestillloved her even after the shock of what had been written in that scandal sheet. It was a miracle. She didn’t deserve it in the least, but she was so ardently glad it was true.
“You know what my biggest regret was, when I thought my end was coming tonight?” he whispered. “It was the fact that I would never see your face again and tell you how I truly feel. That I was going to die with it all unspoken between us.”
