Light to Valhalla (14 page)

With Sid otherwise occupied, Alex strode forward, stopp
ing directly in front of his wife
.
S
oft light illuminated the shimmering green of her eyes, sending an array of amber sparkles floating through the endless depths
.
Alex could
be lost if he wasn’t careful—th
ough a
large
part of him did not want to be careful
.
“You’ve a nasty bump on the head,” he murmured
, brushing a thumb across the smooth flesh beneath the
gash hidden in her hairline.

“My head hit something sharp in the crash
.
The broken window I think.
”
Reflexively she
reached up
to touch the
injured
scalp
.
T
heir fingers collided and a heated blush
flooded
her cheeks
.
Charl
otte
snatched the hand away, but Alex
captured her fingers, curling the slender digits within his own
.
Her eyes
widened and
Alex
moved to draw her close, but she pulled away, quickly backing to a single chair beside the wall
.
For the barest instant pure vulnerability
flickered
in her eyes, worse even than with her captors in the woods
.
She blinked
,
and that quickly, the guard flashed back over her eyes.

Alex
sighed,
Charley obviously hadn’t reached the same peace about the
past as he had
.
More slowly he followed
, seating himself in the adjacent chair
.
After the black moment in London when he’d truly believed he’d lost her
without having the chance to apologize for
all that had gone so horribly wrong
or even begin to make amends he simply
needed to be near her
.
What a fool he’d been to shut
those he loved
from his life these last years
.
“Are you really all right after today,
Charley
?”

A gusty breath
swept
past her
lips—
full,
very
tempting
lips
—
and he was reminded of that moment in the woods when he’d been possessed with the urge to kiss her.

“I’m sorry I
wasn’t home to protect you
.”

Charley
s
hrugged
, weary face cast downward
.
“But you came for me.
”
She
tipped her head back,
hesitantly meeting his gaze
.
D
isbelief shown in tho
s
e
huge eyes
and
his chest tightened
with the
sudden,
awful realization
that
she
had no faith
in him
.
“When I saw you running in those woods I thought you were a mirage
,” she continued
.
I knew I was going to die, that those men would—
”

“You can’
t think
I
woul
d
have left you to those animals.
”
Alex scoffed,
raking
an incredulous
hand
through his hair
.
What
a muck
.
His own wife
sooner
believed
he’d leave an innocent woman
to rot than
pay a ransom or come for her.

“I—”

“Speak no more of it
.
”
H
e
raised a silencing hand, searching for something suitable to say… something to instill
confidence
.
Show her that he was not a total scoundrel
.
Intently he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and splaying his p
alms before him
.
“You have my solemn vow they will pay for their ill treatment of you.”

Charley cocked her head, spearing him with the full
devastating effe
ct of those crystal clear pools
.
He gulped
.
Disconcerting those eyes… far too green… 
“
Thank you,” she murmured, offering up a tentative smile
.
Her
demeanor
softened and a spark of kinship, mayhap even promise, warmed her
face
.

Ever uncomfortable with praise or gratitude
of any kind,
Alex executed a curt nod and sat back
in his chair
.

“
I’m glad you’re home, Alex
.
However uncomfortable your homecoming
last night
was, I do worry terribly while you’re away
.
I always have
.
We receive so little word I forever fear the army dispatches that come to the house bear bad news.”

Unsure how to respond because the worry she spoke of was
a direct result of his
own
coldness
h
e simply kissed her forehead
.
Charley shivered beneath the touch and Alex
grew
more than a little unnerved himself
.
If only he didn’t feel so damn guilty
about his stubborn, misguided silence
.

She laid her head against
the back of the chair
, shuddering once more
.
He knew the most intense desire to
take
her
in his arms
, comfort her and wash the pain from her eyes.
“
I’ll be fine, but n
one of this has sunk in yet
.
I still can’t fathom anyone being paid to kill
me
.”

“Paid
to
kill
who?
”
Thomas Trent,
Viscount
Huntfield
,
strode into
the room,
considerably more put together in a white shirt and tan trousers
than his earlier, shirtless, appearance
.
“
Charley
?
”
Confusion lined every facet of his youthful face as he glanced between his sister and Alex
.

“Yes,” Alex supplied,
releasing his wife,
and
facing the younger man
.
“Last night
Charlotte was abducted and
I received a message demanding
a 5000 pound
ransom
for her safe return.”

Disbelief washed Thomas’s slack jawed face
.
“Fi-fi-five thousand pounds?”
he splu
tte
red
, clutching his chest
.
“Dear God.”

“It wasn’t necessary to pay
,” Alex assured him
.
“Sidney and I rode out
and had no trouble tracking the men responsible
.
Rest assured
,
n
o harm came to your sister.”

“Except that they weren’t hired to kidnap me
,” Charley
interceded
.
“
They were hired to kill me.
”

“What?
”
Evelyn
—with two large dogs on either side—
swept into the room
next,
wide eyed and
white as a sheet after
Charley
’s outburst
.
“Heaven above, did I say I
want
ed coffee?” T
he countess turned back to the door
.
“George, I’ll need a decanter of brandy as well.”

“
As will I
,” Alex muttered.

“Mother!
”
Charley
and Thomas cried in tandem
.

“You cannot drink bran
dy at half five in the morning,” Charley protested.

Evelyn dismissed the twins with a flick of the wrist
.
“At my age and in the country I can drink brandy whenever I please
.
It’s a benefit to old
age
you see.”

As if
old
could ever
describe Lady Grayson.

“Now, tell me, w
ho would want to hurt
Charley
?”

“Oh, this has nothing to do with
Charley
.
”
Sid interjected from beside the now roaring fire
.
“
All of this
affair is
to spite Alex
.
I’d stake my life on it.”

Evelyn
speared Alex with piercing green eyes
much like Charley’s
.
“What did you do?”

“Nothing.”
He
held up both hands
, feeling very much t
he recalcitrant child
, and
pegged
Sid with a lethal glare
.
“
I only got home yesterday.”

“Then who the hell
would want my sister dead to spite you?”
Thomas stalked forward a fist clenched at his side.

“Look,” Alex began slowly.

“
Don’t
sugarcoat this
, Alex
.
You
know
damn well what is going on,
” Sid
needled
.
“Tell them about Witherspoon
.
Charley
nearly died tonight and she
deserves to know
the truth
.”

Alex
turned a roiling gaze to his cousin, suppressing the
urge to
throttle hi
m
.
“You’re not helping matters.”

“
Tell them or I will,
”
Sidney pressed
.

“Tell us what?”
Charley
backed away from Alex, crossing
her arms over her chest,
and
shooting daggers through him as only she could
.
“Who is Witherspoon? 
The general?”

From there any semblance of civil conversation dissolved into
a shouting match
, everyone
bellowing
their recollection of events and conjectures
at once
.
Even the damn wolfhounds howled
incessantly
.
Alex closed his eyes and beat back
the urge to hurl the incredibly expensive vase sitting on the end table into the side of Sidney’s head
.
His cousin was intentionally pitt
ing him
against Charlotte and the Trent’s
.
Alex hadn’t planned to divulge his suspicions about Witherspoon until he had concrete information to go on
.

“All right, all right!
”
He strode to the center of the r
oom
.
“Everyone quiet down and allow me to
explain.”

The roar continued
.
George slipped into the room with a silver coffee service and
took in the sc
ene
with mild amusement reflected in
his
wise old
eye
s
.
The
reed thin
butler settled the tray on a table, put two fingers in his mouth and let fly a shrill whistle
.

“
Augh
!
”
Groans rolled in unison through the room as everyone clamped hands to their ears
.
Even t
he dogs rolled onto their backs, whining.