Light to Valhalla (25 page)

Her heart did a silly flip
.
Had he been dreaming of her?

Alertness
slowly
overcame the sleepy—no doubt brandy induced—haze clouding
Alex’s
eyes
.
An odd mixture of confusion and alarm flashed across his
face
.
“
T
he hell
…
” he muttered
under his breath
, glancing
hurriedly toward the door
.
“Where am I?
”
He started
vio
l
ently
, and sho
t to his feet, knocking the brandy decanter over in the process
.
Amber liquid splashed across the burgundy rug.

“Oh!
”
Charley
leapt backward, but not enough to avoid
the splatter of sloshing brandy entirely
.

“
B
loody hell.
”
Now fully awake,
Alex turned a frustrated circle, kicking a
t the spilled liquor
.
“Has no one ever told you
it’s dangerous to sneak up on a sleeping man?
”

She
blanched
,
trapped in the wintry hue of his eyes
.
For a single heart stopping moment his soul lay bare to her
.
She could
see
him
.
All the hurt and dispirited hopes
.
What
had
he been dreaming about?
 
“
Alex?
”
S
he
stepped carefully forward
.
“What’s wrong?
”
She had the distinct impression he was
still
not
completely
with her, but
hovering
in the
space
between dreams and the waking world
.

He plopped back in the chair and pinched the bridge of his nose, mumbling incoherently under his breath
.
Or perhaps not so much incoherently as a stream of more colorful adjectives not fit for a refined lady’s ears; she heard
damn
at least twice
.

“Alex?”

He didn’t move.

She gulped,
sensing forces far deeper than his irritation with her were at play, and gently rested
a hand on his fore
arm
.
He flinched, the muscles bunching beneath her hand, but
she refused to move away
.
He was a shade too pale and the barest tremor
touched his hand
.
“Is everything alright?  Are you well?”

“
Perfectly fine,” he replied
instantly, though
a suspicious rasp touched his voice
.

“Are you certain?  Perhap
s a little breakfast or some coffee
would help
.
I could call for some.”

“Quite alright,” he muttered, finally looking up to her
.
He cleared his throat
and stood abruptly
.
“Terribly
sorry
about t
his mess, y
ou took me by surprise is
all.
”
The
harsh
crease running like a canyon across the bridge of his
nose was back, lending an austere air to his features
,
and
effectively eclips
ing
any hint of
the
boyishness
visible in sleep
.
Lord Major
Coverstone
was back
.
Stiff and formal
.
Charley
knew a twinge of sadness for
him
.
He’d lost something over the years, a spark or perh
aps even a piece of himself
.
“I seem to be making a habit of destroying properties in your presence.”

The splintering cabinet in his father’s study after he’d first arrived at
Coverstone
House
flashed through he
r mind
.
She smiled weakly and
pulled back her
hand
.
“I’ll fetch Mrs. Kent about the mess
.
This sort of thing is a daily occurrence
with my father in the house.”

“Sorry about your dress.”

She followed his gaze to the
pale
blue hem dotted
with liquor spots
, and flicked her wrist dismissively
.
“Think nothing of it
.
The gown is ancient
.
It’s a wonder it still fits me.
”
She extended a hand
in a tentative peace offering
.
“Join me for breakfast?”

“No,” he said quickly, too quickly, and her heart fell just a bit
.
“I
think I’ll
step outside for a little
air.
”
He turned to the
window
.
Fresh snow rolled across the landscape, pure and unmarred by humanity
.
“I do love
a fresh snow,” Alex murmured
.
The corner of his lips quirked
though his gaze never left the window
.

“
Even when it comes a month too soon?” she quipped
,
attempting levity
.

Alex nodded absently.

“
I could join you.”

“That’s not necessary
,” he said quickly
.
“
Enjoy your breakfast.
”
Without further warning or adieu he turned and marched
out of the room.

Utterly confused
Charley
stared after her husband’s departing back
.
What had transpired between them?

Something significant of that she was certain
.

“Alex,” she call
ed, hiking up her skirt and rush
ing into the hall after him
.
“
Don’t go, we need to talk.
”
Their argument last night was not how she’d intended to discuss Sidney’s accusations
and he was obviously angry
.

The heavy footfalls paused and her heart swelled
.
He was going to stop for her.

Charley rounded the corner in time to spy the butler intercepting her husband
.
Frustrated she stopped
.

“Lord
Coverstone
?
”
George
said off
i
ciously
.
“A man from the village
is here to see you. T
he magistrate I believe.”

“I will receive him in t
he study once I’ve freshened up,” Alex replied
.
“
Give me ten minutes.”

“Very well, my lord.
”
George bowed
.
“May I add,
sir, that Mrs. Kent
finished pressing
y
our uniform just last
night
.
It is laid out in your dressing room.”

“Very good.
”
Alex
turned on a crisp heel and strode toward the stairs
.

Charley was close behind
.
“Do you think this is about the men who kidnapped me?”

Alex glanced impatiently over
his shoulder and continued marching down the hall
.
“I don’t know
.
Probably.”

“Perhaps they’ve found the men already.
”
Charley hauled her skirts up all but skipping to keep the pace
.

“I doubt it.”

She slipped hurrying around the corner
.
“You must admit
.
It is possible.”

This time Alex did not respond a
t all
.
He grasped the banister and took
the stairs two at a time
.

“What will happen once
Johnston
and Halverson
are arrested
?
”
Charley refused to give up
.

“They’ll hang,” he clipped
terse
ly, shoving through the door to their bedroom, yanking his shirt off as he stalked toward the adjoining dressing chamber
.
A slip of paper fluttered from the breast pocket, settling lightly on the floor
.

Odd, it looked like a post letter
.
Was he sending the note or receiving it?  Her fingers itched to pick it up and read it.

“Mark my words, Charley.
”
His words snapped her back to reality
.
“
I’ll find out who hired those
bastards
and personally see to it each and every one of them swings
.
Hell, I’ll tie
the nooses
with my own hands
.”

She shivered
, crossing her arms over her middle
.
H
e was deadly serious
.

“It’s better than they deserve.
”
He stomped into the dressing room
, and she had the distinct impression his
surly behavior stemmed from something far deeper than her kidnapping
.

Did it have something to do with that letter?

Biding her time she knotted her fingers behind her back and rested her
back against the wall outside the adjoining chamber
.
“Alex?”

“What?” he barked, the tone clearly stating,
just go away
.

“
Have you considered that
your mother
may have
hired those men
?”

Dead silence fell over the room
.
Charley dared not breathe
.

“The culprit here
is not my mother,” he growled, stepping back out of the dressing chamber a bar of soap clenched in one hand.

“Then who?
  General Witherspoon
?
”
Charley shook her head
.
“I’ve never met the general,
but
I can’t imagine he’d wan
t to hurt a woman he does not know
.
”

Alex ignored her and stalked back into the bathing chamber
.
He plunged the soap into the water, lathering it in his hands.

“I can tell when you’re hiding something.
”
She
moved to the door and
speared him with a shrewd g
lare
.
“Why do you think General Witherspoon has anything to do with this?”

Alex
refused to look up at
her
.
“The general
acquired a strong dislike for me a couple of years ago.”

C
harley
rolled her eyes
.
“A stro
n
g dislike?
  I should think more than a strong dislike
warrants what you’ve accused the general of.”

The muscle
s in his jaw worked overtime
.

“W
ould you tell me what happened?”

“
No.
”
Alex glanced up, must have seen the crestfallen look on her face, and released a beleaguered sigh
.
"
It’s
a very long story
and one I have no intention of delving into at this particular moment.”