To Have and to Hold (8 page)

“It
will take more than gossip to get me Rupert Davenport, you should know
that.”
 
His voice was mocking as it hung
between them. Dominic settled back in the saddle.
 
“Never forget, the past will always come back
to haunt you.”

With
that last aside, Dominic casually nudged his horse into a slow walk.
  
Without looking at the little man again he
guided his mount through the myriad of bustling bodies lining the main street
and headed towards home.

It took
everything within him not to dig his heels into his horse and take off at a
fast run after her.
 
Sufficient time had
lapsed to give Isobel ample opportunity to put distance between herself and
Davenport, if only he knew where she was going.
 

Outwardly
seeming relaxed and at ease, Dominic carefully scanned every nook, alley and
corner as he made his way out of town towards
Tavistock
Hall.
 
Would Isobel have the good sense
to go to his estate?
 
He hoped she
trusted him enough to seek sanctuary there.
  
 
Surely, his actions in the village had proven
he would protect her, hadn’t they?
 
Still
he couldn’t forget the look of sheer terror that had suffused her beautiful
features as she had eyed Rupert.
 
Even
with the ravages of life on the street clearly evident, her delicate beauty had
still shone through.
 
Where the hell had
she been?
 
And why the hell hadn’t she
come to him sooner?
 

He had not gone
far before he met with his groom.
 
“The
carriage went to the White Horse on the outskirts of town.
 
There’s another man.
 
Short, stocky with a big mouth on ‘
im
”.

So Alfred was
with Bertram
DeLisle
after all.
 
“Well that certainly makes my job easier,”
Dominic muttered as he nodded for Sanderson to draw alongside. As they cleared
the outskirts of town, Dominic nudged his horse into a faster walk not waiting
for the other man to keep up.

“Isobel is alive
and here.”
 
Dominic murmured softly
unable to keep the disbelief and elation out of his voice.
 
Although he couldn’t see anyone nearby, he
couldn’t risk being overheard.
 
Ignoring
his groom’s startled look, he kept his gaze steadily facing forwards unwilling
to show the man the depth of his emotion.
  
He swallowed hard against the lump lodged in his throat and paused to
gather himself.
  
“Davenport has somehow
caught up with her as well, but I cannot be certain he saw through the
disguise.
 
It is imperative we find
Isobel and take her to
Tavistock
without delay before
Davenport gets her.”
 
Briefly he
described her appearance.
 
Each detail
clearly enshrined on his memory.
 
“She
headed this way but I don’t know whether she would have the sense to head towards
Tavistock
.
 
Keep an eye out.”
  

Their search
didn’t last long.
 
“There!” Sanderson
slowly reined his mount to a stop and nodded towards the brief flurry of
movement in the woods to the left of them no more than a mile outside of town.

“I’ll go after
her.
 
She doesn’t know you and might
think you are with Davenport.”
 
Dominic
murmured and quickly dismounted and threw his reins towards the older man. He
didn’t add that he desperately needed to see for himself again that it was
indeed her and not a cruel trick of his imagination.
 
“Take Brutus through this tree line and
through the gate at the far end.
 
Wait
for us there.
 
Keep your eyes and ears
peeled.
 
Make sure nobody has followed
us.”
 
He warned before jumping over the
low slung stone wall and disappearing quickly into the woods.

Isobel felt
sick.
 
She was unable to stop the
trembling in her fingers.
 
Once or twice
along the way she had shaken so badly she had clumsily dropped her precious
supply of bread into the dirt at her feet.
 

Heart thumping
in her chest, she made no attempt to swipe at the tears on her cheeks as she
remembered Dominic’s shock at seeing her.
 
She must look such a fright she mused considering the past few weeks of
nothing but stream water with which to see to her ablutions.

How had he
recognised her?
 
Although she hadn’t been
anywhere near a mirror for so long, she knew that she looked nothing like
before.
 
She was even dressed as a man,
with her breasts tightly bound and her hair cut short.
 
Her now baggy clothing hid any remaining
shape of her feminine form rendering her practically sexless.
 
Her cheeks had hollowed, and her skin was
unfashionably bronzed from being out of doors for so long.
 
How
How
had he known it was her?

As she stumbled
along she became aware of the flurry of movement behind her.
 
A quick glance over her shoulder revealed
nothing she could see, but she distinctly heard twigs snapping and the heavy
footfall of another person behind her.
  
Heart thumping in her throat she stopped and slowly turned.
 
If she could summon the energy, she would
have run but all of her waning strength had finally been exhausted leaving the
bustling market town at the speed she had.
 
She didn’t have the energy left for a flight through the uneven floor of
the wooded copse she was in.

Unable to do
anything else, her knees trembled as she stood silently watching and waiting
for whomever was behind her to appear out of the gloom.
 
Heart thumping she reminded herself if she
was to face death, then she would use every last ounce of her strength to keep
them from taking her until death came to claim her.
 

Instinctively,
she stepped back with a cry as a tall dark figure silently emerged from the
dense trees in front of her.
 
Her knees
buckled as fear overcame her and she could do nothing other than emit a low cry
of desolation as the dark figure swooped down upon her with menacing speed.

“Isobel,”
Dominic murmured softly as he rushed forwards to sweep her into his arms before
she hit the floor.
 
Cursing he nearly
fell over himself as he lifted her clear of the ground with far too much
ease.
 
There was very little weight on
her with which to struggle.
 

“Isobel,
darling,” Dominic murmured as he pulled her tightly against his chest, swamped
with a depth of emotion that threatened to buckle his knees as she fell
willingly against him.
 
Carefully
pressing a lingering kiss to her forehead, he groaned aloud and slowly sank to
his knees as she instinctively sought the comfort of his embrace.
 
Thin arms quickly stole around his neck,
pulling her tighter against him as the reality of his presence sank in.
 

“Isobel,” he
murmured thickly unable to fight the raw emotion that brought tears to his
eyes.
 

“Dominic,”
Isobel murmured on a sob as she rested her head wearily upon the superfine wool
of his cloak, giving way to the tears that choked her. The thick material did
little to hide the solid band of muscle of his shoulder. Although he belonged
to another woman now, she desperately needed this stolen moment of his
comforting embrace.
 
Burying her face in
the warmth of his neck, she breathed deeply inhaling the scent of soap and
something quintessentially Dominic.
 

“Isobel,
darling,” Dominic’s warm breath swept gently across her cheek as his fist
tightened in her hair, keeping her pulled tightly against them as each gave in
to the emotions of the brutal months since their last union.
 

Several moments
later Isobel regretfully loosened her hold on him and eased backwards to lie
cradled in his arms.
 
Her tear stained
gaze locked with his as he drew nearer.
  

His lips were
warm and soft as they swept over hers before she could speak.
 
Once, twice they trembled as they brushed
backwards
and forwards with increasing pressure before settling more firmly upon hers,
probing deeper, demanding her compliance.
 
Seeking confirmation of her survival and accepting nothing less than her
absolute surrender.
  
His
hand shook as it
tenderly cupped her cheek, angling her head backwards as he sought to deepen
the kiss.
   

Isobel’s heart
thumped heavily beneath her breast as her mouth instinctively opened to his
demand.
 
Whatever he had done in the
past, she could deny him nothing.
 
Her
fingers tangled with the soft curls of hair at the nape of his neck as she
hungrily pulled his head closer.
 
Eyes
closed she gave herself over to the wondrous sensation of his demanding kiss
and the solid comfort of his warm embrace.
 
His firm lips plundered hers.
 
The
hot spear of his tongue probed and plundered the moist recesses of her mouth
accepting nothing less than her total compliance.
 
Seeking to brand her as his and demanding her
acquiescence.

Somewhere off in
the distance, was a strange whistle Isobel had never heard before floated
hauntingly through the air around
them.
 
Almost imperceptible in the darkening gloom
it had a profound and immediate effect upon Dominic.
 
Immediately, his lips released hers, his
breath coming in short pants as his hard gaze scanned the woodland surrounding
them.
 
The harsh lines of his passion
flushed face held a ruthless danger that made her shiver warily.
 
All vestiges of passion had immediately
vanished and his eyes hardened to glacial menace to such an extent that Isobel
wondered if she had imagined the forbidden passion of the previous few
moments.
 

“Dominic?”
 
Isobel murmured only to find his finger
resting upon her lips.
 
Silently, he
shook his head motioning for her to be quiet as he slowly eased them both to
their feet.
 
Unfortunately, whilst Isobel
had been lying wantonly in his arms, her body had also succumbed to lying upon
the damp, cold earth in nothing but inadequately thin clothing.
 
As he moved away from her, he took his warmth
with him.
 
Immediately, she shivered as
cold threatened her already tenuous hold on life and her legs buckled beneath
her meagre weight.
 
She gasped as she
found herself swept off the ground and pulled swiftly off her feet.
 
Without further ado, she was carried through
the darkness.

Astounded at the
speed of change in the past few moments, as she was swept along Isobel was unable
to tear her gaze from the outline of his chiselled features.
 
Bathed in shadows, his eyes were watchful and
waiting as he scanned the area before them.
 
She could feel the fine tension in his frame that warned her he was
alert and on guard.
 
She knew
instinctively there was no part of the woods surrounding them that hadn’t been
scanned thoroughly for any sign of danger.
 
This was a new and faintly alarming side of him she had never seen
before.