A Stranger at Castonbury - By Amanda McCabe Page 0,73

flickering candle.

Then it all came flooding back to her. The shattering glass at Alicia’s house, Webster knocking her to the floor. They had been kidnapped by the very man they had been scheming to trap.

Catalina sat up too fast, wincing as pain rushed through her head. ‘Are you hurt, Alicia? Did he...’

‘Oh, no,’ Alicia said quickly. ‘He just knocked me out and somehow brought us here—wherever here is.’

Catalina pressed her fingertips to her temples and studied the dark room they were in. It was a place she knew—the sheepherder’s cottage in the woods where Jamie had brought her the day they had both got caught in that terrible downpour. It was the cottage where they had made love in front of the fire. She slowly pushed herself to her feet and went to try the door. It was securely bolted from the outside.

‘I am sure someone will find us very soon,’ she said, trying to push down the fear rising inside of her. Panic did no good. She went to the shelves along the wall and pulled down some blankets. She handed one to Alicia and wrapped the other around herself. ‘Surely two men can’t take two unconscious women out of the house without someone seeing.’

Alicia nodded, but Catalina could see how pale and frightened she was. ‘Thank heaven Crispin was with the neighbour today. My poor baby. If Webster had got him as well...’ She broke off on a ragged sob.

Catalina sat back down next to her and put her arm around Alicia’s trembling shoulders. ‘All will be well, I am sure. Lady Phaedra knew I was coming to Buxton today, and when I do not make it back to Castonbury she will know something is amiss and will tell Jamie. He will make that bastardo Webster sorry he was ever born.’

Alicia nodded again. ‘You—you do love him, don’t you?’

‘Yes,’ Catalina whispered. ‘I do love him.’ And she realised those were the truest words she had ever spoken. She loved Jamie more than anything, and she always would. No matter what had happened in Spain, who he had worked for, how long they had been separated, he was her beautiful, kind, strong Jamie. She had been a fool to think she could ever go away from him again. The past was gone. They had both done what they had to do in times of desperation, but now they were through it.

Or so she had hoped.

‘I am sure that is one reason Webster hates Lord Hatherton so much,’ Alicia said.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Webster wanted you in Spain. Once, when they were foxed, he bragged to Colonel Chambers he would have you, and when the colonel laughed at him he was furious. But even Webster could see how you and Lord Hatherton looked at each other. It was just one more thing Hatherton had—family, money, position, women—that Webster could never hope for.’

‘And he took his revenge once he thought Jamie was gone,’ Catalina whispered.

‘Yes. Once he was gone and could no longer fight—and beat—Webster. Webster is a coward. He would never confront someone he hated directly. But now—now Hatherton is back.’

‘Webster is surely done for.’

‘I only hope we get out of here to see it.’ Alicia sat back against the wall and stared into the flickering flame of the candle. ‘I loved Colonel Chambers too.’

‘Did you?’ Catalina said. She could see the truth of it in the sadness in Alicia’s eyes, and she suddenly felt something she had never thought she would for the woman—sympathy.

‘Yes. Not as you love Hatherton, perhaps, but in my own way. He was so kind to me, and for a while I wasn’t lonely any longer.’ Alicia hugged her knees closer. ‘But I know he is truly gone for ever and I will never have another chance with him. Not as you have now with Hatherton.’

Catalina turned Alicia’s words over in her mind. She and Jamie did have another chance, a miraculous chance to find each other again. She had been so foolish ever to push that away, even for good reasons. Love was a gift given to so few. She and Jamie had found it again, and she wouldn’t let it go twice.

But before she could tell him that, before they could begin the rest of their lives afresh, she had to get out of this prison....

She studied their provisions. It wasn’t much. A few charred sticks in the fireplace, the wooden shelves that appeared solidly bolted to the walls, the blankets. But there were