A Stranger at Castonbury - By Amanda McCabe Page 0,76
nostrils.
Her eyes flew open, and she saw that the candle had toppled into a pile of blankets and flames were dancing up the wall. Smoke curled around her feet.
She leapt up and ran to the door, frantically trying to pull it open. It was still barred.
‘Let me out!’ she screamed, pounding on the door. She coughed on the smoke and pressed her arm over her face. ‘Dejar yo fuera, let me out!’
Was this the end, then? Had she survived everything in Spain only to die here? So many things flashed through her mind, Lydia and Mr Hale, Lily and Giles’s wedding. The cool green fields and pale walls of Castonbury. Jamie and how very much she loved him. Were they all gone from her now?
‘No,’ she cried. No, she would not give up her life so easily. She had so much to live for. She had found Jamie again. She threw her whole body against the door. Pain shot down her side, but she ignored it and threw herself forward again and again until she sobbed in exhaustion.
Suddenly the door was flung open and she stumbled. She would have fallen if a pair of strong arms hadn’t closed around her and lifted her up.
‘Catalina!’ Jamie shouted. ‘My darling, are you hurt?’
She clung to him as she shook her head. ‘I’m not hurt,’ she managed to choke out just as she heard timbers snapping in the roof.
Jamie spun around and ran with his love in his arms to the edge of the clearing. The night was terribly lit up with smoke and flames. He lowered her carefully to the grass and kissed her hard over and over. His gaze scanned over her as if to assure himself she was truly unhurt.
‘Where is Alicia?’ she asked.
‘She is safe,’ Jamie said. ‘We found her running down the road. She and Everett have gone to fetch more help at Castonbury.’
‘Oh, Jamie,’ Catalina whispered, suddenly realising the enormity of what had almost happened. They had nearly been parted again, for ever this time. She couldn’t quit shaking. ‘I thought I might never see you again.’
Jamie held her close and kissed her forehead, her cheek, the corner of her mouth, over and over. ‘I’ll always come for you, my love. Always, no matter what. I promise you that.’
He kissed her once more and helped her to her feet. When her knees nearly buckled, he caught her around the waist and held her steady.
‘Come,’ he said. ‘I should take you home now and send for the doctor.’
‘No, I don’t need a doctor,’ Catalina protested, but she let him lead her into the stand of woods that led to the road.
But they did not get very far. A man suddenly stumbled out from behind a tree in the darkness. His coat was torn and his red hair tangled, yet Catalina could see the mad glitter of his eyes. It was Webster. And he held a pistol levelled on them.
Catalina’s mouth went dry, and her heart pounded with a fresh rush of panic. She spun around hard, pulling Jamie with her, but the footman was behind them with another gun in his hand. His face was white and his breath was laboured as if his panic was even greater than hers. The gun wavered in his hand yet he held on to it.
‘So you got my message, Hatherton,’ Webster said with a terrible triumph in his voice. ‘I knew if I just waited in the right place you would come to me. This is meant to be.’
Jamie’s hand moved towards his coat, as if he hid weapons there.
‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you, Hatherton,’ Webster said. ‘Not with my friend’s gun aimed right at Mrs Moreno’s pretty head. I’m sure you wouldn’t want anything to happen to her, as it did in Spain.’
Jamie’s arm tightened around Catalina. ‘What is your game, Webster?’ he said brusquely.
‘I have no game here,’ Webster said, his voice escalating. ‘You are the one who ruined my life by being alive, by exposing the plot I so carefully constructed around Miss Walters and her brat. You always did have a knack for using your unearned privileges to ruin other people. But now it looks like I have the upper hand at last.’
Catalina glanced frantically between Webster and his footman accomplice. The man didn’t seem to share Webster’s wild confidence. The hand holding his gun trembled, which made the firearm wobble around in a terrifying way. What if it went off?