If You Were Mine Read Online Free PDF Page B

either. Frustration clawed
and burned in his stomach.
    Dominic
couldn’t bear to hear any more, and when the men began to discuss
the movement of the body, he took several steps away from them,
disappearing into the encroaching gloom for a few private moments
to compose himself.
    His
abrupt departure made the Magistrate to jump in shock, as he
scanned the swirling mists around them warily. Like a ghost, the
big man simply vanished without a sound.
    With a
shiver, he turned to the somewhat reassuring bulk of the man beside
him. “I will give you my direction. Should you need any further
assistance please do not hesitate.”
    At the
other man’s abrupt nod, he quickly took his leave and with a curt
bow, spun on his heel and made for his curricle as fast as his
heels could carry him.
    Several
minutes later, with a final lingering look at the grave site, Peter
and Dominic turned and made their own way carefully around the
assembled gravestones surrounding the old Norman church.
    “ Do you think she was trying to get to get to Melton when
Rupert caught up with her?” Dominic was unable to keep the whisper
of hope from his voice.
    Knowing
his friend well, Peter heard the unspoken question. “I think she
may have been, but we know she didn’t get there. God why, Dominic?
Why kill her?” Pain and anger laced his voice as Peter raged.
“Wasn’t it bad enough that Rupert had already tried to sell her to
that bloody scoundrel DeLisle? Why kill her?”
    Images
and thoughts of her final moments swirled around in his head, many
too hideous to contemplate. What had they done to her that they
needed to hide?
    Isobel
was undoubtedly beautiful and clever. He also knew from the long
hours he had spent listening to Peter recount their childhood, that
she had a wild and slightly reckless side that once revealed, was
difficult to contain. He too had encountered her wilful streak that
at the time had unmanned him, and strengthened his desire to make
her his wife as soon as possible. Was it this wild side Rupert had
been unable to vanquish? Had her own stubborn refusal to bow down
to him led her to her death?
    Solidarity and silence settled between the two men as they
rode through the night. Tall and proud, and clearly of military
bearing, their presence was so blatantly menacing that even the
gang of ruthless highwaymen lurking in the bushes watched them pass
without a murmur.
    The
Magistrate also watched both men slowly disappear into the swirling
fog shrouding the evening air. Shaking his head, he puffed out a
deep sigh of relief as they finally disappeared into the gloom. His
collar felt uncomfortably tight as he considered the events of the
evening, and the possible disaster narrowly averted.
    “ That was close,” he muttered quietly to himself. “Very
close.” He frowned as he clambered aboard his curricle. He could
only hope that both men would soon depart from the area, and life
could return to normal. He needed them out of the area, before they
discovered the truth.
    Easing
his curricle onto the rutted track, he turned his horse,
thankfully, in the opposite direction towards home. He had a
strange sense of foreboding that tonight wasn’t the last he would
see of them. Shaking off the pervading sense of doom, he carefully
shot their retreating backs one last worried glance, before
clicking his horse into a faster walk.
    He had
made a promise to a friend a long time ago, that he would take
whatever action necessary if he was called upon, and indeed, he
had. He could only hope that the actions he had taken today had
been the right ones. As he trotted along, doubts began to creep in
and his involvement in events a month ago suddenly didn’t seem so
sound. Well intended or not. Their distress upon confirming the
identity of the gently bred woman had been a true and honest
reaction, so why had he been asked to secure the outcome he
had?
    Wishing
he had insisted on details of the current whereabouts, he pondered
the questions