Guardian Angel - Garwood Julie - Страница 28

He pulled his mount to an abrupt stop next to hers. Then he reached out and grabbed the back of her neck. She was so startled, she didn't try to move away.

"I protect what is mine."

She wasn't about to give him argument. He looked as if he might throttle her if she did. Jade simply

stared at him and waited for him to let go of her.

"Do you understand what I'm telling you?" he demanded.

"Yes," she answered. "You will protect what belongs to you. I understand."

Caine shook his head. The little innocent was actually trying to placate him. He suddenly jerked her to

the side of her saddle, leaned down, and kissed her. Hard. Possessively.

She was more bewildered than ever. Caine pulled back and stared into her eyes. "It's time you

understood that you're going to belong to me, Jade."

She shook her head. "I'll belong to no man, Caine, and it's time you understood that."

He looked furious with her. Then, in the flash of a moment, his expression softened. Her sweet

protector was back in evidence. Jade almost sighed with relief.

"It's time we left the main road again," he said, deliberately changing the topic.

"Caine, I want you to realize…"

"Don't argue," he interrupted.

She nodded and was about to nudge her horse down the slope when Caine took the reins from her

hands and lifted her into his lap.

"Why am I riding with you?" she asked.

"You're tired."

"You could tell?"

For the first time in a long while, he smiled. "I could tell."

"I am weary," she admitted. "Caine, will Lyon's horse follow us? Your friend will be upset if his mount gets lost."

"She'll follow us," he answered.

"Good," she answered. She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested the side of her face against

his chest. "You smell so nice," she whispered.

"So do you," he told her.

He sounded terribly preoccupied to her. He also seemed determined to take the most challenging route through the forest. Jade put up with the inconvenience for a good ten minutes, then finally asked,

"Why are you making this journey so difficult?"

Caine blocked another low-hanging branch with his arm before answering her. "We're being followed."

That statement, given so matter-of-factly, stunned her as much as a pinch in the backside would if given by a stranger. She was immediately outraged. "We're not," she cried out. "I would have noticed."

She tried to pull away from him so she could look over his shoulder to see for herself. Caine wouldn't

let her move. "It's all right," he said. "They're still a distance behind us."

"How do you know?" she asked. "Have they been following us since we left London? No, of course

they haven't. I really would have noticed. How many do you suppose they are? Caine? Are you absolutely certain?"

He squeezed her into quitting her questions. "I'm certain," he answered. "They've been following us for about three, maybe four miles now. More specifically, since we reached my property line. I believe their number is six or seven."

"But…"

"I spotted them the last time I backtracked," he patiently explained.

"I backtracked with you, if you'll remember," she countered. "And I didn't see anyone."

She sounded incensed. Caine didn't know what to make of that reaction.

"Are we very far from your house?"

"About fifteen minutes away," Caine answered.

They broke through a clearing a short while later. Jade felt as though she'd just entered a wonderland. "It's beautiful here," she whispered.

The grassy clearing was circled on two sides by a narrow stream that trailed down a lazy slope adjacent

to a small cabin. Sunlight filtered through the branches bordering the paradise.

"Perhaps the gamekeeper is inside the cabin," she said. "He might be willing to help us trap the villains."

"The cabin's deserted."

"Then we'll just have to trap them on our own. Did you leave all the pistols behind?"

He didn't answer her. "Caine? Aren't we going to stop?"

"No," he said. "We're just taking a shortcut."

"Have you chosen another spot to wait for them?"

"I'm taking you home first, Jade. I'm not about to take any risks with you along. Now tuck your head

and close your mouth. It's going to get rough."

Since he was back to sounding surly again, she did as he ordered. She could feel his chin on the top of

her head as she squeezed her face against the base of his throat.

"Someday I want to come back to this spot," she whispered.

He didn't remark on that hope. He hadn't been exaggerating either when he said it was going to get rough. As soon as they reached the open fields, Caine pushed his mount into a full gallop. Jade felt like she was flying through the air again. It wasn't at all the same feeling as being pitched into the Thames, though, for now she had Caine to hold onto.

Whoever was behind this treachery had sent men to Caine's estate to wait for him. Jade worried about the possibility of an ambush when they neared the main grounds. She prayed her men would be there to take up the battle.

They were just about to reach the crest and the cover of the trees again when the sound of pistol shots rang out. Jade didn't know how to protect Caine's back now. She tried to twist in his arms to see where the threat was coming from, even as she instinctively splayed her hands wide up his shoulders to cover

as much of him as she could.

The shots were coming from the southeast. Jade jostled herself over onto his left thigh, just as another shot echoed in the wind.

"Hold still," Caine ordered against her ear at the same second she felt a mild sting in her right side. She

let out a soft gasp of surprise and tried to look at her waist. It felt as though a lion had just swatted her with his claws extended. Just as quickly, however, the ache began to dissipate. A rather irritating burning sensation radiated up her side, and Jade decided one of the branches they'd just broken through had cut into her side.

Numbness set in and she put the matter of her paltry scratch aside.