Beyond the Highland Mist (24 page)

Damn it! He pounded his fist upon his desk, sending papers fluttering and statues scurrying. She was his wife. She had no way back to wherever she’d come from! When was she going to accept that and make the most of it? He would give her anything she wanted. Anything but to leave him. Never that.

His existence had all the makings of a gilded, living hell and he could find no exit.

As swiftly as it had assailed him, his rage evaporated.

Adrienne
, his lips formed the word silently.
How did we come to this impasse? How did I make such a mess of it?

“Walk with me, lass,” he said softly, and she whirled upon the cliff’s edge, a breathtaking flutter of silver and cobalt blue. His colors, the Douglas colors. Unwittingly, it seemed, she wore them often. Did she even know that she donned in vivid splashes the very threads of the Douglas tartan, and that no name could have branded her more certainly his lady?

He waved a dismissive hand at his guards. He needed to steal precious moments with her alone, before he left. After hours of struggling, he had reached many decisions. First
and foremost being that he was long overdue for a visit to Uster, one of his many manors and the most troublesome. He simply couldn’t keep neglecting his estates in his lovesick idiocy. The laird had to put in the occasional appearance and take an interest in resolving his villagers’ concerns.

Besides, he was making no progress here. If she chose Adam in his absence, then he could just die inside and get on with the pretense of living. It was how he’d survived the first thirty-odd years. What kind of fool had he become to expect the rest to be any different?

“Laird Douglas,” she clipped.

In silence they walked the cliff’s edge together, toward the forest.

“I will be leaving for a time,” he said finally as they entered the forest.

Adrienne stiffened. Was he serious? “Wh-where are you going?” And why did it disturb her so much?

He took a sharp, indrawn breath. “Uster.”

“What is Uster anyway?”

“One of my manors. Seventeen manors belong to Dalkeith. Uster holds the villages of Duluth and Tanamorissey, and they are an intemperate lot. ’Twas a problem even when the king’s men held Dalkeith.”

When the king’s men held Dalkeith.

When her husband had been the king’s whore.

In the last weeks the heat of Adrienne’s anger had cooled, leaving a poignant regret. Hawk had mostly avoided her, except for the occasional times he’d seemed to be trying to pick a fight with her for some reason. She’d half expected him to lock her in his room, but after that terrible night he had retreated carefully to his study by the sea.
There he’d stayed every night—so quiet, so beautiful, and so alone.

“Hawk?” she began tentatively.

“Yes?”

“What exactly did the king’s whore do?”

Hawk stiffened. Could this be the chance he’d been waiting for? Perhaps he could dare to hope after all. His laughter was full of bitter self-mockery. “Are you quite certain you wish to know, lovely Adrienne?”

Lurking behind a towering oak, Esmerelda studied Adrienne’s silvery-blond mane, silvery eyes, sparkling face. What did the Hawk see in that skinny, pale girl he couldn’t find in Esmerelda’s sultry embrace?

For the first time in weeks the guards were gone and the bitch walked unprotected enough that Esmerelda could strike and flee into the shelter of the dark forest. Her beloved Hawk might suffer a time of mourning, but he would find solace and sweet passion in Esmerelda’s arms once the soil stilled upon his wife’s grave.

She raised the arrow with a hand that trembled. Frowning, she dug the edge of the notched head into her fleshy palm until blood welled in her tawny-gold skin. She grimaced against the pain, but it steadied her nerves. This time she would
not
fail. Esmerelda had chosen her weapon carefully. Poison had proved too chancy—her drawn and corded bow would send the arrow flying true, with force enough to lodge in the flesh and bone of Adrienne’s breast.

Esmerelda dropped to her knee and coiled the leather cord tighter. She notched the bow and took sight as Adrienne stepped into a clearing. She nearly faltered when she
saw the look on Hawk’s face as he gazed at his wife. He loved Adrienne as Esmerelda would have
loved him;
a wild, claiming, know-no-bounds kind of passion. With this realization, any compassion Esmerelda may have felt for Adrienne evaporated. She steadied the bow and took aim at Adrienne’s breast. With a soft
whoosh
, the arrow flew free.

Esmerelda swallowed a frantic scream. At the last minute the Hawk turned, almost as if he saw her lurking in the shadows or sensed the arrow’s flight. He moved. No!

“Ummmph!” Adrienne gasped as Hawk flung one powerful arm across her face and thrust her against a tree.

Adrienne struggled against his back, but he was an immovable mountain. Was this how he intended to win her back? After weeks of careful restraint, was he taking her into the forest to rape her?

“Oooof!” His breath hissed out softly, and she pushed harder at his back. “What are you doing, Hawk?” she demanded, but still he said nothing.

Hawk shuddered, battling the pain as his eyes scanned the trees. He felt his strength ebbing, but he couldn’t give in to the weakness yet. Not until he found and stopped whoever was trying to kill his wife. But the bushes were still. The assailant, for whatever reason, had fled. Hawk felt relief rush through him as blood gushed from his wound.

When he swayed and crumpled at Adrienne’s feet, she screamed and screamed.

In the shadows, Esmerelda pressed a fist to her mouth. She could feel Hawk’s eyes searching the very spot in which she
cowered, but the shadows were too dense for even his eyes to penetrate.

He turned, and in profile she could see the arrow, still vibrating from the force of flight, just above his heart. She closed her eyes and swallowed tightly. She’d killed him! The arrow was wickedly notched and would be impossible to remove without ripping open his chest. She had deliberately designed it to do even more damage in the removing than in the entering. Even if it didn’t kill the victim going in, it would certainly kill him coming out.

Esmerelda melted to the forest floor and crawled through the underbrush until she was certain she was safe. Then she surged to her feet and ran blindly, her crossbow forgotten on the damp forest floor. Branches slapped her face. A scream gathered and clotted in her throat. Esmerelda swallowed a bitter sob as she leapt a fallen log.

A hand shot out lightning-quick, halting her abruptly. Adam pulled her to him with a biting grip on her neck.

“Where have you been, lovely whore?” His eyes were preternaturally bright.

She panted into his face.

Adam glowered and shook her cruelly. “I said, where have you been?”

When she still didn’t answer, Adam slid his hand up her neck to her throat and squeezed. “Your life means nothing to me, Gypsy.” His eyes were as icy as his voice.

Haltingly, Esmerelda told him everything, begging Adam to save the man she loved, to use his unnatural powers and restore his life.

So she knew his identity. He wasn’t surprised. The Rom were well versed in the ancient ways. “If you know who I am, Gypsy whore, you know I don’t give a damn about your wishes—or anyone else’s, for that matter. And I certainly
don’t care about your pretty Hawk. In fact, the Hawk is the son of a bitch I came here to destroy.”

Esmerelda paled.

“Come,” he commanded. And she knew he didn’t mean it the way he used to. Not anymore.

W
HAT DO YOU MEAN HE DOESN’T WANT TO SEE ME
? I
WANT
to see him, so let me in,” Adrienne argued. “Unless, of course, he’s given you orders that he specifically doesn’t want
me
to come in the room,” she added coolly. Hawk would never do that.

Grimm didn’t budge.

“He wouldn’t! You can’t be serious. H-he …” She trailed off uncertainly. The Hawk wouldn’t refuse. Well, he hadn’t yet, but …

Obdurate Grimm, his eyes grave, blocked the door.

Adrienne peered at him intently. “Are you telling me that
I
have been forbidden to enter my husband’s room?”

“
I
have my orders, milady.”

“I’m his
wife!”

“Well, maybe if you’d bloody acted like his wife before now he wouldn’t be in there!” Grimm’s eyes flashed angrily in his chiseled face.

“Oh!” Adrienne stepped back, startled by his fury.

“I did my friend a grievous wrong. I made a horrible wish that I would take back now with all my heart, if I only could. But I can’t.”

“You’re
the one who wished it!” Adrienne exclaimed.

Grimm continued, unwavering. “And had I known how terrible was the wish I made, how far-reaching and painful the consequences would be, I would have taken my own life first. I am no captain of the guard.” He spat his disgust upon the cobbled stone. “I am no honorable friend. I am the lowest droppings from the foulest beast. I wished
you
upon my best friend, may the gods forgive me! And now he lies wounded by an arrow meant for you!”

Adrienne’s eyes widened in her pale face. “I’m not so bad,” she whispered.

“You, milady, are the iron maiden without a heart. You have brought him nothing but pain since you came here. In all my years with the Hawk, I have never seen such suffering in his eyes and I won’t tolerate it even one more day. He would climb into the very heavens and pluck down the stars, one by one, to bestow upon your shining brow, and I tell him you are
not
worth it. You scoff at his romantic feelings, you shun his freely offered love, you scorn the man himself. Doona tell me you’re not so bad, Adrienne de Simone.
You
are the worst thing that’s ever happened to that man.”

Adrienne bit her lip. Grimm had such a slanted view of things! What about all the unfair things the Hawk had done to her? She was the innocent one!

“He burned my queen! He stole my freedom, and he trapped me here.”

“Because he cares for you and refuses to lose you! That’s such a terrible thing? He used his own body to save your
life. He placed himself like the truest shield before you and took the arrow meant for you. Well, I say better he had let it find your breast. ’Twould cease his torment and he wouldna be bleeding inside or out!”