Through The Leaded Glass (19 page)

“
My lucky child.” His fingers
drifted over the piping on her neckline.

She should stop this.

But of course she didn’t. She
couldn’t.

He looked into her eyes, searching. Then he
brushed her skin and her temperature ratcheted a few thousand
degrees. Alchemy, chemistry, plain ol’ lust… whatever it was, it
was potent.

Dangerous.

Desirable.

And Kate couldn’t hold back a
groan.

It was all the permission Alex needed to dip
his finger just under the neckline. Just an inch or so, but the
sensation smoldered from his touch to the tips of her breasts and
she wanted to lean into the him. To tug her dress down and beg him
to touch her.

It was a good thing William was
here.

But then Alex lifted the little buffer from
her lap, leaving her with two aches. “Come, Kate. Let’s go
home.”

Home
. That word eased both of her
aches.

Chapter
Thirteen

Alex woke hard and aching the next morning,
unable to rid himself of the feel of Kate’s soft skin when he’d
touched her so briefly in the orchard.

And when he’d all but taken her against that
wall.

A
wall
. He, the earl of Shelton,
rutting like a common stable hand.

It had a lot to recommend it.

He strode into the great hall, determined to
get his mind off Kate. He had other things to think about. The king
had sent a message about his marriage; it was to happen in two
weeks’ time. Which meant he had to find the window before
then.

“
My lord.” Thomas entered the hall,
looking as if he’d been up half the night. “There is still no sign
of the window. We’ve gone so far as Tiltwick to the south and
Dunnesly to the north with no luck.”

Alex cursed beneath his breath. His men were
good men. Loyal. Had served him faithfully and successfully since
he’d inherited the earldom. It made no sense that they hadn’t had
even one clue.

But then, none of this situation with Kate
made any sense. Not the least of which was this infernal attraction
that he couldn’t shake.

“
Increase the reward tenfold,
Thomas. Let us hope greed does what we cannot. And send a scouting
party into the eastern wood. I’ve had a report of a poacher who’s
been hunting with a red-tailed hawk. I wish to speak with
him.”

“
Yes, my lord.” Thomas bowed then
left to carry out his orders.

Alex tore off another piece of bread, refusing
the quail Beatrice placed before him. How in the hell was the thief
able to walk about his keep without being caught. How had the man
known about the ring’s location? What had he hoped to accomplish by
planting the deed with Claista’s necklace?

He tore the piece of bread into smaller pieces
and let them drop on the table. God’s teeth, he didn’t want this
responsibility. He’d only ever wanted to live his life with his
family. Frederick should be the earl.

‘
Twas a fantasy Alex indulged in
only in his dreams. That he could leave Shelton and return home to
Jeanne and his children—only, last night, Jeanne’s face had become
Kate’s and there’d been a little girl in the dream.

He stood. Dreaming helped nothing and no
one.

But when Maude, William’s nurse, ran shrieking
into the hall, Alex would gladly have chosen to sit there dreaming
because what she was shouting was a nightmare.

“
Master William is
missing!”

He was at her side without no memory of having
run across the hall. “What happened?”

Maude, bent over and gasping, looked up, her
eyes wide in her pale face. “Master William… I went to his chamber…
He’s gone.”

The blood left Alex’s body. “Find
him!”

Servants scattered, the room in immediate
chaos. Stephen set about questioning the guards and Kate ran into
the hall, her face stricken.

“
This wasn’t supposed to happen,
Alex. Maybe he’s just wandering around somewhere.”

Her merchant’s prediction echoed in his head
like a death knell and he prayed to God it wouldn’t be William’s.
“He isn’t, Kate. We all know that. Ring or no, my son is missing.
What good has your presence here done?” He ran to William’s
chambers, leaving her in the desolate emptiness his hall had
suddenly become.

William’s small pallet sat on a raised
platform along the far wall, blankets puddled on the floor beneath
it. Dust swirled in the thin rays of sunlight filtering in from the
high window, the thickly planked shutters latched tightly from the
inside. Whoever had taken William hadn’t left that way. The room,
once full of a little boy’s laughter, was now as silent as a tomb
and the image almost knocked Alex over.

Rage, forge-hot, coursed through him and he
stormed into the room, tossing the pallet, kicking the rushes,
shoving the wardrobe, looking for something—
anything
—to give
him a clue, but… Nothing. There was nothing.

Like Kate’s window, William was
gone.

Alex sagged against the wall, trying to catch
his breath, trying to remain strong so he could save his
son.

“
Alex, they’ve found something!”
Kate followed him into the room. “Out beyond the gatehouse. The men
are heading there now.”

Thank God! Alex squeezed her shoulder as he
ran past. He shouldn’t have been so harsh. None of this was her
fault. He’d apologize later. For now, he had to find
William.

Down the steps he ran to the bailey, grabbing
Herald’s reins from Duncan and swinging onto the horse’s back.
Herald was well-trained and knew what was expected of him. They
thundered through the gate toward the men circled around what
they’d found.

They parted as he approached. Stephen stood at
the center, peeling back layers of blankets from a mound in the
grass.

A still, unmoving, mound.

Dread crept through him as Alex slid from
Herald’s back, and he forced himself forward, his heart thudding
with every footfall.

Stephen looked up. “My lord—”

Alex waved him off. William was his son; he’d
see to this.

Sucking in a breath he hadn’t realized he
needed, Alex lifted the next layer of cloth.

And then another.

And another.

And another.

He tore through them then, cursing the vile,
evil son of the devil who’d taken his son—he’d see him in
Hell.

And then, he felt it.

A leg.

***

Kate paced at the entrance to the great hall,
watching through the gatehouse for Alex to return, and feeling
utterly helpless. Her coming here was supposed to have prevented
this from happening, but what if it only changed
how
William
would die?

“
Duncan,” she called to the squire
who was barely out of childhood himself, “please bring me a horse.
I have to go with them.”

Duncan nodded and her words seemed to stir the
others to life. Maude stood from where she’d been huddled on the
steps. Joan pulled a bucket from the well and handed it to the man
beside her. Others rounded up the geese and children that had
scattered when the horses had pounded through the
bailey.

“
I don’t understand it, my lady,”
said Maude through her tears. “He was sleeping so peacefully when I
looked in on him.”

“
When was that? What
time?”

“
Early morn. The moon was low on
the horizon, but dawn hadn’t yet begun.”

A few hours. It was something. Not a lot, but
something.

Kate was grasping at straws, but she couldn’t
just sit here and do nothing. She met Duncan in the bailey, glanced
at what constituted a side saddle on the horse’s back, and accepted
a leg up.

But just as her backside landed on the animal,
it bolted—sending Kate crashing to the ground.

***

Alex lifted the cloth, dreading what he’d
find.

Thank God, it wasn’t a child, but a lamb. With
a bloody slash across its neck.

The bastard was toying with him.

“
What does it mean?” John
asked.

“
Who did this?” asked
Rowan.

Alex ground his teeth. He didn’t have any
answers. And he didn’t have his son. “Take the animal back to the
keep.”

He got to his feet slowly. Was it Lawrence?
Was he still angered about the judgment against him? The sheep
would imply so, but surely the man wasn’t so stupid to be so
obvious?

He would question him—

“
Look out!”

“
Lord Shelton!”

“
Go after it!”

Shouts rang out from the keep and Alex looked
up to see the mare he’d recently purchased, foam lathering her
mouth, her eyes wide, mane streaming, ears flattened to her head,
and her saddle slipping to the side, barreling toward
them.

Would this day never end?

He called Herald and swung into the saddle
just as the men dispersed, each heading for their own mounts, and
the mare screamed past him, terror in every frenzied stride. That
saddle was dangerously low on her belly. If it got caught up in her
hooves—

Alex swung Herald’s head around and they took
off after her.

Even in her fright, she was no match for
Herald. Alex closed the gap between them, maneuvering the crazed
animal toward a hill. If he could get her to it, she’d slow up on
the incline.

Spurring Herald on, Alex turned the frightened
mare. Rocks flew as the hooves pounded the earth, sending clumps of
soil flying behind them, but his plan worked when they reached the
hill.

He edged Herald closer until he could grab the
mare’s reins. At the crest, he circled Herald around her,
shortening the reins to bring her under control. Snorting and
panting, the horses circled to a halt, their massive sides heaving
with exertion.

Alex dismounted and approached the shuddering
mare, crooning and stroking her neck as he reached for the girth.
The saddle slid free and Alex saw why she’d bolted.

A spike protruded from her back, blood oozing
around it.

Alex pulled it free, then climbed back onto
Herald.

This was no accident.

Chapter
Fourteen

Alex returned to the keep with fear in his
heart, murder in his veins, and not a single clue who to blame for
any of it.

Duncan could shed no light on the events,
those in the bailey offered little in the way of observations, and
though Tristan arrived from his holding and Nick had finally pulled
himself out of whatever cask he’d been floating in, nothing helped
Alex find William or the bastard who’d taken him.

As dusk shed its pensive light across the
keep, his friends gathered at the large oak table in the great
hall. Cook had prepared a simple meal of broth and bread, but no
one had an appetite.

Nick dropped his head in his hands. “I don’t
understand it. It’s as if they vanished like ghosts.” He rubbed his
red eyes.

“
I still don’t understand why this
happened,” Kate said, pacing. “Since you didn’t get hurt in the
joust, I assumed William wouldn’t be kidnapped.”

“
Did the merchant say he’d be
unharmed once the ring was returned?” Alex picked up a loaf of
bread, imagining it to be the head of this… this…
monster.

Kate tapped her lip. “No. Remember, he was
telling me what happened when the ring was gone. All he said about
William was he’d be found… murdered.”

“
Found
murdered?” Alex
crushed the bread in his fist. “Did he say where?”

Kate spun around. “He did! He said in the
castle walls.”

“
In
the walls?” It couldn’t
be—

Alex dropped the mutilated bread and was at
William’s chamber before the bench he’d shoved backwards finished
clattering on the floor.

Kate, Tris, and Nick arrived just as his
fingers closed on the key above the lintel.

Whether that was a good thing or not remained
to be seen. “It’s still here.”

“
What is?” Kate asked.

“
A key to the
sallyport.”

“
What’s a sallyport?”

Hopefully the answer to his prayers. “It’s a
secret passageway within the walls. Only Shelton heirs and their
stewards know where the keys to the entrances are.” He hadn’t even
known until Frederick had been forced to tell him.

“
Which means that if the key’s
still here, the bastard hasn’t used it.” Nick pounded his fist
against the wall.

“
And other than the four of us,
only Benton knows about it?” asked Tristan.

Alex wrapped his fist around the iron key. Its
coldness matched the band around his heart. “Yes.”