Page 4 of A Raven Returns

Her head whipped around. “No.” Her brow furrowed and she shivered. Drawing one side of her bottom lip between her teeth, she looked into his eyes. “It’s my husband.” She ducked her head. “Or at least, I think he’s my husband.”

Before Ash could even formulate his next question in this mess, she looked up at him again. “What are you doing here, Ash?”

He folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the mantle. “This is my cabin.”

“I don’t understand.”

Ash hated crossing these two parts of his life. “I expect you don’t.” He crossed one foot over the other, giving his sore leg a break, and let out a long sigh. “This is my estate, Gwen.”

“All of it?” She dragged the words out slowly, still not fully understanding.

“Yes.” He nodded, dreading the next words out of his mouth. Speaking them somehow made him feel pompous and dissolute at the same time. “I’m the Earl of Ashdown.”

Gwen’s mouth slowly fell open. She eventually closed it and blinked three times before taking a breath. “Since when?”

Ash chuckled. He hadn’t been sure what she was going to ask next, but that wasn’t it. “Since my father died. Seventeen years ago.”

“But that means…” Her lips turned up in a slow smile. “That means, when I was working as a Lady Raven, I was working for an earl.”

A laugh startled from Ash. “Yes, I suppose you were.”

“With all due respect, you’re not really what I would have imagined an earl to be.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

She continued to stare at him, seemingly in awe. That was why he didn’t like telling people. Nothing had changed. He was still the same person he’d always been to her, and yet, in her mind, he was different.

“Now, Gwen, I know you don’t want to talk about it, but I need to know how you came to be here, which means, you’re going to have to start at the beginning. How did you end up with this husband of yours?” The words left a bad taste in his mouth. “Last I knew, you were working as a kitchen assistant in a household a very long way from here.”

That seemed to break something loose so she was able to talk about it. “I was, but after a few months, I met Greg. He approached me at the market while I was picking up an order of lamb. After that, I seemed to bump into him every time I went to the market. He was all smiles and kindness, always complimenting me and bringing me small gifts. It wasn’t long before I was smitten.” Her shoulders fell slightly, and exhaustion seemed to settle over her. “So when he proposed marriage, I didn’t even hesitate to say yes. He didn’t want a big, proper wedding, so we eloped to Gretna Green.”

She went quiet for a long moment, staring down at the hands in her lap. “That night, everything changed.” She didn’t look up, but Ash could see the quivering of her chin. God, what had he done to her? Sobs suddenly broke over her and she covered her face with her hands.

“Gwen.” He knelt down and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. His heart broke for her. He would hunt the bastard down and kill him, slowly and painfully, just as soon as she was somewhere safe.

“I’m sorry,” she said, trying to wipe the tears away.

“Shhhh. You never have to apologize to me, Gwen.”

Slowly, she began to calm. She rested her head on his shoulder and he breathed in her sweet scent. If only he could stay like that forever. That was the thought that made him pull away from her. Keeping her safe meant he needed to adhere to his rules.

“That doesn’t explain why you’re here tonight, Gwen. What happened to send you out into this storm, with no coat and only one boot?”

She shrugged. “Greg was going to punish me. I panicked. I knocked him unconscious with a candlestick and stole his horse.”

That was the Gwen he knew. She’d always been headstrong and courageous. “Are you sure he’s still alive?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “That’s why I’m missing a boot. He tried to pull me off the horse.”

Ice crept up Ash's spine at the thought of what would have happened to her if he had succeeded.

“Then I just rode, pushing the horse as fast as it would go. The rain started, and I needed shelter.” She looked up at him. “And here I am.”

“And here you are,” Ash repeated, sadness filling his heart. “You’re safe now, Gwen. I promise you.” But then he remembered something else. “You said earlier that youthinkhe’s your husband. What did you mean by that?”

“I found some letters in his study.” She pointed to a pile of papers on a small table near the bed. “That’s why I was in trouble, actually.”

Ash flattened the pages and read. It was clear this man was not legally married to Gwen. These letters were from his wife asking if he had managed to get ‘the maid’ with child yet. As horrific as it was, it would seem the wife was barren and had sent her husband to create a child with someone else to claim as their own. Nausea roiled in Ash’s stomach. That someone was Gwen. In addition to beating her, how many times had he forced himself on her in his crusade to get her pregnant?

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