Page 19 of The Heir's Fortune
Gideon nodded, his jaw tense and tight, as they started back toward the estate as quickly as they could.
“Why did you shoot the one rider?” he asked, trying to tell himself that Devon was only doing what he thought was best and not to blame him for initiating the shootout that had led to the men leaving with Madeline.
“I didn’t shoot anyone,” Devon said, looking over at him in confusion as they reached the gardens. “I have no idea where that shot came from.”
“It wasn’t you?” Gideon said, his eyebrows drawing together. “Then who else was out there?”
“I have no idea,” Devon said grimly. “But I am beginning to feel that there is someone around here who knows a lot more than they are letting on.”
“And are either helping or hindering – it is hard to say,” Gideon said as they drew closer to the house. “What am I supposed to tell Cassandra?” he asked, rubbing a hand over his face. “She is going to be livid.”
“She’ll probably be more worried than anything, no matter how she reacts,” Devon said. “Pay no mind to whatever she says to you. She’ll just be lashing out. Similar to someone else I know.”
“But—”
He hadn’t been able to finish the sentence as the front doors flew open and Cassandra came running out. “There you are!” she said. “I was looking everywhere. I followed Madeline’s berries until suddenly they stopped and you were nowhere to be found afterward. Then I heard gunshots, but of course, so did Mother, and she refused to allow me to come look for you. I only listened to her because I would never want to leave Jack.”
She looked at the two of them, then around more wildly, panic beginning to build judging by the tension in her face and the flapping of her arms. “Where’s Madeline?”
Gideon took a breath, stealing a look over at Devon for courage, remembering that his friend was there for additional support, for both him and Cassandra.
“She’s—” he started, pausing for a moment.
“She is gone. Captured by the Spanish men who stole onto our property,” Devon finished for him, and Gideon couldn’t help his annoyance that his friend would think him incapable of sharing the news.
“You cannot be serious,” Cassandra said, but her mouth was still shaped in a round O, her eyes wide and searching as sheknew they were telling the truth but didn’t want to accept it. “I saw her but minutes ago. I was following her. I was?—”
Devon was immediately at her side, placing his arm around her and pulling her in close. “I know.”
Cassandra looked up at him, her eyes beginning to water. “This is all my fault. You said it was too dangerous, Gideon, but we wanted to come anyway. And then I left her alone when the baby cried and now she has been taken away from us. If I hadn’t asked her to come to Castleton?—”
“It is not your fault,” Gideon said harshly, even as he knew he could never share the fact that the captors had thought that Madeline was Cassandra. His sister’s guilt would be too heavy. “It was mine. She was at my home, under my protection. I should have known that the two of you would never do as you were told. Even more so, I never should have let her stay here in the first place.”
“We are not children,” Cassandra snapped.
“What is it with the two of you and your insistence on placing blame?” Devon asked in exasperation, cutting through their tension. “None of that is going to help. If you must blame someone, blame the people who took her.”
“You’re right,” Cassandra said leaning into him. “And even more importantly, you have to go after her – before… before…”
She couldn’t say it, but Gideon knew exactly what she meant – before it was too late.
CHAPTER 7
Madeline wished she spoke better Spanish.
It should not be her most pressing concern at this moment, but she had never been one given to hysterics. She had no choice now but to try to extricate herself from this situation, for she didn’t think there was much chance that anyone else would be doing so.
Would anyone come after her? She supposed they would try – Gideon would feel they had to, out of duty if nothing else. But with Gideon and Devon on foot and she on horseback with her captors, there was little chance of them ever discovering just where they had taken her.
She didn’t have much idea herself.
After they had fled Castleton, they had come to a stop and lifted her onto the riderless horse.
She had considered urging the horse on to try to escape, but her captors had made it abundantly clear that they would have no qualms about killing her if it came to that. Seeing as how they each carried a pistol and one was aimed at her head the entire time, she wasn’t about to take the chance.
Would Gideon come for her, or would it be Lord Covington? She wasn’t sure that Lord Covington would ever actually leaveCassandra and the baby, but it was equally difficult to picture Gideon riding to her rescue.
He wasn’t much of a white knight. Perhaps a grey one – sullen, only there out of duty and not because of his need to be the hero.
