Chapter 28

CHAPTER 28

N oelle’s feet were frozen in her boots by the time she was pushed through the door into the small cabin. It must have been the gamekeeper’s cottage, which she was sure had long been abandoned based on the stale air surrounding her as she walked through the room, Lord Rochester pushing her forward.

But she wasn’t alone.

“Cooper!” she cried when her eyes adjusted to the light.

He was sitting across the room, and the look in his eyes as he raised his head was murderous.

Not at her, of course. His gaze softened when it reached her, before returning to the two men who had followed her in. They hadn’t even covered her with a cloak, and she was shaking so furiously that she wondered if she would ever be warm again.

If they found their way out of this, that was.

“We can stage this without her,” Cooper said, his voice darker and more menacing than she had ever heard before. “Let her return.”

“Even if that was possible,” Lord Andrew said, “we cannot allow her out of this. Not now, with all that she knows. It’s too late.”

“She’s freezing,” Cooper insisted. “Give her a cloak, at the very least.”

“It won’t matter much soon,” Lord Rochester said, the brothers wearing twin smiles of death more sinister than anything he had ever seen before. “She doesn’t have much time left in this winter.”

Cooper let out a growl of rage that would have frightened Noelle if she hadn’t known the soft, gentle side within him.

She found his gaze, hoping he could read the emotion in her expression and understand just how much she cared about him. If this was the end, he had to know how much she loved him. She wished she had told him when they still had the chance.

It was a wonder he wasn’t angry enough to overcome the two men, which he likely would have were his hands not bound together behind his back.

A thought struck her, one borne out of desperation or her love for him, she wasn’t sure, but it might be enough to create a chance.

“Before the end, can I give him one more kiss goodbye?” she asked, not having to fabricate the tremor in her voice.

The twins exchanged a glance.

“Go ahead,” Lord Rochester said, waving his hand forward. “Make it quick.”

On shaky legs, she made her way across the small room to Cooper until her face was inches from his.

“Cooper,” she whispered, and all of the anger melted away.

“Noelle,” he whispered back. “I’m so sorry.”

“None of that,” she said, cupping his face. “I have to tell you something.”

He lifted his brows, speaking before she could. “You need to try to run.”

“I will never do so without you,” she vowed, “but I do have an idea.”

She began to wrap her arms around him, hoping the brothers wouldn’t see what she was doing in the dim light.

“Hurry it up,” Lord Andrew said impatiently.

“Cooper,” she said again, their noses touching. “I love you. So much.”

His head nodded once, stiffly, as water rose in his eyes.

“I love you too. I should have told you. I should have?—”

“None of that,” she said, nearly grunting as she slipped the rope over his wrists. It had been tied tight, but from the evidence of blood on his wrists, she guessed that he had been working hard to loosen his bonds.

“It doesn’t matter when we said it. We said it. We feel it. Now,” she lowered her voice, “see if you can pull your hands apart.”

He grunted, but she only heard the snap because she was so close.

“Stand up,” came the command from behind them, and Noelle slowly rose, although she didn’t step away from Cooper.

Lord Andrew was holding a gun out, trained upon both of them.

“How could you?” she lashed out, looking from one of the brothers to the other. “I thought we were friends! We have known each other our entire lives.”

“Do any of us really know one another?” Lord Rochester asked with a smirk. “You knew who we wanted you to think we were. You did not know the men we truly are. What we want from life.”

“You were putting on an act.”

“No more than your husband does.”

“That is different,” she countered. “He does what he must to fit in where he needs to be, but he is still the same person on the inside, where it matters. I do not even recognize the two of you anymore. The practical jokers? The men who are quick to make everyone laugh? That is not who you are. Not anymore.”

“We never were,” Lord Andrew said. “And that is enough theatrics. Step away from him. We need to kill you first.”

“You will not!” Cooper’s voice of rage came from behind her, and at the touch of his hand on her hip, she stepped out of the way as he sprang forward, knocking Lord Andrew down. The gun went spiraling away just as the door burst open behind them. Unable to spare any time to see who it was, Noelle leaped forward for the gun, reaching it seconds before Lord Rochester. She wrapped her hands around it, trying to lift it, as Lord Rochester came barrelling toward her. She tried to pull the trigger, but it seemed to be stuck… or perhaps she just didn’t have it in her to be a killer, no matter what he had done to her and Cooper.

Either way, she braced, ready for the attack, but then he flew to the side, knocked away, and she stopped, staring slack-jawed ahead of her.

“Lord John?” she squeaked out, her heart beating as she wondered whether he would be friend or foe.

She looked to the side, only to find Cooper standing above Lord Andrew, the man out cold on the floor beneath him, having succumbed to Cooper’s rage, his nose bloody and his head angled to the side.

Ignoring Lord John momentarily, she rushed across the room, throwing herself into Cooper’s arms, which wrapped around her instantly.

“You’re safe. You’re alive,” she said as he buried his face in her hair, the two of them holding on as tightly as possible, never wanting to let go.

Cooper came back to the moment first, looking over her head at Lord John, who was watching them while basically sitting on top of a protesting Lord Rochester.

“How did you find us out here?” he asked.

“I went to find you where we were to meet. One of the library doors was open, and when I looked through them, I could see two figures dragging a woman away. With all that has occurred as of late, it certainly wasn’t something to ignore, so I followed. I heard enough before I entered.”

“You took awhile.”

Lord John shrugged. “Perhaps it was a touch too late,” he admitted. “But all has ended well, has it not?”

“We should be grateful Lord John is here,” Noelle said, patting her hand on Cooper’s chest, unable to stop the shaking that had overcome her, although whether it was due to the cold or the shock of everything that had just happened, she couldn’t be sure. “No one would have otherwise believed us.”

“You’re right,” Cooper said with a sigh.

“What do we do now?” she asked.

“Now, we return to the house and take care of you,” Cooper said. “Then Lord John and I will clean up this mess.”

“The magistrate is not going to be pleased about returning, especially on Christmas,” Lord John said with a sigh, which caused a bubble of laughter to well up from within Noelle – misplaced laughter, she realized at the same time as Cooper seemed to. He hugged her tightly against his side.

“Let’s get you back to the house.”

“Take my cloak,” Lord John said, and Noelle saw Cooper biting his cheek, likely trying to keep his thoughts to himself that Lord John had taken the time to fetch his cloak despite seeing Noelle being hauled off by two men into the cold night.

But he had come, hadn’t he? So, they should be grateful.

They were alive and together.

That was all that mattered.

Cooper had spent many Decembers as a child without any Christmas spirit, but he had never had a Christmas like this before.

There wasn’t much that could save this Christmas party now – not with one guest murdered and another two now rightfully and most publicly accused as the murderers.

At least the sorry sod that was Lord Bingly had finally emerged from his room, where he had been spending most of his days and nights since his accusations, too ashamed to face the party, even though he hadn’t done anything wrong.

Cooper couldn’t quite understand it. If it had been him who had been falsely accused, he would have done everything in his power to right the scenario. But then, that was what made each man different, was it not?

Thankfully, Lord John explained most of what happened once they had all gathered near the foyer of the house. It seemed that the disappearance of four guests had caused quite the stir, and they had all been searching for them for a time, concerned that something was amiss.

Something was, indeed, very amiss.

“What are we supposed to do?” Lord Burton asked, seemingly at a loss for once in his life. He looked around at all of them as though they had the answers, but this was not exactly a common occurrence.

“Right now, I have tied them to the chairs in the gamekeeper’s cottage where they held Mr. Hartwell and Lady Noelle – ah, Mrs. Hartwell, I should say,” Lord John said. “Unlike when poor Bingly here was accused, I wouldn’t suggest that we let them return to their rooms.”

“All we can do is to call the magistrate tomorrow, I suppose,” Lord Burton said with his largest sigh of the party. “Then return them to London and let them be dealt with there. I can send some of my men with them and hope that they are not led astray on the way there.”

The remaining few men murmured their agreement and tense silence reigned until Hattie’s sniffles cut through the air.

“I can hardly believe it,” she said. “Poor Lord Northbridge.”

“Since we’ve dispensed with all propriety, Lady Hattie,” Lord John said as he tapped his cap against his leg, “I’ll tell you that Lord Northbridge wasn’t much of a catch. While I don’t wish the man dead, you should be glad that you didn’t marry him.”

Lady Burton gasped at that, but Lord John only shrugged. “It’s the truth. Just ask your other daughter.”

Hermione gasped at that, but Lord John continued on, this incident apparently unleashing all of the truths within him.

“Another truth is that I think we will all hold a special bond after this. Whether it is one we welcome or not, I have no idea, but we will certainly never forget this Christmas, now, shall we?”

“Is it still your favorite time of the year?” Cooper murmured in Noelle’s ear, and she nodded as she turned to him.

“Much has happened at or near Christmas that is not in my favor. My mother’s death, and now this kidnapping and murder. But you know, a lot of good has happened too. I felt so much love at this time of year as a child, and now, it is our wedding anniversary. So, I do not suppose a time of year can hold that much malice. It is more what you do with that time, you know?”

He placed a kiss on her forehead as he held her close against him, breathing her in and grateful for all that she brought to him.

“Have I ever told you how smart you are?” he asked in a low voice.

“A few times,” she laughed, but as she did so, she shivered, and he reminded himself that they couldn’t take any more time down here, for they needed to get her comfortable again.

“Well, as much as we would like to stay and visit with you all, I need to be getting Noelle warmed up,” Cooper said, and they all murmured their understanding. “Could a bath be prepared, please?”

“Of course,” Lady Burton responded as she walked out of the room, likely in search of a maid. “Goodnight.”

He wrapped his arm around Noelle as they exited the drawing room. Once they walked through the entrance, he slipped his other arm beneath her knees and lifted her.

“What are you doing?” she asked wondrously, and he squeezed her close.

“Carrying my bride, of course.”

The truth was, he could feel her utter exhaustion, but he also didn’t want to make her feel weak.

For she wasn’t. She was the strongest woman he had ever met.

And he loved her fiercely.

He had wasted time not telling her sooner.

But he would spend the rest of his life making it up to her.