Chapter Fourteen
E llis hurried out of the door, only then realizing her feet were still bare. At least she was dressed. Her body felt loose, as if her bones had melted, and her head was full of clouds, but the pleasure Owen had given her with his mouth and his hands was already fading. There had been no time to enjoy the afterglow, or to welcome him into her arms and her body. To complete the act. She became aware that she had abandoned him as if he had meant nothing.
But she could not think of that now.
Elijah was here. Why was he here? What had happened?
Anxiously she looked about the garden but couldn't see him. The sun had warmed the herb patch, releasing spicy scents as she brushed against them. It occurred to her that this might be a trap, and that it hadn't been Elijah who asked for her but Theo. Was he hiding somewhere, about to pounce on her?
"Elijah?" she called nervously.
The touch on her shoulder made her jump and when she swung around, wide-eyed, her loose hair flying, there he was. Elijah.
At least... well of course it was him, but he looked so different from the handsome, animated young man who had always been full of smiles. This Elijah was ashen faced, his fair hair standing up in spikes as if he had forgotten to comb it, and his blue eyes glassy with tears. He looked as if he hadn't smiled since Archie died.
"Ellis," he croaked, and then with a sob, wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.
She hugged him back, feeling the familiar hard warmth of his body, and the trembling of his shoulders as he wept. Suddenly, she was back in Breamore, standing at Archie's bedside where her husband lay still and cold. It was a moment before she realized how thin Elijah had become, as if he had stopped eating.
"What has happened?" she asked when he had cried himself to a standstill. She tried to see his face, but he only buried it deeper into her shoulder, and tightened his grip on her as if he did not want to let her go. "Elijah? Please. Tell me what's happened."
He finally raised his head. They were much the same height, and she saw that his face was flushed and tear-stained, and his eyes were red and swollen with weeping.
"Archie is gone. I'll never see him again. How can I bear it, Ellis? Why didn't I die, too?"
The soft lilt of his voice was so familiar, so dear. Ellis felt her tears overflow to join his. "What of Theo?" she burst out, fear clenching inside her.
His face twisted in fury. "I hate him," he hissed. "He's been looking for me. He came to the village and searched the houses, but I hid in a cellar. I knew he'd be back. Rowan found me and took me into the forest. Rowan knows places no one else does, and he said I'd be safe for a while."
Ellis's shoulders sagged with relief. "Good, that is good, Elijah. I was so worried about you." She had been right about Theo's unrelenting need for vengeance when it came to Archie and his sweetheart. "And Rowan. Where is Rowan?" She looked about, as if expecting to see his craggy face pop up from behind a shrub.
"He's over there." Elijah pointed toward the trees. "He's keeping watch, just in case. He said he saw you a few days ago, right here in the garden. He was so excited, Ellis," and he smiled despite his woebegone face. "That's how I knew where to come to find you."
"I'm glad."
"He told me what happened when you tried to escape in the coach. How Theo followed you and sought to take you back to Breamore. Or worse." His blue eyes had never looked more serious.
"Theo has been here," Ellis said. "He was at the door, asking if I was inside. He wanted to search the house, but Owen... Lord Lyndhurst, sent him away. So far, he hasn't come back. Maybe he's given up."
But Elijah shook his head, and his next words dashed her hopes. "He'll come back. He will keep looking until he finds us."
She didn't know what to say. Ellis had been pretending she was safe here at Hawthorne Lodge, and it had taken Elijah's grim prediction to puncture her bubble.
Suddenly Daffyd the peacock gave a loud shriek. They both jumped, and then laughed when they realized what it was, but the respite was brief. Elijah tipped his head to the side, and took her in, as if only just seeing her mermaid dress and her wild hair.
"You look . . ."
She felt awkward to admit in the face of Elijah's grief that she was happy here. Or at least she had been until the spectre of Theo had raised its head again. But she didn't have to say anything, because Elijah gripped her hands in his, and when he spoke again his voice was urgent.
"I am going west, to the mountains. Rowan has family there and we can hide where Theo will never find us. That's why I came here to talk to you, Ellis. Will you come with us?"
Ellis opened her mouth and closed it again. She pictured herself hiding in the bleak mountains, huddled by a fire, and sleeping in a cottage while listening, always listening, for Theo to find them. She would almost rather walk up the long driveway to Breamore than do that.
And what of Owen? If she left with Elijah and Rowan, she would never see him again. Owen, with his earnestness and his bright eyes and his quick, wicked smile, and the way he had kissed her and touched her... was it only moments ago? She remembered again how she had rushed out of the room and left him. What must he think of her? The look on his face when he'd heard Elijah was at the door...
Owen had wanted to know the truth— I wish I knew what you were —and she hadn't been able to bring herself to answer.
She must tell him everything. She must! Ellis no longer believed Owen would give her away to Theo. Although she did fear he would want nothing more to do with her. He was attracted to humble Ellis Mallory, but what would he think when he discovered she was the Dowager Duchess of Breamore? With her life in danger she might be more trouble to him than she was worth. She did not think he would betray her, never that, but he might well bundle her into a coach for London and think himself well rid of her.
Then she would never see him again, and that was too awful for her to bear.
"What is it?" Elijah asked sharply, seeing her distress. "Ellis?"
Ellis glanced over her shoulder at the house, belatedly remembering the window in Owen's study that looked out over the garden. But there was nothing to see, only the reflection of flowers and sky in the glass pane. Owen wouldn't be looking out anyway, he would be working on his drawings to prepare them for publication. Or was he sketching a depiction of what they had just done? Drawing it from memory to add to the series his publisher wanted from him.
He saw Ellis as a means to an end, but she could not bear to leave him. Not yet.
"You must go," she said to Elijah. "I want you to. I need to know you are safe."
He was still watching her doubtfully. "What about you?"
"I will go to London. To my mother. Lord Lyndhurst says he will arrange it."
"And you trust him? Lord Lyndhurst?"
"Yes, I do."
There must have been some giveaway in her voice, because the old sparkle of humor flickered in Elijah's eyes. "I hope he is good enough for you," he said quietly. "Otherwise, I will have words with him." Then his mouth trembled. "I wish..." he began, but could not finish.
Ellis hugged him again, kissing his cheek and his hair as he bowed his head before her. "I will see you again," she said firmly. "When this is over and I have dealt with Theo, I will send for you and Rowan. We will live at Breamore again, I promise."
He took a shaky breath and managed to smile before he turned and began to walk from the garden. Ellis stood and watched, and as he reached the fields he broke into a loping run. The forest loomed before him, and a shadow stepped from the trees and moved to meet him. Rowan. The two men turned and lifted their hands in farewell. A moment later the trees seemed to swallow them up and they were gone.