"I spotted them the last time I backtracked," he patiently explained.
"I backtracked with you, if you'll remember," she countered. "And I didn't see anyone."
She sounded incensed. Caine didn't know what to make of that reaction.
"Are we very far from your house?"
"About fifteen minutes away," Caine answered.
They broke through a clearing a short while later. Jade felt as though she'd just entered a wonderland. "It's beautiful here," she whispered.
The grassy clearing was circled on two sides by a narrow stream that trailed down a lazy slope adjacent
to a small cabin. Sunlight filtered through the branches bordering the paradise.
"Perhaps the gamekeeper is inside the cabin," she said. "He might be willing to help us trap the villains."
"The cabin's deserted."
"Then we'll just have to trap them on our own. Did you leave all the pistols behind?"
He didn't answer her. "Caine? Aren't we going to stop?"
"No," he said. "We're just taking a shortcut."
"Have you chosen another spot to wait for them?"
"I'm taking you home first, Jade. I'm not about to take any risks with you along. Now tuck your head
and close your mouth. It's going to get rough."
Since he was back to sounding surly again, she did as he ordered. She could feel his chin on the top of
her head as she squeezed her face against the base of his throat.
"Someday I want to come back to this spot," she whispered.
He didn't remark on that hope. He hadn't been exaggerating either when he said it was going to get rough. As soon as they reached the open fields, Caine pushed his mount into a full gallop. Jade felt like she was flying through the air again. It wasn't at all the same feeling as being pitched into the Thames, though, for now she had Caine to hold onto.
Whoever was behind this treachery had sent men to Caine's estate to wait for him. Jade worried about the possibility of an ambush when they neared the main grounds. She prayed her men would be there to take up the battle.
They were just about to reach the crest and the cover of the trees again when the sound of pistol shots rang out. Jade didn't know how to protect Caine's back now. She tried to twist in his arms to see where the threat was coming from, even as she instinctively splayed her hands wide up his shoulders to cover
as much of him as she could.
The shots were coming from the southeast. Jade jostled herself over onto his left thigh, just as another shot echoed in the wind.
"Hold still," Caine ordered against her ear at the same second she felt a mild sting in her right side. She
let out a soft gasp of surprise and tried to look at her waist. It felt as though a lion had just swatted her with his claws extended. Just as quickly, however, the ache began to dissipate. A rather irritating burning sensation radiated up her side, and Jade decided one of the branches they'd just broken through had cut into her side.
Numbness set in and she put the matter of her paltry scratch aside.
"We're almost home," Caine told her.
In her worry, she forgot to act afraid. "Watch your back when we get near the house," she ordered.
Caine didn't answer that command. He took the back road up to the stables. His men must have heard
the commotion, for at least ten hands were rushing toward the forest, their weapons at the ready.
Caine shouted to the stablemaster to open the doors, then rode inside. Jade's mount galloped behind. The stablemaster grabbed the reins and had the mare slapped inside the first stall before Caine had lifted Jade to the ground.
His grip on her waist made the ache in her side start nagging again. She bit her lower lip to keep herself from shouting at him.
"Kelley!" Caine shouted.
A yellow-haired, middle-aged man with a stocky frame and a full beard rushed over. "Yes, mi'lord?"
"Stay here with Jade," he ordered. "Keep the doors closed until I get back."
Caine tried to remount his steed then, but Jade grabbed hold of the back of his jacket and gave it a fierce jerk. "Are you demented? You can't go back outside."
"Let go, sweetheart," he said. "I'll be right back."
He pulled her hands away and gently pushed her back against the stall. Jade wasn't about to give up, however. She dug into his lapels and held on.
"But Caine," she wailed while he was peeling her hands away. "They mean to kill you."
"I know, love."
"Then why…"
"I mean to kill them first."
He realized he shouldn't have shared that truth with her when she threw her arms around his waist and squeezed him in a grip that was surprisingly strong.
They both heard two more shots ring out while he pulled her arms away.
Caine assumed his men had taken up the fight. Jade prayed her men had already intervened and chased the villains away.
"Shut the doors after me, Kelley!" Caine shouted as he swiftly remounted and goaded his stallion around.
Another shot sounded just a minute or two after Caine had left. Jade rushed past the stablemaster and looked out the small square window. Caine's body wasn't sprawled out in a pool of blood in the field.
She started breathing again.
"There's absolutely nothing to be worried about," she muttered.
"You best get away from the window," Kelley whispered from behind.
Jade ignored that suggestion until he started tugging on her arm. "Mi'lady, please wait for the Marquess
in a safer spot. Come and sit over here," he continued. "The Marquess will be back soon."
She couldn't sit down. Jade couldn't stop herself from pacing or fretting, either. She prayed that both Matthew and Jimbo had taken care of the intruders. They were two of her most loyal men. Both were well trained in trickery, too, for Black Harry had personally seen to their education.
This was all Caine's fault, she decided. She certainly wouldn't be in such a state of nerves if he'd turned out to be anything like the man she'd read about in the file. He seemed to have two completely different personalities, however. Oh, she knew the file told the truth. His superiors had referred to him as a cold, methodical man when the task at hand needed his special consideration.
Yet the man she'd encountered wasn't at all cold or unfeeling. She'd played on Caine's protector instincts, but she believed he was going to be very difficult all the same. He hadn't turned out to be difficult at all, though. He was a caring man who'd already taken her under his wing.
The problem, of course, was the contradiction. Jade didn't like inconsistencies. It made Caine unpredictable. And unpredictable meant dangerous.
The doors suddenly flew open. Caine stood there, his mount still in a lathered pant behind him.
She was so relieved to see he was safe, her knees went weak on her. Every muscle in her body began to ache. She had to sit down in the chair Kelley provided before she could speak.
"You're all right, then?" she managed to ask.