Читать книгу Defending the Duchess - Rachelle McCalla - Страница 11

TWO

Linus stood panting next to the bench and studied the duchess. A dozen different thoughts warred for attention inside his head, not least among them his concern for Julia’s immediate safety. Where had her attacker gone? Had he been acting alone? Between the darkness and the craggy bluffs, the man could be anywhere.

Why had the duchess been attacked? If the man had meant her immediate harm, he could have knocked her off and run away before Linus could have caught up to him. No, it seemed the man wanted to kidnap her or at least drag her out of sight before enacting his plans.

Linus felt his stomach roil with revulsion. He didn’t want to imagine what the assailant’s plans had been. From what he had observed of her, Julia Miller was a delightful, caring young woman. She hadn’t done anything to provoke the attack. Even now, with her face streaked with sand and sweat and her hair ruffled from its ponytail, she looked sweet. Innocent. Pretty.

He put those thoughts out of mind. He shouldn’t think about how the duchess looked, and he could grill her on possible theories later. Right now, he needed to focus on her well-being. That meant calming her fears and determining whether the injury on her leg warranted a trip to the hospital. And he needed to figure out how to get her off the beach. After chasing her all the way from the palace, fighting off her attacker and then carrying her back through the shifting sand, he was beat. He wasn’t sure he could carry her all the way to the hospital, or even to the palace. But he was reluctant to pull any men off the search for her assailant just to fetch them a car.

On top of all that, Linus couldn’t shake the question of why the duchess had deliberately run off without him in the first place. Sure, she’d probably underestimated the risk and just wanted a moment to herself. But she could have explained as much to him and he’d have worked something out so that she could have some space and still be safe.

Didn’t she trust him?

Or was she running from him?

The thought clamped around his lungs with cold fingers and he stopped panting. During their interactions over the past two days, he’d felt an odd frisson, of attraction or aversion, he couldn’t be sure which. But there was something there. He’d told himself not to worry about it, but if it was enough to send the duchess running from the palace without him, then he couldn’t ignore it any longer. It would have to be addressed.

Lowering himself onto the other end of the bench, he faced Julia.

In the light of the rising moon, he saw the glimmer of a streak of tears descending down each of her cheeks.

He swallowed. How was he supposed to raise the question that had suddenly become the foremost on his mind? If she really didn’t want him around, she certainly wouldn’t want to discuss it with him.

“Did I offend you?”

She startled and blinked up at him.

In his exhaustion, his voice had come out a good half octave lower than its usual bass. He probably sounded sinister. Clearing his throat, he tried again. “I’m sorry. You’re supposed to page me if you want to go out.”

“When I go out under guard it seems like such a fuss. I thought it would be easier this way.” The emotion behind her words strained her voice plaintively.

Linus almost felt guilty for pursuing her. But then, if he hadn’t arrived when he did, her attacker would have carried her off. Obviously she wasn’t going to share more of her feelings right now, and he needed to get her to a secure location. He switched topics. “How’s your leg? Do you need a hospital?”

“It’s just a surface injury. I can try walking.” She planted her feet on the ground and started to stand, then winced.

Linus scooted across the bench to her side, ready to help in whatever way he could, but unsure if she welcomed further contact with him. It would be easier if he didn’t find her so charming, if her predicament didn’t bring out every protective instinct inside him, even if he knew where he stood with her.

She rested one hand on his shoulder for just a moment before gulping a breath and letting go, trying again to stand on her own.

A whimper escaped her lips.

“You can lean on me,” he offered. They’d lingered too long. He had yet to hear a report of capture, and that wasn’t a good thing. They needed to get moving. If Julia’s attacker decided to circle around to strike again, he could have easily caught up to them by now, even going out of his way. For all they knew, the man might have accomplices.

“You’re exhausted.” She met his eyes. Tears still pooled among her lashes.

Linus refused to think about how pretty she looked. “Let me help you. If I need to, I will carry you all the way to the hospital.”

Her face puckered and she looked as if she was about to cry. “You don’t need to do that. I can walk.” She straightened and forced herself to take a step.

Her injured leg gave way beneath her.

Linus got under her arm in time to prop her up. The woman was too independent for her own good. For her safety, he had to get her off the beach quickly.

Even if it made her cry.

“Come on. Lean on me.”

“I hate to be a burden.”

“It’s that or I carry you.” To his relief, she relented to leaning heavily against him, half hopping as they made their way toward the boardwalk that led to the marina. From there, they could connect with the sidewalk along the main boulevard.

They made it a few more steps before the duchess sniffled.

“Are we hurting your leg? We can stop.”

“My leg is fine.” Her words came out in a strained whisper.

The shock of her attack was taking its toll on her. And her leg wasn’t fine—he could feel her shudder in pain with every step she took.

“Please let me carry you again,” he requested, unwilling to pluck her up against her will, especially after the way her attacker had manhandled her. He’d only provoke more tears that way. “I’ll get you back to your sister.”

“No!”

Her sudden insistence surprised him, and he stopped walking long enough to look her full in the face. “Your sister, Queen Monica—”

“Don’t tell Monica what happened.”

“She’ll have to know.”

“Please.” Julia’s grip tightened around his waist, and her free hand clutched his wrist. “She’s been through too much lately. She looked so tired today. I don’t want her to worry.”

“The royal guard was dispatched to look for your attacker. Your leg is injured.”

The duchess sucked in a trembling breath. Given his proximity propping her up, Linus felt it ripple through her. She clearly felt strongly about the issue. “Don’t let on to Monica that anything’s happened just yet. There has to be some way around it. I came to Lydia to support her, not to give her more to worry about. We can’t put any more stress on her. She already looks so haggard.”

Linus saw the queen on a regular basis, and while he wouldn’t have chosen the word haggard to describe either of the lovely Miller sisters, he had to acknowledge that Queen Monica hadn’t been her usual radiant self for the past few weeks. “What’s been upsetting her? Her kidnapping was over two months ago. Is it post-traumatic stress?”

“I don’t know.” Julia let out a long breath. She sounded relieved that Linus was taking her request seriously. “But I’ve never seen her look this way and it worries me. She’s had so many sudden changes—not just the kidnapping and fighting to get her son back—but becoming queen, moving halfway around the world. I thought my visit would give me a chance to help her work through all she’s been through, but if she hears what happened tonight it will only make it worse.”

The duchess had a point. Linus couldn’t deny it. He didn’t want to upset the queen further—part of his mission as a member of the royal guard was to protect the royal family, not just physically, but from all harm.

That meant worry and stress, as well. It was the job of the royal guard to worry about safety so that the members of the royal family could focus on their duties without fear. If the queen’s haggard appearance came from feeling unsafe, that meant the guards weren’t doing their jobs. Linus took that personally.

“Okay,” he relented, “I’ll see what I can do for tonight at least. Right now we’ve got to get you back to safety. We’ve wasted too much time. Can I carry you?” He’d rested enough with all their talking that he figured he could handle the exertion again.

Julia looked up at him with her warm brown eyes, and Linus felt that underlying current he’d sensed before, an emotional charge he couldn’t yet identify. Did she suspect that he felt a sense of attraction to her? He had no intention of acting on it, but perhaps she didn’t realize that. Or had he offended her in some way? That might explain why she’d run off without a guard.

She still leaned slightly on his arm, unable to put any weight on her injured leg. As Linus adjusted his arm to better support her, he couldn’t help but wonder what she was thinking.

* * *

The guard had been more than patient with her. Julia realized that. He was also trying his best to be appropriate and respectful, in spite of the circumstances. Instead of hoisting her over his shoulder and trundling her off to the palace, he’d patiently listened to her fears, and even agreed to try not to say anything to Monica yet.

For that, Julia knew she was indebted to him.

On top of that, the man had taken quite a bashing in his fight with her attacker. A trickle of blood leaked from his left eyebrow—that would be a black eye by morning—and his lower lip looked puffy. She examined it in the moonlight perhaps a few seconds too long before she turned her gaze away.

Linus had taken quite a beating on her behalf.

It wouldn’t be fair to cause any more trouble. The way he spoke of safety and the need to return her promptly to the palace, she knew he feared what could happen if they lingered near the beach any longer. And in spite of her best efforts, Julia’s hobbling was painfully slow. So even though she hated being a burden, Julia agreed to let him carry her again.

He cradled her head against his shoulder as he made his way uphill from the beach to the palace. It was a steep climb, enough to make anyone feel winded, even if they weren’t carrying a cumbersome load.

“Is there anything I can do to make it easier?” Julia asked, still feeling guilty after all Linus had done for her.

“If you could relax,” Linus strained, “that would help. When you sit so stiff—” he sucked in two more breaths and glanced around, his dark eyes narrowed as he scanned the storefronts and alleyways “—it makes it harder to carry you.”

“Oh.” Julia hadn’t thought of that. She wasn’t used to being carried and realized she’d been straining ever-so-slightly as though to keep a small distance between them.

It was foolish to resist leaning on him. She was only making things more difficult for him. Reluctantly, she pressed her cheek against his shoulder and closed her eyes to the embarrassment she felt. She could feel the surging beat of his heart as he strained to move her uphill as quickly as possible. She let out an anxious breath and focused on breathing in slowly.

Over the scent of the sea and the closed shops and eateries they now passed, Julia caught a whiff of manly scent—something wild and strong and oddly soothing. She breathed in again, more slowly this time and felt her fears ebb away. She was in good hands. Linus was watching out for her. Whatever was going on, whoever had attacked her, Linus and his fellow guards would sort it out. The guards had kept the Lydian royal family safe against awful foes earlier that summer.

They’d see her through this mess, too.

“Almost there,” Linus gasped his way up the last ridge to the palace gates.

Glad as she was to be safely back at the palace, Julia felt a distinct swirl of disappointment. Now she’d have to discuss the details of the attack. By rights, she’d have to tell them everything about her fears back home, even if that ended up having nothing to do with tonight’s attack. She’d only been practicing law for a couple of years, but that was plenty long enough to understand the problems one could get into from withholding pertinent information.

And she’d have to let go of Linus. She told herself that should be a relief, but as he lowered her to standing, still propped against him to keep the weight off her injured leg while they waited for the pedestrian gate to open, Julia wished she had an excuse to press her cheek to his shoulder again.

Silly. Absurd, really. But it had been so comforting to be close to him.

Linus helped her hop through the door, and a pair of guards hurried over from the guardhouse, quickly forming a human chair with their arms, carrying her sling-style across the lawn.

“To the palace?” one of the guards asked.

“No.” Julia started.

“To the guardhouse,” Linus explained. “She doesn’t want the queen to be worried.”

Whatever the other guards thought of her request, they kept their mouths shut and delivered her inside with a minimum of fuss, planting her on a modern sofa in the front waiting area while one of them fetched a first-aid kit. For the first time, Julia was able to get a look at the injury in decent light, and was relieved to find only a nasty scrape and some bruising—painful, but nothing that required a hospital visit.

Linus stood facing the corner, speaking earnestly into his earpiece, scowling. Julia couldn’t make out his words, but from what she could see of his face in profile, he didn’t look happy.

“They didn’t catch him?” she asked when Linus ended the transmission and turned toward her.

He shook his head regretfully.

Julia looked down at her leg. One of the other guards dabbed with gauze at the bleeding parts, cleaning it with gloved hands.

When she looked back up at Linus, she saw the front of his pale blue button-down royal guard shirt rising and falling as he pulled in deep breaths. She sensed his repressed frustration that the shadowy figure had evaded them.

She also guessed that as soon as he caught his breath, he’d want to know everything she could tell him about the man who’d attacked her. If she’d had answers or understood the man’s reference to a file, she’d have gladly shared those details. The little bit she knew only made her shiver with greater fear. She wasn’t looking forward to reliving those few terrified moments, but worse yet, she didn’t want to confess who she feared it might have been.

* * *

When Linus looked back at Julia, her attention was focused on Jason Selini, the head of the royal guard, who’d come in from off duty in response to the attack, and now knelt at the duchess’s side, bandaging the scrape on her leg.

Linus watched her in puzzlement for a moment, wondering. He hated that she’d been attacked while under his guard. Worse still, he couldn’t help wondering why she’d purposely escaped from the palace without him—and if her reasons might be related to her attack.

“Do you need anything?” he asked when she looked up. “A drink? Something to eat?”

“I am a little thirsty.”

Linus listed drink options, and Sam, another of the guards, went to fetch them both some juice. With just the three of them in the room, Linus hoped Julia wouldn’t feel too overwhelmed. If it had been up to him, they’d be inside the palace and she’d have her sister at her side to comfort her, but Julia had been adamant about not alarming the new queen.

He crouched alongside Jason so that he could look up at the duchess. He didn’t need her feeling lectured or looked down upon. “We need to find out everything we can about the man who attacked you this evening.” Linus tried to make his low voice less imposing. “What can you tell us about him?”

“I couldn’t see him. It was dark.”

“You didn’t recognize anything about him?”

“Should I have? You fought him. What did you notice?”

Linus swallowed. “He’s about six-two, one-eighty. Trained fighter.”

Julia shuddered. “Why would a trained fighter attack me?”

Linus watched Julia’s face carefully. He’d always been adept at reading people—far more adept than at reading words in books. Now he watched her eyes dart between their faces before she glanced down. She felt ashamed and was weighing her next words.

The door burst open, and more guards poured in.

Julia’s eyes widened at the activity.

Linus sensed there was more Julia wanted to say, but she clearly wasn’t going to open up in front of so many people. He leaned toward Jason and murmured quietly, “She knows something.”

“About her attacker?” Jason whispered back.

The duchess watched the men pour into the room discussing what they’d found on the beach—footprints and sure signs of their scuffle. She looked overwhelmed.

And Linus knew the commotion wouldn’t die down anytime soon. The members of the royal guard had always taken their charge to protect the crown very seriously. If possible, they were even more zealous about their duties since the attacks that had threatened the royal family two months before. The attack on Julia was bigger than any threat to the royal family since the crown had been restored with the coronation of King Thaddeus and Queen Monica.

As control central for such events, the royal guard headquarters would be far too distracting a place to hold such a sensitive conversation.

Linus looked back to Jason. “Where can I talk to her?”

Jason looked thoughtful, and Linus could guess what he was thinking. The interrogation room was meant to intimidate, not set a frightened female at ease. In fact, the whole royal guard headquarters was set up for tough men to do hard work. There wasn’t a room in the building where the duchess might feel at ease enough to open up about her attacker and the fear that haunted her eyes.

“Take her back to the palace.” Jason cleared his throat and addressed the duchess. “I understand you don’t want your sister to know about the attack,” he conceded. “We don’t have to tell her yet this evening. Linus can escort you back to the palace and avoid your sister, but he’s going to need to ask you some questions about the attacks. And we’ll have to brief the king and queen tomorrow. Will that be okay?”

Julia wrapped her arms around her shoulders as she nodded, blinking back tears. Yes, the events of the evening were catching up to her. Linus feared he might not learn much tonight.

Frustrating. Still, he’d do his best.

“Want to try walking on it?” he asked as Julia placed her feet on the floor and braced herself to stand.

She nodded and eased herself slowly to standing. He felt a moment’s triumph at the small victory, but when she tried to shuffle forward a step, she winced.

He swooped in beside her and she took his arm, leaning on him slightly for support.

“I can do it,” she whispered.

“You don’t have to. We can find a wheelchair—”

“I can do it.” Julia grimaced and leaned heavily on his arm as she made her way forward, growing more certain with each step.

Much as Linus appreciated the woman’s determination, he wished she’d relent to letting him carry her. It would be so much faster that way, and she wouldn’t have to risk straining her injury.

They made it more than halfway across the lawn toward a back entrance to the palace when the duchess stopped to catch her breath.

Linus had been waiting for an opening. He needed to ask her questions. Given the way she insisted on tiring herself out, he feared that once they reached the palace, she’d be too exhausted to talk about the attacks and close the door in his face. Then he’d never learn what doubts had clouded her eyes.

He cleared his throat. “You probably want to forget all about what happened this evening, but before you do that, I need to know everything you were able to observe about your attacker, any clues you might have that would help us identify him.”

“I couldn’t see him in the darkness. He was wearing a mask.”

“I know,” Linus acknowledged, thinking quickly. He’d already been briefed about the queen’s little sister before he was assigned to guard her, so he knew a few things about her background, and could guess how that might get in her way. “You’re a lawyer, right?”

“A trial lawyer.”

Having testified in court before about work-related cases, Linus knew about her line of work. “In court, you have to know things with certainty and be convinced of guilt or innocence beyond a shadow of a doubt.”

“Yes.” She spoke the word slowly as she looked up at him through the misty moonlight. Obviously she had to wonder where he was going with his line of reasoning.

“Right now I need the opposite from you. I know you can’t say with any certainty who attacked you, but I want to know your hunches, your gut instincts, your fears. Anything you might have picked up on that would give us a clue about this guy.” Linus watched her carefully as he spoke. Even in the moonlight, he could see enough of her face to tell that his own hunch had been correct.

She knew something.

He just had to convince her that it was okay to tell him what it was.

“It’s not anything.” Julia shook her head dismissively.

Still, Linus felt hopeful. The woman had enough of a grasp on what she knew to discredit it. That meant she could likely put it into words if he could persuade her that it would be acceptable to do so—even if that went directly against her usual practice as a trial lawyer. He waited patiently.

“Back home,” she started softly, then pinched her eyes shut. She clearly felt foolish uttering the words out loud.

“Back home?” Linus repeated, prompting her.

“Seattle,” she clarified. “Seven thousand miles from here.” She huffed a tiny laugh. “Who would be crazy enough to follow me halfway around the world?”

She spoke so softly Linus had to strain to hear her. And yet, as her words sank in, he felt a distinct chill. Had the duchess been threatened even before she left home? If she hadn’t been the victim of a random attack, she could be targeted again. Especially if her attacker had already traveled so far to get his hands on her.

“Tell me what you suspect,” he prompted softly.

“He said something.” She shook her head slightly, but her eyes had met his. “I couldn’t have heard him correctly.”

“Tell me what you think you heard.” He locked on her gaze and held her attention, focusing on imparting a sense of trust, of safety, of acceptance. “The smallest clue can be important,” he assured her as doubt rose in her eyes.

She almost smiled then, resignedly, and opened her mouth.

Then a small electronic sound cut through the silent night.

“My phone!” Julia pulled back from him and reached for a small zippered pocket on her shorts. “I have a text.”

Linus felt his hopes deflate. Whatever Julia had been going to tell him, she wasn’t likely to speak up now.

Important as it seemed, his concern about her confession dimmed the moment Julia read the message on her phone.

“Oh, my—” she covered her mouth with one hand, looked up at him with terrified eyes, and whispered past her fingers “—no.”