If You Were Mine Read Online Free Page B

under.
    Struggling to draw a breath against the tightening around his
heart, he longed to roar out his denial of losing her.
    “ I should never have left her the way I did,” Dominic bit out,
tilting his head back to look at the darkened clouds ahead. The
swirling myriad of cold greys matched the icy bleakness in his
heart. He was vaguely aware of Peter rising to his feet to stand
beside him.
    They
were almost equal in height as they stood shoulder to shoulder
beside the newly dug earth for several moments, each lost in their
own thoughts.
    “ Do you know where he has gone?” Dominic asked, his voice
shaking with barely concealed emotion.
    “ No, but we will find out,” Peter replied softly, lost in his
own quiet contemplation.
    “ She needs a proper gravestone,” Dominic dropped to one knee,
and slowly trailed a gentle finger around one arm of the roughly
carved cross. “Why did they bury her so quickly?”
    “ I don’t know, but I have sent word to the Magistrate to meet
us here. I want answers. She cannot stay in such a desolate place.
This isn’t where she belongs. She needs to go back to Willowbrook
Hall, and be interred in the family crypt with Father and Mother,”
Peter replied, staring sightlessly at the ground at his
feet.
    As soon
as events in Norfolk had been tied up and both men free to leave,
they had immediately set out for Willowbrook, only to find Elspeth
in great distress and the house staff in terrified confusion. Some
weeks earlier, Isobel had been removed from their aunt’s care by
her Uncle Rupert, who had claimed the guardianship by issuing
threats and insults. Aunt Elspeth hadn’t been certain about their
destination, but had been subjected to having her objections
soundly squashed by a condescending Rupert, who had threatened her
with outright violence should she take steps to block Isobel’s
removal from the house.
    The last
Elspeth had seen of Isobel had been a brief tearful good-bye before
Isobel had been bundled into an unmarked carriage and quickly
driven off. Nobody has heard anything from her since then.
Elspeth’s clear distress had been heightened by the arrival of
Peter, whom Elspeth had believed to have been murdered by the
lawless smugglers he had gone to help capture. Shock had quickly
turned to outrage at Rupert’s callous duplicity, and the weight of
lies he had clearly told everyone to secure her compliance in her
own kidnap.
    Dominic could only wonder what Rupert had led Isobel to
believe about him . After all, the staff at Willowbrook had been adamant that
Isobel had been betrothed to Bertram DeLisle just prior to her
disappearance. The thought made Dominic’s stomach churn with
building rage.
    It had
been Kitty, a rather robust looking maid, who had bravely come
forward. After a lot of reassurance, she had described Isobel’s
flight from the Gosport Hall in the middle of the night, and her
ultimate destination. Kitty had herself escaped the house having
been found by one of Rupert’s staff and set free. As soon as Rupert
had learnt of Isobel’s escape, he, along with his henchman, had
left the house to search for her. This had given Kitty the time she
needed to make her own escape. Having given all of her funds to
Isobel, she had taken some money from the desk in the library and
eventually found her way back to Willowbrook, whereupon she had
resumed a rather nervous position among the house staff. Luckily,
Rupert didn’t consider her useful enough to follow her.
    Assuring
Kitty of their eternal gratitude, both Dominic and Peter had
promptly returned the funds Kitty had given to Isobel, and given
her the position as companion to Aunt Elspeth. She was also going
to receive a small cottage on the Willowbrook estate in
appreciation for her diligent care of Isobel and her services to
the family.
    Having
garnered as much information as they needed, Dominic and Peter,
along with several of the remaining staff began an exhaustive
search.
    For
days, they questioned