A Lady Never Tells(136)
“No,” she replied honestly. “I cannot. But there has to be more.”
“What do you want me to say?”
That you love me. She managed to hold back the words. They had to come from him or it meant nothing.
“I don’t want you to say anything.” She whirled and strode away.
“Bloody hell! Mary—” He hurried after her.#p#分页标题#e#
She stopped at the wall that separated the upper garden from the lower one and stared out over the landscape. She did not turn her head as Royce came up beside her. He positioned himself to face her profile, ignoring the view.
“Has it occurred to you that you might already be carrying my child?” he asked softly. “Would you want your child to be born out of wedlock?”
“No, of course not. If I—if that turned out to be the case, I would marry you.”
He moved closer to her, his eyes lighting, and Mary took a quick step backward, placing her hand firmly against his chest.
“No. I won’t let you seduce me in the hope I’ll get pregnant and marry you.”
“Mary … you wound me.”
Mary rolled her eyes, turning away from him back toward the garden. She stiffened. “Royce …” Her voice was unnaturally calm and low.
“What?” He frowned, his eyes searching her face.
“There is a man standing below the gardens. Just outside, beneath that first tree.”
He went as still as she. “To my left?”
“Yes.” She looked up at him, her eyes wide. “He is just standing there, watching us. He’s too far away for me to make out his features.”
Royce nodded. He took one of her hands. It was ice cold in his. He raised it to his lips. “Don’t worry. Start walking to that bench past the steps.”
When he released her hand, Mary turned and began walking as he had instructed. Behind her, she heard a scrape and a thud, and when she whirled around, she saw that Royce had vaulted over the wall and was already running down the path below.
She raced to the steps leading down to the path, then hiked her skirts to her knees and took off at a run after Royce. She could not see the man he chased, but she could hear the intruder’s progress as he tore through the garden and into the field beyond.
Royce pulled away from her, gaining on the trespasser, until finally he threw himself at the man, and they crashed to the ground in a heap. Mary slowed as she reached them, struggling to regain her breath as the two men rolled across the ground, grappling and punching. She looked around for a small rock or a branch with which to knock the intruder out, but then Royce flipped the other man onto his stomach, grabbing his arm and twisting it up behind his back.
The man let out a roar of pain and stopped struggling. “All right. All right,” a very American voice gasped out. “I yield.”
Royce eased up on his pressure, then stood, hauling the other man to his feet. He was a well-formed young man, a trifle lanky, and his open, pleasant face held a scattering of freckles across his cheeks. Gray eyes, crinkling at the corners, looked out candidly from beneath straight brows of the same dark blond as his close-cropped, curling hair.
Mary gasped in surprise. “Sam! It’s Sam Treadwell!”
“Hello, Mary,” the man responded with a sheepish grin.
“You know him!” Royce stared at her.
“Yes. He—he’s from our town.” Mary continued to gaze at the man in dismay. “I can’t believe that you—Sam, what were you thinking? Why did you shoot at my sisters? Why did you try to take Rose?”
Sam Treadwell’s jaw dropped, and he gaped at her with an expression of such astonishment that he scarcely needed to say, “Shoot at—take Rose! What are you talking about?” Worry quickly wiped out the astonishment as her words sank in. “Is Rose all right?”
“Are you telling us you didn’t fire a pistol at Mary’s sisters?” Royce growled.
“No! Why in the world would I do that?” Treadwell’s voice rose in agitation. “Mary, what is going on?”#p#分页标题#e#
“If you’ve done nothing wrong, why the devil did you run from me?”
Sam blinked. “I saw you charging at me. I thought you were going to attack me.”
“Bloody hell!” Royce dropped Treadwell’s arm in disgust and took a step back, though he kept a wary eye upon the young man.
“Mary, please tell me what you’re talking about,” Sam said. “Is Rose all right?”
“Yes, she’s fine. Someone shot at my sisters yesterday. When we saw you, we thought you were the man who did it.”
“But you know I would never hurt Rose!”