Nicole began to chew on one of her fingernails.
“It’s not your fault Reese was forced into marriage,” Morse added.
Nicole ripped off the tip of her nail with her teeth, glancing at him. She spit the fingernail on the floor. “This is all his fault,” she whispered to herself. “If he wasn’t such a brute, there would have been dozens of women lining up to marry him.”
Morse studied his sister dubiously. “What are you talking about, Nicole?”
She stopped and faced him. “I wasn’t kidnapped,” she admitted.
Morse frowned. “What do you mean you weren’t kidnapped? Reese received a ransom note. Specific instructions that if he didn’t marry Jayce---”
“It was my idea. Cullen and I set up the whole thing.”
Morse shot up out of his chair. “What?!”
“We met a year ago at Tournament,” Nicole rushed on. “Cullen pointed Jayce out to me as she sat in the stands. She was beautiful and lively. When he told me she was spirited, too, I told him that Jayce was exactly someone Reese needed to keep him in line. That’s when Cullen mentioned he was looking for a husband for her. Well, at first I thought that for sure all Cullen needed to do was petition Reese to marry Jayce. But when that failed, Cullen and I came up with the kidnapping plan.” Nicole stared at Morse desperately. “I never intended anyone to get hurt.”
Morse shook his head. “Oh, Nicole,” he gasped. “Reese is going to kill you.”
She straightened slightly, indignantly. “Only after he kills you.” Nicole closed her eyes in anguish. “What did you have to show her that letter for?”
“I thought I was doing us all a favor. Apparently I was mistaken,” he grumbled, lifting his eyes to meet Nicole’s. “Gravely mistaken.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Jayce huddled beneath a tree, her knees drawn up to her chest, her hands wrapped tightly around herself. She shivered as the wind picked up and whipped around her like a cold cape. Her body was saturated from the continuous rain. Her clothing hung heavily against her. Her dark hair was wet and weighty, forming a curtain of damp strands around her face.
She sniffed again. She had wanted her marriage to work. She had done everything in her power to be loyal to Reese. Her body shook again, but it had nothing to do with the cold. She remembered the smile that lit his face, a smile that had melted her heart. She recalled the admiration in his eyes when she had stood before him on the field of honor. But despite all of this, he still did not love her. He still did not want to be her husband.
Her trembling fingertips brushed her lips. His kiss had transported her to a realm of safety; his arms had encompassed her in a shelter of strength. It had been the only time the storm was completely out of her mind.
Thunder ripped the sky and Jayce jumped, crying out. Sobs tore at her body; fear ate what was left of her heart.
Lightning speared the ground nearby, and Jayce bolted to her feet. As she raced blindly through the night, the rain pelted her body like stones being thrown at an outcast criminal. Her dress hung on her, pulling at her shoulders. She tried to lift her skirt so she could run, but her hands were trembling so fiercely she couldn’t manage to keep hold of it. The material slipped from her hands and she tripped over the hem, plummeting to the earth amidst the crack of thunder. Her hands skidded along the ground through the slick mud, and she went down on her stomach. Jayce lay with her cheek to the wet earth, sobbing.
Reese, her mind called. But she knew he would not come.
She pushed herself to her feet, struggling to regain her footing. The wind lashed at her, sending strands of her wet hair whipping into her face, her eyes. She raised her hands to block the lashing of her hair and the rain.
Suddenly, a roar filled her ears. The wind grew to Herculean proportions, pushing her around like a puppet. Jayce whirled to see a barrage of twisted, torn branches come flying through the air toward her as if nature herself had decided to attack with a swarm of arrows.
Jayce screamed and covered her face with her arms.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“No!” Reese cried out as he saw the swarm of twisted, gnarled branches soaring towards Jayce. He sent Satan surging towards her and reached Jayce just in time to yank her out of the path of the deadly debris. The sharp-edged sticks shattered against nearby tree trunks, splintering into hundreds of pieces.
Reese leapt from Satan and scooped Jayce into his arms, sheltering her from the roaring winds and battering branches. He held her tightly, clenching his eyes shut. With every beat of his heart, he prayed she was all right. He was afraid to look down into her face, afraid the little whirlwind of life would be gone.