Chapter Thirty-One
Jamie woke with a pounding head and a mouth that tasted as if he’d been chewing old hay. For a moment, all he could do was breathe, shallow inhales of cold, damp air that stung his throat. Then, he heard the slap of water against timber.
He tried to swallow, but his tongue scraped against the dryness of his mouth. Every muscle screamed in protest, each one a reminder of the punishment he’d endured the day before.
It took him a moment to understand why his shoulders burned so fiercely. His wrists were bound above his head, the pull on them relentless, forcing his body to hang so that his toes barely brushed the floor. The strain sent pain shooting down his arms and into his spine like fire.
Blinking against the dim light, Jamie lifted his gaze. His hands were shackled, the iron biting into his raw skin, the chain running upward to a rope looped through a hook fixed to the ceiling.
He forced himself to focus on his surroundings and ignore the stinging pain in his ribs. Warehouse, his foggy mind supplied. He knew the smell assaulting his nostrils. Jamie was near the water.
The place was mostly empty except for a few pieces of furniture hunched in a corner.
An old rickety chair, a narrow table, and a trunk.
On the far wall, iron rings were bolted into stone, and chains dangled from them with cuffs attached.
He understood then where they had brought him.
Jackson’s place. Not his home, but somewhere he used when he wanted to play his favorite games.
A quiet space by the water where there were no neighbors to hear.
Jamie’s heart gave a hard, jolting thud. His breath came too quickly. He closed his eyes and counted, forcing calm to replace the rising panic. Then he thought of Alice, and it steadied him. He had to get out of here and back to her. Jamie had to tell her what was in his heart.
The light through the slats told him it was still daytime. He could also hear the patter of rain on water.
“Jackson, you cowardly bastard!” he roared, the sound burning his raw throat. “Fight me like the man you’re not!”
No answer came, only silence.
He set his teeth and jerked against the bindings. Jamie was strong, but he’d already been hanging here a while, if the ache in his shoulders was any sign, and yesterday his body had taken a beating. His strength would not last.
“You’re not finishing me, Jackson. Not today!” he vowed out loud.
Alice. He saw her as he had last night. Beautiful, passionate, and responsive to his every touch. He wanted more time with her—a lifetime.
Strong and determined. She was being tossed out of the only home she’d ever known by the man who should have protected her, and she had a plan that didn’t include Jamie.
He’d do something about that later, he promised himself. After he’d dealt with Jackson.
He pictured his sisters too. Their husbands would care for them if something happened to him. They would mourn him, but they would be all right. But Alice had nobody she could lean on without it costing her pride. She needed him alive.
“I love Lady Alice,” he said softly. He had never told a woman that. Not his sisters, Hannah and Briar. Jamie wanted the chance to tell them how much they meant to him, and Alice to her face that she had his heart. Not to these damp boards and empty air.
Jamie grabbed the rope above him and lifted himself, hissing as his shoulders screamed, and tried to change the angle of the rope over the hook.
The ceiling beam was old, splintered, and the iron hook hammered into place.
If he could saw the rope along the edge of the wood, even one strand at a time, maybe he could free himself.
Moving in small bursts, he swung and sawed, and the rope rasped. Strand by strand, it snapped. Pain sliced through him, but he could do this. Toby and Anthony slid into his head then. His friends, who had been to hell and back with him. Did they know he was missing?
Jamie forced his thoughts anywhere but the pain in his hands and shoulders as he continued to saw on the rope.
He wasn’t sure how long he’d been trying to free himself before he heard a door creak somewhere, followed by the thud of boots on wood. Jackson stepped into view. He then took off his gloves, one finger at a time.
“No point in making an entrance here. No one is looking, Jackson,” Jamie rasped.
Jackson smiled. An evil one that had once set the fear of God into Jamie, but no more. He was no longer the terrified boy he’d once been, or even the man he’d been before he’d met Alice.
“Lord Stafford,” Jackson said lightly. “I told you I’d kill you.”
Jamie noted the slight kink in his swollen nose, and the bruise on his jaw, and smiled himself. “I bet those hurt.”
Jackson’s smile slipped.
“You are at my mercy, Stafford. It would pay you to remember that.
Jamie waited for the fear, but it didn’t come. Alice had given him hope and belief. He kept moving slowly, ignoring the pain.
“Once maybe,” Jamie said calmly, but no more, he vowed silently. “I’m not a child now. But you, you’re still the pathetic man you always were. A man who could not get respect from anyone, so had to resort to hurting boys as they were the only ones you could control.”
Jackson’s face twisted into an angry mask at the taunts, and then smoothed out again.
“I see you’ve been playing with your toys,” Jamie said, nodding to the cuffs hanging from the wall. “Clearly, no woman will come to you willingly.”
The face before him turned smug, and Jamie tensed.
“I understand you and Lady Alice Smythe are close.” He tsked. “Such a shame about her brother, but then he was a weak man.”
“Say her name again, and I’ll take your tongue,” Jamie growled.
He felt sweat drip down his temple as he flexed his fingers. Above, he felt another strand of rope give. Not enough, but something.
“I will have a little fun with Lady Alice when you’re dead. I’ve never bedded a noblewoman.”
He didn’t take the lure Jackson had thrown him, even as rage surged through Jamie.
“You’re a weaselling little nobody, Jackson, and won’t get near her.
And if you did, she’d destroy you. Like I said, you’re not brave enough to take on anyone stronger than you, and Lady Alice is definitely that.
” Jamie forced himself to laugh at the man.
He wanted his rage. Jackson had a terrible temper and lost control easily.
If Jamie could get the man to do that, he’d make a mistake.
“In fact, I doubt there are many men you can best without a weapon. You’re a coward. ”
Jackson roared and ran at him.
Jamie threw his weight backward and then swung forward, savage pain ripping through his shoulders as he moved.
He pulled his knees up and then lashed out.
His boots caught Jackson in the midriff and slammed him backward into the table.
It splintered, dropping him to the floor.
The sound of keys chimed as they clanged against the wood.
Jackson made an ugly sound, hands clutched to his stomach as he staggered back to his feet. He pulled a blade from his boot.
“I’ll gut you!”
Jamie laughed. “You? I’d like to see you try. Even with my hands bound, I’ll best you.” He threw himself forward again, this time not to kick but to rub the rope hard across the hook. It rasped as more threads broke, and more pain sang through his body.
Jackson lunged, knife out, eyes narrowed to slits of rage. He slashed for Jamie’s thigh. Jamie twisted. The blade cut his trousers and the top of his skin. Heat ran down his leg.
“I’ll take her, and she’ll die in pain!” Jackson hissed.
Jamie jerked his weight again and felt more strands give. He twisted with the last of his strength, and made himself climb, just two handholds, and then drop hard.
The rope gave, and he dropped like a sack of stones onto the floor.
The boards beneath him protested and sent a flash of white pain from his shoulder to his ankle, knocking the breath out of him. Jamie rolled instinctively as Jackson’s knife came down where his ribs had been. His roar of anger had Jamie staggering to his feet.
“I’m killing you!” his enemy roared.
Jamie saw the sudden flash of fear on Jackson’s face as he brought his bound hands down onto his wrist. The knife dislodged and fell to the floor. Jackson ran at Jamie.
They hit the floor and rolled. He took an elbow to the jaw that made sparks flare at the edge of his vision. Jamie then drove his forehead into Jackson’s nose and heard him howl, as he inflicted yet more pain.
Jackson made a noise like a trapped animal. He crawled away from Jamie, searching for the knife, and found it as Jamie regained his feet, searching for a weapon of his own. He found a piece of wood. Picking it up, he braced himself for the next attack.
Jackson charged, slashing the blade from left to right, and he felt it slice through his belly as he brought the bit of wood down with as much force as he could. The nail in the board sank into Jackson’s shoulder. He screamed in pain.
Jamie heard the thunder of feet then, but he did not turn away from the man howling in pain before him.
“Jamie!”
He knew that voice. This time, he did turn, and watched Toby, Anthony, and Alice run through the door. With them was her large, protective footman.
His knees weakened, and suddenly all strength left his body as he fell to his knees. She dropped down before him, as all hell broke loose behind her.
“Alice,” he breathed. “My love.”
Her hands cupped his face, her lovely eyes filled with tears, and that was the last thing he remembered as he slumped forward into her arms.