Chapter One #3
“Then you left him buried in the muck with the others,” she whispered.
“There was no way to find him.”
“But surely you remembered where you left him?”
He eyed her, nodding after a long pause. “I remembered.”
“Did you at least return?” she wiped at her cheeks furiously, smearing tears. “Did you at least try to find him or did you simply discard him as one would a pile of rubbish?”
Cortez kept his cool in what could be interpreted as an accusation. He knew she was distraught. “I returned to the area where I left him,” he said patiently. “The mud had partially dried over the entire area. There were no bodies.”
“Then you assumed he was under the mud?”
“There was nowhere else he could be.”
She sniffled, wiping at her eyes as she contemplated his words. But there was something brewing in the brilliant green-brown depths, something he could plainly see. She took a deep breath, laboring for composure, when she met his gaze again.
“Was my husband dead when you left him to return to the battle?” she asked.
He stared at her. That was a question he had not expected. He did not want to lie to her but he wondered what manner of grief he was opening himself up for with his honest reply. “Nay, lady, he was not,” he whispered. “He was still alive.”
Her eyes flickered, growing intense. “Then it is possible he did not die at all.”
He shook his head. “There was no way for the man to survive the wound,” he was beginning to lose his calm demeanor.
Even on the best of days, he was not a normally patient man.
“Even if he had crawled away, he would not have made it very far and we covered that entire area with men. Someone would have found him.”
She shook her head, hard. “Nay,” she said firmly. “Robert was a strong man. It is possible that he simply crawled away to hide. Perhaps he survived somehow and even now is waiting for someone to come and find him. ’Tis possible that….”
“Nay, Lady Edlington,” Cortez reached out and grabbed her arms, gently but firmly. She seemed to be losing grip with the reality of the situation. “You will understand me when I say that there was no way for the man to survive.”
She took exception to his hands on her arms. Startled by his touch, she struggled to pull away.
“But…!”
“Listen to me,” he cut her off with a shake, their struggles increasing as she fought to pull away.
“There was no way for Robert to survive. He had a great sucking chest wound that was oozing blood and innards. You could see his lungs inflating through the hole and the arrow had penetrated so far into his torso that it nearly cut his spine in half. He could not feel his legs, my lady. There was no way for the man to move much less crawl away. Trust me when I say he did not survive.”
His words came out forcefully and brutally, trying to snap some sense into her. Diamantha’s struggles came to a halt and she stared at him, horrified, as the last few words came spilling from his lips.
Cortez regretted the words before they even left his mouth.
From the way Diamantha was staring at him, he knew it had been a mistake to tell her but his determination to make her understand that her husband could not have survived had put a noose around his common sense and severed it.
Split, his tactless words had slipped through the gap.
So he stared at Diamantha, wondering what damage he had just created.
“I am sorry,” he whispered when he realized what he had done. “I was attempting… my lady, you must not hold out false hope that Robert survived. There was no way he could have. I am sorry to have explained it to you so harshly. I am sorry if I upset you.”
Diamantha was in shock. Beyond tears, her mind muddled with distress, she had no other course of action than to pull from his grip, gently but firmly. Then she turned her back on him. She found that she could no longer look at the man.
“I release you from your promise,” she murmured, moving away from him in a rather staggering gait. “I understand you made the promise to marry me because you had no other choice. It was unfair of Robert to ask it of you. I therefore release you from your promise to take care of me and Sophie.”
Cortez watched her as she came to an unsteady halt next to the lancet window that overlooked the Dorset countryside to the south.
Big gray clouds were blowing in from the sea and he could smell rain upon the wind.
But his attention was riveted to the small woman with the miraculous brown hair and brilliant two-toned eyes.
She was a truly ravishing creature; he’d always thought so.
She was as unique and beautiful as her unusual name, Dee-a-MON-tha.
He felt rather disappointed with her statement but knew why she said it.
He had offended her. His disappointment grew.
“Although I understand that you are attempting to be gracious, please understand that I gave my word,” he said quietly. “I cannot go back on my word nor would I. I made your husband a promise that I intend to fulfill.”
“But I do not want to marry you.”
“What you want is of no matter. I promised Robert that I would take care of you and your father has consented.”
“I will not go.”
“You have no choice.”
She turned to look at him. Cortez watched her carefully, studying her expression, wondering how she was going to react.
He’d hoped to take her back to Sherborne Castle this day but knew, in reality, that it was probably an unrealistic hope.
Especially now. As he watched, she silently moved away from the window, walked past him, and left the solar.
With a heavy sigh, he followed. Something told him not to let her out of his sight.
It was a hunch too late.