Bobbi Smith - Captive Pride

“Yes, Eve. I’m refusing.” His answer held a note of finality to it.

“But that’s ridiculous!” she shrieked. “You’ll hang for sure if I don’t testify in your behalf!”

“That may well be, but I am Lord Noah Kincade, and I do still have my pride.” He walked away from her and stood looking back at her with regal contempt. “As you well know, I am innocent of the charges against me. I will not prostitute myself, not even to gain my release from this hellhole.”

“Are you saying that you find almost certain death preferable to a marriage to me?” Eve was furious and crushed at the same time.

Noah’s silver eyes raked over her in disgust, and without his saying a word, she had her answer. Eve flushed painfully at his unspoken insult.

“You’re a fool!” she hissed at him.

Noah shrugged.

“You’ll be sorry!”

“I sincerely doubt it,” Noah replied.

“I hope you rot in hell!” Eve snarled, wishing Geoffrey had shot him!

A faint, derisive half smile touched his lips at her remark. “That is a very definite possibility.”

At his answer, Eve glared at Noah scathingly and then stormed from the cell. Slamming the barred door shut as she left, she never looked back. She had been defeated, and in a most personal way. Never before had Eve been rejected or denied something she’d really wanted. Ever the actress, she disguised her emotional turmoil as she bid the guard good-bye, then quit the building and climbed into her waiting carriage.

Her feelings for Noah had undergone a drastic change. The pain of his open rejection had pierced her heart and hardened her. What once she’d considered love was now converted to hatred. Filled with the desire to see him suffer, Eve vowed to herself never to reveal to anyone what she had seen and heard that night at Geoffrey’s. If Noah didn’t want her and preferred to die rather than marry her, so be it. He would face the gallows without her testimony, and she thought it a suitable end for him. Content that he would pay the ultimate price for his arrogance, Eve settled back on the seat in the coach and smiled as she envisioned Noah’s execution.

CC returned home, raced upstairs to her room, locked herself in, and threw herself upon her bed. Only then, when she was certain she was alone, did she allow herself to cry. Noah and Eve…She had thought that there was nothing between them, but she’d been wrong. Obviously they were lovers. Why else would Eve have come to him at the jail?

The memory of their embrace and the snatch of the conversation she’d overheard thundered through her thoughts. “I know you’re the type of man who’s not averse to making a profitable deal.”

“Yes…so?”

“If you cooperate, I can arrange for you to be out of here before the day is done…” The conversation lingered hauntingly in her mind, and CC tried to think clearly for a moment. Eve had been promising to arrange Noah’s release, and she wondered how that could be possible when he’d already been denied his freedom at his arraignment. Something wasn’t right. Something didn’t fit.

Sitting up in the middle of her bed, she frowned in concentration as she wiped angrily at the tears that still dampened her cheeks. How could Eve guarantee Noah would be freed? Did the other woman know something vital about the shooting, or did she have a connection with someone of influence? The latter thought sent a chill of fear through her as she considered the possibility that Eve was fronting for the authorities and perhaps trying to get information from Noah regarding the rebels in exchange for his release. Certainly, after hearing of Noah’s arrest for Geoffrey’s murder, her father had been convinced that he was involved with them. Were they the ones behind Eve’s “deal”?

Suddenly realizing that Noah might reveal everything in order to save his own neck, CC charged off the bed. She had to warn Ryan and the others of Noah’s possible treachery. After taking only a few moments to bathe her face in cool water so no one would know she’d been crying, CC started from her room, intent only on getting to Ryan as quickly as possible. She was just starting down the staircase when her father’s study door opened, and he stepped out into the hall with Thomas Highland. CC backed away from the stairs and down the hall, waiting for Highland to leave. She had too many important things on her mind right now to waste any time making pleasant conversation with her father or one of his business associates.

“Thank you, Thomas. I appreciate your coming by and letting me know,” Edward was saying as he accompanied him to the door.

“I thought it was something you should be informed of, so I came over as soon as I could.”

“Again, my thanks.”

CC heard the front door close behind the visitor as he left, and she started down again, eager to be gone. To her surprise, she came face-to-face with her father, who was on his way upstairs.

“Cecelia…” He stopped and stared at her, his expression quixotic.

The fact that he had used her full given name gave CC pause, and she smiled as brightly as she could at him as she continued on her way down. “Hello, Father.”

“I thought I had heard you come in a bit earlier, and I was just on my way up to see you. Are you planning on leaving again?”

“As a matter of fact, I was,” she replied easily. “Was there something important you had to discuss with me, or can it wait until this evening over dinner?”

“I think it’s important enough to delay you. Were you planning on going shopping again?” he inquired.

“As a matter of fact, yes-” she began, but he cut her off.

“Get into my study right now!”

Her father had never spoken to her in such a furious tone of voice before, and CC’s eyes widened in surprise as she tried to imagine what could have angered him so.

“Of course,” she agreed, leading the way into the privacy of his personal office. “What is it?”

“Sit down!” It was a command, and she hurriedly complied, slipping into the chair that faced his desk as he stalked around behind it.

Edward stood poised for battle as he glared at his daughter seated there in front of him. CC looked so sweet and innocent that he wondered how she could have been so brazen. How could she have done it? Thomas Highland had just stopped by to inform him that he’d seen CC exiting the jail earlier that day. As it was highly irregular for a woman, especially a young, unmarried one, to visit such a place, he’d thought it important that Edward be informed. Edward agreed with his assessment. His daughter had had no business whatsoever going to the jail. He was outraged by her behavior, and he would punish her accordingly.

CC was growing more and more nervous as she watched the play of emotions on his face. He was angry with her, of that she had no doubt, but what she didn’t understand was why. Unless…

“Father? Is something terribly wrong?”

“Why would you ask that?” Edward countered sharply.

“I don’t know. It’s just that you look very upset.”

“Yes, you’re right about that. I am upset.”

“Is there something I can do to help you?”

“I doubt if you can help me with it, my dear. You see, you are the cause of my anger.”

“Me?” CC was suddenly frightened.

“Yes. I had no idea that I had raised a liar for a daughter.”

“A liar?” She swallowed nervously as she blanched.

“Yes. While you told me that you were going shopping earlier today, it appears that you had another goal in mind.”

“Father, I-”

“Let me finish!” he ordered, barely suppressing the fury that was consuming him. “You told me you were shopping; however, Thomas Highland informs me that you were at the jail today, apparently visiting Lord Kincade. Is that true?” Edward demanded.