Page 54 of Winterset

Oliver

I’m standing at the edge of a cliff.

Sea mist swirls around me, and I breathe in the salty-sweet air. Below, waves crash on the rocks.

Kate is there, walking along the seashore, her ball gown billowing in the breeze.

I cup my hands around my mouth and call to her.

She looks up. Sees me. Smiles. She motions for me to join her.

But my body is heavy, my limbs filled with thousands of grains of sand.

I’m stuck standing on the cliff.

Kate looks up at me with a pinched expression, as if wondering why I haven’t joined her yet.

Wondering if I ever will.

Wondering if I even want to.

She turns away. Steps into the sea.

Water surrounds her ankles, her knees, her waist.

She takes off a pelisse that she wasn’t wearing a moment ago and lays it on the water. She hesitates for a single second, then disappears into the depths.

I scream for her to swim, to fight. But I already know that if I don’t get to her ...

A sharp gasp of breath and my eyes snapped open.

But I saw nothing. The world was black.

I blinked.

Where was I? What had happened? I tried to make sense of my surroundings.

I was lying on my side, my face pressed against something cold. The marble floor?

My head spun as I sat up, and I rubbed my throbbing forehead. There was a large lump.

I stood and felt along the wall until I found a handle. As soon as the door opened, I realized where I was: in the corridor not far from Damon’s study. Spinning around, I saw that I had been inside the butler’s pantry. On the floor lay a woman’s reticule.

Everything came crashing back to me: proposing to Kate, our plan to run away, my discussion with Damon, the masked man in the corridor. Markham.

Kate!

My pulse raced with panic. How much time had passed? Please let her be safe in her rooms, packing her things , I prayed.

I staggered up the stairs toward the west wing, where Kate’s bedchamber was located. I didn’t know which one was hers though. “Kate!” I called frantically as I checked inside each bedchamber. “Kate!” She had to be here. I had to find her before Markham did.

A door opened farther down, and a maid peeked out.

I ran toward her. “Where is Kate?”

The maid looked at me in confusion.

“Miss Lockwood,” I said. “Do you know where she is?”

“I thought she was with you, sir. I watched as she climbed into your carriage and drove away.”

My stomach dropped. Markham had her. “How long ago?” I demanded.

“I don’t know. At least an hour.”

“An hour?” I cursed. They could be anywhere by now. “I need you to run to the stables and have two horses saddled immediately.”

She nodded but stood there in shock.

“Go now. And hurry!”

She sprang into action, and I sprinted back down the stairs and burst into the ballroom, searching out Damon for assistance. I scanned the crush for him and Hannah and found them in the center of the ballroom, waltzing.

They were surrounded by a dozen other couples, but I couldn’t wait until the dance was finished. I shouldered my way through the onlookers, decorum done away with.

The fuss caught Damon’s attention, his eyes widening when he saw me at the center of the commotion. He led a confused Hannah to me and took us both to the side of the ballroom to speak.

“What has happened?” he demanded, gripping my arm in concern.

I quickly explained what I knew: Markham knocking me unconscious, waking in the butler’s pantry, discovering Kate had been taken. “We have to go after her,” I said.

“We will find her,” Damon promised. “Do you have any idea where he might be taking her? Did he say anything to you?”

Damon’s question triggered my memory of Markham’s words right before he knocked me unconscious. “He told me to congratulate him,” I said. “That he means to marry her.” His intention hit me like another blow.

“They are likely on their way to Scotland, then,” Damon said.

“Gretna Green.” The small town just over the border where many couples went to make their clandestine vows. Damon was right; Markham was surely taking Kate there in an attempt to force the marriage. I ran toward the front door.

Damon’s footfalls followed close behind mine as we rushed to the stables. There a stablehand had just finished saddling our horses. I said a quick prayer of thanks to the maid for following through on her word and seeing that our horses were ready.

We swung into our saddles and dashed down the drive in the darkness. At the gate, we went north, but we did not travel far before we came to a fork in the road.

“What is your plan?” Damon asked.

I glanced down each darkened road, hoping I might see a clue, but saw nothing. I could not be sure which route they’d taken.

“I’ll go one way; you go the other,” I said. “One of us will find her.”

Damon did immediately as I said, starting down the left road as I began down the right.

The only thing I knew for certain was that time was of the essence.