Underground Captive (58 page)

             
Nicki talked to him, wrapped her small arms around his sleek neck and he

seemed to enjoy it.  And so did she.  She had found the horse that would take her home to Crescent Wood.

    
             
No one thought anything of her playful visits with Satan.  She knew the men rather enjoyed seeing her around the magnificent animal.  They even commented on how smoothly things had become since she got interested in the steed.  But, over the past week, she'd been irritable as hell.

    
             
She rarely saw Jared, which suited her just fine.  All the same, it was partly the reason for her cooperation, though her irritability seemed to grow daily.  Jared would see through her little scheme if he were around more often.  When he was around her, she glowered and glared at him, despite her best intentions.

    
             
Although everything seemed to aggravate her, Nicki found with Jared's servants all she had to do was grit her teeth, smile sweetly and be agreeable. They would then allow her to do most anything she pleased.  They now trusted her implicitly.

    
             
Satan had also began to trust her.  Although she would have to ride him bare back, she was confi
dent that he would let her ride him.  She was able to hide Satan's bridle in her room on the night she decided to make her move.

    
             
Going to bed fully dressed save for shoes, she retired ear
lier than usual.  She lay awake, keenly listening for footsteps that would tell her which person had retired where.  Though upstairs, she could still hear the noisy retreat of Mary Douglas and Elizabeth down below.  Not long after, she heard the heavy boot steps of Angus as he walked across the foyer to his quarters.

             
Silence.

             
Impatiently, she waited.

             
Silence.

             
She shifted sides in the bed and sighed anxiously.

             
Silence.

             
Her tension mounted.  Where the hell was Jared?  She turned once again and

groaned.

   
             
Silence.

             
Turning, she lay on her back, wanting to scream from her restlessness.

Her anticipation and edginess grew.

             
Her reward was more silence.

    
             
When Nicki thought she would pull every last strand of hair out of her head, she finally heard the firm, solid footsteps of Jared going to his bedchamber.

    
             
Gripping the coverlet on her bed, she wrestled with her eagerness.  She would wait.  It wouldn't do her any good to let them catch her.

    
             
She lay curled on her bed for another tortuous hour to assure herself that the household slept.

39

    
             
Stealthily, Nicollette opened the door, taking with her the horse's bridle.  She stepped into the hallway, glanced surreptitiously up and down the corridor.  Finding no one about, she breathed a deep sigh of relief.

    
             
Jared's door was closed.  Wondering if she would ever see him again, she stared at it a long moment.  She couldn't think of that now because she had to get home to Crescent Wood, but his secret identity was safe with her.  She loved him too much to see any harm come to him.

    
             
Nicollette tiptoed in her bare feet to the staircase, finally making her way downstairs.

    
             
The house appeared deserted, but she knew all too well that it was not.  At any moment, someone could discover that she was miss
ing.  She did not wish to incur Jared's wrath should she make a noise that would awaken him, or anyone else, and alert them that she was attempting to escape.  Quietly, she walked across the foyer then down the hall to the kitchen.

    
             
The back door was locked but the key remained in the latch.  However, the door was further secured with a slide bolt.  Heedful of the risks, Nicollette turned the key in the latch and slid the heavy bolt back.  It made a clicking sound and she froze in anticipation.

    
             
She stood motionless, cautious, wary, waiting for the master to pounce on her.  Nothing happened.  She stepped swiftly outside into the cold, darkness of the night.

             
With the exception of a gas lantern that hung in the distance on a post in front of the stable doors, and the light from the moon that the heavy clouds allowed to snake through now and then, there was no light out.  Carrying the bridle, she crept her way to the corral.  The stool she'd so innocently left by the fence was still there. 
             
Lightning streaked across the sky, daunting her and nearly making her turn and run back to the safety of the house.  It took every bit of the willpower she possessed to keep moving.  Determined to escape, she knew she would continue her journey in the fiercest thunderstorm if she had to.

             
At Nicollette's now familiar approach, Satan strolled up to the fence and nuzzled her.

    
             
"Hello, boy," Nicollette whispered.  "Are you ready to take me home?" The big horse whinnied and she laughed softly.  "Keep still then."

    
             
Satan allowed her to put the bit into his mouth and attach the reins to it.  She quietly opened the gate and led him through it before reclosing it.  Picking up her stool, she once more took hold of the reins and led Satan away from the corral towards the extreme back end of Highland Acres.  She walked a half-mile before she stopped and put her stool down next to Satan's flanks.

    
             
Still without shoes, she climbed on the stool then heaved herself upon Satan's bare back, ending the huge stallion's cooperation.  The moment Satan felt Nicki on his back, he bolted without warning.  Unable to grab the reins, she leaned forward and clung to his wide neck.  The horse ran a few hundred yards, determined to throw her.  The clouds now completely covered the moon.  Nicollette couldn’t see further than a foot or two ahead.  Satan ran at a frightening pace another mile before she felt the big horse fly through the air with a graceful, magnificent jump over a huge cypress, felled by the storm seven weeks ear
lier.

    
             
Fearfully, Nicollette dug her fingers into the flesh of the horse's neck.  But Satan seemed determined to free himself of her.  She suddenly felt herself uprooted from Satan's back and she rushed into the air, the momentum launching her far over his head.   She crashed into a muddy ditch located alongside the felled tree.  Careening to a stop, Satan pranced about, snorting and shaking his head up and down.  Trotting over to where she lay, the stallion nuzzled her and whinnied, then he backed away, looked down at her and headed back in the direction of the stables.

             
Nicki tried to raise her head.  Pain racked her body.  A boom of thunder sounded.  Lightning snaked across the sky.  The heavens opened.  Chilly, heavy torrents fell on Nicki as the cold fingers of blackness enveloped her.

*  *  *    

             
Jared tossed and turned uneasily.  He'd tried to placate Nicki's hurt feelings.  He had tried for seven weeks, but she was so stubborn.  She glowered at him all the time.  She screamed and sputtered insults at him.  He'd had his fill of her behavior.  She was kind to everyone but him, although at times he swore she tried to be nice.

    
             
Getting out of bed, he poured himself a scotch to further induce sleep.  After taking a sip, he stopped and listened.  He heard a clicking sound or so he thought.  Deciding it must be Nicki rummaging around for food again, he dismissed the noise and downed his scotch.  Pouring another, he wondered what was the matter with Nicki.  Besides eating three full meals a day, she'd taken to eating late at night after everyone else had retired.  Over the past week, she'd grown a little more

short-tempered and that was almost too much to bear, considering the temper she had already.

    
             
He should go down and shake the bloody little pepperpot until she learned some sense.  But Jared was afraid to touch her.  The feel of her flesh was tortuous.  He could hardly stand to look at her without yearning for her, let alone touch her velvet skin.  If she was that bloody hungry, let her enjoy herself.

    
             
The sudden rainstorm battered the shutters.  With each roar of thunder and flash of lightning he expected, indeed hoped, Nicollette would come to his bedchamber for comfort from the raging thunderstorm.  Though restless, Jared went back to bed and surprisingly fell asleep.

    
             
The next morning frantic calls and urgent bangings on his door abruptly awakened him.  Angus's voice penetrated Jared's brain, forcing his mind to wakefulness.

             
"Master Jared!  Master Jared!"

    
             
"The door isn't bolted, Angus.  Come in," he said, fully awake, getting out of bed.

             
"Beggin' yer pardon, Master Jared," Angus began anxiously.

             
Jared looked apprehensively at him.  "Has something happened to one of

the mares, Angus?"

             
"Nay, master, 'tis worse...."

             
"What is it!?"

             
"The lassie 'as run away!"

             
"
What
?"

    
             
Angus swiftly stepped back lest the master decide to loose his sudden wrath on him.  "She's gone, master."

    
             
"Saddle a horse for me," Jared commanded, quickly slipping on his breeches.  "Satan, Thunder, King George.  Any one of them, it doesn't matter.  Get Hugh and Robert.  I want them to aid me in the search.  Ye'll ride with me.  We must find her. She can’t have gotten very far on foot."

40

    
             
It was painstaking.  Even more so when the four men deduced that Nicollette had probably been thrown by Satan.  If that were true, Jared couldn't be sure if she attempted to continue on foot, or if she was lying somewhere hurt and unconscious.

He and Angus went in one direction while Hugh and Robert went the opposite.

    
             
Jared rode Satan and the horse insisted upon going in the direction of the extreme back end of Highland Acres.  The sudden rainstorm of the night before had washed away the last rem
nants of summer, bringing in the clean, crisp, coolness of autumn.  This morning was downright cold.

    
             
Jared tightened his cape around his shoulders.  The ground was rain-soaked and muddy.  He walked Satan through mushy fields and large puddles of water.  He and Angus went two miles past Highland Acres but found nothing.  On several occasions, Angus tried to apologize but Jared only glowered at him.

             
Jared was angry with Angus.  With everyone.  But he was angrier with himself. The more he thought of how she had taken him and his staff in, the more enraged he became.  He'd heard Nicollette downstairs.  He'd heard the door latch and he'd ignored it.  He'd sat in his bed
chamber hoping she'd come to him so that he could drink in her beauty and feel the softness of her next to him.

             
Well, this is the last straw!  The lying, deceiving, little bitch.  I'll feel her softness all right!  I'll feel her soft bottom against the palm of my hand!  If she is going to act like a child I'll surely treat her as one.

    
             
Jared tried to maneuver Satan around a fallen cypress, but the stallion refused to pass alongside the shallow ditch that would get him past the tree.  The horse snorted and shook his big head vigorously.

             
"Steady, Satan.  Steady, boy," Jared soothed.

    
             
"Master!" Angus exclaimed, pointing to a water-soaked object partially stuck in the ditch.  "'Tis the lassie's coat!"

    
             
Jared's gaze fell to where Angus pointed.  But he saw more than his servant had.  He saw that unmistakable black crown sticking out from under the coat.  "Nay, Angus.  'Tis the lassie herself!  God's mercy! 'Tis Nicki!" He jumped off Satan and rushed to where she laid on her side in the mud.  The cold hand of terror clutched at his heart.