Siege of the Heart (Southern Romance Series, #2) Read Free Page A

tiny shake. “Listen to me. You need to go get supplies. I’ll go after them. Two of their horses must be double-loaded, they’ll go slower than I will. Clara. Clara .”
    “What?” She was trying to tear away from him, her face already wet with tears. She fairly snarled the word at him.
    “I’ll get them back,” Solomon told her. And then, in a rush, because it fit together: “I told mother I would atone for this. Jasper’s a good man. He brought me home. If my life is what it takes to get him and Cecelia back to you...”
    She stared at him, her lip trembling, and she could not seem to find the words to argue with him. He pulled her into a rough hug and felt her fingers dig into his back. She was desperately afraid.
    “I’ll meet you out front in a moment,” he told her, and he gave her a little push towards the kitchen.
    She went, wiping her face and breaking into a run, and Solomon hurled himself into the stable. He hauled the saddle and bridle down from the wall, cursing their weight, cursing that he hadn’t kept himself in the habit of being in the saddle. His musket was out here as well, kept polished by...well, Jasper, Solomon supposed. He could hardly bring himself to look at it.
    He led Beauty around the front of the house to find Clara waiting, white-faced. The bundle of food, she slid into one of Beauty’s saddlebags, and she gave the horse a little pat on the nose; Beauty snorted and stomped.
    “Come back safely,” she said softly, and Solomon knew that was the only kindness she could give him now. He was the reason Jasper was gone, and she knew it. Jasper, and Cecelia.
    “Is mother...?”
    “I’ll tell her when you’re gone.” It was a sound decision. Clara knew they both hated goodbyes, Solomon and Millicent. “I’ll tell her—”
    “That I love her, and I’m trying to make this right.”
    Clara hesitated, then gave a tiny laugh. “You know she’d tell you not to do anything stupid just for the sake of penance.”
    It was a blessing, of a sort. Solomon nodded his head at her, touched, and mounted up in one fluid motion, turning Beauty and thundering into the woods. He did not look back, and he knew Clara would go into the house so she did not have to see him go.
    Neither of them, as it happened, saw the lone figure make its way out of the trees by the road and mount up to follow him at a discreet distance, the brown cloak melding almost perfectly with the shadows of the forest.

Chapter 3
    J asper awoke with a start. His head hurt like crazy and he was sure for a moment he’d gone blind. When he shook his head, opening and closing his eyes, he felt the brush of fabric. His head was hazy, and every part of him hurt now. His mouth was dryer than he could remember.
    His heart sank as he realized where he must be. The memories he had were of jolting and jostling, of hearing Cecelia’s muffled sobs as they rode. He heard nothing now. Was she unconscious? Terrified into silence? Was it too much to hope that they had taken pity and left her behind?
    His teeth rattled as the horse trotted roughly over the uneven ground. Memories were coming back: sliding as the horses traversed their way up mountains and down again, jostling and shaking, passing out and waking again in a haze of misery.
    Things came back in pieces.
    Clara . The thought came to him suddenly. How long had they been gone? His heart squeezed. By now, she would know he was missing, surely she would, and if Cecelia was back, she would know why.
    If not...
    Surely none of them would think that he and Cecelia had run away together. But that was, Jasper knew, exactly what Cyrus would tell then. Only, Solomon would know better. Wouldn’t he?
    He groaned in frustration. He could only hope Cecelia made it back. What if Clara, too, had noticed his reticence lately? What if she thought he had left of his own accord? No, she would never think that. Surely not. She would realize he had been kidnapped.
    Taken by force by militia. Marked