Page 52 of A Stranger’s Promise

Charlotte groaned. Her head throbbed, her back ached, and her limbs felt stiff and cold. She blinked into focus the dim light of a torch in an iron bracket bolted high on a rough stone wall. The smell of damp earth and the sea filled her nostrils as the rhythmic, distant roar of waves surrounded her.

She slowly sat up and pushed her tangled hair out of her face. It took a moment to recognize where she was. She sat on the floor of one of the sea caves. Charlotte froze. Captain Edward leaned against the cave wall directly across from her. Torchlight cast shadows on his face, making him appear large, formidable. He watched her with cold, glittering eyes.

“At last, you are awake,” he said. “You made this difficult. It would have been so much easier if you had simply come to the stables after dinner last night, Charlotte.”

Charlotte shook her head in confusion, then winced when the small movement sent a ripple of pain down her jaw. Understanding struck.

“You left the letter?”

He was a madman.

“You always walked the brazen side. It is time you learned your place, Charlotte.” He crossed to where she sat on the ground. “You are weak. You need a man’s strength. You will come to understand, one day, and thank me on your knees. I’m taking you from this place, willing or not. You are mine.”

He grabbed her arm and yanked her to her feet. She tried to twist free. He drew back a hand and slapped her hard across the cheek. The sting splintered through her cheek. Tears sprang to her eyes.

“No other man may touch you,” he snapped. “You kept me waiting too many years. It’s high time you paid, and pay you shall, now that I see just how brazenly you behave with—”

With all her strength, she brought her knee up into his groin and shoved him back. He howled and stumbled backwards, arms flailing, then fell on the cave floor. Charlotte backed up and squinted in the darkness in search of the entrance. She had to go. Now. She hopped over his thrashing body and fled.

“Charlotte!” the Captain shouted in a strangled voice. “Come back here. That is an order.”

She tripped on the uneven cave floor and barely managed to catch herself before she fell. She pressed on. The dim torchlight soon faded and she stopped, surrounded by suffocating darkness. Her heart pounded. She was lost. She groped until her fingers contracted cold rock. Blindly, she felt her way forward. The dull, distant sound of crashing waves seemed to come from all sides.

“Charlotte,” Captain Edwards’ voice echoed.

Up ahead, a shaft of light streamed through an opening in the cavern ceiling above. Relief flooded. She lunged toward the light, but reached the spot to find that it was only a small hole in the ceiling. Tears slipped past her resolve, but she forced herself to continue.

“Charlotte,” the Captain called again, this time, much closer.

She altered course and headed deeper into the caves.

“Answer me,” Captain Edwards commanded.

The nearness of his voice sent a shiver down her spine. Faint light flickered on the wall.

“Stop this madness. Come here, at once!” he shouted.

A shaft of torchlight swept over the low, slanted ceiling above her. She caught sight of a jagged hole in the rock wall to the side. She raced to the small opening and fell to her knees. Frantically, she crawled through the opening into yet more darkness and stood. Fear stabbed. Stale air assaulted her nostrils. She reached out and gingerly trailed her fingers along the damp cave walls.

She’d taken no more than three steps when something unexpectedly brushed her face. She screeched and jumped back. Her foot slipped in loose gravel and she lost her balance. She pitched forward and her shin struck something hard as a burning shock of pain traveled from her ankle to her knee.

“Charlotte?” Captain Edwards’ voice sounded so much closer now.

Torchlight fell through the passage.