The Offer by Catherine Coulter Read Free Book Online Page B

place, my husband, well, that is something I have already set aside. My feelings of affection for her are deep.”
    â€œDeep, you say? Aye, I believe every word that falls from your lips, Elizabeth. I always have, for you have been a granddaughter to point to with pride, to hold up as a model to all girls.”
    She preened, and straightened her shoulders. The earl just looked at her, wondering how she could havebelieved his words when they’d dripped with sarcasm, but she obviously had. He turned in his chair to gaze through the long French windows at the end of the library at the storm, still full in its fury. And Sabrina had not reached Borhamwood to take the stage to London. None of the fifty men out searching for her had found a trace of her. He felt a spasm of grief grip him, such as he had not felt since Camilla had died. Sabrina was so very like Camilla, her eyes as deep a violet, her auburn hair glorious, thick, and curling. And she was good-hearted, open, and loyal, just as Camilla had been. He smiled for a moment, for she was vain about her hair, saying it was the same color as Queen Titania’s, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Perhaps it was. He remembered when she was eleven years old and she’d become deathly ill with a fever. They’d had to cut all her glorious hair off. He’d told her that she had to get well to grow it back. If she left him, why then, she would see him in heaven all bald. Surely that was worth getting well again. She’d improved almost immediately. Thank the gods for that small bit of vanity.
    But not for an instant did he doubt Sabrina. Her sense of honor was as strong and unbending as was his own. He felt impotent rage sweep through him. Sabrina might be dead and he was forced to endure Elizabeth and Trevor’s betrayal of her. What had really happened? Why had Sabrina run away? It was driving him mad for he could find no reason. But of course there was a possibility, a strong one, that Trevor had been the one to trap Sabrina in the portrait gallery, that he had tried to force himself on her. He looked at his heir from the corner of his eye. Yes, certainly it was possible, else how had they come up with that other tale? Aye, it was the boot on the other foot, that’s what it was.
    He felt tired to his soul. He would have given all his worldly goods to rise from his chair and pound Trevor into the floor. But there was no proof of anything.
    What had happened? Whatever it was had terrified Sabrina so much that she hadn’t come to him, and she’d come to him with all her problems since she’d been a little girl, even before her parents had died.
    Without looking again at his granddaughter or his heir, the earl said coldly, “Send Jesperson to me. If there is any report on Sabrina, tell me immediately.” He waved a hand in abrupt dismissal. He couldn’t stand the sight of them, hovering near him, standing so close together they appeared as one.
    â€œI will come to you the moment we hear anything, my lord,” Trevor said. The earl watched him lead Elizabeth from the library. It looked as if Trevor was holding Elizabeth’s hand tightly, so tightly that it was hurting her.

7
    Once Trevor had pulled the library doors closed, he turned to his wife of less than three weeks. “Are you not all of twenty-three years of age, my dear?”
    At her startled nod, he continued, his voice as soft as the rustling silk of her gown. “And Sabrina is but eighteen. Your failure amazes me. You had a full five years, my love, to win the old gentleman’s regard before she entered the world. How miserably you failed.”
    Elizabeth looked at the beautifully carved mahogany of the balustrade on the stairs. She said, “She is gone now. Finally. Perhaps forever.”
    â€œDo you believe so? She is perhaps beyond earthly cares by this time, that is what you think?”
    Elizabeth’s lips tightened. “If she hadn’t