Chapter Thirty Five

HECTOR BAYES

I pulled heavily on the horse’s reins, barreling to a stop just as the first dollops of rain slapped heavily into the mass of my hair and the village girl turned to give me a surprised look.

“Did you hear it too?” Nola whispered, her green eyes appearing darker in the sepia blackness.

”Don’t move.” I seethed, pressing the reins into her open palm and nodding when the girl shook her head violently.

The noise of the carriage wheels barreling to a stop behind us had her looking back again before I swung one leg over the horse’s pale, white rump to leap down to the dirt-covered path, keeping my eye on the shadowed line of the jagged rocks that loomed on both sides of the dirt path.

“What the hell is going on?” I hissed at the footman who had been peering into the shadowed window of the carriage, damn near breaking his neck in his attempt to snap away when he heard the rivulets of my baritone behind him.

“Sir, I-” He stammered, his downturned eyes roaming the walkway confused