Read Online The Cursed One by Ronda Thompson - Free Book Online

night and steal away and
swim in a pond not far from here. I recalled that and climbed the tree. The window to Robert’s boyhood room was not latched. We should make sure all windows are latched when we return to the house.”
    â€œYes,” she agreed.
    â€œHere it is.” Mora halted before a wooden door that lay upon the ground. “Look,” she breathed, nodding toward the door.
    Deep claw marks marred the old wood, as if something had been digging at it. Amelia shuddered again. Wulf studied the door.
    â€œI see no way to secure it from the outside. I’ll bring up whatever you think we will need, Mora; then I’ll secure the door leading to the cellar closed from the house.”
    â€œYou sound as if we must make the house a fortress,” Amelia commented.
    â€œYes,” he answered. “At least until we decide to do something different.”
    A thought occurred to Amelia. One that raised her hopes. “Surely someone will come along …”
    Wulf glanced up at her. He seemed to weigh his words; finally he shook his head. “I feel I must be honest. Both Collingsworth Manor and Wulfglen are quite isolated. And with you being on your honeymoon, I doubt anyone would think to intrude upon your privacy.”
    Damn all considerate people, Amelia thought. “We weren’t to return to London for a month. My parents expected us to stay with them until our ship set sail for abroad. An extended honeymoon. We won’t even be missed for that long.”

    â€œDon’t know that we have supplies to last us a month,” Mora worried. “The servants took most with them when they fled.”
    â€œNo need to worry just yet,” Wulf warned the girl. “We are not even certain exactly what the threat is.”
    â€œOf course, my lord,” Mora apologized.
    Amelia had a nettling suspicion that Wulf was trying to protect her from the truth of their situation, even if he’d said he had to be honest with her earlier. The reason was obvious. He didn’t believe she could handle the truth. And yet, upstairs, he had kissed her. He had wanted her. That, she supposed, made him no different from most men. Always looking at the outside of a woman and judging. Oddly, it had never bothered her before that her face and figure alone attracted men to her. It bothered her now.
    Something bothered her worse. Staring out into the woods, she thought she saw a shadow move. And then another.
    â€œCome, ladies,” Wulf clipped, and glancing at him, Amelia saw that he had seen them, too. “We must return to the house and spend the day preparing.”
    He ushered Amelia and Mora toward the front of the house. One weapon. Very little in the way of food supplies. “Preparing for what exactly?” she asked.
    He was silent for a moment. Then he answered, “For the night. And whatever it brings.”

CHAPTER SIX
    Amelia had checked and double-checked the windows upstairs. Mora and Gabriel had fetched necessities from the root cellar and Gabriel had barred the door. They all now sat in the parlor as day turned to night. A cheery fire burned in the grate. Gabriel had nodded off once Mora checked his wounds. Amelia imagined the man was exhausted. The girl, too, had leaned her head back and closed her eyes. Amelia was too keyed up to rest. Besides, someone needed to maintain a vigil, and it seemed she was the one.
    Up until her marriage to Lord Robert Collingsworth, Amelia’s duties in life had been rather nonexistent, with the exception of finding a suitable match. She’d never had to wonder if she might starve because the pantries were not well stocked or fear for her very life. She had never had to question what was real and what was imagined. She’d never looked in the shadows and felt threatened by what she saw or didn’t see.
    All of that had changed on her wedding day. The absurdity of her situation made her fidget nervously. She wished