CHAPTER TEN

Mark put the gold chain away, his eyes lingering on the rose pendant for a minute as bitter memories assailed him. He had bought this for his wife, but he had never actually given it to her. She had proved to him what a worthless whore she was before he had had a chance, and he was glad of it. This one thing served as a reminder that you must never let a woman get too close, never let her have any hold over you. It had originally been in a small glass case, but he had managed to smash that in a moment of anger, and now he had it resting here, in the carved wooden box that he had made himself. It was meant only to be touched by him and yet his current wife had been touching it. His teeth gritted as he thought about her being in here, and he stormed out of the room in search of her. She would pay for trespassing and he would make sure it was a lesson she wouldn't forget in a hurry.

When he got to the bottom of both staircases he frowned, seeing the front door open and the cold air blasting into the hallway. He was just about to close it when he saw a small footprint in the snow outside, and he started cursing, looking up at the sky where snow was falling thick and heavy.

That damn woman had run away! And in this weather. Now he would have to go after her before she froze to death. He swore deeply and moved to the hall closet, putting on his thick coat and his boots. Now she had something else to pay for as well. God, when he got hold of her again! he thought, gritting his teeth as he left the house. Lizzy ran to the door just as he was leaving.

"Where are you going?"

"To find my damn wife!" he snapped, stalking quickly off into the whiteness.

Lizzy shook her head and slowly closed the door. She had thought things were going so well, but he had such a problem controlling his temper that she wondered if this marriage of his would ever work out, or if he even wanted it to. One thing was for certain, she thought, that poor girl was going to be in trouble again.

Ellie ran through the snow, her progress slowing as it got thicker, but soon she was in the woods that ran all the way around the mountain, the sides of it encased in thick forest. She looked around her and wondered which way to go. It wasn't like she had never been here before, but she hadn't been paying much attention to what she was doing and now she found herself surrounded by trees and only knowing one direction, and that was back. She wasn't going that way again. Thank God it was daytime, she thought, because this would have been terrifying in the dark. Lost or not, she couldn't go back and let him hurt her again, nor could she go home. That thought stopped her in her tracks and she bit her lip, feeling sorry for herself. She would have to go to Becky's place, maybe hide in the stables until she could alert her friend that she was there. She had no idea that the other girl was no longer at her home.

Thinking she heard a noise behind her, Ellie swung round, her large eyes darting this way and that as she tried to see if anyone was following her. But she couldn't detect any movement, so she turned back and plunged straight into the woods, hoping she was going towards the town where she could get her bearings again. Her feet were frozen and so was the rest of her body, inadequately covered as she was. She hadn't had time to grab a coat or put on boots, and she was wearing what she had put on that morning, jeans and long sleeve sweater, with sneakers. They were no protection at all against the cold, and she started feeling it acutely as she trudged on. Another sound came from behind her and she turned her head again, sure she had heard someone shouting. The thought that Mark could be behind her spurred her on and she moved faster, pushing through the snow and ignoring the branches that were scraping at her face. As she tried to run again her foot caught in a fallen branch and she went flying, landing heavily against a big tree and laying there puffing and panting as she tried to regain her wits. This time, when she heard a noise, she knew it wasn't her imagination and she saw a distant figure coming towards her, his huge hunched shoulders telling her without doubt this was Mark. She awkwardly got to her feet and ran, heedless of the calls he was giving and of the pain her feet gave her as she trod on the frozen ground, her only thought was escape. She fell over again and gave a groan of frustration. She always hated when the heroines of movies fell over when they ran, and now here she was doing exactly the same damn thing. But she had more justification, she told herself as she hauled herself up again. The ground was uneven and slippery and full of branches and twigs, the forest sloping sharply downwards, and there was no way she could keep her footing on all that. But she was determined to try, and she glanced back as she started to run again, her face paling when she saw how close Mark had gotten to her. He was crashing through the trees as if they didn't exist and she knew he would be on her in seconds. Her lack of concentration made her go down again, but this time she started sliding and had to grab onto a tree to stop her descent, the ground here falling sharply down onto a rocky ledge. The fall had been disguised by the amount of snow here, and she held on for dear life as she looked down and realised she wouldn't survive that fall.

Mark made it to where she was hanging over the edge and reached down his hand, his face looking tight and angry. "Give me your hand!" he snapped, looking like he wanted anything other than to save her.

"I can't," she whispered, her throat dry as she thought about trying to hold her weight on this tree with only one hand.

"Give me your damn hand, or I'll let you fall!" he said, his voice full of rage at what he considered to be defiance.

"I...c-can't..let go," she stammered, her lip wobbling as she wondered which was the worst of two fates, the fall or him?

Mark studied her white face and terrified eyes and realised she wasn't deliberately defying him, she was truly scared. He leaned down and grabbed her wrist, his other arm wrapped securely around a tree trunk as he pulled her effortlessly up onto safer ground, tugging her back away from the edge until they were both sitting in the snow. The coldness of the ground seeped into his bones and made him angry all over again, and he stood up, hauling her up with him and giving her a good shake. "You stupid goddamn woman! Do you have any idea what could have happened to you?"

Ellie felt her teeth clatter together as he shook her and she tried to pull away from him, squirming in his hold. "What do you care?" she muttered under her breath, not thinking he would be able to hear her.

But he did and he stopped shaking her for a moment, staring at her with surprise. "What did you say?" She stood staring at him mutely and he narrowed his eyes. "What did you just say to me?" he ground out, shaking her once more.

Ellie suddenly glared at him, beyond caring right now that he was angry. "I said what do you care?"

"I care because I paid good money for you, and you haven't earned your freedom yet. Now get moving and get back to the house," he yelled at her, shoving her roughly in front of him and making her walk.

Ellie was shaking with the cold by now and her feet were just going past the painful stage and into completely frozen, but she would die before she let that arrogant pig know that, she vowed to herself. She managed an ungainly waddle through the snow as she retraced her footsteps, her progress even slower than it had been when she had made her way here, and she heard him sigh impatiently behind her.

"Can't you go any faster?" he growled, so close behind her now that she saw his breath puff past her in a white cloud.

"No!" she snapped out, then widened her eyes as the sound of her own voice echoed back at her. He was sure to shout at her now, she thought, and was therefore unprepared for the shock of the shove that caught her in the middle of the back, making her fall forwards.

Mark stared at the small woman in front of him and then grimaced, dropping his hand back to his side. He had only meant to push her along a bit faster, not make her go flying into the snow. He bent down and went to lift her back up, then gave a yell of surprise when a sharp piece of metal sank into the side of his boot. It was sticking up out of the ground and he hadn't seen it, and Ellie had been fortunate not to land on it.

"Goddamn it!" he yelled, pulling his leg back and hobbling about.

Ellie pulled herself up out of the snow and stared at the metal in the ground, seeing blood on it and then looking over at Mark. She bit her lip as she wondered what to do, but she was too soft-hearted to let someone who was hurt be by themselves, so she moved over to him and slid under his arm, helping him straighten up. Mark looked down at her in surprise, but he let her try and support his weight and limped slowly back towards the house, neither of them saying a word.

When they got inside the front door Ellie shouted for Lizzy and guided Mark into the sitting room where she could lower him into a chair near the fire, the warmth from the flames licking at their skin and thawing them out a bit. She bent and pulled his boot off with some difficulty, ignoring the curses he was heaping on her head as his wound throbbed with the movement. When she removed his sock, she winced at the blood that was seeping out of a nasty gash on the side of his foot. It wasn't too deep, she thought, and it didn't need stitches. But he would need it cleaned and possibly have a tetanus injection.

"Oh dear, what's happened?" Lizzy said as she came in the room and saw his foot.

"This goddamn woman nearly fell down the mountain, that's what!" Mark snapped, glaring at Ellie.

"And that explains what happened to your foot does it?" Lizzy asked, staring from one of them to another.

"She fell over, and I helped her up and hurt my foot. It's her fault," he grumbled, still glaring, but now Ellie had started to glare back.

"It's not my fault that you got hurt," she said, her voice quiet but accusing.

"Of course it's your fault! You shouldn't have damn well been out there!" he growled at her, his eyes narrowing.

"I wouldn't have been out there if you hadn't scared me!" she said, her voice getting stronger.

"And I wouldn't have scared you if you hadn't been in that room!"

"I didn't know I wasn't allowed in the room!"

Lizzy shook her head and hid her smile as she left the room and went to fetch a bowl of water and some antiseptic ointment and dressings. When she returned they were still accusing each other of various things and she couldn't keep the smile from her face. "Here you go, Ellie," she said, handing the tray of things to the young girl and then walking away.

Ellie grabbed Mark's foot, ignoring his hiss of pain, and then started bathing the wound, trying not to lose her hold on him where he kept moving. "Keep still," she said, looking at him with a frown.

"I'd keep still if you stopped hurting me," he muttered, trying to pull away again. His jaw went slack when she slapped his leg, hard. It had the desired effect of making him stop moving.

"That's better," she murmured, cleaning the wound with more ease now and then adding ointment, something else he didn't appreciate, judging by the air hissing between his teeth. She looked up at him and then quickly away, starting to wind a bandage around his foot. "I appreciate your help....out there," she murmured and then bit her lip.

Mark looked at her in surprise again, noting her embarrassment, but admiring her mettle. She had stood up to him and not too many people would do that. "That's okay. Thanks for doing this," he said, pointing to his foot.

Ellie nodded and stood up, wrapping her arms around her body where her clothes were now soaked through and she gave a shiver, catching his attention.

"You'd better go and get changed or you'll catch cold," Mark told her, standing up and holding her shoulders, frowning when he felt how cold she was. He swung her up into his arms and started for the stairs, his foot not holding him back at all.

"Your foot," she gasped out, wondering what he was doing.

"It's fine, thanks to you. Let's make you better now, okay?" he looked down at her and gave a rusty smile, surprised that it didn't feel uncomfortable or awkward. It felt good.

Lizzy watched them go up the stairs and she smiled, going off in search of her husband so she could tell him that progress had been made at last.