The Ambiguous Enigma of the Hunted Lady: A Historical Regency Romance Novel

by Linfield, Emma

  “I'll kill you, Leah!”

  A pistol shot rang through the tight tunnel, and the flash of its muzzle blazed out over her shoulders. For a moment she thought that she was dead, but then Riphook's disgusting face came to her mind. If you can hear the gunshot, then you ain't dead. So, she kept running as fast as her legs could carry her.

  After hours of navigating the old sewers, Leah emerged at an exit she knew. Ultimately, she left through a family crypt in the grand graveyard of Westminster.

  It was night, and the moon lit up the tombstones with an eerie radiance as she stepped out of the old, black stone crypt. How long has it been since I have set foot here?

  Leah did not know where her parents were buried. Since she had been an orphan, she had often come to this graveyard, imagining that somewhere close by, her family lay beneath the ground.

  She had ceased this practice when she had turned twelve, for Riphook had once teased her for being “soft.” That had put an end to it.

  Stepping back into the graveyard, Leah felt strangely at ease, despite the fact that she could literally see the Devil's Acre from where she stood.

  It loomed just two blocks to the south; a haphazardly stacked series of shanty buildings along a series of streets that began to overlap in crime, disease, and waste. Riphook was right there, at the top of that rat's nest, yet he seemed forever distant.

  There was a strange superstition among low lifes like Riphook and his hit squads, and the cemetery in the evening was certainly out of their realm of possibility. It was one of the reasons she use to rely so heavily on the passage here that led to the sewers. When she had been a child thief, it had saved her on many occasions.

  Leah walked steadily down the rows of headstones, pacing towards a nearby street. It was busy, she could tell, but just far enough away from the Devil's Acre that she could walk it undisturbed.

  I must reach the pier.

  “Leah?” Nash's voice cut through her like a bucket of cold water against a candle.

  She whirled around to see her old enemy, standing two rows away from her. He had a rough hood over his face, but she recognized his voice and his shoulders. How did he find me? Did he follow me? How was I so careless? I am dead! She screamed at herself internally, tensing for a brawl to the death.

  “Relax.” Nash said softly. “I ain't gonna hurt you.”

  “What?” Leah was dumbstruck. This is a trap. Where are his thugs? She looked around nervously, trying to identify the ambush she knew to be waiting.

  “I'm done with Riphook.” Nash said, taking down his hood. “I got no reason to come after you.”

  “Christ.” Leah sucked in her breath at the sight of Nash's face. “Rip do that to you?”

  “Yes.” Nash said after a moment's hesitation. “Because the doc didn't kill you.”

  “Nash–” Leah didn't know what to say. “How did you find me?”

  “I wasn't tryna' find you.” Nash confessed. “Ain't that funny? All this time I was huntin' you, and I just run into you blindly now that I ain't.”

  “So, what are you doing here?” Leah was beginning to believe Nash's story, but she was still on edge. There could be a trap around any corner.

  “Same as you I suppose.” Nash sighed, looking down to the headstone he stood before. “Saying goodbye.”

  “Goodbye?” Leah began to lower her guard.

  “My brother's buried 'ere.” Nash gestured before him. “Just wanted to say goodbye I suppose before I went down to the wharfs.”

  “The wharfs? Why do you need to leave? If Riphook is done with you then you got off easy enough.” Leah was beginning to feel remorse for Nash. They had known each other a long time, and she could feel the pain he was experiencing.

  “I warned the good doctor that Riphook knew you're alive.” Nash let out a long sigh. “I'm as good as dead.”

  “Yes.” Leah said pointedly, relaxing her body. “You are.”

  Nash looked at her, and Leah began to smirk. Then the two of them chuckled a bit in the stillness of the cemetery.

  “Leah, I am sorry about, well–” Nash tried to apologize.

  “Don't be, Nash.” Leah shook her head. “Put me in your shoes, and you in mine. I wouldn't have ever left you leave that alleyway.”

  “Aye, I suppose you're right.” Nash grinned, a little life coming back into his pale face. Then they stood in a pause of strange silence.

  “Do you want to come with me, to the docks?” Leah offered. He needs to get out as bad as I do, and there is some safety in numbers.

  “Thank you, Leah.” Nash give her what looked to be a sincere smile.

  “Let's hurry.” she said no more and began leading Nash on the course she had selected. “We just have to get over the Westminster Bridge, then we're clear out of Riphook's territory for at least three miles.”

  “He'll have men watching the bridge,” Nash added.

  “We shall see what occurs.” Leah gritted her teeth and pressed on through the shadowy grounds of Westminster Abbey. Drawing near to the Westminster Bridge, Leah's heart fell to see several large thugs patrolling. They ducked into a shallow hiding place, pressed against the walls of the Cathedral.

  “I told you.” Nash hissed. “We've got to go the long way.”

  “Do you think we can outrun them?”

  “Sure, but they got knives.”

  “Oy! Lurkin' there! Come out!” the voice of a Parish watchman startled them, and they could see the lantern-bearing official coming down the road behind them.

  “Blast!” Leah whispered. She could see the thugs on the bridge taking notice of the commotion.

  “What do we do?” Nash was tense, nervous, and looking to her lead.

  Leah looked around frantically and spotted St. James’s Park at the end of the street, a haven of grass and trees to escape into, out of the brick-lain jungle.

  “I said come on out! Oy!” the watchman drew nearer.

  “What's he got?” the thugs took a few paces towards their hiding space. “What's the watchman got?”

  “Run!” Leah shouted, and the two of them tore off towards the park.

  Chapter 21

  Upon receiving news of Leah's hasty departure, Kenneth was distraught. He had sat down to breakfast a chipper person, bright with energy for the day, imaging another long garden stroll with the woman he had fallen for.

  But instead of being greeted at the breakfast table by Leah's smiling face, he was met by Mrs. Redford's somber expression. In that moment, he knew that Leah had gone, and with her went his appetite.

  He shoved the cup of coffee aside and looked blankly at his dish. He felt empty, hollowed out by the sudden loss of everything he had come to know as all important.

  “Kenneth?” he could hear his mother's voice floating down the hall. She is the last person I would speak with at this time. He made to stand, but it was far too late.

  “Kenneth, there you are.” she said, approaching the table. “Mrs. Redford has reported to me that your guest has left us.” So, she has gone then. Although he already knew in his heart, he had held out a shred of a hope that his instinct had been wrong. Now, nothing was left to his imagination. “Apparently she absconded during the night.”

  “So, it would appear, Mother.” Kenneth replied, looking aimlessly at his biscuit.

  “What sort of a thing is that for a woman to do?” his mother scoffed, pulling out a chair at the breakfast table. “It is unthinkable, truly. Entirely improper. Wouldn't you agree?”

  “I'm sure I don't know.” Kenneth muttered.

  “Oh, come now, I know that you thought yourself to have feelings for her, but she has gone, so, they must not have been returned. You did not think that she would simply stay here forever?”

  “No, of course not.” Kenneth gritted his teeth and kept looking down. She was infuriating him.

  “Up to no good, she was.” she talked and reached for some of the grapes in the center of the table. Then she bolted upright as if the most importa
nt thought had struck her. “I must make sure she did not depart with anything of value! Oh dear! She may have plundered our home in the night!”

  “That is enough!” Kenneth jumped to his feet, sending his chair onto it's back behind him. “I will hear no more!”

  “Kenneth–” she looked shocked to see him react.

  “I will not hear any more of it, Mother!” Kenneth shouted, his temper flaring to fill the hollow space in his chest. “You have done nothing but doubt her character since she arrived! You have never given her any sort of opportunity to gain your favor! Not once did you speak with her while she was enduring her bed rest! You have no right to discredit her. I know full well that she did not leave as a thief, for I love her, truly I do, and I know in my heart that she returns that love.

  “She had a reason for doing what she did, but it is not as you make out. So, I will go and find her, and have the truth of it, once and for all, and not one thing you can say will change either my resolve, nor my feelings for Leah. So, carry on about last century, Mother, if that is what pleases you. But I shall be gone to London, for that is the only place she will have gone. Farewell then, and perhaps upon my return you shall think differently concerning a great number of matters!”

  Kenneth ended his proclamation and the room fell silent, yet it sizzled with the energy that lingered from his words. The Duchess was visibly shocked and sat in utter silence. Her head cocked a bit to the side, and she stared blankly at the cup of coffee before her.

  “Daniel!” Kenneth shouted out for his footman.

  “Your Grace?” He poked his head in the room, obviously nervous after having heard the verbal explosion.

  “Prepare my horse.”

  “Right away, Your Grace.”

  Kenneth stormed out of the breakfast room, leaving his mother in silence.

  There was a surge of something stirring in Kenneth. It welled up from his angry outburst, and now it drove him up the stairs as he hastily prepared for a journey to London.

  Leah must be in danger. I can feel it in my bones. Why else would she leave so hastily? And in such secret? I knew she must have been running from something, perhaps it has finally caught up with her. Either way, I must be sure.

  Kenneth recalled the first time he had ever met her, and the fight that he had engaged in. As he threw his old riding coat over his shoulders, he attached a pistol and a pouch with additional shot. He had not used the weapon since the war, and just holding it brought a warm, dangerous sensation to his palm. For a brief moment he could hear the sound of cascading musket shot in the Spanish fields, and then he was returned to the present.

  “I am on my way.” he said to the mirror, adjusting his pistol so that it was concealed by his riding coat.

  Kenneth ran out the door and took up the reins of his sturdy riding horse. It had been saddled in a hurry, and a groomsman was still tightening the final strap beneath the horse's belly.

  “Here you are, Your Grace.” he grunted, standing up and wiping dirt from his palms.

  “Come on, old boy.” Kenneth patted his horse's neck. “We've got some ground to cover.” He vaulted into the saddle with ease, letting the breeze fly through his hair. “Ha! Onward! Ha!”

  Kenneth surged down the estate road, thundering north toward London. Kenneth pushed his horse harder than he needed to as they went past the mile marker and onto the Pike road.

  London – 43 miles

  The distance went terribly slowly in Kenneth's mind. He glanced to his side and watched the country around him move agonizingly slow, but he knew he could not ask more of his horse than he was. Already he had passed several carriages and wagons along the road, but his horse was beginning to heave.

  He slowed their pace after an hour, which he knew was necessary, but it infuriated him. Why does London seem so close when I don't wish to be there, and so far when I must?

  Kenneth had not thought everything through, and so eventually he realized that he should use this time to figure out his course of action.

  She must be in some sort of danger, she has practically told me as much. How can I find her?

  As he thought of places Leah was likely to hide in the largest city for thousands of miles, Kenneth realized just how wounded he was by her disappearance. It was not that she had gone, for she had told him that she meant to go back to the city. It was how she had been there one moment and gone the next.

  So suddenly had they found their feelings for one another, and just as quickly she had gone, and this Kenneth could not understand. For in his mind, nothing should stand between such emotion, and so he could not comprehend what danger she could be in, to force her from that bliss.

  He yearned for her, to hold her safe and close. Her eyes swam against the backdrop of his brain, and he felt himself growing hot in the face at his mental image of her.

  The more he obsessed, the more he became certain that Leah was in mortal danger, and the more he cemented his resolve to rescue her from whatever evil that may be.

  Kenneth pushed his horse hard again and finished the distance to London as the noon bells sang out. The beast drank greedily from the public troughs, and Kenneth patted his hide.

  “You have earned it.” he whispered in the horse's ear.

  Kenneth looked hopelessly around at the sprawling shantytowns that filled his view. The Boroughs stretched between him and the river. The mismatched collection of buildings formed a labyrinth before him, full of bustling commerce and foot traffic.

  It would be impossible, Kenneth was beginning to realize, even from his vantage point atop a horse, to locate Leah in neighborhoods such as these.

  Think! She is from White Chapel, so I must at least begin there.

  After resting his horse a spell by the fountain, Kenneth rode over the river towards White Chapel. The smell of the Smithfield Meat Market caught him before the rest of the neighborhood. It was the largest butcher market in the city, and it was the largest city in the world.

  It stretched the entire square, and Kenneth was taken aback to imagine Leah growing up between the scene of butchers on one side and the doxys that lined the block on the other.

  He sat atop his horse, looking over the market, and a large butcher approached from his nearby stall.

  “Is you lookin' for anythin' in partic’lar, Lord?” the man asked gruffly, wiping his hands on his bloody apron.

  “I'm not here to shop, no.” Kenneth shook his head.

  “But you is lookin' for somethin', I can see you up there pokin' about, Lord. Maybe I can help you find it?”

  Kenneth looked the butcher over. No doubt he was looking to earn a coin or two for helping a nobleman with some menial task. Perhaps he could help more than I know.

  “I am.” Kenneth said finally, shifting in his saddle. “Perhaps you know her. Have you seen a Miss Leah Benson about? Do you know her?”

  “Benson.” the butcher muttered, casting his gaze downward. “Don't know nothin' about no Benson.” he grumbled, turning to shy away.

  “Who said what about a Benson?” Kenneth turned to see a large, brutish man who held his left arm in a sling, fast approaching them.

  “Not lookin' for no trouble, just doin is I'm told is all.” the butcher protested, raising up his hands. “I swear, Gopher.”

  “What's it to you? Miss Benson?” the man identified as Gopher walked up beside Kenneth's horse, staring unapologetically up at him. “Now what would a fancy suit like yourself know about her?”

  Kenneth felt his horse shift, and he felt his cheek twitch. He wanted no more than to knock this Gopher silly and see what he knew, but looking around, Kenneth saw that there was a small circle of large, apish men making their way towards their little assembly. Friends of Gopher, no doubt.

  “I am looking for her.” Kenneth announced. “What do you know of her?”

  “You ain't in St. James's Place right now pretty boy.” Gopher sneered. “You best start talkin'.”

  “Do you have any idea who I am?” Kenneth ch
allenged, holding his ground. How to bluff my way out of this? He could not help but notice the butchers all turning their backs to the ring of thugs that now encircled his horse.

  “Blast, Gopher!” one of the thugs scolded. “He's got to be with Riphook!”

  Kenneth saw Gopher's face drain to a pale white as he perhaps thought to understand the gravity of his mistake.

  “That's right.” Kenneth stated. Whomever this Riphook is, they are all terrified of him. “I am with Riphook. Tell me what you know of Miss Benson or I'll be talking to him all about you especially, Gopher.”