A Reckless Runaway

by Michaels, Jess

  Juliana let out a long sigh and nodded. “Very well.”

  She squeezed her hand and slipped away. Anne sagged with relief as she shut the door behind her sister and leaned against it. But before she could gather herself, there was another knock, this time from the adjoining chamber that led to Thomasina’s room.

  She smoothed her skirt and took a long breath to calm herself before she moved to let her other sister in. She had to forget her hesitations. She had to focus on her future.

  That was what mattered now. That was what she was working so hard for.

  * * *

  Anne watched Thomasina glide from her room an hour later, wrapped in the red dress, looking stunning. Her sister was nervous. Thomasina was always nervous, but seemed especially so around Harcourt. The man brought that out in people. Would Thomasina be all right?

  Of course she would. Harcourt wasn’t unkind, even if he was stern and boring. And he had so little interest in Anne that it was highly unlikely he would even recognize the switch had been made.

  Either way, now it was done and the plan was set in motion. There were only a few steps left to perform and then she would be free. Or at least tied to a new future. Perhaps there was no such thing as being free.

  “You look troubled, miss,” her maid Nora said as she straightened up the table where she had prepared Thomasina.

  Anne forced a smile for her, for she knew as little about the truth as anyone else. “Oh, just tired.”

  “Of course you’re tired after all the excitement of sending your sister off to pretend to be you. Well, let me help you out of your gown and get you into bed.” Nora was beaming as she spoke, clearly thrilled to be in on the secret.

  Or as much of it as Anne chose to share. She held up a hand. “You know, I think I’ll just stay in my gown. I’ll lie down a while, but I might want to go peek in on the ball and make sure my sister is well.”

  Nora tilted her head as if concerned, but then shrugged. “As you wish, miss. Ring when you’re ready.”

  Anne smiled as her maid left the room, but the moment the door was closed behind her, she leapt into action. She had packed a small bag earlier in the day and she pulled it out from under the bed. It only contained two gowns and a few other items, but she tossed her brush and some pins in with the rest and fastened it carefully.

  She moved to the pillows and pulled out the letter she’d written for Thomasina a few hours before. God, how she had labored over the note, trying to strike a breezy tone that would tell her sisters that she was happy with her choice so they wouldn’t worry too much. She knew she was leaving them with a mighty mess to clean up. Still, she would return once she was married, and then she would help them all and take the brunt of whatever punishment her father or Harcourt chose to dole out.

  She pushed the note back under the pillow, with only the corner sticking out, just in case Nora came back first—she didn’t want to the maid finding it. But once she was missing, certainly Thomasina and Juliana would tear her room apart for clues and then one of them would uncover it.

  She let her fingers rest on the note for a moment, as if she could pour some of her love onto the page and transfer it to her sisters in their anger toward her. Then she grabbed her bag and moved to the door.

  She peeked out. There were no servants in sight, not that she expected it. With the ball going on, everyone would be busy in the hall and belowstairs before they started to prepare chambers for their occupants to sleep. That gave her the best chance of escaping without detection.

  The servant stairway was at the end of the hall and she crept down it, leaning against the wall at every curve so she wouldn’t be seen. But at last she made it to the back exit of the house, where the deliveries were made, and stepped out into the cool night air.

  All the carriages for the visitors had been parked around this side of the house to keep the drive and stable uncluttered. Ellis had said he would meet her amongst them, and her heart leapt as she glanced back at the house one last time.

  She regretted that this was her only choice. She regretted the trouble she would cause her sisters. She regretted the embarrassment she would bring down on Harcourt. But she couldn’t bear the emptiness of her future with him, nor picture a way she could be happy with him.

  Truth be told, she had a bit of a hard time picturing that happiness with Ellis, either. But that was just nervousness talking. He was certainly a better match to her than Harcourt and—

  Her thoughts her cut off as a person stepped from between the carriages and caught her arm. She gasped and turned, crashing headlong into Ellis’s broad chest. She looked up at him in the moonlight and sucked in a breath, not in joy, but in fear. The light hit him just so and he was no longer quite so handsome as she remembered, but intimidating. His brow was drawn low and his eyes had an intensity that didn’t make her comfortable.

  But then he smiled and lifted his head and the light hit him differently, and it was fine again. She laughed nervously and pulled her arm from his.

  “You came!” Ellis breathed as he took her little bag. “I thought you might not. I wondered what I would have to do if you didn’t.”

  “You had plans to do something if I refused you?” she asked.

  He smiled and the dimple popped in his cheek. “I always have plans, my dear. Now come, we have no time for foolishness. We must away before we are caught.”

  He grabbed her hand again and began to weave amongst the carriages, dodging the lounging footmen and drivers as they smoked and laughed in the dim light from the house above.

  Ellis was pulling her, almost dragging her as they made their way out of the main crush of vehicles and down a little hill toward the main stable. A phaeton was parked there, old and rundown, with a skinny, rather sad-looking horse grazing in the high grass by the pathway.

  “Here we are,” Ellis declared.

  She glanced up at the rickety phaeton. “We’ll drive to Gretna Green in this?” she asked as he secured her bag to the back of the rig. “Days away?”

  He glanced up at the rig and back to her. “Er, no. No, of course not. This was simply the easiest method of retrieving you tonight. We’ll stop along the road and switch to a far more comfortable…and private…carriage.”

  He lifted his eyebrows and then winked before he clasped her hand and helped her into the seat. She settled in, smoothing her skirts around her and drawing her wrap a little tighter around her shoulders.

  He climbed up onto the opposite side and gathered up the reins.

  “But Ellis—” she began.

  He cut her off by turning, grasping her cheeks and pressing his mouth hard to hers. She recoiled slightly. Their relationship had never advanced beyond holding hands, and now he was kissing her. His tongue swept across her lips and he tasted of strong whisky.

  She drew back and he smiled at her. She supposed she should have felt something now that he’d finally claimed her in a more physical way.

  But there was nothing. No flutter of desire. No need to do the same again. Nothing like her books or her dreams. She felt…nothing. Except for nervousness. An ache that said perhaps she had made a mistake. Only Ellis had already shaken the reins, urging the poor pony to trot toward the gate at the bottom of the drive.

  “Ellis—” she began again.

  “Hush now,” he said, his tone a little harder than it had been before. “It’s a long few days of adventure ahead of you. Of us.”

  She nodded. Yes, the adventure. That was what she wanted, after all. She just had to put herself in the right mindset for it. She was setting off on an adventure with this man. Once her nerves faded, it might even be fun.

  “Why don’t you shut your eyes and try to sleep if you can?”

  She wrinkled her brow at the idea that she could sleep when her mind was racing and her regrets were rising up with her supper from hours before. She had run away from a man she felt nothing for. Toward a man she thought she could feel differently about. She wanted to feel those other fee
lings right now so that this wouldn’t all seem like a mistake.

  But she wondered if it was just that she was incapable of feeling connection or desire. Was it she who was the problem?

  And now that she was on the road, ruined for the world to see, would she have any chance of ever feeling anything but regret again?

  * * *

  Anne jolted awake, sitting upright from her slouched position against Ellis’s arm, and stared around herself in confusion as the phaeton came to a slow stop. She didn’t know how long they’d driven, but it must have been hours, long into the early morning of the next day if the waning moon was any indication.

  She blinked. They were in a town, surrounded by bright lamps that burned through the dark. People chattered and laughed, bawdy language unlike any she normally heard ringing through the air. And there, just in the distance, she saw a dock and smelled the sea through the fog.

  That wasn’t right.

  “Where are we?” she asked as Ellis shot her a look and climbed down from the driver’s seat. He didn’t come around to help her down from the vehicle, but spoke to a boy, handing over a coin before the lad went racing up toward the dock in the distance.

  “Ellis,” she snapped, and carefully inched herself down from the high rig. Her legs shook as she got her feet on steady ground, but she ignored that as she paced around the phaeton to where Ellis stood looking off into the distance.

  “What is it?” he asked, his tone gruff and cold. Hard, unlike the jovial tone he’d always used with her when they spent time together in the previous weeks. He was no longer the playful and flirtatious man who had drawn her near with effortless charisma. Now he was something else. “I told you we were going to stop at a town along the route.”

  She shook her head. “But this cannot be a town along our route to Gretna Green,” she insisted. “You would have had to go away from the sea, not toward it, and I can smell the salt air even now and see the fog from the water up there by the dock. Ellis, we could not have gone in the right direction.”

  He glared down at her. “Why don’t you leave the planning to me? I know what I’m doing.”

  He moved to turn away and she reached out to catch his arm. He jerked it away and she staggered back at the dismissive action. At the coldness to him when he glared at her.

  “Just stand there,” he said through what were obviously clenched teeth. “Please.”

  Her lips parted and the fear that had begun to bloom in her chest at the house flowered into a full garden. This was wrong, so wrong. Not just the direction they’d gone, but more than that. She took a long step back.

  “I’m sorry,” he grunted with a shake of his head. He tossed her half a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “It’s been a long night and I’m tired.”

  She nodded and tried to accept that explanation, but right now she wanted to run. Run away…only she didn’t know where she was and the town looked rather rough. She had no money, no way to reach her family and alert them of her plight.

  “Oh God,” she whispered.

  “Ah, there he is,” Ellis said, and moved toward the docks and a man who was coming up the long walkway in their direction.

  Her breath caught as she shifted her attention. The newcomer who was now shaking Ellis’s hand was even more handsome than her intended. Tall and lean with short-cropped brown hair and eyes darker than the richest cup of chocolate. Eyes that turned on her, flitted over her from head to toe. His full lips pursed and he said something to Ellis. Ellis slapped his arm and motioned her closer.

  She took a step toward them with hesitation and swallowed hard.

  “Miss Anne Shelley, may I present to you, Rook Maitland.”

  “Rook?” she repeated, staring over at the man a second time. He shifted a little, like he was uncomfortable. Which made her all the more uncomfortable in return.

  “Yes, my cousin,” Ellis said, arching a brow toward Mr. Maitland. “My family.” He smiled at her. “And soon enough, your family.”

  “Good evening,” she managed to squeak to the other man.

  He said nothing, but inclined his head slightly and folded his arms as he looked at Ellis through narrowed gaze.

  She turned toward him, as well. “Ellis,” she said, trying to remain calm. “Please, won’t you explain what is going on?”

  Ellis nodded. “Yes. You see, I have something I need to take care of before we can be wed. It cannot wait. You will go with my cousin and I will come to fetch you in not more than a few days.”

  Her mouth dropped open in shock and she stared at him, then his cousin, then back to him as the reality of this nightmare situation became patently clear.

  “Wait, are you saying you are going to abandon me? Alone? With this stranger?”

  Chapter 3

  Rook’s stomach turned as he watched the woman beside his cousin digest what was happening. The extremely beautiful woman, if he was honest. His heart had actually stuttered when he saw her as he walked up the dock toward them and realized his cousin’s game was much the same as it had ever been. Seduction, betrayal, payment.

  She was tall, with thick, dark blonde hair and the greenest eyes he’d ever seen, ones that perfectly matched the emerald cross necklace that was clasped around her slender neck. She had kissable lips, cheeks made pink by the brisk night air, and a flash to her, a snap that said she wasn’t often out of control of any situation.

  But she had obviously underestimated his cousin. Not that she was the first.

  “Ellis, why don’t you let me go with you?” she said, stepping toward his cousin.

  Ellis smiled, but his gaze was flat and emotionless. He cared nothing for this woman, Anne Shelley, whatever he had convinced her. And if he told her he would come to retrieve her, that was certainly not true. He might call for her as a bargaining chip in whatever game he was playing with her father or brother or husband…but he wasn’t going to take her to Gretna Green.

  Rook hated himself for getting involved in this nonsense. Yet again.

  “You are going with my cousin,” Ellis snapped. “And that is final.”

  Rook expected Anne to bend her head and nod and maybe cry. But she didn’t do any of those things. Her hands lifted to her shapely hips and that snap he’d seen in her face multiplied.

  “I shall not,” she argued. “Ellis Maitland, I was convinced to run away from my family and my future in order to be with you. I will not just go away with some strange man I’ve never met while you go off to take care of some errand I don’t understand. I will not, and that is final.”

  Rook almost smiled at what a spitfire his cousin had found, but before he could, Ellis stepped forward and caught her arm. “You have no idea what you are asking,” he growled.

  Rook narrowed his gaze. He’d seen his cousin play these cards often enough that he could guess the next move. But this? This flash of anger? This hardness? That wasn’t Ellis, not normally.

  Whatever his cousin was involved with…it wasn’t good.

  “Enough,” Rook said softly as he pushed Ellis’s hand away. Anne backed up as she stared at Ellis, tears brightening her gaze. Reality was hitting her now.

  “You are going with him, Anne,” Ellis said, soft but clear. “And there will be no further arguments. You are ruined by running away. I would suggest you don’t give me a reason to not keep my promises.”

  Her lips parted and she lifted her chin slightly. Rook saw her running calculations in her head, trying to find a way out of this. When she realized there was none, all the emotion left her face and she shrugged. “Fine.”

  “The boat is ready,” Rook said, more to her than to Ellis, but it was his cousin who answered.

  “Excellent. I’ll be back in a few days.”

  Rook didn’t believe him, but he nodded as he took Anne’s small bag from Ellis. Not enough clothing for any extended stay. The bag of a woman who thought she was romantically running away to elope and would return to her family soon enough.

  “Lead the way,
Mr. Maitland,” Anne said as she turned her back on his cousin.

  “Rook,” he corrected as he motioned toward the end of the dock.

  “Anne.”

  She froze at Ellis’s voice behind her. Slowly she turned and he stepped toward her. Rook saw her tense, he did the same, but Ellis only took her hand. He lifted it to his lips and Rook glanced away as Ellis kissed it.

  “Forgive me, my love,” he drawled, all practiced and controlled seduction again. “I’ll make it up to you.”

  “You will,” she declared softly, then removed her hand and followed Rook up the long walkway toward the small boat waiting for them at the end of the dock.

  * * *

  Anne’s hands shook, but she gripped them into fists as she reached the end of the dock and what seemed like a very small boat. An older gentleman was sitting in the back near the oars. He had a glowing lantern on a hook mounted beside him, and he was glaring at her and her new companion through the fog as if he had schedules to keep and they were intruding upon them.

  “Good evening,” she squeaked in his direction.

  He glared harder and she dipped her head as terror overcame her. She was in danger. That was clear. She had been in danger from the moment she slipped from the warmth of her fiancé’s home and took off on this madcap adventure.

  Perhaps she’d been in danger even earlier than that, when she’d first agreed to meet with Ellis even though she knew it was wrong to do so.

  And now here she was in God knew where, watching a handsome stranger with an odd name get onto a rickety rowboat. He set her bag down none too gently and then pivoted back to stare at her. He extended a hand slowly to help her on board.

  She glanced back down the dock, where she’d last seen Ellis. Somehow she’d thought to find him in the milling crowd, watching to determine she’d safely gotten on the craft. But he was gone.

  She shuddered and turned back to the boat, staring at Rook’s extended fingers for a moment. That rough hand, big and calloused from work, could be attached to a murderer for all she knew. He could be a great many terrible things and have a great many terrible plans in store for her. And yet what choice did she have but to go with him?