A long pause during which nothing happened.
“There’s no one else in here,” a voice called. “There’s just this one.”
“You said you were transporting two servants,” someone said. “There’s only one back there. Where’s the other one?”
“I—” Roy must have been doing some quick thinking. “I meant two including me. Me and him. I’m taking the two of us back to the manor.”
“No, that isn’t what you said,” a bandit countered. “You said two of your fellow servants were inside the carriage. You weren’t including yourself in that number. You’re not one of your own fellow servants. You weren’t inside the carriage.”
“More lies,” said one of the others. “First, he lies about his destination, and now he lies about his cargo. He must be thieving. Do you even work for the Duke of Brackhill?”
“I do. This is his carriage.”
“Should we take you back to his manor and ask him about that?”
“Yes!” Roy said. Lenora closed her eyes, despairing. She could have told him it wasn’t a good idea to sound so eager at that proposition. The last thing these bandits wanted was to give him something that would make him happy. He should have put on a show of fear or reluctance.
And indeed, the bandits seemed doubtful. “Maybe he is telling the truth about that,” one of them said. “Maybe if we apprehend him and take him back, the Duke will punish us and not him.”
“Then what should we do? Should we just let him go?”
“Search the carriage. See if there’s anything in there that’s worth our time.”
Lenora stayed close to the ground as the bandits began to go through the carriage, hoping desperately that she would not be seen, that she hadn’t left any sign on her frantic flight from the carriage that would lead them to her hiding place in the field of wheat.
What was she going to do?
What were the bandits going to do to Roy and John? She could only hope the two footmen wouldn’t be killed for their obvious lies. But she didn’t think they would be. They had given the Duke’s name, after all, and these bandits wouldn’t want to be associated with the murder of two of Lord Brackhill’s servants.
It was too great a chance for them to take, Lenora thought. Especially when killing the footmen would gain them nothing.
But she thought they probably wouldn’t hesitate to take the carriage and everything that was inside, however meager that might be. And when they had done so, she and the two men would be left here with no way of getting back to the manor.
Would Lady Katherine send help? Another carriage to see what had become of her missing footmen? Lenora doubted that too. The Duke would have done it, but the Duke would have no idea where they had gone. Lenora thought Lady Katherine would probably just change her lie to her father, expanding it to include Roy and John.
All three of them ran away, she would tell the Duke, her eyes wide with innocence. I can’t imagine where they could have gone. I don’t know what Lenora would have wanted with two men…
That’s how she’ll paint me, Lenora thought. As a minx for whom one man wasn’t enough. As a flirt who entranced household servants into running off with her. If the Duke believes that—well, maybe he’ll be sad when he thinks about me. But it will be a different kind of sad.
He’ll be sad because he thought I was a better person than that.
That hurt her in a way nothing that had happened to her so far had. The thought of the Duke having such a very mistaken idea about her was excruciating. She hated the idea of him thinking she had run away from his service, but far worse was the thought that she might have taken two men along with her.
I would never do such a thing.
And then there was the fact that Roy and John wouldn’t be able to survive out here if their carriage and their belongings were taken away from them. Lenora had been fearful for her own survival, but now she worried for all three of them.
No one will come looking for us, and before long we’ll be dead—dead of starvation, dead of thirst, or dead of the elements. I don’t know what will kill us, but it’s sure that something will. We can’t survive on our own out here with no food and no shelter.
Something had to be done.
And, Lenora realized, she might be the only person who could act.
The bandits had been right when'd they’d said that John and Roy were outnumbered and wouldn’t dare to fight them. Even if the bandits didn’t want to kill the footmen, Lenora thought they probably would if they had to. If it was the only way they themselves could stay alive.
But they didn’t know Lenora was here.
Nobody was watching her. Nobody was keeping track of what she was doing.
And that meant she had a freedom to act that the others did not.
Still, for a moment she almost couldn’t do it. It was too frightening. Here in the wheat, she was safe, unseen. If she got up and returned to the road, she ran a terrible risk.
The moment they see me, they might throw me into the carriage and ride off with me in tow. Roy and John would still be left to fend for themselves. And I would fall victim to those bandits.
She knew that was true.
She also knew that this was the only chance they had at getting out of this together, all of them, and surviving.
And maybe I’ll even be able to do something about Lady Katherine as well.
That thought had jumped into her head unbidden, and she didn’t have time to turn it over and examine it. What could she possibly hope to do about Lady Katherine, even if she did survive this?
And yet, something in her gut fluttered, and the fluttering did feel like hope.
I can do this, she told herself firmly. Time to move.
She got her feet under her and lifted her body slowly up off the ground, uncoiling herself like a snake. She peered through the stalks of wheat, trying to get a look at the road and the carriage, to see what was going on.
There was nobody there.
Had they all gotten inside the carriage itself? That couldn’t be. It was much too small to hold six grown men. Even Roy and John would have had trouble packing themselves into it at the same time.
They must all be on the far side of the carriage, then.
Leonora crept to the side of the road, keeping low to the ground and praying she wouldn’t be seen. From here she could see four unfamiliar horses, free standing. These must belong to the bandits, she thought.
Perfect.
She would probably only get one chance at this, one chance to do what had to be done. But now that she had seen the entire road, it somehow seemed even easier.
I can do this. Just a quick dash to the horses, and then—
She drew a breath, collecting herself. Doing her best to steady her nerves. If Jimmy could see me now, she thought, mildly amused at the thought of what her best friend would say if he saw her predicament.
No point in putting it off any longer. This wasn’t going to get any easier.
Lenora got to her feet and moved.
She didn’t run. Running would draw the eye. Her hope was that if one of the bandits saw her out of his peripheral vision, he would mistake her for one of his fellows. That he wouldn’t realize she was a woman, someone who shouldn’t be there.
Someone who shouldn’t be moving toward his horses.
To her surprise, she reached the horses without incident.
The reins were looped together to keep them from bolting. They rustled a little, nervously, as Lenora approached, but if her friendship with Jimmy had taught her anything, it was how to soothe an anxious horse. She moved slowly, staying where they could see her, until she had one of them untangled from the rest.
He was tall and jet-black. Beautiful, she thought. She rested a hand on the side of his neck, wishing she had a sugar cube or a carrot to feed him, to show him that she was a friend and could be trusted.
“I’ll give you something when we get home,” she whispered. “And Jimmy will give you th
e best grooming you’ve ever had in your life. I can promise you that.”
The horse bowed his head slightly to her, almost as if he understood.
She moved around to his side. He was saddled up and ready, of course, but it was a man’s saddle. She would have to ride astride or else risk falling off.
Very well. Astride it is, she thought, steeling herself. She stepped into the stirrup and swung her left leg over the horse’s back, allowing her skirt to fan out behind her, lying low against the horse’s neck.
“Hey!”
Lenora closed her eyes. She had been seen.
No turning back now.
She gave the whip a hard crack. The horse bucked, almost throwing her back into the dirt of the road—and ran.
“Who was that?” She could hear voices receding into the distance behind her. “Get after them! Go!”
Good, she thought, feeling a surge of pride. That’s right. Chase me. Follow me. Leave Roy and John alone.
A part of her couldn’t believe she was risking her life to help the men who had participated in her kidnapping.
But they risked things to try to help me too, she remembered. Roy stood up to Lady Katherine. John packed food for me.
I can help them too.
But even as this thought settled in her mind, she heard the sound of hoofbeats. She spun around to look back over her shoulder.
Three of the bandits had mounted up and were in pursuit. And they were gaining on her.
She dug her heels into her horse’s sides, urging him to run faster. “Come on,” she muttered, laying herself flat against his body. “Come on. Faster. You can do it. Back to Brackhill Manor. Back to the Duke.”
What would happen when they arrived?
What would Lady Katherine say when Lenora showed up on her doorstep again, without the carriage she had been sent away in, and with three bandits in tow?
She couldn’t allow herself the luxury of thinking about that now. The only thing Lenora could focus on was the ride. She was good on horseback. As a chambermaid, she wasn’t supposed to ride, but Jimmy had snuck her out more than a few times.
She supposed that was one of the reasons Lady Katherine hated her so much, now that she thought about it. Lady Katherine had never had any real skill on a horse. It was nothing but good fortune that she had never fallen off and done herself an injury.
This flight through the night—Lady Katherine would never have been equal to this.
With a surge of pride, Lenora increased her speed.
* * *
She rode on through the night and most of the next day.
At some point, her pursuers fell away.
She didn’t think she had lost them. More likely they had realized she was heading back toward Brackhill Manor, and they didn’t want to go. She couldn’t blame them—it was wise on their part to stay away after the things they had done. If the Duke had been there, Lenora would have delivered them right into his hands.
If only the Duke were at home!
She understood that His Grace frequently had to go away on business. It was necessary, given his position. But Lady Katherine would never have been able to do what she had under his supervision.
Lenora could have ridden right up to the front door, marched inside, and explained everything.
She didn’t know if she would have been believed. But she would have been safe.
As things stood, she realized, she was going to have to come up with another plan.
And she didn’t have very long to do it.
The carriage ride had been long, meandering, but Lenora was retracing the path they’d taken at a much faster pace. She wasn’t exactly sure where she was, but she knew the manor couldn’t be far away. Before long, she was going to have to make a decision about what came next.
I can always go to Jimmy. But she couldn’t stay with him for long, she knew. She was a fugitive. She would not ask her friend to put himself at risk by covering for her any longer than necessary.
She would have to declare her presence to Lady Katherine and the Duchess. It was the only way. And when she did so, she knew, there was bound to be a confrontation.
But at least this time I’ll be the one taking them by surprise, instead of the other way around.
The sun rose over the horizon, coloring the world in hues of palest pink, and as Lenora came over the top of a hill, she saw Brackhill Manor off in the distance, waiting for her.
Chapter 15
Adrian sat stiffly in his chair, his hand traveling thoughtlessly from his plate to his mouth as he ate grape after grape. Grapes seemed today to be the only thing he could stomach.
He had hardly slept at all. Thoughts of Lenora had plagued him all night. Where could she have gone? He still hadn’t seen her since early yesterday morning. It was beginning to make less and less sense.
This manor was big, yes, but it wasn’t that big. She had to be somewhere. But where?
I’ll go back to looking for her as soon as breakfast is over, he vowed to himself. I haven’t offered to spend any time with Lady Katherine today, after all. I’ll make some excuse and go off on my own.
But that was going to be difficult.
He still hadn’t managed to confess to Lady Katherine or her mother that he had no interest in marriage contracts.
He had thought—he had been sure—that Lady Katherine was beginning to understand. There had been something about the way she had spoken to him lately that had led him to believe she understood his intentions.
But this morning it was as if he had imagined all of that. Lady Katherine was bright and cheery, every ounce the sociable young lady who was about to see all her dreams come true.
She beamed at him across the table, fluttering her eyelashes.
Adrian set down the grape he had been about to eat.
I have to tell them, he thought. It’s an unkindness not to tell them, to allow Katherine to keep throwing herself at me like this. I don’t wish to be unkind to her, whatever else I may or may not feel.
But no. He couldn’t tell the truth. Not yet. Not while Lenora was still missing. If he told them, he would have no excuse to stay at Brackhill Manor. He would be expected to leave and return home.
And he would never see Lenora again.
He would never have the opportunity to ask her if she could possibly care for him the way he cared for her.
He would never be able to learn, very simply, whether she was all right.
She’s all right, he told himself irritably. You’re becoming completely carried away by this mystery. Just because you don’t know where she is right now, that doesn’t mean anything’s wrong. A chambermaid leads a very busy life.
That was true enough. There were plenty of chambermaids at Galdhor Manor, and they were always working, always moving from one task to another.
And yet…
It didn’t feel right. In all the time Adrian had been at Brackhill Manor, he had never had any trouble finding Lenora for a conversation—not after those first few days, at least.
Something had changed. It was the only explanation that made sense to him. Something was different now. Something was keeping Lenora from crossing his path.
But what?
“What ails you this morning, Lord Galdhor?” the Duchess asked. “You’ve hardly touched your breakfast. Are you unwell?”
“No, Your Grace,” Adrian said. “I merely wondered when the Duke might be returning from his business.” That would be a deadline. He would have to be honest with the ladies by then, because the Duke would be expecting an answer regarding his marriage to Lady Katherine.
“That’s the good news!” Lady Katherine said. “We have reason to believe that Father will be returning tonight!”
“Do—do we?”
The Duchess smiled indulgently at her daughter. “Lady Katherine is the apple of her father’s eye, Lord Galdhor. When he knew he would be coming home, he sent a messenger ahead to let us know. The message arrived just this morning.”
“You must be very excited,” Adrian managed, but inwardly he was badly shaken. He had expected that he might have more time to sort things out, to find and talk to Lenora and to let Lady Katherine down easily. Now it seemed he was going to have to handle things very quickly.
“Of course, you know what that means,” the Duchess said.
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