by Jenna Hart
"My name is Serena." She offered the man small chit chat, hoping he would tell her why she was here.
Serena leaned forward, trying to get a better look around the dark room. She could smell salty air in the breeze that came through the small window above her head. The floor was also damp, and what appeared to be small wooden boats were tacked in the far corner away from her.
I have to be near the water, she thought.
She didn't think they had traveled that far, but after she scratched up one of her kidnapper's faces, he had hit with the butt of his pistol and knocked her unconscious, so there was no real way for her to guess how far she had traveled.
"If you could just get a message to my husband for me, please, he will give you more money you have ever dreamed of, I promise," Serena pleaded. "He'll make sure no harm comes to you."
She would beg and promise him everything she could think of if she could just get away.
"I'm sorry, Miss Serena, I am, but I cannot do that."
"Please! My husband could give you everything," Serena begged as tears blurred her eyes. Her time was running out. Whoever had taken her would be back soon, and she could only imagine the worst happening after that.
"Eat up, Miss Serena." The man, who Serena had named Bones, seeing as how he wouldn't reveal his real name to her, and she wanted to call him something, offered her a bowl of steaming stew.
Surprisingly, the aroma was pleasant, and he had a few pieces of thick bread to go with it. Her stomach was rumbling, and she didn't want to pass up a chance to eat, not knowing when the next opportunity would come.
She took a bite from the spoon he offered her. It was tasty, thick, and creamy, much like the beef stew, Cook served at Danerly Hall in the cold months.
"Are you not from here?" She asked Bones, taking the next spoonful offered to her.
"From Scotland, miss." He answered, taking a bite out of the giant hunk bread he had dipped in his bowl. "Been many a year since I've seen home."
"What about your family?" Serena asked, suddenly feeling a little bit of pity for Bones.
It had to be a very bleak life, being in this place all the time.
Aside from keeping her there against her will, he had been very kind to her, and she didn't think he was the type of person to go about harming others.
"No family to speak of. I had a wife and son once upon a time. Not anymore."
He continued eating, not offering any more information. He did offer Serena a bite of the bread dipped in the stew, though, and she savored the taste, letting it fill her stomach.
Somehow, she knew she was going to need all the strength she could save up and eating what he offered to her would help.
She didn't ask him any more questions as they continued eating, leaving them both to their silence.
She needed a way to free herself, but nothing jumped out at her. Her gaze roamed around the room, the small amount of light limiting what she could see. There had to be some way.
Think, Serena, think!
Her eyes landed on Bones, eating quietly, lost in his thoughts. She knew Bones was going to be her only way out. But now she had to convince him to help her.
The sounds of horses outside drew her attention. Someone was coming.
Serena watched as Bones set his bowl down and peered out the window.
Whoever was there, Bones knew them, but because he hid a knife in the back of his shirt, Serena doubted he wanted them here.
"Stay quiet, and maybe they'll leave you here," he whispered to Serena without looking at her.
She could hear a woman and a man. The pair were arguing about her.
Where had she heard the man's voice before?
Serena could make out two shadows moving into the doorframe but couldn't see their faces. She twisted, trying to get a better look.
"How's our visitor, old man?" the familiar voice asked, moving closer to Serena.
"She's alright," Bones said, trying to position himself between the visitor and Serena. "No trouble, she's a tiny thing, wouldn't harm a fly."
"Shut up!"
Serena watched as the victors drew back and smacked Bones, sending the man stumbling over.
Before Serena could scream, the visitor snatched her up, squeezing her arms until she screamed out.
Sanders!
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
After several hours of trying to locate Serena, they knew where to go, their other leads falling short of any helpful information.
Lennox's men had tracked down a hack driver that told them about a white-haired lady who offered a rather large sum of money for a trip to the country.
His friend, Fred, had jumped on the chance to earn the money and had set out with the lady a couple of hours ago.
After further pressing and a bloody nose and black eye, the driver had revealed that two men approached him afterward and wanted to know where the lady was headed and thinking nothing of it, he told them, earning his self a quick coin.
Locating the two men proved easy, as Hadden, Lennox, and Devlin had scores of men combing the London Underworld, looking for clues to the two men's identities.
When the men were located, Lennox and Devlin had to pull Hadden away from killing the man with the scratched face.
Choosing to take a horse instead, Hadden, followed by Lennox and Devlin, tore through the streets, heading to the dockside address where they had taken Serena.
After finding the rundown cabin, Hadden made his way close to the front. There were no guards that they could see, or to give warning to those inside.
Lennox and Devlin stood watch.
Hadden could hear a man's voice yelling inside as he eased his way up to the cabin. He needed to see who was inside, before bursting in, in case Serena was in a dangerous position.
It was Sander's alright and Charlotte! He saw Sanders holding Serena by her neck.
Kicking in the door, Hadden drew his pistol, aiming at Sander's heart.
"Let go of my wife, you son of a bitch, or I'll kill you where you stand."
Sanders snatched a knife quickly out of his pocket and pushed it to Serena's throat.
"Hadden, no," Serena cried out, trying to wiggle loose from Sanders. He snatched her back, grabbing her breasts and digging his nails into them, as he pinned her back to him.
"Well, well, well," Sanders taunted. "Look who's come to try and save the day."
"Shut up," Hadden said. He could see another man lying on the floor, barely able to get up, blood pouring from his nose. "You coward, you attack an innocent woman and you tried to kill my brother."
"I didn't attack her. The bitch wants it, don't you love." Sanders pressed his lips into Serena's cheeks and laughed, pushing the knife closer into her throat.
“Your brother was a mistake. I thought it was you!”
Charlotte stood still, watching the interaction between the two men as she tried to work out an escape plan. She knew Hadden would have men outside waiting. She had to create a diversion, something to bring them inside.
"Move! Over there, now," Hadden growled at Charlotte as if reading her mind. He wasn't going to allow her to escape. Not this time. She was going to tell him the name of the man who she worked with. He now knew Sanders was one of them. The other remained nameless.
He knew Lennox and Devlin were outside if she tried, but he wasn't willing to risk it again.
Hadden could hear yelling coming from outside, followed by a few gunshots. Keeping his pistol trained on Sanders, he backed to the window. He couldn't see out and didn't want to pull his eyes off of Charlotte or Sanders.
Within seconds, the door burst open, and a man fired a shot at Hadden, missing him by mere inches.
Hadden fired back at the man, hitting him in the stomach. The shots caused Sanders to throw Serena to the ground and tackle Hadden head-on.
Charlotte saw her chance. What luck she had! The men outside were fighting with each other, and she could get away.
"Serena, stay back," Hadden yel
led to his wife.
As Charlotte tried to make her way out the back, Serena jumped onto her back, pulling the woman to the ground. Charlotte tried to claw Serena's face, but Serena closed her fist and drew back to strike her.
As her hand fell, Charlotte kicked up, knocking Serena into the table beside them.
Serena could still see Sanders and Hadden fighting.
Dazed, she rubbed her head and saw Charlotte flee from the cabin. Devlin and Lennox rushed in as Hadden's bullet stuck Sanders in the heart, causing the man to fall over. Dead.
"We have to stop her," Hadden yelled, jumping up to go after Charlotte.
Devlin and Lennox tore out of the room, Hadden stopping to make sure Serena was alright.
"Stay, I'll be right back," he said, kissing her lips quickly.
Serena pulled herself up and went over to help Bones. He sat up and smiled at Serena.
"Glad to see you're alright, lassie," he said. "You're a tough one."
"Thank you for trying to help me," Serena told him, worried something would happen to her husband.
She sat quietly with Bones, Sander's body still in the corner of the room.
What would ever drive a man to commit the crimes he had, she wondered, thankful he wouldn't be able to harm anyone else.
Moments later, Hadden came back in, followed by Lennox and Devlin.
"Did you find her?" Serena asked, still sitting beside Bones.
"No, it seems she had someone waiting for her," Hadden told her.
Another escape. Another chase.
Lennox's men started rounding up the men who had attacked them outside, and they would take them for questioning, hoping to find at least another name, another lead in this.
Whoever was behind this was becoming nearly impossible to track down.
That kind of ability required two things: money and power.
He would leave the questioning of the men up to Lennox and Devlin.
He had some questions of his own, and he was going to start with the old man beside Serena.
Leaving the cabin, Hadden pulled Serena close, moving his hand over her cheek, touching the bruises with his thumb lightly.
"Hadden, please. I'm alright." Serena tried to console her husband. Gone was the control—the calm exterior he prided himself on.
"I could have lost you,' Hadden whispered to her. "I shouldn't have pushed you away. Please forgive me. I'm so sorry, Serena."
Serena touched his cheek. "It's alright. It's over."
"No sign of the hack," Lennox's voice cut into the pair. "Seems whoever she was working with her came to her rescue again."
"I want them hunting day and night," Hadden said. "We need to retrace the leads and see what we can find out from Sanders's men."
"Please don't forget about Bones. He tried to protect me, Hadden," Serena said, worried that someone would try to harm Bones.
"He tried to jump on Sanders to protect me," Serena's emotions battled in her voice."
Pulling her as tight as he could to his chest, Hadden whispered into her ear, "hush love, no one will ever harm you again. I promise."
"We'll need to get him somewhere safe," Hadden told Lennox. "I'm sure he'll be willing to help us, but if they find out where he's at, they'll try and silence him."
"I owe him, he saved Serena," Hadden added, his voice so shaken that Lennox knew he would take over the personal task of making sure the old man was taken care of.
If the roles were reversed, Hadden would do it for both Lennox and Devlin.
"Right," Lennox agreed. "Graham and Seamus will take care of him."
Hadden walked over to where Bones stood, the older man unsure about what was going to happen to him.
"I want to thank you for saving my wife's life," Hadden said. "If not for your assistance, they would have harmed her far worse than she was."
"Didn't mind one bit," Bones said, shifting under Hadden's intense gaze.
"Don't like the idea of anyone harming a woman."
"Nor I," Hadden continued. "I'd like to offer you a job of sorts.
"Job? What kind?" Bones asked.
"I need to find out more about the people who took my wife," Hadden said. "I'm willing to pay you more than you would make twice over with your work now."
Bones considered the duke's proposal for a moment. "I'm only supposed to watch the ships that come and go. They was looking for one from France. It hasn't come yet. They never told me they were going to be bringing a kidnapped wife there."
Hadden motioned for Lennox and Devlin to join them.
"The man, who tried to hurt your wife, kept telling the woman that they knew, and they had to get rid of it."
"Get rid of what?" Devlin asked.
"Not too sure, but he was gone burn whatever it was, so no one could find it and trace it to them. Then that woman with the black hair told him she needed more time."
Bones finished telling them what he remembered. "I listened to them argue, hoping they'd forget the girl was there, but then the man walked over and picked her up and slapped her," he told Hadden. "I tried to help her, but he hit me, and then that crazy woman started kicking me."
Hadden could feel his insides boil, listening to what his wife had endured.
"Go on," Lennox urged.
"When I came back around, the woman had the lady by her hair with a knife pressed in her throat. Told she was gone kill her as payment for all of the trouble she had to go through."
Hadden closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Where was the man when this was going on, Bones?"
"He had stepped outside and was talking to another man. The other man was not happy with the turn of events and told the man he was going to tie up all of his loose ends. Then I heard the carriage drive away."
All three men looked at each other, trying to make sense of what the older man was telling them.
"When he came back inside, he looked like the devil. I tried to trip him and distract the woman so that I could get in front of Miss Serena."
Hadden took a calming breath, listening to the man continue. He wanted to go back to the cabin and beat Sanders's body into the ground.
"It worked for a second, and the black-haired women let go of her. I rolled in front, but the man snatched me off and tackled the girl to the floor. The black-haired woman started hitting me with one of the wooden oars that was on the wall and knocked me out."
"You should be proud, though. Your wife, she tried to fight back as much as she could," Bones said proudly. "Wasn't too much later, and you arrived, and I woke up."
Serena joined them, moving in to take Hadden's hand into hers.
"I want to thank you for helping me," Serena said, giving the man a soft smile. "I know you didn't intend for any of this to happen."
"Tom, miss, the name is Tom," Bones told her. "But I think I like the way Bones sounds."
Serena laughed. "I think Bones is a fitting name."
Hadden watched his wife speak to Bones. She was calm, almost serene, no trace of what happened to her visible, except the bruises.
She was a warrior.
Most women would be in hysterics, but here stood his mighty warrior queen who fought back as best she could and still choose to find humor in what could have been a very grave situation for her.
"Find out what you can," Hadden told Lennox. He had already asked Devlin to alert Serena's parents that she was safe.
He wanted to get out of London, away from all of it. He wanted to be with his wife. To hold, to feel her, to love her.
"We're leaving. Now."
Picking Serena up, Hadden started toward his carriage, not stopping until they reached it.
"Averton Park and make haste," Hadden called to his driver. Placing Serena in the seat, he closed in beside her, wrapping his arms around her.
"Averton Park?" Serena asked, confused that they wouldn't be heading home. "Shouldn't we tell my family we're all right? And we have no clothing. Nothing to travel with."
"I've alrea
dy sent for Alice and our things, and Devlin sent word to your father and mother. They will meet us there in a few days, I'm sure, love, all is taken care of."
He placed a kiss on her head. "My only concern is getting you far away from here."
Charlotte had planned an attack on his wife right under his nose. They had been right that Sanders and Charlotte were working with the same person. Hadden knew they had to find whoever it was that had controlled all of the events-Wooldridge's death, his brother's attack, Serena's kidnapping.
He also needed to figure out what was on the ship from France that they were waiting on. All of these things would have to wait. For now, he needed to be with his wife.
He'd never let Serena out of his sight again. He could never let her go again.
Hadden held Serena close, his warmth making her eyes heavy. Her head and body ached. She needed to rest. Before she knew it, she fell into a deep slumber, her head nestled close to Hadden's chest.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
When Serena awoke, the sun stretched its greeting from behind the rolling hills, casting a glorious light, filled with soft pinks and warm yellows. The morning dew lifted, and the smell of fresh-turned soil filled the air.
Serena eased herself up slowly, her neck stiff from the long ride, and smiled at the sight. Her husband slept soundly, his arms still around her.
She brushed a stray piece of hair off his brow and leaned up to kiss his cheek.
Hadden tossed his head, Serena's kiss tickling his cheek, and continued to sleep.
He needs the rest, she thought.
She had no idea how much longer until they reached their destination, but she was content to stay curled up with her husband, even if it was in a bumpy carriage.
Serena leaned forward to try and get a good look at their surroundings. The sight before her made her breath catch.
A massive iron gate loomed before them, shaded by ancient trees that formed a canopy over the opening. Serena could see the start of what appeared to be a large lake, and in the distance, a magnificent stone
structure rose out of the lifting mists.
This has to be it.
