Nothing.
“Aiden, wake up. Do you hear me?” She wouldn’t lose him now. Couldn’t. She loved him, no matter what.
“The whole of England can hear you, sweet Tess.”
Sweet Tess.
Tess sighed her relief, even more so as Aiden’s eyes opened just enough for her to witness the twinkle in their depths.
“Good. Now get up. We are getting out of here.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Using her for support, he pushed himself to a sitting position. Pain razored across his brutalized face.
“How did you get here?”
“I followed in your footsteps.”
“But the river has frozen and the ferry master at Creekside barely agreed to take me.”
“He also refused me.”
“What?”
“I went by foot across the river.”
“Good God, Tess.” Aiden shook his head, only to wince as pain struck again.
“Enough about my passage to this den of iniquity. We need to get going.”
“Jasper wasn’t here.”
Her mouth pursed. “No. It was a ruse. Jasper admitted it all.”
“He’s at the Hall?”
“He is, though his bruises will give yours a run for your money.”
“What happened?”
“Mr. Nash’s handiwork. The man is apparently Jasper’s creditor.”
“The bastard.”
“Definitely. Not content with brutalizing Mary, he used Jasper’s weakness for his own gain, and when Jasper couldn’t pay back the mounting debt, he blackmailed him into writing the letter to get you here. Now,” she said, “No more questions, it’s time we left.”
Once upright, Aiden leaned on her. “There is one more thing. I acted like an ass. I accused you horribly, yet I realized that you had risked your life for me, and here you are doing it again.”
Tess put her finger to his swollen lips. “I told you it was to warn you. If I did not warn you—and unfortunately Nash and my uncle—you might have been arrested along with them. Or worse—killed. Nash would weasel his way out of anything, but I could not take that risk with your life. I had no choice… And Jasper was in no state to ride to the Dogs.”
For a few moments Aiden remained silent and Tess held her breath, waiting for condemnation.
“Sweet, sweet, Tess,” he said reaching out to cup her face. “You are a brave soul. Perhaps,” he said, his mouth curving into a crooked grin, “a tad foolhardy, but stubborn and brave and so, so beautiful that my heart aches.”
“Along with the rest of your body, no doubt.”
“Aye, but there is one thing I request before we head out of here, one thing I need more than the air I breathe.”
“There is no time.”
“There is always time for this. Would you kiss me?”
“Your lips,” she said of his bloodied mouth. “A kiss would hurt.”
“A pain I readily accept if those lips are yours.”
Though anxious to escape their dungeon, she could not refuse his request and, standing on her tiptoes, she lifted her mouth to his, touching him as gently as she could.
A soft sigh expunged from him. “Ah, yes, I had not forgotten. If this is the last thing I feel, my sweet Tess, then I will die a satisfied man.”
Tess broke away. “Die. Do not mention the word. That is not going to happen. Is there another exit from this hellhole?”
“Unfortunately not. I listened to Nash and his cohorts’ comings and goings and only ever did I hear them clomp up and down stairs. No other door except for the one above us.”
“Then that is what we will do.”
“The innkeeper is one of Nash’s men, though I only realized it the moment Nash’s truncheon connected with my skull. The man called me m’lord. He knew who I was.”
“So we have no choice.”
Choice. There was that word again.
Reaching around him, Tess drew him up the first step, then another and another until they reached the landing. The door was still closed, but the echo from the patrons easily reached through.
“You are going to be my prisoner.” In the flickering candlelight, Tess searched for what she needed. She spied wax-coated ropes that tied the candleholders to a nail in the wall. Tess quickly untied one from its position and snuffed out the candle, tossing it to the floor. “Hold out your hands.”
“What?”
“Hold them out, Aiden. I’m going to tie you up. This way it’ll make it real.”
“I thought my battered visage made it real.”
“That too,” she said, tying the rope around his wrists and knotting it securely. “Now do as I say, and say nothing.” She kissed him hard on the mouth, earning a groan in return.
With a deep breath, she yanked open the door and stepped out, pulling Aiden with brutal force behind her. “Ye no bloody good cur, do what you’re told.” Her palm connected with Aiden’s jaw and his head snapped back.
God help her. And him.
Fist securely wrapped around the rope, she hauled Aiden after her. Thankfully he uttered not one word. But as they made their way across the inn, all eyes focused on them. Tess held her breath, refusing eye contact with a soul. Then she spied the innkeeper. He stared hard at her, and reached quickly beneath the counter.
A pistol?
She found the pistol hidden beneath her cloak and aimed its muzzle directly at the innkeeper, though from this distance it would be a diversion at best.
She kept heading for the door. “Keep going, you ungodly bastard.” She yanked Aiden again, earning a wail of pain from him.
She hoped it was exaggerated, for appearances’ sake.
Just as they reached the exit of the seedy hellhole, the innkeeper came to a standstill in front of their doorway to freedom. He aimed his pistol directly at her. “Going somewhere?”
“Aye, doing Nash’s business,” she said, trying to keep her chin down so that he couldn’t look into her eyes.
“He didn’t tell me the prisoner would be moved.”
Tess shrugged. “Only doing what I’m told. You wouldn’t want him angry, would you?”
She spied the sudden wash of fear in the man’s expression and knew she’d hit the right vein of deceit. “Last time I saw someone disobey ‘is orders, the man lost an eye and an arm. You prepared for that?”
The man’s uncertainty escalated. He looked to Aiden, and then back to her.
Tess held her breath. Waited. Prayed.
Finally, he stepped aside and Tess wanted to smile, to breathe a sigh of relief, but remained vigilant. “Better we get going, or the guv be angry.” She tugged the rope harder this time and Aiden all but fell at her feet.
Outside, she didn’t ease up until they had turned the corner and the rope fell from her fingertips as if an anathema.
Aiden slumped against the wall behind them. “Remind me never to get on your bad side. That was as real as I would ever like it to be.”
Reaching for the rope again, she quickly untied the knots, freeing his hands. “Can you walk?”
“I’ll run if I need to,” he said, though Tess noted his labored breathing and his struggle to stand upright. “I tethered Phantom close by. Hopefully he’s still there.”
Tess tugged off her jacket, laying it over Aiden’s battered face. “That’ll make you look like a drunk sleeping off your indulgence,” she said. “Stay there. Don’t move.”
“Yes, m’lady. Whatever you say.”
Heart pumping and ignoring the chill quickly seeping beneath her clothing, she raced around to the back of the inn and spied Phantom. “Come on, you beauty. Time to go home.”
In minutes, with Aiden propped up on the horse, Tess guided them through the winding alleyways, deciding it best to keep away from the main road. This way, at least, they had some protection.
At the river’s edge the frost fayre was in full swing.
“We need to get to the wharf,” Tess said pointing to the other side
of the fayre. “Perhaps the ferry is back in service.”
Aiden lifted his swollen gaze skyward. “I doubt it. Those clouds indicate colder weather is yet to come.”
Just then a juggler passed, his gaudy costume adorned with bells all jangling a discordant tune as he tossed his multi-colored balls in the air. Next came a flamethrower, downing his swords of flame.
Another time and another place and she would have loved to walk amidst it all.
As she turned from the cacophony of festival-goers, she spied a face in the crowd. “Nash!” Tess grabbed at Phantom’s reins, but Aiden slid from the horse.
“We need to move now. He’s here.”
Propelling him to the right, tugging Phantom behind, they made to skirt the fayre.
Too late.
Nash redirected too and wove his way through the throng, closing in on them.
“This way.” She spun around, heading farther among the stallholders, her feet sliding over the ice as she increased her speed.
Suddenly, the crowd parted. They were clear of the fayre, coming out by a small jetty with several upturned rowboats scattered along its length.
“Under there.” She pointed, “If we hide, it might give us some time.”
Aiden slapped the horse on the rump. “Go! Go!”
The horse bolted away.
Tess cast a sideways glance at Aiden. “Stay with me, Aiden, I will not lose you.”
“I’ve no intention of going anywhere. I don’t think I’d make more than twenty yards on my own.” He clutched his chest. “Think the bastard broke a rib or two.”
They had not gone more than five feet before a shadow stepped out in front of them.
“Don’t hurry, Charnley, you’re not going anywhere. Nor you, missy.” Florian Nash held a pistol in each hand directed toward them.
“Get out of our way, Nash. You’ve proven your point.” Aiden straightened, though Tess witnessed the pain flittering across his face.
“Not quite. You’re still alive.” His mouth twisted into a semblance of a smile. “And I presume you are the illustrious Countess of Charnley. I’d bow, but well, you can see I’m otherwise occupied.”
“Leave us be, Mr. Nash. You’ve got your champagne,” Tess pleaded.
“I do.” His sneer broadened. “But I don’t take kindly to someone trying to hand me over to the law.” He cocked both pistols. “Not nice at all, Charnley. And you meddling,” he said nodding to her, “well, that’s rather annoying. You’re like an insect that needs to be squashed.”
“What do you want?”
“Everything.” He bit out a whiskey-soaked croak of laughter. “I’ve had your sister, and those jewels fetched a tidy sum. And I am making a good bit of interest off your brother. But you nosing around is becoming rather tiresome.”
“How did you do it, Nash?”
The man’s thin lips slipped into a sneer. “You mean how did I outsmart you every time? You may be all rich and powerful, but the rest of us have to live by our wits.”
“You use people.”
“Of course. People come in handy. Take that maid of yours, Katie.”
“Katie? She was Lillian’s maid.”
“Aye. Pretty little thing and warms a man’s bed nicely. I suppose I should offer thanks you kept her on after that trollop of a wife of yours croaked. She came in right handy. Eager to please, passing on messages when you were on the road. She has such a sick aunt, you see, and needed to go visit her often.”
Comprehension instant, Aiden cursed.
“Clever, don’t you think? No one could say nay to her when she pleaded she must go and visit her aunt.”
“There was no aunt.”
“That’s right,” he chuckled. “Made it easy to evade you many a time.”
“You bastard.”
Nash shrugged, laughing. “Probably.”
Tess caught the edge of evil in his rasping croak. It repulsed her. This man held life cheap and would rob a corpse as easily as he slurped ale.
“You systematically set out to trap my sister, then abused her.”
Nash sneered, his delight obvious. “I did. Those jewels of hers were such an enticement.”
A gasp slipped from Tess and Nash’s attention shifted to her. “Don’t be surprised. She was weak and the powerful shall dominate the weak.”
“You’re mad.”
He offered a dismissive shrug. “Most likely, but I’m also the one with the weapons aimed at your hearts. Now which one of you shall I kill first? ’Tis a difficult decision for a madman.”
…
“Ladies first, don’t you think?” Tess said, stepping forward and pulling off her cap at the same time.
Her hair tumbled in a silken veil around her shoulders and Aiden spied Nash’s brazen admiration. Nash’s attention momentarily distracted, Aiden sprang. A pistol went off.
“Aiden!”
Her voice registered in his brain the same moment his fist smashed into Nash’s jaw. The crack of bone crunching bone echoed. “Run, Tess. Run.”
Nash swung at him with the second pistol and connected with Aiden’s chest. The force knocked him backward, feet slipping beneath him. He floundered and Nash lunged at him, but gained no purchase. Aiden grabbed Nash’s clothing, yanked him close and then spun him over onto his back. He wrapped his hands around the man’s throat, squeezing, squeezing tighter. Tighter.
Desperate for breath, Nash clawed at Aiden’s face, blinding him briefly, then the brute’s fist connected with Aiden’s broken ribs and every ounce of oxygen plowed from his lungs. His hold on Nash loosened a fraction and the man shoved at him and slithered from Aiden’s grip, retrieving one of his pistols.
Tess screamed. “Watch out!”
Aiden swung round to see Tess raise an oar sky-high and then slam it toward Nash.
Too late! Nash wrenched the oar from her, the force catapulting her forward. He grabbed her in a neck-hold and aimed the pistol to her head.
“Nice try. Shame you failed. I will admit a token of admiration for you, missy. You’re a brave, though foolish, woman.”
Winded, Aiden straightened. “Kill me, Nash. Let her go.”
A sound. A crack. Barely audible. Then another, and another.
As unobtrusively as he could, Aiden dropped his gaze.
The ice! It cracked around Tess. Around Nash.
He looked directly at her. His wife. His Tess. Sweet Tess.
In that moment, everything became clear. He stared into her eyes and witnessed the love shining there and knew that what he had tried to ignore, tried to resist, was in his heart too. He loved her. Totally. Utterly.
“Do you remember that night at the Bancroft’s, sweet Tess? The night we danced?”
Her brow creased, understanding not clear. He willed her to listen, to think back.
Still he held her gaze.
“The night was crisp, the air fresh, though the first fall of snow and ice were melting. We danced. You stepped to the right. Do you remember?”
Tess blinked twice.
“The right, Tess. Now!”
Aiden charged, one hand shoving her from Nash’s grip, the other powering into the man’s chest before he had the chance to react.
Nash tumbled backward. His head slammed against the ice as it split beneath him and he fell through the frozen shards. “Help me.” Hands snatching at the air, he grabbed at Aiden and yanked him into the river.
Instantly, the freezing water sucked at Aiden’s breath. His mouth opened, a scream stifled as frozen water silenced it.
It was so cold. So heavy. It would be so easy to sleep. To let go. He kicked out, one boot connecting with something solid. Hands slashed at him, yanking him back down. Down.
Tess! Sweet, sweet Tess.
No! He would not drown. He had too much to live for. For Tess. For Alexander. For love. Good reasons. Worthwhile reasons. Perfect reasons.
He kicked out again and again, bursting through the surface. His eyes opened, vision blurry.
“Aiden! Aiden!”
Her screech tore through everything.
“Where are you?”
“Grab this.”
Something dug into his side and he swung round, but other fingers—Nash grabbed it first.
“Let me. That’s mine.” Nash yanked hard, but Aiden’s elbow caught him on the side of the head and the man lost his grip and slid beneath the water.
Pain ricocheted through every part of him. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. He wanted to sleep. To drift away.
“Aiden! Pull. Don’t give up.”
His eyes flashed open. “Tess!”
“Pull, Aiden. Pull!”
With one hand on the oar, the other clawing at the rim of the broken ice shelf, he dragged himself from the water on his belly.
Breathless, he simply lay there. Silent. Unable to think or move.
Tess? His sweet Tess.
Rolling onto his side, he came face to face with the most beautiful sight in the world. “Sweet, Tess.”
“He’s gone.”
Confusion clouded Aiden’s brain momentarily. “Nash?” Lifting his head, he searched the gaping hole in the frozen river. There was no sign of Nash. Gone. His nemesis had lost.
Then the bitter cold set in and he began to shake from head to foot, his teeth chattering.
Tess grabbed him under one arm, hoisting him to his feet. “You’re wet and if we don’t get you dry you will freeze to death.”
“Aye,” he said as ice ate into his bones. “I’m not sure I’ll ever feel warm again.”
She wrapped her arms around him.
“But then again,” he said with a sigh of relief, “you warm me right through.”
Slowly, aware that the ice around them had begun to crack, they negotiated their way back to the riverbank and as they hit true terra firma, Aiden offered a silent prayer to the heavens. They had survived. Now, he had to do what he must. He glanced back toward the watery tomb.
Tess tightened her grip on his hand. “He’s gone Aiden, down into the bowels of hell where he belongs. It’s over.”
Aiden turned from Nash’s icy grave, a smile at last in his heart. He drew her hands into his. “Nay, sweet Tess, tis not over. Our lives have only just begun.”
“Ours?”
“Aye. I’m a fool. A blind man who needed a guide to lead him into the light. You were my guide the day we met, as true as you are my guide thus far. Will you stay and guide me, Tess? I was wrong.”
The Highwayman's Bride Page 23
