The Duchess of Slantonshire… The responsibility of what she was about to do suddenly dawned on her and for the briefest of moments her nerves overtook her excitement.
Normally a lady of her station would have traveled with a female companion, but she had not taken the time to arrange such a thing once she had received the Dowager Duchess’ summons. She had been entirely too excited to waste a moment and had simply ordered one of her father’s house maids to accompany her, who now sat next to the driver atop the carriage.
Perhaps I should have waited for Amelia. She is the most responsible one of us all. What if I make a misstep and embarrass myself? Or worse, what if I embarrass Henry? Grace stirred nervously in her seat. It would be the first time that she had ever visited Slantonshire on her own without her family. Soon it will be my home and I must get used to being there without my sister.
Grace squared her shoulders in an attempt to dampen her nervousness and regain her former excitement. She smoothed her face back into a pleasant expression. It would not do to become wizened before my time. She had become quite the expert over the years in masking her true emotions.
Amelia’s face, on the other hand, showed every thought and emotion she had ever had. It had caused a great deal of strife between Amelia and their father, for every time that she had disagreed with his wishes her face had made it clear for all to see. It had also meant that Amelia was the most honest of them all. Watching the discord between Amelia and their father had taught Grace to hide her true feelings in all things at all times. All things, with the exception of how she felt for Henry. In that she had been completely honest.
As the carriage bumped along, she grew tired and began to doze in and out of slumber. She was not certain how long she had slept when the carriage came to a sudden halt. Her body was flung to the floor of the carriage by the sudden change in speed. Before she could lift herself back up onto the seat, rough hands dragged her from the carriage. She looked up at the man who was pulling at her but could not make out anything distinctive through the fabric that covered his face.
Dark beady eyes glared down at her from behind slits in the fabric. “Who are you?” she demanded to know. The man did not answer. “Who are you?” she shouted. “What do you want with me?” Still no answer. As he pulled her free of the carriage, she plunged to the ground screaming at the top of her lungs for him to release her. “Unhand me this instant!” Instead of obeying her orders, the man picked her up off of the ground and slung her over his shoulder carrying her to his waiting horse.
The man flung her over the saddle and mounted behind her. Grace kicked and screamed, pounding at him with her fists. “Be still,” he growled, jabbing her in the ribs with the barrel of his pistol. Grace stilled, frightened. She looked back behind them to find her driver and maid lying on the ground being held at gunpoint.
“Do not move,” the man holding the gun to their heads barked out. “If you move before nightfall we will know, and we will kill the girl. Deliver this to the girl’s family.” The man threw down a sheet of paper with writing on it. Neither the maid nor the driver moved to pick it up. Her maid trembled and sobbed in fear so violently that she lost control of her waters leaving a damp circle beneath her body in the dust of the road.
Grace’s heart went out to the young girl, as she herself knew a similar fear in her breast. Her heart raced frantically as her mind scrambled for any notion of what she could do to escape. She prayed that the piece of paper the man had instructed to be sent to her family was a ransom note so that she might soon be freed unharmed. If they are to hold me for ransom then they would be foolish to harm me in any way, she attempted to soothe herself with the thought, but it provided her little comfort.
The man spurred his horse forward galloping away from the carriage as fast as he was able. Grace felt as if she were being tossed about like a sack of grain. Her head bobbed up and down against the horse’s shoulder as the saddle pounded against her stomach. She felt as if she were being beaten inside and out. She fought against it by holding her body rigid but that only made the pain of it worse. Unable to bear it a moment longer she fainted from the pain.
When she awakened, she had no way of knowing how far they had traveled, but it was dark by the time that they stopped. Grace was taken down from the back of the horse and carried into the dilapidated ruins of an old croft. “Please,” she begged. “Please let me go.”
The man continued to ignore her and deposited her roughly onto the dirt floor. He walked back outside leaving her alone in the darkness. Grace stood on wobbly feet and made her way around the room feeling about her for anything that she could use as a weapon or means of escape. She came away with nothing. The croft had been stripped bare leaving nothing but the walls. When she reached the door and opened it, she was met with resistance by the man who had put her there.
“Get back,” he commanded and shut the door in her face.
Exhausted, dizzy, and frightened beyond measure, Grace curled up into a ball in the corner and cried herself to sleep.
Chapter 2
“Grace has been taken!” Jonathan burst into Amelia’s bedchamber startling her from slumber. In his hand he clutched a wrinkled piece of paper which he proceeded to shove under her nose. Amelia sat up and took the paper from his hand. She wiped the sleep from her eyes.
“What do you mean that she has been taken?” she asked confused. She looked down at the words in front of her and her world turned upside down. The letter demanded that the family was to pay a ransom or Grace would be killed. A future letter was to indicate when and where the exchange was to take place once the funds had been gathered. She did not recognize the handwriting, but it appeared to be of a masculine scrawl. “What are we to do?” she asked in horror.
“The only thing we can do,” he answered raking his hand through his hair in distress, “pay the ransom.”
“How did you get the letter?” Amelia hoped that the letter’s delivery would shed some light on who might have taken Grace.
“The maid and the driver returned with it this morning.”
“Do they have any idea who might have taken her? Did they see the kidnapper’s faces?”
“No, I am afraid not,” Jonathan answered. He was beside himself with worry.
“Has Father sent anyone out to the place where she was taken?”
“He and I are about to go there now.”
“I will go with you.”
“Father has commanded that you are to remain here on the chance that she manages to escape and returns home.”
Amelia nodded. “I will do as he says and wait here. Promise me that you will do all in your power to see that she will be returned home to us safely.”
“I swear it.” Jonathan kissed her forehead then left the bedchamber, a fiery light of determination in his eyes. Amelia knew that he would do his utmost to find out what had happened to their sister, and if possible, to bring her home.
* * *
Jonathan mounted his horse and nodded to his father that he was ready to depart. The pair of them took off down the drive following the carriage driver to where Grace had last been seen. They rode through the day stopping only long enough to water the horses before continuing on. When they arrived at the place where she had been abducted, Jonathan and the Viscount dismounted searching the ground for any sign as to where she might have been taken.
“The men that took her rode off in that direction,” the driver gestured toward the north.
Jonathan moved to examine the ground to the north, but there were so many hoofprints and wheel tracks that he could not distinguish between those that had taken Grace and all of the other traffic that had frequented the road before or since. Such skills as tracking were well beyond his knowledge.
I wish Tristan were here. His youth spent traipsing about the forest hunting to escape a house full of older sisters would be most useful at this moment in time. Tristan may have been born from the noblest of bloodlines, but he had the tracking skill
s of a seasoned gillie. He would be arriving in just a few days’ time, but by then it would be too late and all signs that might have been useful in ascertaining Grace’s whereabouts would be trodden under or washed away.
Under normal circumstances the family would have sent for a professional to deal with such matters, but the ransom note had been quite clear on that point. They were to tell no one of what had transpired, or Grace would die. Jonathan paced the ground feeling more worthless than he had ever felt in his entire life. His sister’s life hung in the balance and all that he could do was wait.
“Lead us in the direction that the kidnappers took,” the Viscount ordered the carriage driver. The driver nodded and they all mounted their horses once again to follow him. The driver led them to the point where the kidnappers had disappeared from view, but they found nothing of note to separate it from any other path.
“There is nothing to be found here, Father,” Jonathan informed the Viscount in frustration. “Should we continue on or turn back to see if further word has been left at Canterley?”
“No, to continue on is pointless,” the Viscount bit out angrily, slapping his thigh with his gloves. Jonathan could tell that his father was barely hanging on to his self-control. Beneath the calm exterior of a well-bred nobleman lay a great temper. He had kept it in tight rein all of his life, but his worry for his daughter was threatening to unleash it. “Neither of us are experienced in any useful way to be chasing after criminals that we cannot see. We need a constable.”
“I agree, Father, but the letter was quite clear on that point,” Jonathan reminded him but was interrupted by a downward slash of his father’s hand through the air signaling silence. Ignoring it, Jonathan stepped forward stopping just shy of laying a hand on his father’s arm. “We have no choice but to pay the ransom and pray to God that they hold true with their word, returning Grace to us unharmed.”
“I am aware,” the Viscount ground out, “but ransom or no, I will see these men hanging at the end of a rope before I am done.”
Jonathan nodded his head in agreement. “And I will gladly help you to do so but let us first see that Grace is safely returned home before we seek vengeance.”
Jonathan had grown used to being the voice of reason within their household between the Viscount and Amelia, but this was different. He had never seen his father so angry or worried before, and he was not entirely certain that he would be able to rein him in. Jonathan himself felt quite the same as his father on the matter, the only difference being that he could see clearly through the anger enough to know what would keep Grace safe and what would not.
The Viscount nodded with one sharp jerk of the head then turned his horse around and headed back toward the main road leaving Jonathan and the carriage driver to follow. “Is there anything else that you can remember about the men, Jones?” Jonathan asked the driver. They had asked him for every detail that he could think of when he had brought the message, but Jonathan hoped that by returning to the place of abduction, Jones’ memory would have been stirred.
“Nay, I do not remember anything more than what I have already said, My Lord. I wish that I did for the sake of Lady Grace.”
“As do I, Jones. As do I.”
Once they regained the main road, they turned their horses toward Canterley. The sound of pounding hooves behind them caused them to move to the side allowing whomever it was to pass. Jonathan looked back over his shoulder and was surprised to see Henry Booth, Duke of Slantonshire, bearing down upon them. “Henry!” he called out stopping his horse.
“Jonathan! Have you had any word?” Henry called out as he brought his horse in line with theirs. His blue eyes were red rimmed and full of worry.
“Nay, how did you know?” Jonathan asked confused. There was no possible way that the messenger from Canterley had had time to make it to Slantonshire.
“I received this letter yesterday evening and rode straight through the night to get to Canterley.” Henry thrust an exact copy of the ransom letter into Jonathan’s hands. “Where is Grace? Where have they taken her?”
“We do not know. We came here in hopes of finding some clue as to the answer but have found nothing.”
The Viscount nodded his head in greeting to his future son-in-law. “Henry.”
“William.” They had long since dispensed with the formalities of each other’s titles given that they were to be family.
Jonathan handed the letter to his father. The Viscount read it then passed it back to Henry. “It appears that whomever is responsible is aware of the coming nuptials and is demanding a ransom from us both.”
“It would appear so. Not surprising as the wedding is public knowledge. I assume that the rather weighty sum is due to Grace’s future standing as the Duchess of Slantonshire. I will, of course, do anything that is required to get her back.”
“Then we are agreed to pay the ransom.”
“Yes, I see no other way for it.”
“No, there does not appear to be for the moment, but I fully intend to discover the culprits responsible.” The Viscount’s rage was barely concealed beneath a thin veil of control. “No one threatens my family and goes unpunished. No one.” The muscles in the side of the Viscount’s jaw flexed as he clenched his teeth.
“Upon that I believe we can all agree.”
The men set out together for Canterley at as fast a clip as their tired horses would allow. Come nightfall, they stopped at an inn, then set out once more upon the morn. As they rode, Jonathan’s thoughts never left his sister. Hold on, Grace, we will find a way to get you home no matter what we must do. Please, hold on.
Chapter 3
Grace lay terrified and shivering upon the hardpacked dirt floor of the dilapidated croft. She had only been able to sleep sporadically through the night and when she did sleep it was filled with terrible dreams. Most of the night had been spent in tears. When the men came to pull her from the croft it was still dark outside. They once again tossed her over the back of a horse, and she cried out in pain.
“Please allow me to sit up in the saddle. I cannot take another moment of this pain. If I am not allowed to sit erect, I shall surely perish along the journey.”
The man grunted in acknowledgement of her words, jerked her upright in the saddle, then climbed up behind her, his arms going around her to grasp the horse’s reins. Grace contemplated slamming her head into the man’s face but knew that it would do her little good as the other men crowded around them too tightly for her to attempt a successful escape. She prayed once again that her father would do whatever they asked so that she might be returned home again safely.
“Sit still,” the man behind her growled.
Grace froze. She had not realized how much she had been shaking. She clenched her teeth in an attempt to keep from saying something that would get her into more trouble than she was already in. She attempted to hold herself apart from the man behind her, but as the hours passed, she became too exhausted to keep their bodies completely separate. Being forced to lean back against the man who had abducted her caused Grace’s skin to crawl with fear and disgust.
I miss Amelia and Jonathan. I miss Henry. I just want to go home. Her mind cried out with all of her fears and longings in a cascade of overwhelming uncontrollable emotion. Tears streamed down her cheeks, quickly whisked away by the wind.
They rode for days, only stopping long enough to rest, then riding some more. Grace began to lose all hope that anyone would ever find her. Most nights they would house her in an old abandoned croft or castle ruin. The farther they traveled the more it became clear that they were no longer in England. “Why have you brought me to Scotland?” she asked before she could stop herself.
“Remain silent,” the man ordered menacingly from behind her.
Grace immediately obeyed for fear of what he might do if she did not. As they climbed farther into the Scottish Highlands all hope left her spirit. Father will never find me here.
* * *
Amelia
heard her father and brother returning before she actually saw them. Sending up a prayer that they had managed to find Grace, she ran down the stairs and out of the front door. “Did you find her?” she cried out running down the drive in a most unladylike fashion. Her father was sure to chastise her for it, but she did not care. “Did you find Grace?”
“No, we did not,” Jonathan answered stopping to speak with her while their father rode on to the house. “We also inquired at the inn nearby, but no one had seen anything.”
“Your Grace,” Amelia curtsied as she saw her sister’s betrothed ride into view.
“Please, Amelia, I insist that you call me Henry. You are to be my sister after all.”
Amelia nodded her assent. “Did you find anything at all?”
The Haunted Knight 0f Lady Canterley Page 2
