Page 90 of Enslaved to the Seduction of a Lady
Although I doubt it will work.
“By the big old oak tree, that right?” Noah asked as he closed the door.
“Please, and hurry. I don’t want anyone to catch us.”
“Not a chance, M’Lady,” he said, grinning wildly. “Not with yours truly at the ‘elm.”
He was right. They disappeared from the estate grounds and onto the street without notice. Even the horses seemed preternaturally quiet, as if they understood the importance of it—or, more likely, thanks to Noah’s good touch.
The streets were deserted, everyone already tucked up in bed or far away at clubs and taverns in the city, and Alison thought how eerie it was, how strangely silent. They arrived at the oak tree in hardly any time at all. The street was wide and cobbled, and the oak was a grand old age. The trunk was as wide as two men, and the leaves created a canopy of shade against even the hottest of suns.
That night, though, it made shadows that were somehow darker than the night, and the rustling of the leaves in the gentle breeze sounded loud in the silence. The air was warm, though, even for the late hour, and Alison could see Luke was already there, although he seemed to be hiding behind the tree.
She stepped out of the coach and still, she could see him peering, but not coming forward.
“Luke?” she asked, her voice a whisper.
He sighed loudly and came out from his hiding spot.
“Alison! I didn’t know what to think when a coach pulled up. I was expecting you to be on foot. But, does this mean—?”
“Itmeans,” she said, looking at him seriously, “that Noah here is on our side, and we have a coach and horses at our disposal.”
Luke laughed, incredulous, then he picked Alison up and swung her around.
“You are as clever as you are beautiful,” he said, kissing her quickly.
“He’s going to take us all the way to Gretna Green,” she said. “So, we’ll be safe, and there’ll be no need to worry about transport. And I have procured a little money—not a lot, admittedly, but enough to keep us going for the meantime.”
“Oh Alison,” he said, pulling her into another hug. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“We’d best get moving,” Noah said, approaching them from the front of the coach. “We’re far too close to the house for my liking. I’d rather put a bit of distance between us before we stop, for safety, like.”
“You’re quite right, Noah,” Alison said, nodding. “Let’s go.”
Once they were safely in the coach and Noah had set them trundling across the cobbles, Alison turned to face Luke.
“How have you been?” she asked. “After—”
“Alive,” he said with a humorless chuckle. “Alison, you do know neither me nor Jenny would ever do such a thing, don’t you?”
She tutted loudly, her brows crossed in annoyance. “You do not even need to ask that, Luke,” she said.
“I know,” he said, smiling down at his lap. “I knew you’d trust me. I just wish I knew who would do such a thing to us.”
“I don’t know,” Alison said, shrugging. “But it doesn’t matter now. All that matters is that we’re together.”
“Never a truer word spoken.”
“And Jenny, is she all right? Where is she?”
“We took up with an old friend of my mother’s,” Luke admits. “One Mrs. White, who I met when I went in search of my past. Lovely woman, she is, if a bit… rough around the edges. And it seems she was good to my mother.”
“And Jenny is still there?” Alison asked.
“Yes, she’s safe. She has somewhere to stay and a companion of sorts. She’ll be all right.”
“Does she know?” Alison asked. “About us eloping, I mean.”
