Page 20 of The Heir's Fortune
They hadn’t travelled particularly far, and best she could tell, they were in some kind of cabin deep in the woods on a property nearby.
It exuded an eerie stillness, as though it had been frozen in time. When they had arrived that afternoon, dust particles were dancing in the faint rays of sunlight filtering through the tattered curtain, while faded paper adorned the walls.
She hoped that someone would see that this abandoned cabin was abandoned no longer and word would reach Castleton.
Madeline looked around the small room they had put her in. Her hands were tied behind her, attached to a bedpost. They hadn’t even allowed her to sit on the bed, but rather on the dusty floor. They had given her some sips of water, but so far nothing to eat. She wondered what kind of captors they would be, and for the first time, her heart started pounding in fear of just what might exactly happen to her.
The Spaniards were bickering at the moment, and from the few words she could pick up in their conversation, they were trying to decide just what they were to do with her, and how they could still use her to get what they wanted.
The map was a piece of it, but there was more to it, and it seemed the only way they knew out of this was still to trade her for what they were waiting for.
“Senorita,” one of the men called before gesturing her into the room with them, and a sick sense of dread began to fill her stomach. She said nothing until finally one of them realized she was still bound and came in to untie her from the bed. This manappeared to be the most junior of the group, and there was more compassion in his eyes than the others. Perhaps Madeline could convince him to set her free if she ever was able to speak to him alone.
Her steps were heavy, causing the weathered and creaky wooden floorboards to groan as the man tugged her into the main room, stopping when all eyes turned toward her.
They were huddled around the remnants of a stone fireplace, having made a small fire in the hearth. Madeline dearly wished that she could capture some of its warmth.
This would be the type of place she would love to explore, to discover what it would whisper to her about the bygone era and the remnants of forgotten life that still lingered in the air, telling tales of days when the room was alive with the warmth of human presence. These men were marring those memories, and Madeline was annoyed by it almost as much as she was upset that she had to be here with them.
“Write,” one of the men said, gesturing to paper and pen on a long, dilapidated table that sat in the middle of the room. Its surface was damaged by scratches and stains, a discarded, moth-eaten rug at her feet, its once-vibrant patterns now faded and indistinct.
She slowly took a seat on the solitary, dust-covered chair in front of the table, picking up the pen they had left for her before looking down at the rest of them. She pushed a frayed lace doily, yellowed with age, out of the way.
“Well?” she said. “What would you like me to say?”
“I’ve saidfarewell to Cassandra and Jack. I’m ready when you are.”
Gideon turned from his horse’s side to look at Devon, who stood in the doorway of the stable. “You are not coming with me.”
Devon crossed his arms over his chest.
“Last I checked, I was a grown man. An earl at that. Seems I can do as I wish.”
Gideon was already shaking his head as he saddled up his horse.
“When you married my sister, you promised me that you would always look after her, and whatever children might come. Now she is here, alone, and in need of you. You are not coming because you have responsibilities that are far more important than mine.”
“That’s low, using my family like that.”
“It’s the truth,” Gideon said, walking out of the stable alongside Devon. “Not only that but what if somehow the Spaniards return? We cannot leave them here without anyone to watch over them.”
“There are our mystery protectors.”
“That we have no idea who they are or what they would want.”
“How are you going to take on four men alone?” Devon asked, although he was already pulling the pistols out and passing them to Gideon.
“I’m not,” Gideon said. “I will find Madeline and try to extricate her without them noticing.”
“How will you find her?”
Gideon sighed, lifting his head to meet Devon’s eyes, in which they shared the truth with one another, a truth that neither of them wanted to say aloud.
“That I do not know,” Gideon said quietly, but he was soon cut off by the sound of a voice ringing through the air.
“Lord Ashford! Lord Ashford!”
They exchanged a glance before rushing from the stables just in time to see a man on horseback thundering down the entry road toward them.
