Page 22 of The Heir's Fortune
Keeping close to the house, he found the window and inched upward until he could peer within. It was grimy, the curtains to the side laced with cobwebs, and so dark that it was difficult to see anything, except – there. His heart nearly stopped beating in his chest when he saw movement on the floor.
Those bastards hadn’t even allowed her the decency of sitting on a piece of furniture, as dusty and old and uncomfortable as it might be. The ire began to bubble up within him, but there was another emotion accompanying it – one that took him off guard.
It was the desperation to rescue her, to be sure that she came to no harm – and an overwhelming fierce need to protect her. He prayed she was currently in the same state that she had left Castleton.
When Madeline had been held captive on his land, her hands behind her back, pistol at her head, there had been fear on her face then, yes, but that was not all. There was also an intense air of defiance in the way that she held herself, refusing to give into whatever it was these men wanted from her. He admired that about her, as much as it equally worried him.
He didn’t know Madeline particularly well, but what he did know of her was that she didn’t fear much – in fact, he would prefer that she fearedmore. Perhaps then, they would not be in this current predicament.
Gideon nearly broke through the window right then, until voices resonated from the room beyond, floating through the thin walls and cracked window. He closed his eyes, able to discern at least two different men who were arguing in Spanish. Perhaps these were the leaders.
Gideon could not speak Spanish as well as he would like, but he knew enough of similar languages to determine that they were trying to decide their course of action when they met him the next day – whether they would kill them all and take the map, or use them to find the treasure andthendo away with them.
He swallowed hard, the urgency of this rescue becoming much more certain. They couldn’t wait for tomorrow’s meeting. It would be far too risky.
He had to act now.
CHAPTER 8
Gideon had dressed in his warmest wool clothing, and yet, the cold dampness of the autumn air seemed to sink right through his skin as he waited outside the window. Night was blanketing the house, and he wondered whether he should wait for the men to fall asleep, or to try to free Madeline while the men were still arguing.
He paused, closing his eyes to try to picture what the cabin looked like. From what he could remember, there was only one bedroom. And no matter what arrangements the men might have made, the idea of a warm bed with a woman nearby might be too tempting. He couldn’t risk waiting.
He studied the window more closely. It was a casement window, likely opening with a latch from inside.
But it had also been constructed many years ago, and the wood had decayed. He was sure he could easily open it; the question was how much noise he would make while doing so.
Gideon found his pocketknife and opened it to the longest blade. He slid it along the wood that housed the windowpanes, breaking the board off from its casing. A small crack sounded, causing movement within, and he hoped it was only Madeline. He continued, praying the rest of his efforts would remain silentuntil he finally had enough broken free. He was just about ready to try to break the window off when it swung open from the inside and he fell backward in surprise, landing on his buttocks in the damp brush below.
“Lord Ashford?” came the hushed, surprised voice, and he looked up to see Madeline hanging from the window above. Her hair was dishevelled and her face was dirty but otherwise, she appeared to be relatively unharmed. “You came.”
“Of course, I came,” he said, trying to keep his voice low as he got to his feet and crept back to the house so that they were now at the same height. “Can you fit through the window?”
“Can I fit through the window?” she repeated, her eyes narrowing and her lips pursing. “Are you seriously asking me that?”
“It is a reasonable question,” he said. “If you can, then come out. We must hurry.”
“Clearly,” she said. “Hold it open for me?”
He nodded and did so as she put both hands on the window sill and boosted herself up, shimmying forward until half of her body was outside. Keeping one hand holding the window up, he wrapped the other around her waist as he helped her through, trying not to think about how her soft, generous breasts were pressing against his arm.
He didn’t realize he was holding his breath until she squirmed in his arms.
“You can put me down now.”
“Of course,” he said, practically dropping her as he did so. “Let’s go.”
“Go?” she said with wide eyes. “And just leave them here so they can return to Castleton, much less happy when they realize I’m gone?”
“What do you suppose us to do?” he asked. “It is us against the four of them.”
“Wait until they sleep and then shoot them?”
He stared at her, trying to assess whether or not she was jesting. It was difficult to tell with her.
“I will not shoot unarmed men.”
“Even if they kidnapped me?”
