Page 50 of Her Duke in Shining Armor
“My Lady?” Maria’s voice was trembling.
“Come,” Eleanor said while taking the girl’s hand in her clammy one. They took to walking alongside the wall, looking for something, anything. Her frantic glances up told her the moon was moving faster than she had liked and hurried her steps.
The trees were thinning and Eleanor feared they were coming to the front of the property when she spotted an old shed-like structure flush against the wall.
What was it?
“Maria, stay here,” Eleanor said while took out a tinderbox and lit a match. By its flickering light, she pushed the door open and cautiously entered the room. It was one room with an old stripped bed base in the corner and was a nook for a kitchen. That was it, really.
Is this…was this a guard house?
She knew that the property was an old one, that her father had bought it from an older man, a Marquess that had left to retire in France. She checked the windows and the cot’s cloth stuffed mattress was barely malleable. Maria could be able to sleep on it but Eleanor would prefer she not. Who knew what kind of vermin had settled inside it?
This happenstance discovery was probably the best option for Maria right now as Eleanor had not yet pinpointed out any servant she could trust with Maria.
“My Lady?”
“I…I think you must sleep here tonight,” Eleanor said while striking another match and looking around. “It is the best we can do for now.”
Spinning once more, Eleanor noted the windows gave a clear view of the moon and the waving tops of the trees under it. The roof looked solid enough, there were little scattered leaves and twigs on the floor but most of all, it was warm. It really was the best option.
Eleanor then pressed the tinderbox into Maria’s hand, “Use this if you have to. It’ll scare away any critters that may come and you have the food I gave you.”
Maria nodded, “Yes, My Lady, t-thank you.”
“Don’t worry,” Eleanor assured her. “I will get you to your mother safely. You trust me, don’t you?”
“Yes, My Lady,” Maria nodded. “I trust you like your mother trusted mine.”
That was news to her. How had she not known that her mother had contact with Maria’s mother? In what capacity? Nevertheless, she did not have time to think that over.
Eleanor kissed Maria on the forehead, “Keep safe until I come for you tomorrow night.”
As the child shuffled warily over to the bed, Eleanor nodded and turned away.
* * *
The air was getting chilly with the promise of rain but Aaron did not move from his spot in a shadowed alcove across the street. His green eyes were incessantly scanning the grounds for Eleanor. Where was she? With every passing moment and his growing worry, he fought the urge to run to the front door and awake the whole house to alert them to Eleanor’s disappearance.
He shifted from foot to foot and then plucked out his timepiece. From the dim light of the moon, he saw that it was thirteen minutes to midnight.
Eleanor, where are you? Please be safe, please let me see you.
His thoughts soon turned into a mantra and then a prayer. Where was she and what she doing with a child? That was the only possible explanation for the second diminutive figure. Time ticked past, a haunting cry from an owl sent shivers down his spine. He was hoping that the sound was not an omen.
Eleanor, you have five minutes before I—oh, thank God!
Her cloaked body—sans one similarly covered child—stumbled onto the front lawn before she swiftly moved around to the back. Aaron slowly levered himself up from the rough stone wall of the alcove and watched a little more to see if the child was coming.
Eleven minutes later, he realized the other party was not coming and took the walkway to his house. His mind was swimming with questions though. What was Eleanor doing? Who was the child and why had Eleanor secreted him or her away?
Passing by the boundary of the Stanley home, Aaron realized that with Eleanor’s reasonably quick return, they couldn’t have gone far. Unless they had a carriage waiting, the child was hidden in the woods somewhere. Which meant that Eleanor had to take her out again.
And I will be there to make sure you’re safe, especially knowing that Wyndrake is setting to get to me. Over my dead body will he ever lay a finger on you.
* * *
She had felt slightly disorientated before following the wall back the point where they had first met it. From there, she took back to the bush and prayed with every step that she was going in the right direction.
