Page 64 of A Proposition for the Comte
‘The mounts were not freshly ridden when I checked them over in the stables, my lord, and the carriage was unmarked. Strange there should only be the one conveyance, though, with the road being as busy as it is.’
‘They are expecting others in the next few hours from what I can gather. There were many clean glasses left at the bar when I glanced in and the fire was still banked.’
‘They are waiting up, then?’
‘I should imagine so.’
‘Where is Lady Addington?’
‘Only God and these ruffians know that for sure but we will pull in at the next bend and double back because instinct tells me she is there.’
He could not panic. Every decision he made from now on had to be well thought out. For Violet’s sake. If he scared them they might just kill her and flee.
No one had followed them and for that he was grateful. Leaning out the window he called for the driver to pull well off the main road at the next opportunity. If the visitors were coming from the north he did not want to be seen, but he had the feeling they would travel up from London.
Tucker beside him took a pistol from his pocket and checked the piece. ‘We are to expect trouble, then, my lord?’
Lian nodded. ‘She is there somewhere. Hidden no doubt. I think there is a basement so if they are keeping her a prisoner that’s probably the best place to do it.’
He tucked his own gun through his belt and slipped a long knife into the sheath in his boot.
‘If we can do this quietly it will be better, but if we can’t...’
He left the rest hanging.
He should have brought more men but it was stealth he needed and Tucker at his side was as good as they got. Once again he was grateful for Charles Mountford’s advice.
A few moments later they were cutting through the fields behind the inn. There had not been dogs when he had walked up to the front door the first time and it still looked quiet, a few lights on upstairs and the bottom room fully lit.
Gesturing to Tucker to watch the movements from outside Lian crawled through the undergrowth and searched for a way to get in. Finding a window, he pried the fastening open and slipped through.
It was much darker here than outside. With his hands against the walls for direction, he walked on, the skitter of feet and the gleam of eyes to both his left and right. Rats. If they had put Violet down here...
He shook off fury and listened. The drip of water close by, the further call of a nightbird. Shallowing back his breath he tipped his head and heard it. A small sniff followed by another. He crept forward.
A man was asleep on a chair, a candle at the desk beside him. He dealt with him silently and grabbed the light.
‘Violet?’
Whispered into the dark even as he rummaged through the pockets of the one lying down before him. No keys? A further glance noted a thick and solid cell door. He swore under his breath and looked through a tiny grate and she was there on the other side of the metal when he raised the candle to look, her face bruised and her eyes red.
‘Aurelian?’
He made himself take a breath. ‘I will have you out in a moment.’ Already he’d found the wires he always travelled with, unravelling them from his pocket and bringing them up to the substantial lock.
The door opened before she could even say more, the stillness in him blended with the shadows, his hands sure and firm. His warmth and solidness wrapped about her fright, the candle he held flickering but staying alight.
‘How many?’
‘I have seen three.’
‘Have they hurt you?’
‘No.’
The bruise was smarting on her face though she forced down the tears as he asked his questions. He did not need a watering pot to distract him. It was dangerous here and these men were fully armed. She wanted to ask how he had found her and who was with him but he’d moved forward already out of the cell past a man on the floor who was either dead or unconscious. She did not want to look at him properly to know, but felt no sorrow for either state.
‘Stay behind me.’
