Page 61 of Long Live the Baron
Wesley frowned at him, shaking his head as if dealing with an imbecile. “Why would a servant want the baron dead?”
“Did someone outside of this household pay you to remain silent?”
There was a pause, followed by another bob.
“Why are you still here, then?”
“I was promised additional coin if I could find a letter that the baron had written. They needed someone inside the household to search for it.”
Brendan nodded, trying to think of a plan. “I will pay you double.”
“I am not a fool!” cried Wesley. “My only option is to leave and take the baroness with me so you cannot apprehend me.”
Shaking his head, Brendan lowered his voice, attempting to keep his voice even and cajoling, even while he struggled for composure. The idea of Lily being taken away made him want to toss his head back and howl. “If you take the baroness with you, we will be feverish in our pursuit. Perhaps … I could pay you what I have and you can tie us up so you can make your escape?”
Brendan winced. That was a terrible plan. If they submitted to being captured, then Wesley could do anything he chose. What if the man was lying, and he was merely a lunatic who murdered people?
Lily must have had a similar thought. Despite the horror of what she was experiencing, she wobbled against Wesley’s arm in response to this suggestion, her eyes so huge in her pale face. She was so tiny, engulfed in the footman’s grip, increasing Brendan’s desperation to help her. “No! You will not risk your safety for me, do you hear, Brendan Ridley? If Wesley feels he must take me, then you will allow it so you remain unharmed!”
Wesley glanced down at his captive, clearly startled by what she had said, but it did not surprise Brendan to hear his valiant bride demand such a thing of him. However, he could not conceive of letting the footman leave with his wife. If something happened to Lily, Wesley might as well bludgeon Brendan to death on the way out of Ridley House because he would never recover from letting the woman he loved be killed because of his own stupidity.
“Take me instead!”
Lily cried out, “No!”
Wesley scowled. “Are you funning me? I should take a grown man, instead of this tiny girl as my hostage?”
The reprobate had a point. Brendan wondered if Michaels might summon the runner to assist, because he was out of ideas other than to keep the footman conversing so he did not steal Lily away. Desperate men did desperate things, and Lily’s life hung in the balance.
“I will pay you everything I have in the house, and you can lock us into a room, but I beg of you … do not harm the baroness!”
As if thinking of the butler had summoned him, Brendan saw that behind Wesley the concealed door was slowly opening. Michaels peered carefully around the corner.
Brendan’s thoughts scrambled. What was Michaels planning to do? The butler was several inches shorter than Wesley and a good twenty years older than the strapping young man. Nevertheless, Brendan’s only option was to keep the footman distracted.
“Who killed the baron?”
Dead silence followed, all parties frozen at the question.
“That … is my secret. The killer will have to pay me. I will demand passage from England, and they will arrange it to hide their identity.” Wesley’s voice was hesitant when he finally responded. He was not certain he would receive help, Brendan realized. There was an opportunity to negotiate and strike a deal.
In the background, where Brendan resolutely refused to look in the event he alerted Wesley to Michaels’s proximity, the butler stepped out from behind the door.
“I do not care about the baron’s murder as much as I care about my wife. I will pay you to release her and allow you to leave without hindrance, Wesley. On my word.”
That was the moment when Brendan noticed Michaels was raising a rifle to his shoulder. Brendan wanted to shout out for him to stop, that Lily could be hit, but before he could react, the butler cocked the hammer and then pulled the trigger.
It was as if time stood still, the musketball firing from the barrel with a loud bang and belting of smoke, and Wesley crumpled to the floor, dragging Lily down under him.
“Lily!” Brendan ran into the room, dropping to his knees to pull the large footman off his wife.
CHAPTER17
“100 soldiers who are in a desperate situation lose the feeling of fear. If there is no refuge, they will stand firm. If they are in a hostile country, they will show a stubborn front. If there is no help for this, they will fight hard.”
Sun Tzu, L’Art de la Guerre (The Art of War)
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