Historical Romance – The Best Of The Year. Кэрол Мортимер

was a while before he’d coaxed the story of her shame and his father’s death from Aunt Medina. She had not wanted to tell him and begged Jake not to let his sister know that he was aware of her shame.

      ‘It is not Ellie’s shame,’ Jake raged, ‘but that devil who seduced and abandoned her to her fate. He ruined her and killed my father—and for that he shall die.’

      ‘I beg you not to throw your life away as your father did,’ his aunt said. ‘If I’d thought you would be so foolish, I should not have told you. What will become of us if anything should happen to you?’

      ‘It will not,’ he promised her. ‘I am not my father, Aunt. I am a soldier hardened to battle—and I shall kill him.’

      ‘And hang for it,’ his aunt said. ‘Think about us, Jake—your sister has enough to bear as it is. If you die, she will never forgive herself.’

      ‘I intend to bring that wretch to his knees,’ Jake replied. ‘Do not distress yourself, Aunt. I shall take revenge for Ellie and my father—and then I will return and we shall all go abroad to live. In a warm climate away from people who know of her shame my sister will recover.’

      Jake shook his head. He was woolgathering. The young woman he’d seen in the parlour earlier could have nothing in common with Jake’s sister—and their paths would never cross again. He must allow nothing to detract him from the business in hand.

      He was going to find and kill the Marquis of Rochdale.

      * * *

      Hal was at dinner in the parlour of the inn he had chosen to stay at for the night. He’d ridden hard all day and hoped there would be a soft bed in his chamber. It was impossible to reach London in one day and he would need to spend most of the following day in the saddle if he were to get there by nightfall. He wanted to complete his journey in as short a time as possible, because he had sensed Madeline’s unease when he’d said goodbye to her. The marquis’s threats had distressed her far more than they had him. He cared little for any gossip the man might spread and his only concern was for Madeline herself. She might suffer some loss of reputation, but, as Adam had convinced him, it would be short term. Once she was his wife, people would merely smile and forget that they had been lovers before their marriage.

      If only the gossips knew the truth. Hal had done no more than kiss her, though his body burned for her and he longed to make her his wife. His concern for her feelings and the abuse she’d suffered at her husband’s hands had made him hold back. He could never force her into a situation that was unpleasant to her...though his instincts told him that she loved him. He had felt increasingly anxious as he rode further from Ravenscar, though he did not know why. When he saw the Ravenscar groom walk into the inn parlour, he jumped to his feet, instinctively knowing that something must be wrong.

      ‘Major,’ the man said, coming swiftly to meet him. ‘I’m glad to have caught you. Captain Miller sent me to tell you. Lady Lethbridge has gone missing, sir.’

      ‘Missing? How can this be? Has she been abducted?’

      ‘I don’t rightly know, sir,’ the groom said apologetically. ‘I was sent to ask you to return.’

      ‘Yes, I shall do so at once,’ Hal said. His business in London could wait. If Madeline was in danger...yet he could not understand how anyone could get close enough to her to abduct her. ‘How did it happen? Did she go out walking alone?’

      ‘I think she left a letter for Mrs Miller,’ he said, causing Hal to frown. ‘But that is all I was told, sir—just to let you know you was needed back at Ravenscar.’

      ‘A letter for Jenny...’ Hal frowned. There was more to this than met the eye. He fixed the groom with a hard stare for the man had not disclosed everything.

      ‘You have no idea where she has gone?’

      ‘None, sir—but Captain Miller went after her as soon as he knew she’d slipped off with her maid and that footman.’

      Hal stared at him in disbelief. ‘You’re sure she took her maid with her?’

      ‘Yes, Major. I heard the lads talking in the stables. They was seen leaving and they was carrying bags with them. Went off in a havey-cavey style they did, though Thomas took his horse.’

      Hal felt sick to his stomach and then angry. How could Madeline have run off as soon as his back was turned? Where had she gone? Back to her friend’s farm or somewhere else?

      Most importantly, why had she left? She must know how dangerous it was for her to leave the safety of Ravenscar. What had driven her to such a desperate act?

      He could not understand why she would cause so much anxiety and distress to everyone. He’d believed she was content to marry him, to go abroad with him until the gossip had died down and then return to England.

      She must know how much he loved her. Did he mean so little to her that she had not thought it necessary to tell him of her intention?

      ‘My horse needs rest,’ Hal said. ‘I shall hire a chaise and drive myself back to Ravenscar, but you must stay here and bring the horses back tomorrow by easy stages.’

      ‘I ought to go with you, sir. It’s a long way to drive—and you must be tired.’

      ‘I’ll drive as far as I can tonight and then sleep,’ Hal said. ‘Now I must pay my shot—you may have the room I bespoke for the night. I shall pay the landlord myself now.’

      Leaving the groom to bespeak a meal for himself, Hal went to the speak to the landlord and then to the stables, where he was able to hire a chaise and pair. He needed speed and for the payment of a few extra guineas secured some sweet goers that would have him back at Ravenscar by morning.

      His mood alternated between anxiety and anger, for he could not decide why Madeline had left without telling anyone what she meant to do.

      Had he been wrong about her? He’d believed that she cared for him—that she wanted to be his wife—but now he did not know what to think.

      If Madeline loved and trusted him, why would she run away?

      * * *

      Having been told there were no rooms available at the Hare and Hounds, Rochdale sent one of his servants to wait and watch while he drove on through the night to an inn nearer Dover.

      ‘When the wench leaves the inn follow her,’ he told his man. ‘I believe her to be travelling to Dover, but if she should go in another direction come and tell me immediately. I shall put up at the Green Man in Dover and you will find me there.’

      Rochdale was content to bide his time. He knew it would be more trouble than it was worth to try to abduct Madeline from a public place with her servants in attendance. Sooner or later she would be alone and he would grab her before anyone knew what was happening.

      * * *

      Madeline had not slept well. Her thoughts were of Hal and the pain her letter must cause him when he read it. She was torn by doubt for her resolution had begun to waver during a long night listening to the sounds of the inn. Coaches coming and going at all hours, loud voices and what sounded like a fight in the yard had all combined to give her a restless night.

      Sally had told her to wait while she fetched a can of warm water and asked the landlord if they could have breakfast in their rooms, but Madeline could not sit still. The doubts had begun to crowd in on her and she did not know what she ought to do.

      Was she wrong to have let the marquis win? Her determination to save Hal from ruin was still strong, but she felt tired and close to tears, unsure of what she wanted to do.

      If Sally insisted on coming to France with her she might not be able to evade her—and that would ruin the dreams Thomas harboured of having his own inn, for he could not hope to make a success in France when he did not speak the language.

      Oh, why could things not be simpler? Feeling uncertain and in some distress, Madeline used the cold water