A Very Dishonest Scandal (The Hero Next Door Book 5)

by Rebecca King

  Rosemary knew that the only way to escape Morton was to slide off the horse, but when she glanced at the ground knew that a fall might kill her, or at least seriously injure her.

  But I could end up dead at the end of this journey anyway. I would rather die than go anywhere with Morton.

  Rosemary kicked her feet out of the stirrups Morton had shoved her boots into. Her eyes widened when she was immediately unseated as the horse cantered across the uneven field. While her instincts urged her to shuffle around to at least try to stay on the horse, she wilfully squoze her eyes shut and slid sideways. She expected pain when she hit the ground. What she didn’t expect was for the speed in which she fell to cause her to roll over and over until she struggled to know which way was up. When she eventually stopped, all she could do was lie in the dirt, stare at the ground her cheek was resting on and stay still. Pain from her shoulder was lancing down her side and so fierce she was certain she had broken something, but Rosemary daren’t look at it. All she could do was lie motionless and hope that Morton wouldn’t look over his shoulder again.

  If he does, he is going to see the paleness of my dress in the darkness and know exactly where I am, and all of this will be for nothing.

  Despite her pain, Rosemary used this as her motivation to get up and stumble toward the edge of the field. Without needing to hold on to the saddle, she could remove the gag from her mouth and use her teeth to try to untie the ropes around her wrists. A quick glance over her shoulder assured her that Morton hadn’t noticed she was no longer mounted on the horse he was leading. It wouldn’t be long before he looked back to check on her, though.

  Well, he isn’t going to be able to find me.

  But when Rosemary looked around the empty field, there really was nowhere to hide. She was stuck out in the middle of nowhere, with nothing to cover her modesty but a pale gown that Morton would not miss.

  ‘If I go straight back to the house, all Morton has to do is retrace his steps and he will find me.’

  While it went against every instinct Rosemary possessed to not retrace her steps and head straight back to Luke’s house, she headed off in a random direction. As she walked, Rosemary kept one eye on the horizon, searching it for Morton. She staggered, jogged, stumbled, and ran, to try to move away from the area as quickly as she could until she eventually found herself all alone in the middle of nowhere. When Rosemary had to rest, she fell to her knees, curled up into a tiny ball, and gathered her skirts around her to make herself as invisible as possible. While she allowed her heartbeat to settle, she picked up handfuls of soil and rubbed it all over her, trying desperately to make the material of her dress duller.

  ‘Now what?’ she whispered.

  The silence all about was as reassuring as it was isolating. Rosemary tried to take comfort from it, but the danger Morton posed immediately removed any security the darkness of the night afforded her.

  For the first time in my life I am completely alone, in the middle of nowhere, with no help on its way to save me.

  Rosemary had no idea what to do. She daren’t move in case Morton returned, but she daren’t stay where she was because the longer that she stayed still the more likelihood there was of Morton finding her.

  ‘Luke isn’t going to find me either if I sit here all night.’

  Before she moved, Rosemary tried to remember which direction she had just taken. She plotted her route, and which way Morton had taken her, and tried to think of a circuitous route back home. Only once she could be certain of that route did she start to think about how to hide. She managed to take no more than half a dozen steps when she heard the heavy pounding of horses’ hooves – and they were heading straight toward her.

  Immediately dropping to her knees, Rosemary glanced wildly around for the source of the noise. Even in the darkness she could see that it was Morton. He was back – and heading straight toward her.

  ‘Oh, God, no,’ Rosemary moaned. She glanced about wildly but there was nowhere to run or hide.

  Rosemary was certain that Morton had seen her. Sure enough, when she looked up, she found him heading straight toward her, but fear rendered Rosemary incapable of getting up and even trying to run away. Instead, she curled herself into a tight ball of human misery and pressed herself as hard against the stone wall beside her as it was possible to get. The coarse stonework bit cruelly into the soft flesh of her arm and hip but Rosemary couldn’t move. Instead, she began to pray for the strength to get through whatever the immediate future had in store for her.

  Dropping her head onto her knees, Rosemary closed her eyes and summoned the mental image of Luke to the forefront of her mind. He hovered behind her eyelids, promising her that it would all work out fine in the end, reassuring her that if she remained strong then she could get through anything. The thought of him forced her to turn her head to one side when the pounding of the hooves drummed louder and louder. When she expected them to slow down again, and to hear Morton’s barked orders, all Rosemary heard was the hammering of the horses’ hooves. When determination forced her to open her eyes just a crack, she could see Morton fifty feet away, glaring at something over the wall. She had no idea what it was he was glaring at but didn’t move until he disappeared.

  Rosemary didn’t breathe, blink, or twitch, until those hoofbeats started to retreat. For several minutes, Rosemary listened to the retreating hooves until they had faded enough for her to feel confident that Morton wouldn’t see her if she moved. Still, Rosemary didn’t dare stand up and run, and so hunkered low and shuffled awkwardly along the wall to the far corner of the field, to a solitary tree she was able to stand behind.

  ‘God, now where have you gone?’ she hissed.

  Her back ached, her hip had shooting pains running through it, and she was too scared to think of anything except escape, but Rosemary still refused to give in. She studied the area, plotted a route, and then hunkered low again.

  This time, she got no further than half-way around the next field when Morton appeared once again. He was trotting along the walls of each field he entered, studying the area intently, clearly looking for her. Rosemary knew that the chances of avoiding him were diminishing with each passing moment, but unless she broke free of her cover and tried to out-run the horse there was little she could do. She remained where she was, curled up in a tight ball again, with her chin dropped onto her knees, and her face turned into the wall again. With her pale dress now grubby, and as tucked out of sight as possible, Rosemary was able to hide. It wasn’t until she snuck a quick peek at Morton, and saw him standing up in his saddle, peering into the neighbouring field, that she realised what she needed to do. While he was looking away, she scurried into the middle of the field, still crouched as low as she could get. Once there, she knelt in the mud and quickly removed the pins from her hair. Dropping them into the soil, she shook her hair free and used her dark, hip-length hair as a veil to shroud what paleness remained of her dress.

  From her new position she watched Morton scour the field on all four sides, and the neighbouring field. Rosemary heard his curses and ignored his calls to her and instead watched him silently through the thick veil of her hair.

  ‘Come on out. I know you are here. I saw you heading this way,’ he taunted. ‘When I get you, I am going to make you deeply sorry that you have tried to thwart me. It is better for you if you come out now and just do as I ask of you.’

  Rosemary wished she could hear another set of pounding hooves because she knew that would be Luke, but deadly silence surrounded her. Morton was so close she could hear the creaking of his saddle leather, and smell the scent of his horse, but she did little more than watch him shake his head in disgust that she wasn’t responding.

  ‘I am not going to harm you. You just have to do me a little favour,’ Morton taunted. ‘You and I both know that your father cannot carry on living in that shop. It needs to be repaired. It needs someone who can run it properly. Your father might have a sterling reputation for being one of the fi
nest clock makers in the country, but he has not protected his name well enough to keep his shop well maintained, has he? If he had just made sure that his step was polished, his front window was well presented, and his windows washed, there wouldn’t have been a problem. But his shop stands out as one of the most disreputable ones, and the whole village doesn’t like it. The whole village doesn’t like you. I can help with that. I can help you, Rosemary. All you need to do is give me the chance. I won’t lie to you. I am here to help you.’

  Rosemary felt the cold soil beneath her bottom, the chill of her bare toes made wet by the moistness of the ground she had been forced to sit on, and all because of the lying creature sitting atop his horse.

  I wonder.

  In that moment, Rosemary had another thought. It was a risky one, and one which could get her killed if she didn’t succeed, but it was a risk that she had to take. She knew that if Luke had been in her situation, he would have done the same as she was about to do.

  But do I have the strength to do it? What if he fights me? I am not as strong as he is. He will overwhelm me.

  ‘I have to be quick,’ Rosemary whispered. ‘I have to use my ability to hide and be quick.’

  As she waited to move, Morton’s horse began to object to being made to go slower than it wanted to go. The horse began to prance and toss his head about, eager to run some more. Morton cursed at it and hauled back on the reins.

  ‘First, I have to vanquish the enemy,’ Rosemary murmured. ‘Then I am going to get out of here.’ With that settled, she began to plan what she was going to do next.

  What Rosemary didn’t realise was that help was far closer than she realised.

  Luke, Daniel, Dean, and Peregrine raced through the fields in search of Morton and Rosemary. They were joined by Ronan and Hamish who had just left their new captives under the watchful eyes of Roger and Joshua. The men spread out and each took a field as they searched for the rider.

  ‘Over there,’ Peregrine called a few minutes after they had started their search. He pointed at a solitary rider who kept standing up his saddle, peering around as if looking for something. He was leading a second horse without a rider, which hinted that Rosemary had either been lost or had escaped. While they could hear the faint murmur of his voice, the men from the Star Elite were too far away to hear what Morton was saying.

  ‘That’s him.’ Luke didn’t wait for his colleagues. He dug his heels into his horse’s sides and began to gallop after his quarry.

  ‘Slow down,’ Peregrine called, but Luke was already being buffeted by the wind and chose not to hear him. Peregrine hissed a curse and chased after his friend because he was determined that Luke wouldn’t do anything foolish to the man who had threatened Rosemary’s safety.

  ‘Morton,’ Luke bellowed.

  Morton’s head snapped up. He squinted through the darkness at Luke, who slowed his horse down and released a shot. Morton immediately dropped the reins of the horse he was leading and raced away, hunkering low in his saddle to try to make himself a small target. Luke tried to take aim again, but Morton was too shrouded in darkness to see properly. Luke couldn’t take the risk that he would shoot Morton in the head, and in doing so would ruin any chance he had of finding out what had happened to Rosemary. Instead, with a bitter curse, Luke dug his heels into his own horse and began to chase after his quarry.

  In the corner of his eye he saw Peregrine race toward the farthest corner of the field while Hamish, on his other side, raced to try to intercept Morton before he vanished on them. None of them slowed down enough to search the field they raced across. They all assumed that if Morton had checked them then Rosemary wasn’t there. Not even Dean or Ronan slowed to search the field for themselves before they raced across to the neighbouring field to try to circle around their quarry.

  Rosemary watched riders scatter in all directions with a huge sense of relief and frustration. She was cold, exhausted, and scared out of her mind. While delighted that the Star Elite were there, none of them had stopped to help her. Rosemary wasn’t sure if any of them had even seen her. They had simply appeared out of the night, raced past her, and disappeared again without stopping.

  ‘Well, damn it,’ she cried, planting her fists angrily on her hips to glare after them. With a heavy sigh she waited until they had been swallowed up by the obsidian blanket of the night before turning to look at her surroundings and take stock of her situation. She squinted calculatingly when she eyed the horse munching on the grass several feet away. ‘At least they have left you behind, the damned fools.’ With a disgruntled sigh, she hurried toward the horse. ‘The last thing I need is for you to run away as well,’ she muttered pausing for a moment to stroke the horse’s velvety nose. He looked at her curiously, as if asking why she was there in the middle of the night, but Rosemary cautiously murmured soothing nonsense to it for a while before she approached the saddle.

  Contrarily, now that she knew what it felt like to fall off, Rosemary was less frightened of falling off. Besides, she wanted to get home and the horse was the only way she was going to get there faster. She hoped that one of the riders chasing after Morton was Luke, but if not then he had to be back at the house, hadn’t he? She hoped so because she wanted answers. The toes she shoved into the stirrups were frozen with cold. The rest of her was starting to become numb from the biting wind which had started to increase in force over the last half hour or so. She was exhausted and miserable, but her ordeal wouldn’t be over until she was back at Wickerstone where she belonged.

  ‘Great, that is all I need,’ she hissed when it started to drizzle as well. With a miserable sniff, Rosemary gathered the reins and tried to click the horse on. ‘Well, come on then. Don’t just stand there.’ When the horse continued to munch the grass, she tugged on the reins to pull the animal’s head up, but the horse didn’t stop eating. He peered at her out of one eye as if silently asking her what she wanted. ‘Come on, walk,’ she urged again, wriggling her bottom in the saddle.

  When the horse tried to dip his head to snatch another mouthful of grass, Rosemary was yanked forward with such force she was tugged out of her saddle and found herself peering at the ground over the horse’s neck. With a startled squeak, Rosemary shoved herself backward only to realise that the stubborn horse had decided that he wanted to leave as well. With a wriggle and a sigh, Rosemary clung on for dear life for the second time that night and began to ride through the night toward what she hoped was home.

  Luke cursed fluidly when they crested the brow of a hill several miles away from Oakley Bridge, and saw the faint shape of a horse and rider racing across the fields. It was tempting to just leave Morton and catch up with him later.

  ‘We have to go,’ Daniel urged, racing past him. ‘He knows where she is.’

  Luke cursed again and studied the area, but without more light he had no idea where Morton was heading.

  ‘He knows where he is going,’ Peregrine called.

  ‘I wish I did,’ Luke snorted. ‘Rosemary has to be nearby. Morton hasn’t had the time to go too far.’

  ‘I don’t think he has had the opportunity to get this far with her,’ Hamish agreed. ‘I mean, we have to be at least eight miles away from your house, Luke. He cannot have come this far.’

  ‘Is Morton leading us on a merry dance in the hopes that he can distract us for a second time tonight?’ Luke hauled back on his reins.

  ‘It is galling to have to do it but let him go,’ Hamish called to Peregrine and Daniel. ‘He can’t have come this far with her.’

  ‘She has to be behind us somewhere. We can’t be fooled again. He is a greedy man, we know that much given how he has tried to fleece Thomas,’ Dean said. ‘He isn’t going to simply leave something as valuable as a house behind. Morton will reappear at some point, if only to go home. For now, let’s go back to Wickerstone. If we spread out, we can keep searching for her. Rosemary has to be around there somewhere.’

  With one last annoyed look at Morton’s rapidly retre
ating back, Luke returned to searching for the woman whom he knew was an exceptionally large part of his life, his future, and his heart. He wouldn’t be complete again until he had Rosemary safe, alive, and back in his home where she belonged.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Rosemary shivered when a cold gust of wind snuck up her back. She glared at the darkness with wide eyes, certain that she had seen something move in the undergrowth. Her heart pounded. Fear flowed through her, but she didn’t slow the horse down. She daren’t because she didn’t know where Morton was.

  ‘He is around here, I just know it,’ she whispered.

  Shaking her head to dismiss her troubled thoughts, Rosemary focused on getting the horse through the trees. With little moonlight, it was difficult to see anything but there was a gap in the trees wide enough for the horse to fit through. Beyond it was a hole in the low stone wall surrounding the next field, which she hoped would lead back home. She had no choice but to keep going for the time being and hope that something she recognised would tell her which way she had to go to get home.