“This will not disturb any arrangement you made with my father, will it?” She knew the duke’s help always came with a price.
“Arrangement?” Van Dero asked. “The only arrangement is that I keep you safe until your father returns.”
She wouldn’t ask what her father would be giving him in exchange. It wasn’t her place.
“We volunteered.” Milly smiled. “Out of friendship. You can count us your friends.”
Perhaps, Vita could count Milly her friend, but the duke was another story. She doubted he had more than a few. A coolness clung to him and only seemed to break whenever he looked at Milly.
She wondered how long she’d be away. She still wasn’t sure if it were safe, but there was no other choice. “Goodbye, and thank you for your hospitality.”
In the carriage, Venmont told her about his property and that she’d be safe to explore the ever-changing landscape so long as she took servants with her on her walks. Slowly, she began to calm at the thought of being at his home. It sounded far away from the madness of London.
She’d never liked crowds.
She managed to get some rest as they reached the outskirts of the city.
∫ ∫ ∫
1 8
* * *
Vita woke to the sound of a gunshot and shouts.
“How many?” Lord Venmont shouted out the window.
“Six. The men who’ve been following are making their presence known,” one of the footmen outside the carriage yelled.
They were being followed?
Vita looked around. Her maid cowered in the corner. Fear made it impossible for Vita to speak.
The only person who didn’t seem afraid was the marquess. If anything, his blue eyes seemed to brighten with excitement.
He stood, his back against the roof, and opened his bench. There in the storage, he pulled out a shotgun and a bag. Then he sat back down. “Here. You’ll be my first officer.” He tossed Vita the bag.
She caught it. The metal objects in the bag rattled. “What is this?”
He grinned. “Ammunition.” Then he went to work on his shotgun.
Vita had seen men prepare their guns for fire before and knew the time it took to complete.
It took Lord Venmont less than half that time. A second later, he was leaning out the window.
“Drop,” he shouted.
Vita didn’t know what happened, but Venmont’s large body stiffened.
Vita’s maid Teresa touched her arm. “Cover your ears.”
Vita did so just in time.
The bang went off like a cannon.
A man in the distance screamed and his horse whinnied.
Venmont gave a barbaric cry of victory and then returned to the carriage. “Come on, girl. Work.”
Vita gave him what he needed and then he was out the window again.
“Drop.”
She covered her ears.
Boom.
Another cry from somewhere off in the night.
Venmont laughed.
He was crazy.
His driver shouted, “There’s a home ahead. The light is on.”
Venmont turned to Vita. “What say you? Shoot a few more bad men or take cover?”
“Take c-cover?”
“Hide,” he clarified.
“Hide!” she said desperately. “Please.” She thought she’d pass out from the fear.
“Think I can’t take the others?” Venmont challenged.
Vita shook her head, fearing she’d insulted the crazed lord. “N-n-n-no. I j-just.”
“Take cover!” Venmont shouted.
The carriage jerked, and she felt the difference once the wheels cut through the grass.
Venmont sighed. “Bernard is a great driver, but there’s no one like my brother.”
The marquess seemed to want conversation. How he managed to be so calm she couldn’t understand.
Vita cleared her throat and tried to concentrate on what was going on in the carriage, but it was hard when she knew danger waited outside. “Your brother?”
“Leonard,” Oliver said. “I’ve two brothers, him and Nick.”
“I’ve met Nick,” Vita said.
“He’s good with the drops.”
“Drops?”
He grinned. “My footman has a chest of lanterns. I have them lower one to the road at night so I can see where I’m aiming. The moment the enemy rides past the lantern, bang!” He hit the side of the carriage on the ‘bang,’ causing both Vita and Teresa to scream.
Venmont laughed. “Nothing to fear, my lady. And you’ve no reason to fear Van Dero either. He doesn’t want you dead and even if he asked me to kill you, I couldn’t. I promised my sister-in-law I’d hang up my assassin coat for a while.”
Assassin?
“We’ll all be safer once we get to Venmont Hill.”
Venmont Hill. She knew now why Venmont’s name had sounded familiar to her.
Vermont Hill. Venmont Hill. Could the mistake of a letter change everything?
Vita began to waver in her seat when the carriage came to an abrupt halt.
Venmont said, “Out. Now.” He led the way.
Vita gasped when she was snatched around the waist and thrown over Venmont’s shoulder. She’d have screamed once he began to run, but his shoulder dug into her chest made it impossible for her to breathe.
She was jerked when he kicked down a door and then they were inside.
He tossed her down just as a woman screamed.
Vita turned and saw she was in a kitchen.
There was a maid by the door.
Venmont pointed at her. Thankfully, it was not with the hand that held the shotgun. “If you don’t want to lose your head, stay below the windows. There are armed men outside. Do you understand?”
The maid began to lower herself to the floor and nodded.
Vita did the same as Teresa was brought in by one of the footmen. He lowered her to the floor as well.
“Is the master of the house here?” Venmont asked. “I wouldn’t accidentally want to shoot him.”
“The maid nodded. “The lady and a young boy as well.”
“Names,” Venmont demanded.
“Mr. and Mrs. Layton. They are k-kind people. P-please.”
“Stay silent. Don’t move.” Venmont turned to the footman. “One of you ride for London. Get word that we may need more men.”
A footman left.
Venmont turned to the lantern. A moment later, they were plunged into darkness.
Vita heard feet moving.
“Teresa?” she whispered when there was silence.
“Yes, my lady?”
Vita stopped when she heard Venmont shout in the other room.
“Mr. and Mrs. Layton, I am the Marquess of Venmont. I have commandeered your home. There are four men outside who wish to kill me and the lady I ride with. We wish you and your family no harm. Stay below the windows.”
His shouts were met with silence and Vita prayed the family obeyed.
Then the sound of bullets hitting the house started up.
Teresa was weeping. Vita thought she heard the maid doing so as well.
She grabbed Teresa’s hand.
It went on for what felt like forever and then a long silence.
She could hear Venmont whispering in the room ahead. The sound of his footsteps was strangely comforting. And oddly, she felt safe.
Her breathing finally returned to normal.
Exhaustion hit Vita and somehow she managed to fell asleep in the kitchen with nothing but the cold stones for comfort.
∫ ∫ ∫
1 9
* * *
The first night Remy discovered nothing out of the ordinary about his nephew’s new occupation.
But the second night had him in his saddle and riding a road north of London with Leo.
The boys had been dismantling carriages at a nearby inn and then setting traps in the road to run the carriages down.
T
hen, just when the riders and their staff were at a loss about what to do, a noise would start up in the distance. Shotguns.
It frightened the carriage’s passengers and made them panic.
But then there was Noel to save the day… At a very steep price. He and Peter would fix the carriage and have the people away in no time, fearing that the gunshots were highwaymen heading in their direction.
They were getting paid to fix problems they’d created themselves. The access to the stables afforded them the tools that were left in the barn and a place to store extra carriage items.
Remy had been disappointed in his nephew, as was his mother.
After a discussion with Toni and Leo, it was decided that what Noel needed was some time away from his contemptible friends and a few days in the company of real men.
He looked over at Noel. In the lantern light, he could see the same frustrated expression on his nephew’s face that he’d been wearing for the last few days. He hadn’t wanted to leave home and had decided to make that clear through silence.
Remy kept his amusement from his face. Silence was a gift as far as Remy was concerned.
“Isn’t it dangerous to ride at night?” Noel asked. “Something could happen to the horses.”
“Something could happen to you,” Leo countered.
“Feeling vulnerable?” Remy asked him. “Now you know how those poor people felt when you fleeced them out of their last coins.
They were going to another city where a young man named David Holland lived. Like Noel, he’d been sold to fight and had been doing it longer than Noel had. Yet unlike Noel, David had managed to get his life together and was now the man of business for a wealthy home.
Remy had never met David himself, but Leo had spoken about him and thought it a good idea to visit. Either that or they’d take the boy to Oliver. If Noel thought his life was hard now, he’d think again once Venmont got a hold of him, teaching him how to survive with nothing more than your hands and your wits.
Remy caught the sight of light up ahead.
“Remy,” Leo called.
“I see it.”
As they kept going, they came upon a lantern. It sat in the middle of the road, glowing.
“Why is that there?” Noel asked, worried.
“It’s Oliver.” Leo picked up the lantern. “I know his craftmanship. He’s met trouble.”
“How do you know?” Remy asked.
“Our father taught us this trick. We’d carry extra lanterns. If an enemy tried to attack us in the dark, one of us would drop the lantern to illuminate the enemy as they came at us. It left a trail of light behind, just like this.”
Panic glowed in Noel’s eyes, and he pointed just up ahead. “Look!”
Remy turned. A body lay by the road’s edge. Thankfully, his back was to them. Death was not something Remy wanted Noel to see. His nephew had told him that in all the fights he participated in, it was never to the death, only to great injury.
“Go to the line of trees,” Remy said to his nephew. To Leo, he said, “Go look at the body.”
Leo got off his horse, but Noel didn’t move. His eyes were stuck to the dead man.
“Noel.”
His nephew looked up at him. There was real fear. “What if someone is in the trees? I don’t want to go alone.”
It was a good point.
“He’s not one of Oliver’s men,” Leo called. “In fact, it looks like Oliver’s work.”
“Is that the same man you threatened to leave me with?” Noel asked.
Remy was about to answer when he heard the quick sounds of hooves riding toward them.
Leo shouted, “I am Leonard Childs, brother to the Marquess of Venmont. Who are you?” He readied his weapon.
Remy moved his horse in front of his nephew and drew his own weapon.
“I am!” the coming rider cried. “I am—yet what I am none cares or knows.”
Leo put his weapon away as did Remy.
“What does he mean?” Noel whispered to Remy. “I care who he is. What if he shoots us?”
Remy chuckled. “It’s a code, Noel. This is how we know the rider to be friend and not foe.”
“Truly, Remy?” Leo said. “He doesn’t recognize John Clare when he hears it?” The poem the rider recited was I Am.
“I’ll work on it,” Remy replied as the rider came to a stop before them.
“We’re holed up at a house just up ahead. Some riders are after the lady Lord Venmont was asked to protect. I was told to return to London for help.”
“There’s no need to go to London. Help is here,” Leo said, already back on his horse. “How many riders?”
“Venmont shot two. There are four more. They surround the house. I had to go a distance from the road to not be seen or heard. That took me an hour at least.”
Remy looked at his nephew and then at the newcomer. “Is there somewhere the boy can hide until this is over?”
“Uncle Remy, come with me,” Noel urged. “Let Lord Leo go on his own.”
“Glad you’re so concerned for my safety,” Leo grumbled.
Remy didn’t know what to do.
“There’s a wooded area east of the house,” the servant said. “It’s the way I came. You can leave the boy there.”
Remy nodded. “Let’s go.”
They rode hard until they came up to a second lantern in the road and another body.
Noel made a sound as though he’d be ill.
“Stay with us,” Remy told him.
They moved off the road after that and their pace slowed until they hardly made a sound.
Their lanterns were off. They had only the moon to guide them.
The night seemed to stretch endlessly before them. An hour passed.
“We’re getting close,” the servant said. “If you wish, you should leave the boy here.”
Remy dismounted and ordered Noel down from his horse. Then he told him to tie the mount to a nearby tree. Once done, he approached Noel. “Stay here. Stay quiet.”
“You’ll be back, right?” Noel asked. In the darkness, Remy could only make out his shape.
“As soon as possible.” He ruffled the young man’s hair. “We’ve got plans, don’t we?”
Remy heard what he thought to be a half laugh and half grunt.
Getting back on his horse, they rode closer to the house. It came into view a few minutes later.
There was a patch of forest by one side of the house, but otherwise, there were fields.
Remy neither saw nor heard anyone.
“What’s this about?” Leo whispered. “You said it was a woman?”
“Lady Castella.”
Remy stiffened. “Who?”
“Lady Vita Castella,” the footman said again. “Someone is after her, been after her for a week now.”
A whole week? Why hadn’t Remy been notified the moment danger came for her?
“I believe this may have been the attacker’s plan all along. He wanted her vulnerable, away from the duke. We were taking her to a safe place when this all happened.”
What was safer than Van Dero’s home in London? Something terrible must have happened if the duke thought moving Vita out of town would be best for her.
It was the last name Remy had expected to hear. “Who is after her? Why? Do they intend to hurt her?”
“Remy, if the duke knew who was after her, do you think he’d still be alive? Also, there are guns,” Leo said. “I don’t imagine they wish to simply chat with the woman. What did this woman do to cause all this?”
“Nothing, I guarantee you,” Remy said.
“You know her?” Leo asked.
“We’re acquainted with one another.” But what Remy wanted to say was yes, he did know her. He felt he knew Vita very well. He’d felt her spirit in her laugh and seen the truth of her character shine within her eyes.
He’d never met a more brave and curious woman, but there was nothing she could have done to cause all this.
&nbs
p; There was no more time to talk. Remy needed to get inside and save her.
“Four men, you say?” Remy touched the second gun on his other side. “I want their positions.”
“We should send a signal to my brother so he knows we are here,” Leo said. “He can signal back their positions.”
“Really?” Remy asked. “You two have that many codes?”
Leo laughed. “With a word, I can tell him I met a woman and that he should plan to take his meal alone and not wait up for me because there is a high chance that I’ll not be home that evening. Nick knows the codes as well.”
The three Childs brothers had been raised by a lord who thought the world would soon fall apart, the government was after him, and the only way his line would survive was if they became little more than barbarians.
“I’ll move around,” Leo said. “Stay here.”
Remy heard him move and itched to simply run toward the house and kill anyone who got in his way. Vita was inside. What if one of them had her already? He’d not be content until he found her.
He heard a caw and listened.
It was Leo. Anyone listening had to know it was not a bird making the sound. There were drawn out notes that the bird didn’t make, or at least Remy couldn’t recall a bird ever doing so.
A horse squealed.
Remy saw movement, but without knowing who was on what side, he didn’t dare move.
Leo returned just in time for Oliver’s voice to ring through the night.
“Meet me in the green glen!” Another John Clare reference.
There were more sounds from the horses outside. The riders were getting ready to attack.
Remy’s blood ran hot and wild through his veins.
“What did you say to him?’ Remy asked.
“That I was here with two others,” Leo said.
“And his reply?”
A gun clicked. “Shoot anyone outside.”
Remy readied his weapon. “Sounds good to me.”
∫ ∫ ∫
2 0
* * *
Vita jumped at the sound of a gunshot. It was still night, and Vita wondered if it would ever end. She prayed it did not end with her death. She hated that men were risking their lives for her. She had no idea why this was happening. What did they want from her?
A Knight to Dare: (The Valiant Love Regency Romance) (A Historical Romance Book) Page 9