A Question for the Ages (Questions for a Highlander Book 7)

by Angeline Fortin

  Piper collapsed, panting on his heaving chest, his heart pounding against her cheek. Her entire being pulsed with satisfaction. Her heart burst with joy.

  Whatever else happened in the world, hers would always be secure on its axis as long as Connor was at her side.

  He fondled her bare bottom. “Och, my vocal lass. I’m surprised the whole house dinnae ken ye’re in here now.”

  Heat rose in her cheeks and she ducked her head, glad he couldn’t see it in the dark room. “I can’t help it. Keeping all you make me feel inside is impossible.”

  “I adore every sound ye make.” Nuzzling her cheek, he exhaled with a contented murmur, “Ye unman me, mo chridhe. I’ve never kent of such all-consuming passion.”

  The confession brought a smile to Piper’s lips. “Mrs. Davies is not at all supportive of your plan to keep me here,” she told him. “She feared this very eventuality.”

  “This is nae time to argue propriety,” he grumbled. “Yer safety is all that matters.”

  “As I said, you need a new mantra.” She snuggled closer to his side. “She may force you to marry me, you know?”

  “Perhaps we should elope then? If ye’ll have me?”

  “That sounds like a perfect plan.”

  “Sleep, mo ghràidh.” A smile pervaded his heavy brogue. “The sun will rise before ye ken.”

  As far as Piper was concerned, it already had.

  Chapter 28

  One of the women’s rights pamphlets Jane brought home with her says that ‘independence is happiness.’ Jane envies my freedom here. To that I would say that life here provides many things, however true happiness is not among them.

  ~ from the diary of Piper Brudenall, June 1893

  “Wake, lass,” Connor whispered in her ear. He slipped an arm around her waist and hugged her tight.

  Piper stretched along the solid warmth of his hard body. He patted her bottom with a low chuckle. “Och, none of that now or we’ll never leave.”

  That would suit her fine. With a sigh, she slipped out of one side of the bed while Connor climbed out of the opposite side. A moment later, the light from one of the gas sconces broke the darkness, just enough to layer shadow upon shadow.

  “Here.”

  A stack of clothing was thrust into her arms and she sorted through it by touch. “What is this?”

  “One of my suits,” he told her as he dressed. “It will serve us better if there are nae skirts to chase, aye?”

  Piper dressed, finding his trousers snug around her hips and his shirt and jacket broad across the shoulders. After braiding her hair, she wound it into a tight bun at the back of her neck and fumbled along the table top until she found the pins she’d left there to secure it. Connor plopped a hat on her head as a light knock sounded at the door.

  Temple slipped inside and surveyed Piper in the dim light. “The darkness will be to our benefit. No one would ever mistake you for a man.” He directed his next words to Connor. “Your brothers are making their way to the stable as we speak. They’ll have horses waiting for us at the bridge.”

  Connor hefted Piper’s valise in one hand and took her hand with the other. With a nod, Temple slipped out the door and they followed. The corridor was dark as they hurried to the west servants’ stairs, sticking close to the wall. Temple descended first, vanishing into the spiraling blackness without a sound. She and Connor had gone no more than a few steps before he reappeared directly in front of them. Piper gasped in surprise.

  “Back, back,” the agent hissed with an urgent shove.

  “What is it?” Connor asked when they returned to the landing.

  “There are guards posted at the bottom of the stairs. Let’s try the main staircase.”

  Unfortunately, there was a light moving below and once again they melted into the shadows. A pair of sentries were stationed at the bottom of each stairwell.

  “Did my brothers bungle it?”

  Connor hadn’t expected Rutledge to post guards around a property that wasn’t his own. On the other hand, the duke’s informant remained unidentified. If it was one of the servants who had revealed Piper’s presence, it made sense to be on alert.

  If it was one of them…

  Fury rose in him. That person would pay dearly for their betrayal.

  Temple shook his head, a muted silhouette in the darkness. “No. They went out the window and along the roof to the east end of the manor an hour ago. Perhaps Rutledge is naturally suspicious or planning a search at dawn?”

  “Or he suspects me.” Connor swore aloud. “Nae point debating it. What do we do now? I cannae see Piper shimmying down the drainpipe.”

  “This way.” Piper yanked on his hand.

  “The duke’s rooms are in that direction, lass.”

  “I know.” She tugged insistently as the light grew brighter in the central stairwell.

  Connor followed her with Temple in their wake as she rushed down the corridor. Her journey along the passageway yesterday hadn’t seemed nearly as long. Even with her heart in her throat and her face hidden in the pile of towels she’d carried as they’d walked a gauntlet of strangers, her mother’s strident commands drifting up from below. Now, that same distance stretched a mile more. She feared her mother’s door would open, or the duke’s would, before their flight was finished.

  She dashed into the marquis’s chamber and heaved a sigh of relief when Connor closed the door behind them. “We’re nae better off trapped in here. Rutledge will wake soon enough wi’ the chaos below.”

  “Oh, ye of little faith,” she scoffed and found her way along the wall to the hidden door next to the fireplace. Flipping the latch, she swung it open.

  Temple went through, testing the constricted width with outspread arms. “These are not servants’ stairs.”

  “No, these were put in by the fourth marquis to secret his mistress from floor to floor.” Piper slipped past him, holding the handrail of the narrow stairway tight as they completed the first rotation in the inky gloom.

  Connor rolled his eyes. Next to the sins of Piper’s mother and Rutledge, infidelity was the worst in his mind. One shouldn’t make a vow they couldn’t keep. “Would we be so lucky to have had him build a passage to secret us out of the manor, as well?”

  “Unfortunately for us, the marquis’s mistress was his housekeeper,” Piper admitted as they reached the bottom. “This is where it ends.”

  Temple cracked the exit into the housekeeper’s hall and yanked it shut with a curse. “Stay here.”

  He slipped through the door like a wraith, leaving them in the black passage. Connor felt Piper’s shiver and wrapped his arms around her. “Dinnae fash, lass. All will be well.”

  “I hope so.” His heart beat against her ear, slow and steady, while hers felt as if it were dancing a reel behind her ribs. How could he remain calm? “We could wait in here until they disperse. No one beyond a handful of servants knows of this stairwell.”

  “Ye dinnae need another prison. Ye need an escape.”

  “Or a fight,” she reminded.

  “Rutledge has already proven he’ll no’ take on a fair fight. He terrorizes those weaker than himself.” A sigh lifted his chest and the soft brush of his lips ruffled her hair. “A man like Rutledge sees a woman as something to conquer. He disnae see that in surrendering his heart to a lass, a man finds his greatest strength.”

  “Connor, I—”

  A dim light heralded Temple’s return. “There were two patrolling the hallway. Two more are circling the courtyard.”

  Temple opened his jacket and withdrew a pair of Webley Bull Dogs and handed one to him. The revolver was no bigger than his hand, made to be concealed in a pocket, or in an intelligence agent’s case, a discreet holster. Connor swore under his breath. He’d been hoping they could do this without things getting messy.

  He checked the drum. It held a mere five bullets.

  “I know,” Temple murmured as if reading his mind. “We’d never win in a shootout, so us
e it only if you must.”

  “Do I get a gun?” Piper wanted to know.

  “Do ye ken how to use one?” Connor inquired in surprise.

  “No,” she admitted with a disappointed pucker of her lips.

  She used to carry a knife in a little sheath strapped to her ankle. Albert had given it to her, shown her early on how to use it. As she had in many areas, Piper had gotten comfortable. Sloppy. And stopped carrying it. She hadn’t needed it with Connor. From the start, she’d known it.

  She wished she had it now, even as nothing more than a token of reassurance.

  “Here.” Connor took her hand and curled her fingers around a smooth wooden handle. For a moment, she thought he entrusted her with the gun anyway. A split second later, she realized it was her valise. “Follow us but stay well back.”

  She nodded at the command and trailed behind the two men as they crept down the corridor toward the kitchen courtyard door. Her foot hit something solid and she jumped in surprise before comprehending it was an unconscious body. Mild-mannered Temple was proving himself to be a man of hidden talents.

  At Connor’s whispered command, she waited in the portal while they continued on. The moonless sky faded to a dark purple near the horizon. The sun would be up soon. They needed to hurry.

  Making out Temple’s shadowy signal, she watched Connor veer off to the right side of the kitchen court. He merged with another dark silhouette, and she could make out a struggle before, with a dull thunk, the other man slipped to the ground. Connor returned to her side, tucking the pistol into his waistband.

  “Shame when you can do nothing more permanent than pistol whip a man,” Temple complained as he joined them. “Come.”

  Connor retrieved her hand and they followed him around the perimeter of the courtyard and through the east gate.

  “How far is the bridge?”

  “Not far if we take one of the footpaths.” Piper gestured to the left. “If we can get to the one at the edge of the tree line, they won’t be able to follow in the dark.”

  The two men fell silent, judging the distance. While it was dark still, crossing the drive and an expanse of lawn would leave them exposed. It was possible one of group of men who milled around the well-lit main doors to their right might take notice and sound the alarm. They retreated back inside the courtyard.

  “This isnae going to work. We need a diversion.”

  Yes, they did. Though what could they do, Piper wondered.

  “Wait for my signal.” She froze in shock as Connor put her hand in Temple’s. “And by God, ye’d better take care of her.”

  “What?” She caught Connor’s shoulder before he could abandon her. “What are you going to do? You can’t just leave me.”

  “In minutes, it will be light enough that someone could spot us,” he rasped out. “We need to distract those men.”

  “Let Temple do it.”

  “He isnae known to them.”

  “Then we stay here. I’ve hidden here for years without detection,” she insisted. “I can do it again.”

  “A hundred rooms to hide in when nae one kens yer about is one thing. It would be a different story under a concentrated search of the building.” He hugged her hard. “I ken ye feel as if ye cannae trust anyone, lass. I’m asking ye to trust me.”

  “I do trust you.” Despite the assurance, she clung to him. “Please come with me.”

  “I will catch up wi’ ye before ye reach the train station.” His lips brushed her cheek. “Yer safety is—”

  “Don’t say it,” she warned him.

  How was she supposed to leave him behind? Even for a moment.

  “When I ran the first time, I didn’t even have one bag to carry with me. No clothes. Nothing,” she whispered in a rush. “Nor did I leave anything that I couldn’t do without. There was nothing in that house that was precious to me. This time I will leave behind everything I hold dear.”

  “Yer friends will understand. Ye maun go.”

  “I’m not referring to them.” She reached up to caress his jaw. “I’m talking about you.”

  His head shook to the side beneath her palm. “Ye’ll have my brothers and Temple wi’ ye. That’s more than I might have hoped for.”

  “They are not you. I told you I will always choose you.” She laced her fingers through his hair and lifted her lips to his ear. “I love you, Connor.”

  His arms crushed her to him. “Mo chridhe, I love ye, too. Naught I’ve ever done in my life has mattered more than ye. Be safe.”

  “No…”

  But he was gone, swallowed by the darkness.

  “What is it about those MacKintosh men?” Temple queried lightly as she stared after Connor, into nothing. “Even the devil doesn’t have such luck.”

  “How can you jest at a time like this?”

  He clasped her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Who’s joking?”

  “What the bloody hell is going on here?” Connor’s voice boomed from down the drive. “Dinnae gawp at me like a buggering fish. I asked ye a question. Ye! Come here.”

  “That’s our cue.”

  With no choice left to her, Piper sprinted down the lane to the east with Temple on her heels. Leaving Dinton Grange, and Connor, behind.

  * * *

  “I dinnae gi’ a damn if the bloody Messiah himself gave ye yer orders,” Connor blustered, flinging his arms wide and making as much of a spectacle of himself as he could to keep the attention of the dozen armed men gathered outside the front door.

  When had so many of them arrived? Or had they been here since yesterday scouring the area for Piper? Either way, a thorough sweep was definitely about to be launched. With any luck, he could stall them long enough for Temple and Piper to get to his brothers.

  “The duke’s paying us to find his woman,” one of them protested.

  His woman. The words seared his temper like a fiery brand.

  “I’ll gi’ ye a pound sterling to cease yer havering, ye riddy glaikit. Rutledge isnae in charge here. I am.”

  Connor strode down the front steps, knocking aside the rifle one of the men held at the ready. “Point that thing somewhere else. I’ve already lost sleep because of ye, dinnae make me demonstrate how bloody pissed I am.”

  “His grace’ll not like this,” one of them muttered.

  “Then by all means, let’s wake him as well and I’ll make my point directly to him, aye?” He swept a vicious glance around the group. “Who’s wi’ me? Ye? Ye?”

  A burly fellow at the rear of the group made a comment regarding the size of Connor’s bollocks, and Connor savored a moment of relief as they all stepped back and lowered their weapons. Nothing like a mad man to make even the worst thug wary.

  “Disturb my rest again and I’ll have the lot of ye facing a firing squad come the dawn.” Outrage, having worked so well, appeared to be his best course of action. As the duke saw him as nothing more than a blustering Scotsman, it wouldn’t hurt to let his opinion sink even lower. “And get those men off the lawns. They’ll upset my goats.”

  “Your goats?”

  “Aye, my bloody goats. Ye want a search, let’s get to it.” He snapped his fingers under the man’s nose, enjoying its startling effect. “Sooner it’s begun, the sooner it will be done. Now move.”

  Connor stormed back inside, hoping he’d created enough of a stir for Temple to whisk Piper away to safety. The greater question remained, however.

  How was he to follow?

  He’d created commotion enough to wake the rest of the household. Windows without and doorways within illuminated as the sky lightened to shades of pink and amethyst. Servants and more guards stumbled into the foyer. Mrs. Davies hung back at the end of the service hall in a nightcap and quilted robe, with one arm around the cook’s shoulders. Her eyes were wide, fraught with more emotion than he had yet to see her display.

  “Now see here…” Another of the duke’s men came raging into the room.

  “Nay, ye see here,” C
onnor thundered, grabbing the man by the lapels and throwing him up against the wall. “Ye’ve upset my morning over some wayward chit and I’ll no’ have it.”

  Rutledge’s men all gaped at him like he was a fecking lunatic while the household staff appeared torn between astonishment and reluctant respect. It was about time.

  “Mrs. Davies!”

  “Yes, Mr. MacKintosh?” The housekeeper grasped her robe tight around the neck and hurried after him as he tramped down the hall. “Wayward chit? She would box your ears.”

  “Wi’ any luck, she’s far from earshot by now.”

  “Is she safe, then?”

  “For now,” he grated out. “We have to make certain she stays that way.”

  “From your lips to God’s ears, Mr. MacKintosh.”

  * * *

  A quarter hour later, Connor rode on horseback down the south avenue with Albert close behind. The duke’s men had been paired off with Piper’s loyal servants under the pretense of their familiarity with the grounds. Spotting Tom and Auld Barney in the crowd, he’d told them to pass the word that they were to be grossly cooperative and give the grounds a thorough scrubbing while circumventing the gamekeeper’s cottage and the southerly expanse of road Connor traveled now.

  Their initial rendezvous point came into sight and he kicked his horse into a gallop. The stone arch bridge crossing the River Thame marked the intersection from the Grange to other country estates farther afield. A mile to the east, it connected to the Aylesbury Road that led south to the village.

  The swaying branches of a willow on the bank of the river fell like a curtain. That was where they were to have met his brothers. Even from a distance, he could see there was no one hiding within.

  They’d made good their getaway. Connor breathed a sigh of relief. He’d feared Temple would decide to wait on him to join them. Or Piper would insist upon it, stubborn lass.

  Whatever they’d said or done to gain her agreement to put distance between her and the Grange, he was thankful for it.

  “Where to now?” Albert asked.