“On to Aylesbury.”
They set out at a moderate pace so as to not attract undue attention should someone spot them racing along the road.
A few minutes later, the sun speared its first bright rays through the trees. Albert raised a hand to shield his eyes and cleared his throat. “’Tis glad I am—we all are—that you came around, sir. I appreciate you seeing to it that I was spared the whip.”
Connor waved off the recognition. “Any reasonable man would have done the same. Rutledge’s actions border on the unhinged.”
The groom nodded. “And that’s another reason we are all grateful for you. You can protect her from a man like him as we cannot.”
“Save yer thanks until we ken she’s safe.”
With luck, they would know that soon enough. It was a short four-mile ride into the village. The train station stood on the south side of town. They were to have boarded the morning train to Leighton Buzzard ten miles away and make the transfer to the northbound London and Birmingham Railway Line there.
There was no traffic on the road, not that Connor expected any. The early hour was not an issue. The weather was fine and would be put to the best use by most everyone in the vicinity to continue the harvest. It was where he would have been had Rutledge not appeared. It was where the workers of Dinton Grange should have been, rather than participating in their mock search for Piper.
Thus, it surprised him to see the silhouette of horses against the rising sun on the road ahead. Tilting the brim of his hat down, he squinted to make out the animals. A pair rather than a quartet.
Not Piper then. Connor cursed under this breath. He’d hoped to catch up with them before reaching the village.
A moment later, he realized the horses were riderless. Motionless on the road. A man crouched nearby, a shock of auburn hair reflecting in the morning sun. Heart in his throat, Connor swore a blue streak and kicked his horse into a sprint.
A second figure lay prone on the ground.
Chapter 29
Mother has returned to Dinton Grange in search of me. I don’t know what I would do without the people of the Grange. They risk their very welfare for me.
~ from the diary of Piper Brudenall, June 1893
“We need to leave before the sun comes up, my lady,” Temple argued. “Connor will catch up.”
Piper nodded in terse agreement, parting the willow’s draping branches to peer into the darkness one last time. In the rush and with the duke’s men milling around, she hadn’t been able to say her goodbyes to anyone and had also been forced to leave Edith behind.
She didn’t want to leave without Connor, nevertheless, Temple was right. If they were to make good their escape, it would best be done under the cloak of darkness. Concealed by the canopy of branches, she let Tam boost her onto the back of a dappled mare. She didn’t even have Dandy since they would leave their horses behind when she and Connor boarded the train north.
Assuming Connor caught up with them, that was.
“Dinnae fret, lass. If my brother dinnae make it to the train in time, I’ll take his place at the altar,” Tam offered with a grin broad enough to pierce the darkness.
“He’ll catch up.” A repetition of Temple’s assurance offered little comfort. If Connor didn’t appear soon, it would be worries about why rather than thoughts of what now that would consume her.
Scenarios of all sorts flooded her imagination, making her realize how negative she’d become as a result of these trials in her life. Heaven forbid it be something as simple as a thrown shoe. No, it was doom and disaster with no alternative.
As the practice of living had been suspended because there had long been no outcome other than Rutledge finding her. Pessimism ruled while optimism stagnated. That wasn’t at all how she wanted to contemplate the future. The days ahead could prove happy and gay if she concentrated positive thought to achieving that goal.
Therefore, Connor would come as promised. Whatever delayed him was no more than that. A delay, she determined with ruthless confidence.
They guided their horses to the gravel lane and set out at a swift lope that would carry them out of the immediate vicinity of Dinton Grange in all haste. Once the drive met the junction of the Aylesbury Road, they slowed to a walk for safety reasons. Though the sky gained more color with each passing minute, it was unwise to race willy-nilly into the darkness.
“Dinnae fash, lass. Connor’s long been a dawdler,” Ian told her when she’d twisted about for the third or fourth time in hopes of seeing the outline of a rider approaching. One particular rider, in any case. “Always lagging behind.”
Tam grinned with a nod, coming up on her other side. “Aye. Our wee Heather Blossom toddled about ‘ere Connor bothered to stand on his own two feet.”
As Connor had five years on his sister, Piper knew Tam embellished the truth. They were trying to bolster her spirits, although disparaging the man she loved wasn’t the finest approach. “Connor is the best of men. I trust him implicitly. He will catch up before we reach the village.”
The twins shared a look over her head, then Tam glanced back at her. “He is a good’un, true enough. Dinnae get us wrong, lass. We love Connor like a brother.”
Ian slapped his thigh, and the pair burst into laughter that took the edge of gloom from the early morning that the rising sun hadn’t yet accomplished. Ahead of her, the shadow of Temple’s shoulders gave a lurch. She rolled her eyes, trying not to smile.
“Seriously, though,” Tam went on, “we’re glad to see him have something he cares enough about to dedicate himself to.”
“What do you mean?” From what she’d seen, Connor had a great deal of focus regarding his goals.
“There was a time we would’ve wagered our brother couldnae find himself in a dark room wi’ both hands.” Ian smirked, his eyes dancing. “No’ that there’s much to find.”
The pair chuckled again unable to resist any opportunity to poke fun. Growing up with them must have kept the entire MacKintosh clan on its toes.
“Connor’s spent a long while trying to be like one of the others rather than figuring out who he is wi’out us,” Ian went on with a shrug. “’Tis nice to see him wi’ a purpose in life.”
“I hardly think seeing me to safety qualifies as a life’s mission.” She frowned.
Temple shifted in his saddle to peer over his shoulder. “I believe they are referring to something more prosaic than our current mission, my lady.”
“Our brother’s never found the same satisfaction in self-indulgence that we have,” Tam told her.
“That most reasonable men do,” Ian put in.
“He’s a pleaser, ye ken?”
Ian: “Aye, doing for himself dinnae make him happy.”
Tam: “Never has. He’s needed something to work for.”
“’Tis no’ that moldy auld farm of his we’re talking about, either,” Ian added.
“Nay, we’re talking about ye.”
Piper swiveled from one twin to the other so quickly her head spun. “Me?”
“Aye,” they announced in unison, then Tam carried on, “Nothing ever meant much to Connor if he dinnae have someone to do it for.”
“Share it wi’.”
Temple smiled over his shoulder. “I believe they’re saying that Connor is in love with you, my lady.”
The same warmth that filled her when Connor confessed as much to her earlier flooded her anew. He loved her. As she loved him. If he found joy in another’s happiness, it was the same for her.
The deep shadows of a copse of beech trees hanging over the road cast them in full darkness once again. Birdsong whistled through the trees to herald the rising sun. He’d better catch up with them fast. She’d wed no other.
Piper faced Temple in time to see his buoyant mood fade away. His posture went rigid, his eyes focused over her shoulder. She swiveled around to scan the road, but saw nothing.
“What is it? Is it Connor?”
“I believe we’re bein
g followed.”
“Are ye certain?” Ian twisted in his saddle. “I dinnae see anyone.”
How could they in the near dark?
“Let’s pick up the pace.” Temple spurred his horse into a canter. “Aylesbury is only a few miles more.”
Piper did the same and drew up next to the agent while the twins came up behind them. “Connor won’t be able to catch up with us if we go too fast.”
“He won’t catch up ever if you get caught,” Temple countered, his expression somber.
Hoof beats began to thunder, growing in volume. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw the outline of an indeterminable number of riders gaining on them from the rear. She crouched low over her horse’s neck, her thoughts racing in tandem.
“Any chance they’re out for nothing more than a predawn perambulation into the village?” Ian echoed her inner query.
“At such a pace?”
A sharp crack split the crisp autumn morning and Tam uttered a vile oath. “I guess that answers that question.”
“They wouldnae dare risk harming her, would they?” Ian yelled as another shot sounded accompanied by a shout for them to halt.
“They’re firing into the air,” Temple assured her. “They want to frighten us into surrendering.”
She was most assuredly frightened, but she had no intention of giving in to their demand. She’d come too far to give up now. Contrary to that assuredness, she wasn’t certain how they were to make it to safety given their current circumstances.
“They’re shooting at us, ye numpty. I doubt they’d mistake either of us for a lady,” Tam muttered, loud enough for Piper to hear.
Even on horseback, the twins’ evident size made an easy target. The comparison between Piper and Temple would be harder to discern from a distance with her height and the structured shoulders of Connor’s jacket to give her breadth. Surely, they wouldn’t randomly shoot and hope for the best?
Contrary to her opinion, another shotgun blast rang out. The sky brightened exponentially with each passing second. A glance over her shoulder showed six men behind them, but they weren’t the sole issue. Passing through the brief woodland back into open fields, she saw another four riders approaching on an adjacent road that crossed their path not far ahead.
“We go straight to the constable when we reach the village,” Temple instructed. “They wouldn’t dare try to get her there. I don’t care who employs them.”
The roar of hoof beats, even the rough heave of her horse’s breath couldn’t override the pounding of Piper’s heart in her ears. In all the time she’d been in hiding, she’d never been this terrified. Not for herself, rather for the trio of men crowding around her, sheltering her from every side. They would do anything to protect her.
Because Connor requested it of them.
She couldn’t have anyone hurt because of her.
“We should give up,” she shouted. “Find another way.”
Their denials tumbled one over the other. Another shot rang out. Ian’s horse reared, but it was Tam on the other side of his twin who shouted out in pain.
“Tam!” Ian reached for his brother’s reins as Tam flattened a hand to the small of his back.
“Buggering sons of bitches,” Tam swore. “That bloody well hurts.”
Temple drew his small pistol from its holster. Another shot rang out and he fired back. It slowed the men on the diagonal approach to intercept ahead, Piper noticed, though no more than that.
“This is no defense against rifles,” he yelled. “Move. We’ve got to put distance between us.”
“Go, go,” Tam ground out.
“We can’t leave you behind,” Piper protested.
“I’ve got him.” Ian unsheathed a rifle from the holster on his saddle and waved an arm. “Get her out of here. I’ll try to hold them off.”
“My lady!” Temple shouted and slapped his reins on her horse’s rump.
With a low curse of her own, Piper dug in her heels as her horse bolted forward, grateful that she was astride rather than sidesaddle. Surrounded by farmland as they were, there was nowhere to hide. Nowhere to take cover. One of the men on their right lifted a pistol—not to the air this time.
Temple aimed and pulled the trigger. One of the men cried out. Behind her, shots sounded. A quick look showed Ian wheeling his horse around. He leapt to the ground to stand over his fallen brother, rifle to his shoulder to take aim at their pursuers. Temple fired again and again, felling another man ahead. Once more and a horse screamed, rearing to unseat its rider.
Five shots, Connor had said.
It wouldn’t be enough.
Two men blocked the road before them now. Five…no, four remained behind. Tam lay on the road, his back bloody. Ian had thrown his discharged rifle aside and drawn his brother’s. He raised it to his shoulder and fired at the four remaining gunmen as they bore down on him. Another fell, the three remaining shot at the twins as they thundered past. Ian dove on top of Tam to protect him and jerked as one of the bullets struck him.
The two men left to intercept them ahead gained position on the road, leaving Piper and Temple trapped from the front and rear.
There was nowhere left to run.
Temple fired his last shot and the men raised their guns…
“Stop! Stop!” Piper swerved close to the agent, forcing him to stop.
Temple swore at her in protest. They had taken out half of their attackers, but they were still outmanned. Outgunned. Ian and Tam were injured, and she had no idea how badly. She couldn’t risk any more bloodshed. She slid from her saddle as her protector leapt from his. He tried to put himself between her and the oncoming men. Piper struggled for a similar position, confident they wouldn’t hurt her to get to him.
“Lower your weapons,” she yelled at the five men as they approached. “Allow them to go unharmed, and I’ll go with you.”
“Piper,” Temple objected in her ear. She pressed back against his chest, moving and spinning with him as he tried to rotate back in front of her.
“You’ll be coming along either way,” one of the trio to the north ground out and spit on the road. He steadied his aim on her.
The uninjured of the pair remaining ahead of them, presumably the leader, spoke. “Hold, Millson. I’ll not have you harming the duke’s prize.” He removed his wide-brimmed hat with a broad, villainous smile that stretched his thick moustache. “This would have gone better for us all if you’d been more cooperative when we first met.”
Piper blinked in recognition. And confusion. “Mr. Wilkes?”
“For a woman in hiding, you have an astonishing number of men rising to your defense, Lady Phillipa.” Wilkes cocked his head to the side as if to see around her to Temple. “Who is this chuckaboo?”
Wilkes. She could hardly wrap her head around the realization that he’d duped her so thoroughly she’d dismissed her initial suspicion of him without a second thought. He’d played on her sympathies! Had he known who Granger was? Trailed the other investigator? Had he walked away from the King’s Head because he’d figured it all out? Followed her home?
He must have for Rutledge to have arrived at Dinton Grange soon after. At least that explained the duke’s certainty that she was there. Her hands fisted with the need to lash out at the injustice of it all.
Wilkes scanned her from head to toe with a smile. “Your disguises leave much to be desired. You’re not mannish enough to pull this one off.”
He reached out and snatched the hat from her head.
“Leave her be.” Temple used her distraction to finally gain the upper hand and shove her behind him.
Five guns rose and aimed at his chest. Ian limped forward a few steps and two of them spun around to level their weapons on him. Piper cried out in protest, and Wilkes held up a hand to forestall any shots. “How endearing, the way you defend one another.” He frowned at Temple and smoothed his mustache with one fingertip. “I should kill you in repayment for my injured men.”
�
�I’m sure there’s a dead one among them,” Temple snarled with provocative disdain. “Perhaps two or three.”
Wilkes only smiled and shrugged. “It’s business. I understand that. For example, I’m being paid to deliver one body. One living one, that is.”
His indirect threat renewed Piper’s fight to position herself as Temple’s shield.
He secured her behind him again. “Stop it.”
“I won’t let them hurt you,” she murmured with earnest. “I’d never forgive myself.”
“And Connor will never forgive me if I let them take you.”
Wilkes continued to stroke his mustache. “Curious, this mutual defense of yours. I’ll tell you what, Lady Phillipa, it’s been a rather long, tiring night waiting for you to make an appearance. If it will spare me any female hysterics—kicking, screaming and the like—I’ll let him live.”
“I’ll not be insurance for her good behavior.” Temple drew a knife from his boot and dove at Wilkes before Piper could grab hold of him. The injured henchman at Wilkes’s side fell on Temple and cried out in pain as he grappled for the weapon. The grind of pistols being cocked chilled her blood.
Everyone froze.
Temple had likely been in this position before. No doubt, he would let himself get shot for her and consider it all in the line of duty. Ian would do the same and call it familial obligation. Neither suited her.
Snatching Temple’s spent pistol off the ground, Piper aimed it at Wilkes. The men all laughed, infuriating her. She raised it to her own head, and in unison, they gasped in alarm. Temple—on his knees with a barrel jammed to his skull—gaped at her as if this was the most horrifying part of the scenario. “That’s right, you just said the duke wouldn’t look too kindly on his prize being killed, would he? Let us go.”
Wilkes seemed shaken but shook his head anyway. “Regrettably that would earn me an early grave as well, and to be honest, I don’t believe a lady like yourself will resort to such drastic measures.”
“If you know Rutledge at all, you’ll know that death is a preferable alternative to letting him have me.” Piper prayed her bluff would work. Not that her threat wouldn’t have been genuine if she were out of options, there were bullets left in the pistol, and she didn’t have something extraordinarily compelling to live for. “All I have to live for are my friends. Take them away from me and I have nothing left. Let them go as insurance for my good behavior, and I’ll come without a fight.”
A Question for the Ages (Questions for a Highlander Book 7) Page 26