‘A tankard of ale,’ he said hastily, trying not to breathe in her body odour, ‘and a word with the landlord, if you please.’
‘Right you are,’ she replied. She sent him another smile, and Rupert grimaced back while he suppressed a shudder. He may have bedded wenches like this one in the past; now he saw himself as Jack must have done. A wastrel bringing the family’s name in disrepute because he had nothing better to do. That it was Jack who had been his self-appointed spokesperson with his uncle and aunt rankled even more.
After a while the landlord appeared. ‘You requested my presence, sir. How may I be of assistance?’
‘Discretion,’ said Rupert, placing a guinea on the table.
‘Is my middle name,’ countered the landlord.
Rupert sized him up. A thin, tired-looking man, the landlord wore a leather apron, and the sleeves of his shirt were rolled up to the elbow to display wiry arms, which seemed at odds with his scrawny frame, but his eyes were shrewd and intelligent. Rupert decided he would do.
‘All right,’ he said, lowering his voice. ‘I need two men who are prepared to do a job for me, no questions asked. High risk, but well paid.’
‘Within the law or outside it?’ the landlord asked. A smug smile pulled at the corners of his thin mouth.
‘I said no questions. But trust me, it’s not for the squeamish.’
Nodding, the landlord closed his hand over the coin. ‘I know the men you want. Meet me at the back in half an hour. They’ll be waiting.’
Half an hour later, behind the Black Dog, three shadowy figures met and conducted their business in secrecy. A heavy purse changed hands while Rupert outlined his plan and gave a description of the targets.
‘The viscount usually goes riding in the mornings.’ He went on to explain the route Jack would normally take and what he wanted the two men to do when they had overpowered him.
‘Will he be alone?’ asked one of them, a burly man with beefy overarms and a neckerchief encrusted with dirt around his neck.
‘He often accompanies the earl in the mornings, and if that’s the case, you’ll have to wait until another day,’ said Rupert.
‘Right you are, sir.’
‘Bind him and bring him to the clearing we talked about. If he resists, show him who’s boss, but remember, I want him coherent. Do I make myself clear?’
‘Aye, crystal clear,’ growled the other man, who seemed a little cleaner and a little more intelligent.
Satisfied, Rupert nodded curtly. ‘Now I must bid you goodnight, gentlemen, but remember, there’s more where that comes from, provided you do my bidding and follow my instructions to the letter. He must not be allowed to escape.’
The next morning Jack informed Benning of his plans to re-bury the body of a man in the forest, and instructed him to ready the necessary equipment.
‘Re-bury a body, m’lord? Would that be the highwayman everyone’s talking about?’ The groom eyed him curiously.
‘That’s no concern of yours,’ Jack snapped, and Benning was wise enough not to ask further. Instead he went about his preparations, muttering to himself, as was his habit.
Jack ignored him. Cora had been on his mind all night and he hoped that she wouldn’t leave the area until she’d ensured a proper burial for her father. From their whispered conversation during their night of passion he had ascertained that Cora and her father planned on going to Spain, but he suspected that her plans had changed now.
And if he managed to inter Mardell’s remains in the churchyard, he was certain Cora would wish to visit her father’s new grave, at least once. Perhaps then he could see her one last time. He had to tell her he understood now that it was too dangerous for them to be together, but the thought of uttering those words left him almost breathless from pain.
Alethea found him as he and Benning were preparing for a lengthy sojourn in the forest.
‘Where are you going?’ she asked when she noticed their equipment and Jack’s scruffy attire.
‘Nowhere.’
‘Something’s going on: I know it. It’s about that girl you like, isn’t it? I knew it, Jack! Oh, I just knew it!’ She flung her arms around him.
‘Slow down,’ he said and extricated himself gently. ‘What do you know?’
‘That you are to be married, you ninny. I heard my aunt and uncle discuss it yesterday afternoon. I was playing the pianoforte, and they didn’t think I was listening, but I was. Oh, you’ll be so happy, I’m sure of it! You lucky, lucky thing!’ Excited, Alethea bounced up and down.
‘Alethea …’ Jack began, but then stopped. He had never kept any secrets from her. Guilt stole over him. Although Alethea knew Cora looked a lot like her father, he didn’t know how she would react to the knowledge that Cora was her half-sister. And what about Rupert? Should he tell her they were only half-siblings? On the other hand, Alethea was one of the most sensible and sharp-minded people he had ever known, despite her youth. He owed it to her. ‘I’ll tell you all, but later. It’s not that simple.’
‘Tell me now!’ she cried.
With a sigh, Jack agreed. Mardell was dead and his body wasn’t going anywhere. What difference did half an hour make? ‘All right, but not here. It’s a complex matter, and I don’t want to be overheard.’ He inclined his head in the direction of the groom, and, getting his meaning, Alethea nodded imperceptibly.
Riding side by side down a secluded lane towards the Heath, Jack trusted his instincts and told his cousin everything that had happened.
When he finished, Alethea’s pretty face was sad but determined. Reining in her horse, she stopped and put a slender hand on his arm. ‘I’m honoured that you trusted me enough to share this with me, and it makes no difference to me that your intended is illegitimate, because I stand to gain a sister in more ways than one. However, it saddens me that my parents were so unhappy. Obviously I don’t remember them, with my father dying before I was born, and my mother when she had me, but I’m sure they didn’t deserve such wretchedness.’
She smiled briefly, but then turned serious again, and her eyes were concerned when she continued. ‘As for Rupert, I love my brother – despite his penchant for getting into trouble, but I mistrust him intensely. He wants to be the next earl, and if he should get wind of this, it would be ruinous for us all.’
‘Even if he does, he could never hope to inherit. Father cannot acknowledge him openly. He may have been indulgent when it comes to Rupert, but he’d never do anything which would lead to my mother being humiliated. Rupert would gain nothing other than being cut off without a penny.’
‘And if he resorts to other, baser, means?’
‘I’ll be on my guard.’
As they continued on their ride, Jack said nothing further, and Alethea appeared deep in thought. He wondered where Cora was and prayed that she stayed away from Rupert.
They had reached the part of the lane where the woods were densest before they petered out into Hounslow Heath. Alethea turned to Jack with a smile, and he opened his mouth to say something, but didn’t get a chance. Two men leapt out from the bushes on either side of the path. One caught the bridle of Jack’s horse and pointed a pistol at him; the other pulled Alethea from her mount, muffling her startled scream with a dirty hand.
Instinctively Jack reached for his rapier, but the man shook his head. ‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you, mister. It’d be a mighty shame if my associate ’ere had to snap the lady’s delicate neck, now, wouldn’t it? Such a pretty neck ’n’ all.’
Meeting Alethea’s frightened eyes, Jack stopped.
‘Now, if you’ll be so kind as to give me that sword and get down from your ’orse, I’d be much obliged.’
Glaring at him, Jack handed him the rapier and got down. ‘There’s a purse in my pocket,’ he said. ‘Take what you came for and release my cousin.’
The man prodded him in the back with the pistol. ‘A tempting offer, but it ain’t your purse I’m after.’
‘Well, state what you
want, and I’ll give it to you. Only let the lady go.’
‘Sorry, can’t do that. The two of you will fetch a pretty penny. ’Ere, Toby, toss us that rope.’
The other man complied, taking his eyes off Jack for a moment. While his attention was elsewhere, Jack elbowed the first ruffian in the stomach. Winded, the man clutched his middle, and Jack wrested the pistol from his grip.
Then his head exploded with pain, and he remembered nothing more.
Cora looked back one last time at Mr Isaacs. It was early, and she left by the back door, away from prying eyes. Last night she’d come to pass on the sad news that Ned had died, and, seeing her distress, Mr Isaacs had insisted that she stayed for a meal. At first she’d hesitated, fearing that her presence would endanger Mr Isaacs, but afterwards she’d been grateful for his offer. When he offered her a bed to lie down on for a while, she accepted that too. She hadn’t realised just how tired she was.
Her old friend had lit a seven-armed candle holder and said a prayer in his own language. Although Cora didn’t understand the words, it had given her comfort. Afterwards she had slept like a baby.
Knowing that the magistrate might be looking for her in his hunt for the escaped prisoner, she had maintained her disguise as a young man. Tucking her black hair under her hat, she was able to ride out of town unchallenged.
At the nine-mile stone she hesitated. Going straight on would take her to London, turning left would take her towards Lampton Hall.
And Jack.
She still had his watch in her pocket. Jack had hinted that it had sentimental value because his cousin had given it to him – returning it would be the decent thing to do, would it not?
How do you propose to do that, my girl?
She could almost hear Ned’s voice in her head. No, indeed, how would she go about it? She could hardly ride up to the front door and announce her intention to return an item of stolen property. With his cousin on her trail, she might end up on the gallows – and Jack too perhaps, as an accomplice. She couldn’t let that happen. Perhaps if she hid among the trees in the park, she might chance upon Alethea and could ask her to give the watch to Jack.
You’re fooling yourself, she thought. The watch was merely an excuse for seeing Jack one last time, even if from a distance.
Resolutely she nudged Samson forward and took the left road. It might be dangerous, but Jack had said he would like the watch back, and if there was a way of getting it to him, she would find it.
She heard the smothered scream when she was about half a mile from the estate and reined in her horse sharply. Someone was in danger, a woman by the pitch of the scream. The wise thing to do would be turn around and get away from here, but instinct kicked in. Someone needed her help.
What if it was Alethea?
The sound came from dead ahead on the narrow lane. Trees and bushes lined both sides of it, and – conscious stealth might be best – she slipped down from Samson’s back and led him in among the bushes. Quietening him with a hand on his soft muzzle, she made her way to where the sound had come from, under cover of the dense shrubbery, and peered out through the leaves.
The scene that greeted her sent her heart racing: Jack was held at pistol point by a scruffy-looking individual, and another man had his hand clamped over Alethea’s mouth.
She ducked back behind the leaves and lay flat on the ground, lest the men should spot her. Reaching for her pistol, she wondered how best to overcome the attackers, but there were two of them, both with pistols, and although Cora was fast, she doubted she’d be able to get off another shot from her second pistol before one of them fired on her.
Just then there was a sickening crack, and Cora clapped her hand over her mouth to stifle a gasp. One of the men had hit Jack over the head with the butt of his pistol, and Jack crumpled to the ground. Helpless, she watched as the men bound his wrists and tossed him over the back of his horse. Then they bound Alethea’s hands to the pommel of her saddle and led their captives further into the forest.
Bile rose in her throat, and on shaking legs Cora followed them at a safe distance, her pistol cocked and ready.
Chapter Twenty-Five
When Jack came to, he was lying face down on the forest floor with his hands tied behind his back. Groaning with pain, he rolled on to his side and tried to sit up, then craned his neck to look for Alethea. A sharp kick in the ribs sent him sprawling, but not until he had ascertained his cousin’s whereabouts.
Alethea was sitting a few feet away from him with her back against a tree and her wrists tied in front of her. She had a defiant, mulish expression on her face but appeared to be unharmed, and Jack took heart.
I know that look, he thought with pride.
But rebellious or not, they were in a dangerous predicament. Whatever these men wanted, it wasn’t money, at least not the few guineas Jack carried in his purse. He had no notion what they truly wanted, but it didn’t bode well.
Suddenly, he was pulled up and his head was yanked back by the hair. ‘Well, well, well, look who’s awake.’ The man planted his fist right on Jack’s cheekbone; then kicked him in the stomach. Dark spots appeared before Jack’s eyes, and he feared he might pass out again, but the other man stepped in.
‘There’s to be no damage. We just keep them till the other gen’leman gets ’ere.’
‘What about the girl?’ said the one called Toby. ‘Are we allowed a bit o’ sport? The gen’leman didn’t specify nuffink about no girl.’
‘No, I’m specifyin’ it,’ said the more well-spoken of the two men.
‘That ain’t no fun, Pete.’
‘Mebbe it ain’t, but you’re getting well paid, so keep your gob shut and your hands to yourself.’
Toby glared at Pete; then, muttering profanities, he moved away and sat down on a tree stump, from where he continued to scowl at Jack.
Jack studied the two men surreptitiously. They had mentioned a third man, a gentleman, and he wondered who that could be. What could he want from him and Alethea? Were they being kidnapped for a ransom perhaps? To be sure, Lord Lampton would pay whatever sum they demanded to have his son and niece safely returned, but somehow it didn’t fit. While highway robbery was rife in these parts, abductions were rare, and they usually involved children or ladies, not grown men.
Alethea’s words came back to him. I mistrust Rupert intensely.
Could Rupert have a hand in this? He hoped not. However, thinking about who and why would do him and Alethea no good. He had to think of a way to overpower the two men before whatever reinforcements they were waiting for turned up.
And he would have to think fast because when the others arrived, Jack had a horrible feeling that it would be the end of him.
He noticed his rapier lying on the ground a few feet away, where the ruffians must have thrown it when they entered the clearing. Slowly he shuffled sideways on his backside and over a sharp stone on the ground he had spied when Toby punched him. Then he began to work at the ropes binding his wrists, ignoring the pain as the stone cut into his skin.
He had almost finished sawing through the rope when there was a rustle in the bushes, and a man appeared.
Rupert.
The betrayal was like a bodily blow. He hadn’t wanted to believe it, still couldn’t quite conceive of it, but it was clear now that Rupert must have born him ill-will all the time they grew up together. Jack wasn’t sure which was worse: knowing that Rupert had hired these men, or that he had harboured malicious thoughts for so long.
How could I be so blind, he thought? How could Alethea, eight years his junior, see what he hadn’t?
And now Rupert would be his downfall. Alethea’s too, for she was a witness to whatever happened to Jack. He had to try and reach Rupert somehow, to get him to see that whatever grievance he had with Jack, harming his own sister, an innocent bystander, would be forever on his conscience.
But even if he could be persuaded not to harm Alethea, Jack couldn’t believe that Rupert could be convinc
ed to give up his search for Cora.
‘Rupert,’ he said. ‘What’s the meaning of this? Who are these men, and what do they want with us?’
‘It isn’t they who want something from you, but I,’ Rupert replied. Ignoring Jack’s protests, he turned to Pete, who appeared to be the one in charge. ‘Good work, men. Now I must ask you to leave me alone with my … this man and the lady.’
‘Wot about our money?’ Toby grumbled.
Rupert took a purse out of his pocket and tossed it to Pete, who opened it and began to count. ‘As I promised: you’re well rewarded. You’ll find it’s all there, and more besides, as a token of my appreciation that you can keep quiet about my affairs.’
The last was spoken with the utmost civility, but there was no mistaking the undertone. Jack saw that the two men had understood perfectly.
‘Our lips are sealed,’ said Pete. ‘Toby, it’s ’igh time we was on our way.’
With one last look of loathing in Jack’s direction, Toby followed his associate, and the men were gone as stealthily as they had arrived.
Rupert turned to Jack.
‘Alone at last.’ He grinned.
‘Rupert, I demand to know what this is about.’ Hoping to buy time, Jack feigned ignorance. It was only a matter of moments before he would have sawn through the rope. If only he could stall Rupert.
Rupert tutted. ‘I never took you for a fool, Jack. It’s very simple: I’m the son of an earl and I intend to inherit my father’s title. Yes,’ he added as realisation dawned on Jack, ‘I listened in on your little tête-à-tête with your loving parents. Did you really think you could hide the truth from me?’
‘We can come to some sort of arrangement,’ said Jack. ‘You don’t have to do this.’
‘What, pray, could we arrange? I find it very hard to believe that you would give up your birth right. You must die. You can see that, can’t you?’
Rupert sounded almost reasonable, as if he were merely debating the pros and cons of planting wheat, but his eyes glittered with the dangerous sheen of a madman.
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