I have to find her, for everyone’s sake. No, that’s a lie – I want to find her for myself. Ianthe’s disappearance had made him realise just how precious she was to him. If anything happened to her, he would never forgive himself. Having found her, how could he live without her?
It dawned on him that he loved her deeply, and this time it wasn’t calf love, like his feelings for Elizabeth; it was the true and abiding kind. ‘We must find her,’ he muttered.
Melmoth nodded. ‘Don’t worry, my lord, we will.’
Jason wished he could be as certain.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Ianthe leaned her head back against the hard wall of the little fisherman’s hut Gervaise had taken her to and tried to come up with a plan of escape, but nothing came to mind. There were ten men sitting around looking bored, but every time she moved so much as a muscle, at least one of them turned to look at her. It was impossible.
She’d never been to this part of the coast before, and it had been quite a trek from the house, especially in flimsy slippers. Her feet ached now, but in the scheme of things it was a minor discomfort. The old hut was near a cove, similar to the one where the cave was, but smaller, and Ianthe could hear the waves caressing the shore below. The noise was soothing, but she still felt on edge.
Gervaise had gone out, soon after their arrival, telling the men not to touch so much as a hair on her head. ‘She’s mine, understand?’ Everyone nodded in sullen agreement. It would seem that no one argued with Gervaise and Ianthe could only be thankful for it.
She had no idea how long she sat there waiting, but at last Gervaise came back, seemingly in a good mood. ‘All well?’ he asked the leader of the men, the Frenchman Ianthe had had the misfortune to run into the day before.
‘Oui, tout va bien.’
‘Excellent. Shouldn’t be too long now. I’m expecting the ship just after nightfall.’ Another man came staggering into the hut, laden with two sacks, and Gervaise turned to indicate him. ‘We’ve brought some victuals from the inn. Tuck in, everyone. You’ll need your strength later.’
He helped himself to some bread and cheese out of one of the sacks and brought some over to Ianthe. ‘Hungry?’ he asked, but she turned her head away.
‘No, thank you.’
‘Still sulking, are we?’ He laughed. ‘You’ll soon get over it. Once we’re in France, I expect you’ll change your tune. By then you’ll have realised you have to be nice to me unless you want that lot,’ he indicated the others with a nod in their direction, ‘to enjoy your favours.’
Ianthe shuddered at the thought, but kept her gaze resolutely turned away and her mouth shut. There seemed no point in arguing with him. She simply had to find a way to escape. The alternative didn’t bear thinking about.
‘Suit yourself,’ he muttered and walked away again to join his men, who were now passing round a keg of ale.
Ianthe closed her eyes and waited.
The dogs carried on at the same breakneck pace and Jason had to pull hard on the leads to stop them several times so Melmoth and the others could keep up. The butler was rather red in the face, but he continued to refuse to be left behind, so after short breaks, they continued on.
‘You don’t think they’re just looking for rabbits?’ Melmoth wheezed at one point, but Jason shook his head.
‘No, if they were, they’d all be off in different directions like they normally are. It looks to me like they’re following the same trail this time. Seems we’re heading for the coast at the very edge of Wyckeham land.’
‘The old cove, do you think?’ Melmoth said.
‘Possibly. Perhaps I ought to go on alone, just in case? The dogs might bark otherwise and alert people to our presence. If Ianthe is being held against her will, it would be much better to surprise her captors.’
‘Yes, but take Lynch with you, my lord. You shouldn’t go alone. And young Jackson too perhaps.’
Lynch was the brawniest looking of the two footmen, and Jackson, although young, looked as if he could handle himself in a fight nonetheless. Jason nodded. ‘Very well. You stay here with the dogs then, Melmoth.’
Jason hardly ever came to this part of his estate as there was nothing there apart from an old path running along the top of the cliffs, but he knew every inch of it just the same. ‘There is a small thicket of trees and bushes not too far from the cove,’ he said to the two men, as they continued on together. ‘We should be able to reach it without being seen by anyone, but after that we’ll need to be cautious.’
They hurried along and were soon enveloped in the welcome cover of leaves and other foliage. The trees here had been planted as a windbreak and Jason was thankful for that now, since it gave them the opportunity to observe any comings and goings to the cove without being seen themselves.
‘Let’s lie down here for a while. Keep your eyes and ears open, men.’
They dropped to the ground and waited. Over to their right was an old fisherman’s hut which was so dilapidated, no one lived in it any longer. Jason had been meaning to have it knocked down, but had forgotten about it. It looked even worse than last time he’d seen it, but he supposed it could afford shelter of sorts for someone. This soon proved to be the case when two men came out of the door, one obviously giving orders to the other. Their voices were perfectly audible, carried on the wind, and although they were speaking French, Jason had no trouble understanding them. He’d had a French grandmother who refused to speak to him in English, thus unwittingly doing him a favour.
‘We leave as soon as the tide turns,’ the larger of the two men said. ‘We should be safe enough here until then, but be on your guard. I don’t want any mistakes now, is that clear? You know what you have to do?’
There was a murmur of consent.
‘Good. We won’t bring the woman until the last minute. Don’t want any trouble with her high-and-mightiness and after yesterday, I’m not taking any chances. My eyes are still sore. Monsieur Warwycke said we can’t touch her, anyway. He wants her for himself, but not until we get there and he has more time for such sport.’ The man spat on the ground. ‘He is welcome to her, the bitch. I’ll have her when he’s tamed her. Now, let’s go down to the cove.’
Jason waited until they had disappeared, then signalled for the others to withdraw further into the thicket for a moment.
‘Aren’t we staying to see if her ladyship is in the hut?’ Lynch looked confused.
‘She is,’ Jason replied. ‘They must be smugglers and it would seem my relative is involved with them, damn him.’
‘Is that what they said?’
‘Among other things. The most important part was that they’re leaving with the tide, which won’t be until after dark, so we have some time to arrange a little surprise for them. Have either of you got the strength to run to the excise man’s house in the next village?’
‘I can, my lord,’ Jackson volunteered. ‘I can go further than that if you need me to.’
‘No, that will be enough. Just tell him what I just told you. He’ll need to gather his men and head for the cove by sea, but his boats mustn’t be seen until Gervaise’s ship has entered the little bay, understand? It will be dark by then, so it shouldn’t be too difficult for them to hide nearby. Lynch and I will stay here to make sure they don’t take my wife anywhere else in the meantime. Hurry now, please.’
‘Very good, my lord.’
Jason thought for a moment about what he had overheard. He was sure Ianthe was in the hut, but although his first impulse had been to rush in and free her, he had no idea how many men were in there with her. It would be foolish in the extreme to attempt a rescue mission without knowing the odds. It would seem she was safe for now and he could only hope she would remain so. He needed backup and he needed it fast.
‘Lynch, could you just run back to Melmoth and tell him what we’re doing? Ask him to go back to the Hall and send some more men over here as well, please. The more, the better.’
‘Will do, my lord.’
Jason returned to keep a lookout, praying like he had never prayed before, for his wife to be safe.
As soon as darkness fell, Gervaise and his men began to prepare themselves for the journey. The goods they were taking with them were stacked in piles near the door of the hut, and the moment the signal came from the ship outside, they lined up to each carry their share. It seemed to Ianthe they got the job done incredibly quickly, but then she supposed they didn’t want to hang around in case they were caught. One man was left to guard her, so there was still no opportunity for escape.
Soon, the little dwelling was empty and Gervaise returned for her. He pulled her up and tugged her towards the path down to the cove. She was grateful he hadn’t thought it necessary to tie her up, and wondered if there would be any chance to flee now. She was a reasonably good swimmer, and jumping overboard seemed like a good alternative to going anywhere with Gervaise.
Unfortunately, it was as if he could read her mind, because he produced a length of rope and proceeded to bind her hands in front of her when they reached the tiny beach. ‘Just a precaution,’ he smirked. ‘Don’t want you to get any ideas.’
‘You’re despicable,’ she muttered, testing her bonds to see whether there was any give, but sadly she found they didn’t budge an inch.
‘So you keep telling me.’ He chuckled. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t hold it against you once you give in to me.’
‘I will never do that voluntarily,’ she vowed, but infuriatingly, he just chuckled some more and led her towards the waiting row boat.
Only half of Gervaise’s men were still on the beach when the attack came and pandemonium broke out all around them. Gervaise swore and yanked Ianthe in front of him as a human shield, even though she struggled to escape his grip, kicking and biting him as best she could. The knife appeared in his hand as before and he continued to try to pull her in the direction of the row boat, but she dug in her heels to delay their departure.
There were sounds of fighting all around them and grunts of pain, as well as the odd scream to indicate serious injury, but to Ianthe’s dismay, Jason was prevented from coming straight to her side by the large Frenchman she had bested the day before. A brief struggle ensued, but when Lynch came to his master’s aid, they soon had the Frenchman sprawled on the shingle.
‘Give up, Gervaise, you’re outnumbered,’ Jason shouted over the din, but to Ianthe’s horror, the man behind her only laughed.
‘If you come even a step closer, she dies, cousin,’ he drawled, holding his knife against Ianthe’s throat. It glinted in the faint moonlight. ‘I mean it. I’ve killed one of your wives already, it won’t bother me to dispatch this one to hell as well.’
‘You son of a—’
‘Call your men off now, do you hear? We’re leaving.’
Reluctantly, Jason did as he was bid and the fighting ceased.
‘Don’t think you’ll get away with this, Gervaise. I’ll find you, if it’s the last thing I do,’ Jason threatened, but Gervaise ignored his cousin and bundled Ianthe into the boat. His men, those who were still standing, scrambled in after them.
Ianthe blinked away tears as she watched Jason and the shore recede into the distance while two oarsmen quickly sculled them out to a larger ship which was waiting in the narrow bay that presumably belonged to Wyckeham Hall. Ianthe was forced to climb a rope ladder, while Gervaise pushed from below, obviously relishing this task judging by his continued laughter. At last, she made it on to the deck, and walked quickly to one side, wondering whether she could swim with her hands tied. It might be possible, but if her dress dragged her down, she would be unable to remove it and she might drown. She swore inwardly.
‘Come, I’ll take you to the cabin,’ Gervaise said, and they began to move towards the back of the ship. There were no lanterns to guide them. Ianthe assumed this was because they didn’t want to be seen by any revenue cutters. She stumbled several times on huge coils of rope and other sailing paraphernalia on deck, but Gervaise hung on to her arm to steady her.
Just as they reached what she thought must be the opening to the cabins, a shot rang out, however, and there was suddenly light coming from the mouth of the bay. ‘What the …? Damn!’ Gervaise pulled her quickly against him, and brought the knife out of his pocket yet again. Ianthe drew in a hasty breath.
‘What do we do, sir?’
‘It’s the excise men!’
There were shouts coming from all directions and Ianthe heard several splashes as some of the men obviously thought it better to escape than to stay and face the law. Gervaise, however, stood his ground, hanging on to Ianthe for dear life.
‘Don’t panic!’ he shouted to his men. ‘We have something to bargain with.’ And he pushed and pulled Ianthe towards the railing of the ship so that she could be seen by anyone approaching. As soon as one of the two cutters came alongside them, Gervaise called over to them. ‘Let us be on our way or Lady Wyckeham will die. I mean it.’
Ianthe squinted against the light coming from the other ship and couldn’t make out how many men it was carrying, nor any other detail, but she recognised the voice that came echoing back across the water instantly.
‘If you touch so much as a hair on her head, you’re the one who is going to die, Gervaise.’
‘Jason.’ Ianthe couldn’t believe it. How had her husband managed to get on board the revenue cutter so quickly? She could only assume there had been another row boat nearby waiting to take him to the ship.
‘I’m here, my love. Stay calm.’
‘How very touching, to be sure,’ Gervaise drawled. ‘But in case you hadn’t noticed, I still have a very lethal knife here and unless you allow us to leave this bay, you will be a widower again, dear cousin, as I said. What do you think the ton will make of that, eh?’
‘And you’ll be a dead man soon after,’ Jason threatened, but Gervaise merely laughed.
‘Admit it. You want me to kill this wife for you as well. Tired of her already, are you? Your infatuations never last long.’
‘Why, you whoreson, I’ll …’
There came the sound of a scuffle, and one of the excise men began to speak instead. ‘You are surrounded and you cannot possibly hope to gain any advantage by killing a lady. Give her up and let us come to some agreement. I’m coming aboard.’
‘No, absolutely not! We are leaving now and if you try to stop us, Lady Wyckeham dies. That’s all there is to it.’
Ianthe felt her last hope of rescue fade away, but then she realised that if Jason and the others couldn’t help her, then it was up to her to do something. Now they were so close, surely they would be able to save her from drowning if she tried to swim for it? She decided she had nothing to lose by trying. If she stayed, she would die anyway, or suffer a fate worse than death.
Taking Gervaise by surprise, she turned suddenly and headbutted him square on the nose, exactly the way her brothers had taught her in the manner of the famous pugilists they admired so. There was a satisfyingly crunching noise and a yelp of agony from Gervaise, who let go of Ianthe for a moment to clutch his nose. Her forehead hurt too, but she ignored this and scrambled over the railing in a flash. As she jumped, she shouted loudly, ‘Get me out of the water, Jason, now!’
In the next instant, the freezing cold sea closed over her head and she went rigid with shock before she remembered she needed to kick out hard in order to return to the surface. It seemed an age before she emerged, coughing and spluttering, but by then she was able to move properly again and she began to swim with a sort of doggy paddle motion. Her skirts were heavy, and the spencer didn’t help either, but with a lot of effort she managed to stay afloat.
‘Ianthe? Where are you?’
She heard Jason, and called out. ‘Over here. Hurry, please!’ She was tiring fast and the water seemed intent on dragging her down.
Just when she thought she would be unable to keep afloat for a moment longer, a row boat came into view and hands stretched down to pull her out of
the sea. Someone wrapped her in a rough blanket, and then she was in Jason’s arms.
‘Ianthe, my love, are you all right? Did he hurt you?’
‘N-no, I’m f-fine.’ She was shivering uncontrollably and her teeth were chattering so much it was difficult to speak. ‘Th-thank you for coming to m-my rescue.’
‘You did it all yourself. I was at my wit’s end. That was very brave of you, if a bit foolhardy perhaps, but I’m not complaining.’
He was holding her tight, stroking her back and kissing her temple, her cheek, her nose. She turned her face up and received a proper kiss, an infinitely more satisfying one which seemed to go on forever. She returned it measure for measure. This warmed her right down to her toes and the shivering lessened.
‘I couldn’t have jumped without knowing you were there, though. I knew my skirts were too heavy so I would never have made it to shore. I thought about it earlier, but decided I couldn’t risk it.’
‘No, I realise that. Well, the main thing is that you are safe.’
The sound of gunfire could now be heard from all around them and Ianthe tried to peer through the darkness. ‘What is happening?’
‘I think Gervaise and his men will find themselves either captive or shot very soon,’ Jason said grimly. ‘Now you are no longer on board, the excise men are able to attack without fear of hurting you. Don’t think about it any more, we must get you home and into a hot bath. Being frozen twice in as many days cannot be good for you.’
She snuggled up to him, not feeling particularly cold at the moment. ‘I’ll be all right,’ she murmured.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Some time later, she was back in her bed, bathed and warmed both by blankets and by a medicinal glass of brandy. Jason came in and dismissed the maids, seating himself on the edge of her bed once more.
Regency Romance Collection From Christina Courtenay Page 20