To Release an Earl

by Ilene Withers

  The sounds of movement came surprisingly early for a member of the ton. John got up at the first sounds and was alert within minutes. He craved a cup of coffee, but skipped it. Instead, he cracked open his room door a small amount and then leaned against the wall where he could tell if she or anyone left the room.

  Patience paid off. Lady Norton left her room alone dressed in a cape and bonnet. He let her get a head start, and he left his room when she was halfway down the stairs. Exiting the hotel, he saw her go down the walkway to his left. John followed her, dodging into doorways whenever she paused. Twice she looked back, and he prayed that she had not seen him. She stepped into the doorway of a dark and shadowy stable. That was when he saw Jenkins. Lady Norton and Jenkins were in hushed conversation. Upset that he couldn't get close enough to hear the words, John crouched below a fence just in time for her to pass him when Lady Norton whirled and rushed out of the stables. He thought about following, but then he made the decision to stay with Jenkins. Soon, he decided he had made the right choice when Jenkins led a horse out of the stables, mounted him in front of the building, and then rode away the same direction John had ridden in from.

  John ran to the stables where his horse was, thankful he had paid the man the night before and asked he leave the horse saddled. He swung up on his own horse and followed Jenkins. It took some hard riding to keep Jenkins in his sight. In fact, there were several times he thought he had lost him, but then eventually he would catch up with him again. They were halfway between Hedgewater and Leedsville and John's horse was slowing. Indeed, John had ridden the beast hard, too hard. Ahead was a curve, and John knew that past it was a bridge which crossed a good sized stream. Pushing his horse more, he knew Willa must be alive. If they had killed her, there would be no reason for any association between Jenkins and Lady Norton, nor would Jenkins have ridden off as though he were on a mission.

  As John rounded the curve, he saw no sign of Jenkins. There were no distinct hoof prints, no dust rising from the road. It was as though the man had simply disappeared. John reined in his horse and looked up and down the stream. The bridge had no railing, but there were a few places where a man on a horse could have ridden around and into the stream. He dismounted, searching for tracks. There was nothing. John's heart sank, and a cold despair set into his soul. He had lost the man. What if he was on his way to kill Willa?

  ****

  It was full daylight, and Willa was working on loosening the stake. She had slept a bit, fitfully of course, but still she had gotten some rest. The tingling had completely left her legs, and she could move them. They were weak, and she wasn't sure she would be able to stand, but she thought she could crawl, and that might be enough. As she lay there moving the stake to and fro, side to side, she suddenly heard noises that were different from the normal sounds of the woods. All she had previously been able to hear had been birds and the scurrying associated with small animals. In fact, one time she had seen a rabbit hop by the opening.

  She continued to work on the stake, but otherwise lay silently, listening. She didn't know whether to try to scream to draw attention to herself or to be silent and play dead in case Jenkins or someone else came to kill her. In the end, she decided to scream. If it was someone who meant her harm, that person already knew where she was. It made more sense to let her presence be known in case it was a rescuer.

  The gag made it hard, if not impossible, to scream, but she worked up everything she had and let it go. What emerged was a form of a scream, not loud, but in the quiet of the woods it might be enough to be heard.

  Suddenly, the dirt began to disappear from the edge of the hole, revealing a shovel and a pair of boots. A man's boots. She didn't think the person was there to help her, or surely he would have stuck a head in to say something like "Hello, stay calm, we'll get you out soon." Instead, there was nothing except for the shoveling which caused dirt to skitter down and land on her. She worked on the stake more frantically.

  The shoveling stopped. Jenkins' face appeared in the opening. "Why, hello there, Miss Dutton," he said with an evil sneer to his voice. "I thought you might like to know your fiancé has been out searching for you."

  Willa lay still.

  "Too bad you'll be dead by the time he finds you. The boss lady, she says I have to kill you."

  Willa had to know who it was. She tried to say "who?" but the sound came out more like the hoot of an owl.

  "Who is the boss lady? Is that what you want to know? I guess it won't hurt to say. After all, dead folks can't talk, so who would you tell?"

  Lady Regina Norton, he told her. Willa realized Lady Norton was insane, just like her brother. She had to be. Willa watched as Jenkins reached into the hole with a sharp knife aimed toward her neck. "I gotta slit your throat, luv. A bullet would be more humane-like, but it would make too much noise, and I don't intend to hang for your death."

  Willa squirmed and jerked her hands up as hard as she could. The stake came out of the ground with a force she had not expected. She brought it down across his arms. He dropped the knife and howled in pain. She raised the stake again and brought it down on his head as hard as she could. His body slumped immediately. Not knowing whether or not she had killed him, and certainly not caring, Willa took a deep breath and then began her escape.

  It was a struggle, to be sure. Her legs were weak, and her hands shackled. Not taking the time to remove the gag, Willa pounded the stake into the ground at the edge of the hole and pulled with all her might until her weak legs were bent beneath her. Pushing the limp body of her attacker aside, she moved the stake and jabbed it into the ground a bit ahead. Then she pulled once again. A foot at a time, she managed to drag herself out of the hole. Sparing not a glance for Jenkins, she got up on her knees in much the same way an infant first crawls, and she started her trip to safety. Willa jabbed the stake into the ground, pulling herself with her arms while pushing her knees forward. Then she started all over again. She was on her way to her love.

  Chapter Nineteen

  John rode onto the Amhearst estate in the most dejected mood he had ever experienced. As soon as he reached the door, a groom ran from the stable and took his horse's reins to allow John to dismount. "Take good care of him," John requested. "He's exhausted from a hard ride." He patted his horse on the neck and walked to the door, where he was met by Yale and Noel. Without asking, he could see the questions in their eyes, and with anguish in his voice, he said, "I had Jenkins. I was following him until the big curve between the village and Hedgewater. My horse was getting tired and I could barely keep up. I lost him there. It's like he just disappeared on the bridge. There weren't any prints going down into the stream. I don't know if he got so far ahead of me I lost him or what."

  Yale set his hand on his shoulder. "You did what you could, and you know more than we were able to learn. We haven't found or heard anything."

  "It's Lady Regina Norton," John told them, looking up specifically at Noel. "She was in Stonybridge at a hotel. It was the same place I stayed, and I followed her the next morning to a run-down stable where she met with Jenkins. I could only follow one of them, and I believe she was going back to the hotel, so I chose to follow Jenkins instead."

  "It was the right choice," Noel said. "I wonder why Lady Norton is trying to kill Willa."

  "I don't know. It doesn't make much sense except she told me that if I were free there would be any number of women willing to marry me. Then she reminded me how our fathers had wanted us to marry at one time."

  Yale looked at him in bewilderment. After a moment he continued. "You need to rest, son. You're practically weaving on your feet."

  It was at that moment young Jem, the tack boy, ran up to them. "I heard a horse in the woods," he said breathless and excited. "I was out to check the feed in the north paddock and I heard a horse neigh. Ain't nobody goes out there, but Miss Willa and Brooks on their rides."

  All three men looked up sharply. "Saddle Pirate for me, will you, Jem? My horse is worn ou
t." John asked. Yale and Noel almost simultaneously said, "And have our horses saddled as well."

  Abbott had been loitering in the doorway. Yale turned to him. "Tell Edward to stay with the women and that we're going out again.

  Not more than a quarter hour later, the three armed men and a handful of grooms, including young Jem, rode toward the woods.

  ****

  Willa looked over her shoulder at the progress she had made. She sighed. This was slow going. Her knees ached; she knew they were bloody and injured. Her hands had blisters on them from the stake, yet she continued to slam it into the ground. Each time she drug herself forward, her arm muscles screamed in pain, and her leg muscles were so tired and weak they quivered.

  She had gotten the gag off her mouth. Unable to loosen the knot, she had simply pulled it down around her neck. Willa's stomach growled in hunger, and she was so thirsty she had actually tried licking some dampness off the grass in a shaded area. Maybe in another hour she could scream for help. At this point, it would be wasted breath as she wasn't close enough to the estate to be heard. Her mouth was so dry she didn't believe she should waste her screams, for she was sure they were limited without water.

  Then she heard it – a thrashing through the undergrowth of the woods. She had opened her mouth to scream when she heard a feminine voice softly call. "Jenkins, where are you? Did you kill her yet?"

  The voice sounded familiar to Willa. It wasn't Nancy, however, and Willa looked around frantically for a place to hide. She had just located a bush and was crawling toward it when Lady Regina Norton on a horse broke into the clearing.

  "Why, there you are, Miss Dutton. Where is Jenkins?"

  The woman was brandishing a gun and slid rather awkwardly off her horse, dropping the reins to the ground. Willa screamed. She had no time to waste, for there was a crazed look in Lady Norton's eyes.

  "I killed Jenkins," she announced baldly, her voice hoarse, although she couldn't be sure she had and would just as soon let the court system deal with him.

  "I should have known better than to hire him. Both he and that nurse were worthless. You should be dead many times over by now."

  "Why?" Willa asked, sure she probably would die and wanting to know the reason for Lady Norton’s actions.

  "You're engaged to the earl and about to marry. I can't let that happen. I want to marry him."

  Willa laughed. "He wouldn't marry you if you were the last woman on earth. You're ruined, rude, and demented. Even if you kill me, even if John marries, it would be to someone else and not to you."

  "But I hate Yorkshire. I hate my life."

  "You should have thought about that a while ago." Then Willa realized she was not offering the other woman any hope and that would definitely get her killed. "It's not too late. You can change your life, improve your reputation, and become a better person."

  "Ha. That is never going to happen. Society no longer accepts me, my father doesn't even care about me. He hasn't come to visit and I haven't seen him in months."

  "He's your father, and he surely loves you." Keep her talking, Willa thought. Hopefully, she was close enough to the estate for her scream to have been heard. People would be looking for her, of that she was sure. John would be searching for her around the clock.

  "My father only loved my wastrel of a brother, and since the Duke killed him, he cares about nothing other than the bottle. For that matter, he hasn't cared about anything else for a long time."

  "How sad," Willa commented, and then as Lady Norton raised the gun, Willa screamed again and began to crawl away. The madwoman could shoot her, but Willa decided it would be in the back. She would not sit still to die.

  ****

  A scream resounded through the air, and John, waiting for no one to follow him, nudged Pirate in the flank. That horse needed no further urging. John would swear he knew his owner's scream, for he suddenly started pounding through the woods, leaping over fallen logs and undergrowth. John was an excellent rider, and it was all he could do to stay atop the beast. He was aware that they were leaving the others behind.

  The horse's hooves rose into the air again, although John was sure they had barely touched the ground since Willa had screamed. He clung to the saddle as Pirate soared over a tall bush and landed gracefully in a clearing where the scene almost caused John's heart to stop. Willa was crawling, her wrists shackled to a stake she was using to pound into the ground and pull herself along. Lady Regina Norton stood with a gun aimed at the back of Willa’s head. Only his fiancée’s strange bobbing movement kept her from being in the site of the gun.

  Pirate reared and lost John. Never in his life had he been dumped onto the ground on his back. He saw the stallion pawing at the air, and a whinny that sounded like a call of war emitted from his lungs. Lady Norton was within feet of the horse and his pawing hooves. The woman raised the gun to shoot Pirate, and Willa screamed, "No."

  John, feeling completely helpless, scrambled up to run to Willa, keeping his eye on Lady Norton. And then it happened. Pirate started to drop to the ground, but one hoof made contact with the top of Lady Regina's head. The woman crumpled to the ground. John dropped down next to Willa and scooped her up. Tears slid down his face. "I love you, Willa. Sweetheart, I love you so much." His voice was choked with emotion. He clutched her to his chest and rocked her back and forth then raised a hand to gently stroke around the edges of her mouth, where the gag had chaffed her tender skin.

  The others broke into the clearing. Yale leaped from his horse and ran to Willa and John, dropping down to pull the two of them into a hug. "You're safe," he uttered. "Thank God you're safe."

  Noel walked over to Lady Norton's quiet form and squatted next to her, laying his fingers on the side of her neck. "She's gone," he announced.

  Willa struggled to sit up and look over. "Pirate killed her." Then she looked at John and her father. "You might like to know, I can move my legs!"

  "I saw that," John replied. "You can crawl."

  "Yes, they're weak, but I will walk down the aisle at our wedding. Now, please take me home. I need a cup of tea."

  John chuckled, the relief of finding his love alive causing it to burst forth more heartily than he would have expected. He stood up and scooped her into his arms, whistling at Pirate who immediately pranced to their sides.

  Willa had snuggled up against his chest but now lifted her head to look at them. She pointed toward the east. "Back in there a ways is a little copse. Inside of it is a fallen log. I was held in a hole under the log, and that is where Jenkins' body is. I hit him over the head with the stake, and I don't know if he's dead or alive."

  Noel looked at John and Yale. "Why don't the two of you take Willa home? The men and I will take care of things here."

  ****

  Willa's homecoming would be remembered by everyone for years to come and whispered about by servants below stairs for just as long. When Yale and John rode in astride the horses, Willa was clutched firmly to John's chest as though he would never let her go. The household heard the news via Abbott, who forgot his butler's manners with a hearty yell which carried through the house. "She's alive, and she's home!"

  Footmen emerged from the inner rooms of the house and hurried down to assist. Morton wiped at his eyes as he rushed to Pirate's side, "Here, my lord, I'll take her." He held out his arms and took Willa into his as John reluctantly handed her down. Other footmen took the horse's reins as the grooms were still out at the scene of the crime.

  "We'll take the horses over to the stable, my lords," one said. "I think two of the older stable hands are still here."

  John would have reached for Willa again, but she stopped him. "Morton, please set me on my feet. I think I can walk with your support. At least I would like to try."

  The women and Edward had appeared on the step. "You can walk again, Willa?" her mother exclaimed as she lifted her skirts and ran to her daughter's side.

  "I think so," Willa said from within an embrace. "My legs are weak, t
hough."

  Morton gently set her on the ground but didn't release her. Willa's knees began to fold, but then she caught herself and rose back up to stand.

  John slipped to Willa's side and slid his arm boldly around her waist. He smiled down at her. "Do you want to try to walk?"

  "Yes," she said.

  Then, as Yale took Morton's place on her other side, he said to Morton, "Run out and get Dawson for us, Morton. We need to get these manacles and chains off Miss Willa.

  Needing no other instruction, the young footman hurried away.

  Willa took a deep breath and determinedly moved one foot in front of the other. Her legs were shaky, but they held her up. She laughed with pure joy. "If you can give me a day or two, John, I will walk down the aisle to you at our wedding. Of course, it's a good thing the village church is small,” she said with a laugh.

  John pulled her gently closer to him and kissed her despite her father standing next to them. The viscount discreetly averted his eyes. Clapping erupted in front of the house and when they looked up, all of the servants and family were applauding.

  By the time she had taken the dozen steps to the house, Willa was exhausted. "I believe I will let you carry me in, John. Or are you too tired?"

  "I will never be too tired for that," he replied. "Although I suspect I look pretty haggard." He swung her up into his arms and asked, "Where to?"

  "The parlour until I get these chains off. I want a cup of tea and something to eat."

  Abbott looked at a footman and said, "Tea for Miss Willa. And tell Cook to make it fast." Then the man hurried ahead to open the door to the parlour, fluffing the cushions on the settee. As John set Willa down on it, stretching her legs out, the butler fussed over her, adjusting the pillows more for her comfort.