by Lydia Dare
“Can I ask your opinion, Hadley?” Lucy asked.
Wes groaned. “What is it, Luce?”
She batted her eyes coquettishly at him. “Don’t you think a man should want to buy me a nice little cottage and take care of me?”
Wes shook his head. “I am not getting dragged into your situation with Dove. Work it out between yourselves.”
Her expression turned mutinous. “I should have known you’d take his side.”
“Oh, for the love of God. The only person whose side I’m on is my own… and Maddie’s. I have no desire to entangle myself in your mess. But…” An image of Dovenby sniffing Lucy that morning flashed in his mind. “If some Scotsman kept you warm last night, you’d better reconsider any attempt at making Dove jealous. He’s not one to mess with.”
“A Scotsman?” Lucy turned up her nose. “I highly doubt there’s a man in all of Scotland who could afford me.”
That might be the truest thing she’d ever said. Just as they entered the inn’s taproom, a blast of oranges assaulted Wes’ senses. He coughed and his eyes began to water. That ostrich-feather woman must have already come down for breakfast. He coughed again. Citrus scents should be used sparingly. Did the woman not have the sense of smell?
“You all right?” Lucy asked and smacked his back in a feeble attempt to help.
“Fine,” he bit out. Then he noticed the innkeeper in the far corner of the room. “Morning,” Wes called to the elderly man.
The innkeeper smiled and nodded in Wes’ direction. “Mornin’ ta ye, too, sir.”
“Did Lord Dovenby order a bath for my wife?”
The man shook his head. “Nay. I havena seen his lordship this mornin’.”
Wes heaved an irritated sigh. How nice of Dovenby to follow through on his promise. “Well, then will you send one up? I’m certain she’d like to refresh herself before we start home this morning.”
“Of course, sir.”
Wes bounded up the steps with Maddie’s packages in his arms. He could hardly wait to see her. It had only been a few hours, but he found himself quite impatient to draw her back into his arms and shower her with kisses and caresses and…
He tossed open their door to find the room completely empty. “Maddie!” he called.
But there was no sign of her anywhere. Wes stormed out of the room and down the corridor. Where on earth could she be? Certainly, she wouldn’t venture out on her own. He stopped and sniffed for her, but the only scent he could smell was that of the oranges the plumed lady had decided to douse herself in. He rubbed at his nose as he reentered the taproom. The innkeeper was still nowhere to be seen.
Wes nearly jumped sky high when a voice from the other end of the room boomed at him.“Well, what a surprise to find you here of all places.”
Wes spun to face the voice so very much like his own. His twin brother, Grayson, sat in a chair that leaned precariously on two legs as he wiggled his booted feet on the surface of the table. “What are you doing here?” Wes took a step toward his brother.
“Saving your mangy hide,” his twin replied as he slowly lowered his feet and sat up. He shook his head slowly at Wes. “Dash is beyond furious. How could you do it?”
“I don’t have time for you right now,” Wes said absently. He had to find Maddie. She couldn’t have wandered far. But for some reason, the hair on the back of his neck was standing at attention. Something was wrong.
Grayson shot to his feet. “What’s the matter?” He was beside Wes in the blink of an eye.
They’d always shared a bond, despite the fact that they argued like children, even as adults. Of course, Grayson would know something was amiss. Lucy Reed chose that moment to walk back into the taproom. “You haven’t seen Dove anywhere, have you?” she asked. She pointed toward the stairs. “I went to go and thank him for my ribbons, but his room is empty and all his things are gone.”
All his things were gone? “What things?”
“He bought a few essentials last night after you and Her Highness went off to fornicate,” Lucy said. “But they’re all gone.” She looked a little bewildered.
“You went off to fornicate?” Gray muttered beneath his breath.
“Shut up, Gray,” Wes growled. This was certainly not the time.
“Hi, Lucy,” his brother said. Gray’s gaze swept appreciatively down her form. “Nice to see you again.” His brother’s eyes twinkled with mirth. Or was it appreciation? Wes couldn’t tell and he honestly didn’t have time to worry about it.
“So nice to see you, Mr. Hadley,” Lucy chirped, instantly enthralled by his brother’s appraisal. It didn’t take much to light Lucy Reed’s fire.
Wes glanced at them both and rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you two get a room?”
“Fine by me,” Grayson stated as he stepped toward Lucy.
But Wes caught his shoulder. “How long have you been here?”
“Just arrived a moment ago,” his brother said. “Why?”
“Maddie’s gone.” Where on earth could she be?
“And Dovenby’s gone, too.” Lucy pouted.
Wes didn’t give a damn about Dovenby. The man could go hang for all Wes cared.
“How did you end up traveling with Dovenby, Lucy, and Madeline Hayburn, for Christ’s sake?” Gray asked.
“Hadley,” Lucy broke in.
“Yes, love?” Gray responded.
Wes chucked him on the shoulder. “She wasn’t calling your name, idiot.”
Lucy looked supremely smug as she said, “Lady Madeline Hayburn is now Lady Madeline Hadley.”
Gray choked out, “Since when?”
“Since yesterday,” Lucy informed him.
Wes stepped to the door to look outside. A few coaches were milling about as the coachmen readied themselves for impending journeys. In fact, Renshaw should be out there doing the same. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong.
Gray jerked Wes from his reverie. “You married Lady Madeline?”
“He did,” Lucy continued, as though Wes wasn’t even in the room. “Then he had his wicked way with her and now she appears to have vanished. And so has Dovenby.”
“Sweetheart, you can do so much better than Dovenby,” Grayson said slowly as he stepped toward Lucy again.
“Put it back in your pants, Gray. Something is wrong.”
Grayson sighed heavily. Then he gave Wes his full attention. Finally. “Very well. Start at the beginning,” he said.
With Lucy Reed around, he couldn’t very well tell Gray about how Maddie had caught him shifting into wolf form. “Excuse us, will you, Lucy?” he asked. Then he led his brother up the stairs and into his and Maddie’s room.
Gray whistled as soon as he crossed the threshold. “Someone’s marriage was consummated,” he said as he sniffed the air. “More than once.”
Wes shot him a look.
Gray held up his hands as though in surrender. “Sorry, do tell.”
“You remember I went to Castle Hythe the night of the full moon?” Wes started. Hopefully, he could make this short.
“I remember you bolting from Eynsford Park after Dash made his decree that Lady Sophia should tutor us.” He smirked. “I think she may have bitten off more than she can chew with Archer, by the way.”
That was the last thing that concerned Wes at the moment. “Anyway, Lavendon partnered with me in whist. And I ended up staying longer than I should have.”
“Lavendon?” Grayson scoffed. “I’d wager he’s just the start of your troubles.”
“Finally, a bet you’d win,” Wes said sarcastically. Then he inhaled deeply to calm himself. “Our cards were great and we kept winning. I couldn’t just abandon him.”
Gray’s brow raised in surprise. “Heaven forbid you abandon Lavendon.”
“I should have,” Wes agreed. “Chilcombe didn’t take the fleecing well.”
“What a surprise,” Gray remarked drolly. “What did he do?”
“Well, I was on my way to the forest, and
Chilcombe came after me.” Thinking back on it, Wes could have done so many things differently. With a better outcome. Although Maddie was the best bit of luck he’d ever stumbled across.
“Man never did know how to lose graciously.”
“I’d waited much too long,” Wes began hesitantly.
“We’ve already established that.” Gray picked at a loose string on his trousers.
“And I ended up knocking Chilcombe in the nose. He went down like a stone.”
“Soft chin, that man,” Gray said with a whimsical sigh.
“I had to hide the body.”
“Of course, you did. Where’d you put him?”
“Hythe’s stables.”
Gray nodded as though he would have done the same thing.
“There was a storm brewing,” Wes continued, “and no one was about, or so I thought. I didn’t smell her rosewater until it was too late.”
“Lady Madeline caught you hiding Chilcombe’s inert body?”
Wes winced as he continued. “Then she saw me change under the full moon. I couldn’t stop it. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And so was I.”
Gray shot to his feet. “You let Lady Madeline see your wolf?” he cried.
“Would you shut up?” Wes hissed at him.
“I can’t believe you did something so stupid.” Gray shook his head. “Dash is going to rip your tail off when we get home.” He thought it over a minute. “So that’s why you took off for Gretna? How on earth did you convince Lady Madeline to marry you?”
“I didn’t give her a choice,” Wes grumbled.
“Oh, dear God,” Gray said, his eyes open wide as he listened for the rest of the story.
“I left a note for her father that said we were madly in love. And that I was taking her away to marry her.”
“So, she had no choice but to marry you.” Gray rubbed his brow as though to stave off a headache. “But that still doesn’t explain why Lucy and Dovenby were with you.”
Wes waved him away. “They’re inconsequential. We found them on the road. Dovenby worked his way into the carriage. And here we are.”
“But now two of you are missing.”
“Dovenby?” Wes asked. Surely the earl wouldn’t be so stupid as to take Wes’ wife. What purpose would that serve? “He wouldn’t.”
“Dovenby has more than one score to settle with you. Starting back with that very first cricket match at Eton.”
“If he has taken her, I’ll kill him.”
“What if she went willingly? Perhaps her night in your arms wasn’t as good for her as it was for you.”
“It was good for her,” Wes said with pride.
“How do you know?”
“Shut up, Gray,” Wes growled. He rubbed at his forehead the same way his brother had done. His wife and Dovenby were both missing. But Dovenby had no coach. “The coach,” Wes croaked.
“You mean Dash’s coach? He’s more than a bit miffed about that. He’s like a pup with a thorn in its paw.”
But Wes was already on his way down the corridor, headed for the stables. “Go find the innkeeper and make some inquiries,” he called over his shoulder. He didn’t even wait to hear his brother’s response. Gray might irritate him to no end, but he’d do what Wes asked.
Wes sprinted for the stables. He inquired politely about Renshaw, but no one had any idea of where the driver was. Suddenly, a shriek came from the privy. Wes ran in that direction. He stopped short when he found Renshaw trussed up better than a Christmas goose, bound with rope and stuffed in the corner of the small closet. “Oh, dear God,” Wes breathed, as he bent to loosen the man’s bindings.
One curse after another flew from the driver’s mouth as Wes took the rag from between his teeth. For the first time in his life, Wes feared bodily harm from the man. He ducked as Renshaw threw a punch at him. “You and your kind,” the driver growled. “You’re nothing but trouble.”
“What happened?” Wes asked, trying to maintain a semblance of patience.
As the driver began to relay the events of that morning, Gray strode into his line of sight. “Renshaw, nice to see you,” he said in greeting.
“Not another one of you,” the man grumbled. Then more curses flew from his lips. Even Wes winced at the ferocity of them.
“The innkeeper hadn’t seen Dovenby, but his wife did. Said he was in quite a hurry to leave this morning,” Gray informed him. “She said he was traveling with a blond lass.”
Maddie. Wes’ heart constricted. Why would she leave with the blackguard? “Did he have her bound and gagged?” That might make sense.
Gray shrugged. “She didn’t mention anything like that. I feel certain she would have, had it been the case.”
“I hate all of you,” Renshaw grumbled.
“I did catch a scent out by the road.”
“All I can smell is orange,” Wes said, rubbing his nose and willing the scent away to no avail.
“Unnatural is all I can say,” Renshaw continued beneath his breath.
Gray and Wes both looked at him and said in unison, “Would you shut up?”
The man kicked at a stone in anger, but he didn’t say another word.
“The orange scent goes south. But it goes north as well, along with a very slight rosewater scent like Lady Madeline normally wears,” Gray said.
Wes growled beneath his breath.
“You can’t blame a man for noticing,” Gray rushed to explain. “The orange and rosewater scent goes north.”
“Why on earth would he take her north?”
Gray shrugged.
Wes had no idea either, but he planned to find out. And when he caught Dovenby on his northward dash to wherever, he’d kill him.
Off in the distance, thunder rumbled overhead. Wes ground his teeth together. “We need to hurry before her scent is washed away.”
Twenty-Two
Maddie shivered and pulled the travel blanket tighter around her shoulders. She curled against the side of the coach as rain pelted the conveyance from all sides. Lord Dovenby lightly snored on the opposite bench, and Maddie wished she could open the door and leap from the conveyance to freedom. But that would be foolish. She could hardly escape a full-grown werewolf in the rain with a broken leg, which she’d most assuredly receive from such a fall. Besides, she was certain he would awake as soon as she threw open the door, making the attempt a poorly chosen one.
No, she’d just have to patiently wait for the coach to stop to change horses. Of course, stopping wouldn’t secure her freedom. She could bolt, but he’d catch her in just a step or two. She could quietly make an escape, but she already smelled like a sack of rotten oranges. A normal man would be able to track her scent. For a man like Dovenby, it wouldn’t even be a challenge.
Maddie glanced around the carriage, wishing she had something to cosh him over the head with. But nothing caught her eye. Then she considered her blanket. She could smother him with the travel blanket… but he’d wake before she finished the job and he was much stronger than she was. Then she’d be in even worse trouble.
She sighed out of frustration. There had to be something she could do.
“Did you know,” Dovenby began, nearly making Maddie leap out of her skin, “you sigh more often than most women. Quite distracting.”
Had he only been pretending to sleep? Maddie glared at the Lycan. “I am certain most abducted women sigh just as often as I do.”
He chuckled. “It wasn’t meant as an insult, Madeline. Just an observation.” Dovenby blinked open his eyes, sat up straight, and glanced out the window. “Ah, there we are.”
What exactly did that mean? Maddie scrambled to look out her rain-splattered window and saw a small inn in the distance. “Time to change horses?” she asked hopefully.
The earl smirked. “Don’t get any ideas, my dear. Running off would just make me angry. And I promise you don’t want to do that.”
How did he know what she had planned? Had she given something away with
all of her sighing? Maddie feigned what she hoped was her most innocent look. “I’d just like to use the necessary, my lord. Or is that not allowed?”
“I’m not certain why you perceive me to be such a beast, Madeline.”
“Perhaps because you’re holding me against my will. Or perhaps because you are a beast.”
“You asked me to remove you from Hadley. I did so.”
“I asked you to take me to my father.”
“You’ll be safer with me.” He dismissed her comment with the wave of his hand. “Do you really need to use the necessary? It’s coming down pretty steady out there.”
No. She really didn’t need to, but Maddie nodded her head. “Most women do need to do so at some point, my lord.”
“Very well,” he said as the coach slowed to a stop. “I’ll wait outside the door then.”
Maddie kept from groaning. How would she ever escape him if he stood sentry outside the door? “Thank you,” she mumbled. “And I should like something to eat if possible.”
He smiled, reminding her of how handsome she’d thought him when they first met. She shook the thought away. Appearances were often deceiving. “Whatever you wish, my lady.”
“Whatever I wish?” she couldn’t help from asking.
“Well, mostly,” he clarified as he opened the carriage door, stepped into the downpour, and offered her his hand. “We won’t be heading to Kent, if that’s what you were going to ask me.”
Of course not. Maddie accepted his hand and allowed him to help her alight from the coach, wincing as the muddy ground threatened to swallow up her slippers. Dovenby had mentioned that mud disguised scents, hadn’t he? If she could escape him, she could roll herself in mud once more. It might be her only opportunity to free herself. Besides, her dress couldn’t possibly become any worse for wear than it already was.
Maddie glanced around the coaching yard, hoping to find someone who looked like a good Samaritan, but to no avail. Not with the rain pouring as it was. Even imbeciles knew to come in out of the rain.