by Rebecca King
Barnaby looked at him ruefully. “Now if I told you that I would have to kill you.” He winked to soften his statement when Rose gasped.
Noah rolled his eyes. “You can try my good man,” he warned with only a hint of teasing.
Barnaby’s smile dimmed. He sensed there was more that Noah wasn’t telling him and wondered if it was because of Rose’s presence but didn’t push for details. It wasn’t necessary for Noah to know what they were going to do next and the captain should understand that.
“I will take a look at the maps and see if I can find somewhere you can go ashore that is not too far away from a town or a village,” Noah sighed as he walked to the door.
“Thank you,” Barnaby murmured, turning toward Rose.
“I’ll send the boy in with some food for you. Get plenty to eat. I will arrange for a basket to go with you so you don’t starve on your way,” Noah said and closed the door behind him.
“It sounds dangerous,” Rose said when they were alone again.
“It is, but we have been through worse,” Barnaby sighed. If he had any other woman with him except Rose he would never suggest it, but she was about the only woman he had faith in and knew she was strong enough to get through it. “How does your head feel?”
“A lot better now that I have had some sleep,” she assured him.
“Let’s get something to eat and then we will get ready.”
“I can’t go in this dress,” Rose said firmly.
“You need to keep it on,” Barnaby teased. “I have never seen anything so beautiful in my life.”
Rose’s cheeks flushed. She looked somewhat shyly at him. “It is hardly appropriate for climbing on and off boats.”
“All the more reason for me to help you then,” Barnaby warned, tugging her into his arms for a very thorough kiss.
“Should we be doing this?” she whispered when he lifted his head and rested his brow against hers.
“Given how close we have been over the last couple of days, Rose, I think it is inevitable, don’t you?” he murmured.
Rose knew it was only natural for her to be drawn to Barnaby given the dangers they faced. He was commanding, strong, and nothing short of a warrior. In his presence she sometimes felt that they could fight the world. The thought of him being nearby certainly got her through her ordeal at Chadwick’s hands. She just didn’t know what this growing, apparently mutual attraction meant to their future.
“It isn’t really appropriate, though, is it? I mean, if anyone found out about it they would ruin me,” she whispered. She wasn’t asking him for any promises, and didn’t want him to make him any, but felt pressed to mention it.
“Well, we will just have to make sure that nobody finds out about it then won’t we?” he replied. “The men on board this ship are too busy with their work to notice you are even here. Noah is hardly likely to tell anybody, and neither will Reg nor Ben. Nobody else knows where you are, so it is not a concern right now.”
Rose nodded, vaguely disappointed. She would rest easier with the feelings tumbling through her if she had any degree of self-control around him and was able to maintain at least some distance between them. Unfortunately, whenever Barnaby looked at her with that deep and meaningful glint in his eye and then touched her she simply lost all willpower and could deny him nothing. It didn’t help that curiosity was positively burning her to relish each and every new experience being with him brought her no matter what the consequences.
Before Barnaby could hint at a future with her, a discrete knock on the door broke them apart. At any other time he would have teased Rose for the speed in which she moved away from him. As it was, he merely sighed and let her go.
“Ready,” Noah murmured when he shoved his head around the door. “We leave in an hour.”
Barnaby nodded but Noah had already closed the door. He looked at Rose and opened his mouth but, before he could speak, the cabin boy appeared with a tray of food. Realising that the moment had gone he turned his attention toward the delicious array of foods Sal brought into the room.
Almost exactly an hour later, Rose had barely finished eating when Reg poked his head into the room. She looked at him in trepidation – the moment was upon them. The wonderful repast she had just consumed suddenly sat like lead in her stomach. She looked nervously at Barnaby, who went to fetch their cloaks.
“We will be alright,” Barnaby assured her as he draped a cloak around her shoulders. “Just drape your skirts over your arm and climb down the same way you went up. I will go down first and will catch you if you fall. Ben and Reg will release the boat and row with me. It will be fine, don’t worry,” he assured her with a smile.
Rose nodded and followed him out of the room. She glanced back into the room before she closed the door and almost wished she could go back inside and stay there for the rest of the night with Barnaby right beside her. Slowly, reluctantly, she closed the door and followed him to the deck instead.
Stepping out into the night air made her shiver, but it had nothing to do with the chill in the air. The black outline of the ship on the horizon was horrifyingly sinister and a warning of the dangers that lurked if anything went wrong.
“Thank you,” she murmured to the captain as she stood beside the rail.
“Good luck, ma’am,” Noah replied heartily.
Rose tugged the hood of her cloak up and tried not to look down but found her gaze drawn to the small rowing boat anyway. It looked so incredibly tiny against the huge vessel she was on that she wanted to ask if it was safe to use it, but she knew it was.
“Just sit on the side of the boat and copy me,” Barnaby instructed her. “I will climb down with you.”
Rose nodded and copied his every movement. It was difficult to find her footing at first because her skirts got in the way. When her foot slipped, and she slammed against the hull of the boat, there was nothing she could do to stop her scream from escaping.
“Tug your skirts up so your feet are free. Drape your dress over your arm like you did before. There is nobody around to see your legs,” he urged, holding on to a handful of her cloak while she found her footing again.
Rose did as she was told. Her heart hammered. She didn’t want to slip again. For a moment there she thought she was going to fall into the sea and, as someone who couldn’t swim, that prospect was almost paralysing. Her knees began to shake so badly that she didn’t know how they were holding her up still. Aware that they weren’t going to keep her upright for much longer, she hurriedly began to descend the ladder. With each step she took she made sure her feet were securely on the ropes before she put her weight down. It took an age to reach the small boat. When she did, she hesitated and looked at Barnaby unsure how to get into the boat.
Barnaby dropped into the boat and lifted his arms up. Rather than wait for her to jump into them, his hands encompassed her waist and lifted her down.
“Hurry up and sit before you fall overboard,” he urged. He then waved to Reg and Ben who immediately began to clamber after them.
Nobody spoke as the men began to row toward shore. A nervous tension hung over everyone. Rose tried to see Chadwick’s ship but was unable to see anything past the huge hulk of the vessel they had just left. She didn’t know whether to be relieved or not.
“It is going to get choppy when we approach the beach because of the waves. Noah says the tide is going in so it should carry us some of the way, but we are going to get wet,” Reg grunted.
Barnaby nodded and grimly continued to row. Every time he looked back, Noah was true to his world and blocked their view of the encroaching ship.
“Hang on,” he called above the crashing of the waves as the small boat was thrown relentlessly onto the beach.
Rose closed her eyes and forced herself not to cry out loud. The men cursed as they fought to stop the boat from turning sideways in the tide and being upended. Tension rose as the waves pounded them over and over, soaking them all through to the skin. Eventually, they jolted to
a stop on the beach.
“Stay there for a minute,” Barnaby ordered as he, Reg, and Ben, jumped out and hauled the boat higher onto the beach. “We need to get this out of sight.”
Rose was quickly lifted out of the boat and followed the men as they carried the little boat further up the beach and buried it in dense shrubbery.
“Keep your hood up,” Reg ordered as he brushed off his hands. “Let’s get off this beach.”
Rose dutifully tugged her hood higher. As she left the beach, she glanced back at the sea and gasped when she found the skyline empty.
“Where have they gone?” she cried in astonishment.
“Noah is going to lead them on a merry dance for a while. He is going to weigh anchor further up the coast so that Chadwick’s men search the docks miles away from here,” Barnaby explained.
Rose was amazed at how well the last few minutes had turned out. Although she had no particular yen to do anything like it again, she was pleased they had survived. It was the first time in her life she had actually challenged herself like that and it felt incredibly satisfying to succeed in her endeavours.
“Where is he going?” she asked when Ben suddenly vaulted over a fence lining the road and disappeared into the field beyond.
“He is going to go to the village over there.” Barnaby pointed to faintly flickering lights barely visible in the darkness. “We need a carriage.”
Barnaby glanced over at her and studied her pale and incredibly beautiful face in the night. She looked strangely ethereal as she glided down the country lane. He had expected her to object to disembarking from the ship the way they had. But, after only the slightest of hesitations, she had complied without a murmur. Her resilience never failed to amaze him. It left him inordinately humbled because he knew she was completely out of her element and experiencing vastly different situations that put her life in danger. Yet she managed to maintain her composure and remain logical and calm throughout it all. In contrast, he felt as though he was slowly unravelling from the inside out and it wasn’t just because of Chadwick being so close behind them.
It was because of the burgeoning feelings he now acknowledged were growing deep inside him. There was nothing he could do about them; they were an essential part of him now. She was an essential part of him and, now, there wasn’t a damned thing he wanted to do about it. He wasn’t sure whether he should be pleased or not.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Later that morning, Rose watched the streets of Edinburgh roll by the carriage window with trepidation. She had no idea where they were going, nobody seemed inclined to want to tell her, but she daren’t ask. The silence within the small carriage was tense as Barnaby and Reg looked out of the windows for Chadwick’s men, and she didn’t interrupt them.
“Here,” Reg murmured suddenly. “The bald man in the grubby shirt chewing on a twig is Myers’ relation.”
Barnaby sighed. “He won’t be alone.”
The stark disappointment in his voice made Rose looked at him warily. “You sound like you didn’t expect them to be here.”
“I was hoping they wouldn’t be here,” Barnaby replied darkly. He didn’t explain why, but traded a look with Reg that was wintry.
“Where are we going?” she asked finally. She had waited patiently for as long as she could but now that she knew Chadwick was around, refused to remain in ignorance. If their destination had anything to do with boats she wasn’t going, it was as simple as that.
“Somewhere they won’t expect us to be,” Barnaby murmured with a small smile. He looked at her. “We are going to be right under their noses.”
“Where?”
“Here,” Reg muttered as the carriage glided to a halt outside of a large hotel.
“Right, just try to behave as though you are going to the finest ball. Don’t speak unless you absolutely have to. You look the part, but it is important that you play the part. Don’t panic when you get outside, and try not to look around you too much. I will do the talking,” Barnaby murmured as he drew his cloak over his shoulders.
Barnaby waited for Reg to lower the step and left the carriage. Once outside, he glanced casually around and held a hand out to help Rose down.
Rose took his hand with a smile and stepped gracefully out of the carriage. It was parked unnecessarily close to the front door of the hotel; so much so that when Rose stepped down she was immediately under the canopy of the entrance.
“Welcome to the Dormere Hotel, ma’am,” the concierge murmured politely.
Dutifully, Rose remained mute but nodded regally to the man as she walked into the entrance hall with Barnaby close beside her.
“Wait here a minute,” he murmured and left to speak to the clerk.
Minutes later, a liveried footman escorted them up the main flight of stairs, unmindful of the fact that neither Rose nor Barnaby had any luggage with them.
“This is your room, sir, ma’am,” the footman murmured. He unlocked the door and stood back to let them in.
Rose walked into the room, stunned by the opulence that awaited her. Furnished in gold brocade and highly polished dark oak, it was refined luxury at its very best. While Barnaby dealt with the footman, Rose wandered aimlessly around the room. It was a reminder of just how harsh her life had been in the last few days.
“It’s wonderful,” she murmured once Barnaby had closed the door behind the footman and deposited the large iron key on the table beside it.
“Do you like it?” Barnaby asked as he sauntered across the room to her.
Rose nodded and studied the parkland visible from the huge bay window. She wanted to ask him where he was staying but the footman had spoken to Barnaby as though this was his room. She suspected that the huge double-doors on the opposite side of the room led to the bedroom, but she didn’t venture over there to take a look, just in case there was only one bed.
“I think we have one of the very best rooms the hotel has,” Barnaby replied. “Sir Hugo is picking up the bill so there will be no expense spared. Now that we are here, I fully intend for the rest of our journey to be in equal if not better comfort from now on, Rose. I can only apologise for the hardships you have already endured because of Chadwick. Unfortunately, I had no choice but to ask you to come with me given what we witnessed.”
“You sound so formal,” Rose murmured with a frown. She didn’t like it. It put far too much distance between them.
“I don’t mean to. What I am saying is that the days of living out of doors and being half starved to death are at an end. Whatever happens from here on we will live in more luxury.”
“What do you mean, ‘whatever happens from here on’?” She knew Chadwick’s men were in the town but wondered just how close they were.
Barnaby poured them both a brandy. Handing her one he led her to the chaise positioned directly in front of the roaring fireplace. Once seated, he explained to her the plans the men had made for the next few days.
“So, we are here right under their noses but do not expect them to see us?” Rose asked incredulously. She couldn’t see that Chadwick would be so stupid, especially if he had been waiting for them and had men on watch. “How did he know we were coming here?”
“We have a traitor in the Star Elite,” he said reluctantly now that the fact was proven. “Chadwick knew we were coming here – somebody told him, Rose. Somebody I thought I could trust.”
“Somebody told him we were coming to this hotel?” she whispered in horror.
“No. A spy in our camp told Chadwick we were coming to Edinburgh. It is the only explanation for Chadwick having men positioned on the road we used to enter the town. Edinburgh is huge, and would take them a very long time to search from house to house. It is more than just chance that they knew which road to wait on to look for us.”
“Someone told them recently,” Rose whispered.
Barnaby nodded. “Chadwick wouldn’t go to so much time and trouble to come up here if he didn’t know for definite we were on our way.”
“He followed us in the ship, though,” Rose murmured.
“Yes, but we reached land well away from here. We could have taken any direction. Why did he pick Edinburgh?”
Rose thought about that but couldn’t come to any other conclusion other than he might have been told. She nodded her complete understanding, but wondered why Barnaby was telling her this now.
“There are other trustworthy men from the Star Elite in the town now aside from me, Ben, and Reg. They will all work with us to try to find out who is feeding Sayers information on what we are doing.”
“It sounds dangerous.”
“It is, Rose. Everything to do with Chadwick and Sayers is dangerous. The only thing I would ask of you is that you relax while you are here. Enjoy yourself, ring the bell whenever you want anything, but whatever you do, don’t leave the room. It is imperative you remain out of sight. As far as I can tell, nobody knows for definite that you are here and it has to stay that way.”
Rose nodded but looked doubtfully at him. “You have to stay here too though.”
Barnaby was already shaking his head. “I will be coming and going while I help with the investigation. Unfortunately, my work won’t involve set hours so I don’t know when I will need to leave or when I will return. The best thing I can say is that you must stay here, keep away from the windows, and just relax in the comfort of this room. When it is safe to do so we will move on again, I am afraid. However, from now on we will have a lot more men around us to offer better protection while we travel, and we won’t stop overnight in any hovels.”
“But how do you know you can trust the men you work with?” Rose asked.
“Because I am only going to trust the men I know haven’t been in London recently.” He sighed. “It is complicated, but there are men here now who I have worked with for many, many years. I would trust them with my life, and I know for definite that they would never turn on their own. It is just the kind of people they are. I will confide in them and them only. Everyone else can carry on with the orders Sir Hugo gave them. We will move on soon but will take with us only the men who can be trusted.”