He finished his little speech with a smug smile, as though terribly pleased of himself and his plan.
“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Anna said imperiously.
Doyle merely laughed, and once again, raised a pistol to train it right on her heart.
“Oh, I think you will come with me. Or die. Your choice.”
Anna’s mind raced once again.
I can’t endanger myself. If only because Lucas would never forgive himself if I did.
Yet she could not allow herself to be dragged off to God knew where. What if Lucas never found her? What if he stopped trying?
Her best chance was to go along with the horrid man and seek escape where she could.
If Lucas was close to finding her, then she might have a chance. Even if he did decide to give up at some point, he obviously hadn’t thus far.
It was only a glimmer of hope, but a glimmer was all she needed.
“When are we leaving?” she asked dejectedly.
Doyle smiled in triumph at her capitulation. “Tomorrow at dawn,” he said simply. “Now, you should get your rest. You have a big day tomorrow,” he finished patronisingly.
He had no idea how right he was.
For tomorrow, I will be escaping his clutches.
LUCAS’ HEAD WAS pounding with his frustration. They were getting nowhere with this idiot.
Earlier that day, they’d received a tip off about a sailor who was apparently a well-known scoundrel that got his fingers in a lot of unsavoury pies.
Now, hours later, he, Jonathan, and Andrew had tried every tactic in the book — and a lot of tactics that wouldn’t show up in any book — to get information from the man.
But they were having no luck. The cad wouldn’t budge.
They’d left him alone, tied good and tight, and taken a step outside the room before one of them did serious damage to him.
Lucas was, right now, seriously considering just putting a bullet in him.
Gabrielle came hurrying along, looking like a breath of fresh air in pale lemon.
Lucas’ jaw clenched as he realised it was nearly the exact shade of a gown that Anna owned. The gown she’d been wearing when she’d been taken by Doyle.
“Well?” she asked.
“He’s not budging,” Jonathan answered, sounding as frustrated as Lucas felt.
After the men had very nearly killed each other the night when Jonathan and Andrew had arrived, they’d reached a sort of truce while they worked together to find Anna. Jonathan and Andrew were the stuff of legends amongst the agents of the Crown, and he was glad to have them here.
Jonathan reached an arm out and pulled his wife toward him, seeming to take comfort in just having her there.
Lucas would have killed to have been able to do the same thing with Anna.
Gabby sighed.
“Where is he?” she asked innocently.
“No,” Jonathan responded.
Gabby’s expression changed, and Lucas and Andrew actually took a step back at the look.
“I beg your pardon?” she asked softly, sounding all the more dangerous for the quiet tone.
“Darling, please—” Jonathan said, but he drew to a halt almost immediately. “He’s in there,” he said in defeat, pointing toward the door of Lucas’ library.
Gabby smiled sweetly, looking like an angel.
They knew she was anything but.
“If you’ll excuse me,” she said, all politeness.
She disappeared inside the room and closed the door gently behind her.
They heard nothing.
Not shouting, not screeching, not thumps or bangs.
Nothing.
The men looked at each other warily, Jonathan looking as though he would smash the door down any moment.
After a few minutes, she emerged again, not a hair out of place.
“There’s a ship coming into a cove about twenty miles from here tonight, departing again at dawn. Our friend claims not to have a name, but someone is trading in slavery, and the same someone apparently has a woman with him, whom he intends to barter.”
The three men stared at her, jaws open, for what seemed like an age.
Finally, Gabby coughed subtly, and it spurred them into action.
“If we’re to travel twenty miles, we need to leave now.”
“Someone needs to stay here and make sure the authorities get hold of that one.”
“Well, I’m not doing it.”
“You needn’t think I came all this way to play nanny to a crooked little nobody.”
“If you think I’m doing it, you can think again.”
They squabbled and argued like overtired children until finally it was agreed that they would all go.
“I’ll stay behind,” Gabby said. “I’m rather enjoying my new acquaintance.”
“Just go easy, Gabby,” Lucas smiled. “I’m rather fond of that rug.”
“You bring our Anna home. I’ll make sure the rug stays intact,” she retorted cheekily.
Lucas swept from the room to organise the horses, feeling energised for the first time in weeks.
He would find Anna. And when he did, he would never let her go.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
THE SUN HADN’T even risen yet when Anna was dragged unceremoniously from the shack where she’d been kept.
Without a word, Doyle had grasped her arm and pulled her from the shack, but not before he produced a dagger and sawed through the rope, removing it from her ankle.
Anna thought fleetingly of escape, but her heart sank when she saw the same two reprobates waiting outside who had accompanied Doyle the other day.
That, and Doyle’s pistol, put an end to any thoughts of getting away.
Now they were hurrying down a path toward the sea, Anna stumbling to keep up with Doyle’s frantic pace.
He was unnerved. Anna could tell by the set of his jaw and the lack of sardonic comments.
Before long, they reached an alcove but Anna’s feet were shredded from shells and stones. To her astonishment, there was a ship in the waters, with not a single light shining on board.
It was smaller than Lucas’ ship. Though what type it was, she didn’t know. Much as the crew on board The Adventurer had tried to educate her, Anna’s knowledge of all things maritime was still sadly lacking.
As soon as they hit sand, Doyle pulled her to a stop.
“Your hands, Miss Spencer,” he said, and it seemed that his cocky swagger had returned.
“For what?” she asked, tucking her hands behind her back.
Doyle merely laughed and reached out to yank her hands back around. He produced a length of rope and swiftly tied a tight knot around her wrists.
“Now, if you try anything, you drown,” he said with a sickening grin.
Anna swallowed hard but raised her chin a notch. She would not show fear to this excuse for a human.
Her actions merely served to amuse him further, however, and Anna’s temper flared.
They stood on the beach for what felt like hours. But then, just when the sun was beginning to peek over the horizon, painting the sky in brilliant pinks, reds and oranges, Anna spotted something in the water. She peered closer and saw that a small boat was making its way toward them.
She couldn’t get on that boat. If they got her on the ship, she wouldn’t stand a chance.
But she must bide her time.
At Doyle’s signal, the men who had flanked them walked into the shallows and proceeded to pull the rowboat ashore.
Now is my chance.
Anna yanked her arm from Doyle’s grasp and ran flat out toward the dunes they’d just climbed down.
She’d barely even gotten a few feet, however, before he reached out, grabbed her hair, and yanked her back beside him.
Anna’s eyes watered with pain and frustration. Panic that threatened to overwhelm her.
He could take her anywhere, and she’d never be found. Never.
What will happen
to me?
The thugs and the two rowers finally dragged the boat onto the beach and turned to where Anna was clamped beside Doyle.
If she hadn’t been facing them, Anna wouldn’t have seen them freeze and raise their hands.
She felt a moment’s confusion before she turned to look behind her, as did Doyle.
To Anna’s shock, there stood Jonathan, Andrew, and Lucas, each of them looking furious and vengeful. They put her in mind of avenging angels, all three of them towering over her.
Jonathan and Andrew had weapons trained on the boat.
And Lucas… Before she even had a chance to see what Lucas was or wasn’t holding, his fist shot out and smashed into Doyle’s face.
Anna heard the sickening crack of bone before Doyle’s grip loosened, and he crashed to the ground.
But Lucas apparently wasn’t finished.
He leaned down, grabbed Doyle’s lapels, and pulled the man back to his feet.
“I’m going to kill you,” he vowed quietly, fiercely.
Anna watched in a sort of detached fascination. Then it hit her.
She was saved.
Her body began to shake, and her head swam.
Lucas was here. And Andrew. And Jonathan!
I am safe.
“Lucas,” she managed to get past her chattering teeth, and he immediately turned his face to hers.
Anna recoiled slightly at the expression in Lucas’ eyes. He truly looked murderous, as though he could actually kill someone in anger.
But almost immediately, his expression changed to one of relief as his eyes raked over her. He dropped Doyle as though he were a sack of rubbish and moved to pull Anna into his arms.
“Are you hurt,” he asked, studying her intently, his hands running over her body to check for himself.
Anna couldn’t speak past the lump in her throat. So she shook her head.
“Anna.”
Jonathan’s voice drew her attention, and as she looked up, she saw that he was frowning at Lucas’ hands around her arms. He stepped forward and pulled Anna into a brief, tight hug, and Anna felt him trembling slightly before he released her. Andrew, who was keeping a weapon trained on the men, smiled and winked.
“We need to get you out of here,” Jonathan said firmly as Lucas’ arm crept back around her shoulders. “Then get you home.”
Lucas’ grip tightened on her at Jonathan’s words, before his arms dropped from her altogether.
And their absence left her feeling cold and bereft.
Having thought she’d never see Lucas again, Anna didn’t want to let him go, not for a second.
Andrew was whistling merrily as he rounded up Doyle’s nefarious crew.
The ship would be taken care of as soon as the cavalry arrived, Lucas explained, his tone seeming formal and business-like.
And sure enough, within minutes, a troop of men came rushing over the dunes, Gabrielle leading them all.
“Anna,” the other woman cried out, and Anna was so happy to have another female there that she promptly burst into tears.
Jonathan looked horrified. Lucas stricken.
“He bloody well did hurt her,” Lucas growled, and the three men stepped toward Doyle and his cronies, now tied up to be taken away.
“N-no,” Anna cried, knowing they would fear the absolute worst. “He didn’t touch me.”
Gabby studied Anna for a moment and seemed to sense that she was on the verge of a complete breakdown.
“Let’s just get out of here for now, hmm?” Gabrielle said kindly. “We can discuss everything else later.”
“Fine,” Jonathan agreed grimly.
Andrew added, “I need a drink.”
“Anna can travel back with me,” said Lucas finally.
Jonathan smiled, but there was no humour in it. “I think not,” he said casually.
Anna couldn’t bear the thought of the two of them fighting. She couldn’t stop shaking, and the tears wouldn’t cease now that they had begun. She just wanted to get out of there. She just wanted Lucas.
“I—” Lucas began, but Anna silenced him with a gentle touch on his arm.
This was a moment of truth of sorts, she knew.
If she asked him, Jonathan would take her away from Lucas immediately, and she would never see him again.
But Lucas had come for her. And, though he was still sinfully handsome, it did look as though these past weeks had taken their toll on him. Besides he had told her that he loved her, that he wanted to spend the rest of his life proving that to her.
Surely that was enough to make up for one little mistake?
After all of this, how could she turn her back on the one person who’d shown her what true happiness was?
Wordlessly, Anna stepped closer to Lucas, and his arm snaked immediately around her, pulling her closer still.
Jonathan’s jaw clenched, but after a few tense seconds, he relented.
“Fine. Anna goes with Lucas. We need to stay and straighten out this mess in any case.”
“I thought I was getting a drink,” muttered Andrew, but he set to work nonetheless.
To Anna’s surprise, Lucas lifted her into his arms and carried her over the beach toward the dunes where he had a horse tethered. He placed her on the mount before climbing up behind her, pulling her against his chest.
It felt wonderful.
For the first time in two weeks, Anna felt as though she could breathe. Even her body didn’t shake as much.
Lucas set the horse to a gentle walk. His body seared her skin, even through her gown, and she felt so secure, so warm, that she began to doze.
Right before she drifted to sleep, Lucas kissed the top of her head.
“Anna,” he whispered.
“Hmm?”
“I love you.”
She smiled in response, though he couldn’t see it, and drifted into her first peaceful sleep in weeks.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“DO YOU REALLY think I’m going to allow my sister to stay here?”
Lucas had to clench his jaw to stop from saying something insulting to Jonathan Spencer as the man paced up and down his study.
Andrew was leaning casually against the fireplace. But though his pose feigned nonchalance, his eyes were alert and watching the two men, probably preparing for them to come to blows.
“I wasn’t aware that it was your decision,” Lucas answered calmly. Inside, he felt anything but calm.
Anna had slept on and off for the duration of their journey back to his house. Even when they arrived, she could hardly keep her eyes open, and Lucas was terrified that there was something beyond exhaustion wrong with her.
He’d called immediately for a physician and found himself wishing, not for the first time since Anna’s abduction, that they were back in England.
There, he knew, she would have access to the best of medical practitioners. And bow street runners when she’d first gone missing. And the Home Office, though as it turned out, its best agents were actually here.
The physician had declared her to be nothing more than tired and in need of hydration; the sun, too, he said, hadn’t been good for her.
On their return some five hours ago, the house had gone into uproar. Sanderson had been beside himself with relief, rushing off to get a message to the crew. His housekeeper had screeched and wailed about the poor mistress, even though Lucas and Anna weren’t yet married, and rushed off to prepare a room for her.
And through it all, Anna either slept or walked as if in a dream.
She’d been sleeping ever since.
She had yet to eat, to bathe.
Lucas was worried sick.
And now here was her brother, demanding that she return back to England.
Lucas knew that Anna must have struggled with the thought of leaving her family behind. Will she be tempted to return with Jonathan? To the home she knows and the family she loves?
Wouldn’t that truthfully be the best place for her?
“
Well, she obviously wasn’t thinking straight when she hared off after you, was she?” Jonathan bit back.
“She didn’t hare off after me. She was looking to leave England. Perhaps get away from her overbearing brother,” Lucas snapped now, heartily sick of the conversation and wanting to go upstairs and make sure Anna was well.
“If you think I’m going to believe that this had nothing to do with you, you are mistaken,” said Jonathan now, his eyes the exact colour of Anna’s, flashing amber fire.
“And if you believe that I will stand by while you drag her back to England against her will, you, too, are mistaken,” Lucas countered.
Andrew stood straighter, but Lucas had no intentions of fighting Jonathan Spencer.
Unless he started it.
“And if she wants to return?” Jonathan asked.
Lucas’ heart thudded painfully at the thought. “Then I won’t stop her,” he eventually uttered softly.
At Jonathan’s smirk, he continued.
“But I want to be with her, Jonathan,” he warned. “With any luck, as her husband.”
“A wedding!” Andrew exclaimed. “This calls for that drink I was promised hours ago.”
The other men ignored him and his subsequent tantrum.
“You want to marry her?” Jonathan asked carefully, and Lucas nodded, waiting to see if the other man would have the same snobbish objections as his father.
“Does she want to marry you?” he pressed, and Lucas swallowed with some difficulty.
“I hope so,” he answered, as honest as he could be.
Jonathan sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “And you would have her live here? Away from her family? Away from the life she’s known? What happens if she falls ill, or gets hurt, or God forbid, something like this happens again?”
Lucas didn’t respond immediately, because what was there to say? To expect Anna to spend a lifetime here with him was selfish in the extreme.
But how can I let her go?
“I would want her to stay here with me, yes. If she wanted it, too.”
“And you would return to England? If that’s what she wanted?”
Lucas couldn’t answer that without giving it serious thought. The ramifications of such a decision were huge. He’d packed up his life in England; Hastings was relying on his being here, as were the hundreds of men who worked for their shipping company, and the men’s families.
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