Tobias rubbed at his wrists, and stood up and almost fell back down.
“Damnation, this bad leg of mine, is really acting up today. I…I fear I might be a burden to you three.”
“We are not leaving you behind. If that is what you are hinting at,” Julia said.
“Indeed we are not,” Ruby said.
She looked over at Alfie. The little dog sat right where the secret door was located. Even though the paneling was back in place, he knew that the door was there. He was a smart little thing.
“Terrific. Be it on your heads, then, girls. I take it you came through a secret passageway?” Tobias asked.
“Aye,” Julia said. “This old house has many secrets.”
“Thank God for its secrets,” Charles said. “You don’t happen to have a few more of those, do you?” he asked, looking at the pistols.
She nodded at Ruby, who showed them the case sitting in her basket. “Oh, you two are gems,” Charles said, readying the pistols for him and Tobias. “You ladies lead the way, and we shall follow.”
Julia nodded her head briskly at them. “I…I don’t know if we should try and make a run for it…or if we should stay hidden until help comes. The pistols are limited, and well, I don’t want anyone getting hurt while we are trying to get away.”
“You mean hide like the priests used to do?” Charles asked.
“Aye,” she said.
“Is there enough air for us in there?” Tobias asked.
“I think so,” Julia said uncertainly. “By this time, someone must have noticed that I haven’t returned. They are bound to send help, and I can only pray that Uncle Edward was savvy enough to go and enlist Micah and Lewis’s help because I fear he is quite out of his depth here.”
“Did Lord Prescott and Lord Spaulding go with your Freddie?” Tobias asked.
She nodded her head, as the hidden door slid open and revealed the secret passageway.
“If we are truly fortunate, maybe Freddie and his mates have returned. They will know exactly what to do to unnerve these bastards,” Tobias said. “Lord Prescott alone, has enough tricks up his sleeve to make them all feel as if they’re going to be blown from here until Kingdom Come.”
Hope surged within her. If only that would happen. If Freddie had returned, their salvation was at hand…if he hadn’t…she didn’t know what would happen.
She had never needed Freddie so much in her entire life. If he rescued her from this, she would marry him tonight!
*****
“If Julia knows of the peril she is in,” Freddie said, as they gathered round and started to plan how they would approach Wilton Park. “If she knows she is in trouble, she’ll attempt to make her escape through the secret passageways that the house has.”
“Julia doesn’t panic when she is in danger, she isn’t that sort. She will keep a cool head about her, and she will do what she has to do,” Edward said. “Ruby, on the other hand…well, I’m not exactly certain how she’ll fare in such peril. If she takes after her mother, she just might start screaming for help.”
“I think Ruby will listen to anything that Julia tells her,” Lewis mused.
“I grant you that one,” Edward chuckled. “Only a fool would think to disobey Julia. No, Ruby shall heed anything that Julia tells her to do, and she will follow her like a faithful little puppy dog. I hope.”
“Lucky, you don’t happen to have anything that will make a loud noise, but will be fairly harmless? I don’t want to risk hurting Julia or Ruby…”
“Oh, aye, I can make a few controlled explosions with what I have here. The noise will be enough to knock them right off onto their arses,” he laughed. “Their ears will be ringing for weeks.”
“Edward, Father…I think you both should stay here. I don’t want to take any chances with your lives. The lads and I…well, we know how to work with each other without even saying anything. You wouldn’t understand the signals we give each other, and we don’t have time to teach you.”
“Fine,” the Duke relented. “I will stay here with Edward, and if by chance, your beloved somehow escapes and finds her way off the lands, we shall be here waiting to give her shelter.”
“That sounds fine,” Freddie said, nodding his head briskly. “Well, Major Abbott, you are in command, so command,” he said to Lewis.
Lewis smiled. “Just like the good old days.”
“Aye, and those days aren’t really that far behind us, are they?”
The other men shook their head. “It’s a good thing, too,” Micah said, holding his rifle. “We might be a bit rusty, if we’d been away from it for long. One question for everyone, should I shoot to kill or only to disable?” he asked, with a cheeky grin.
“I wouldn’t kill them, if you can help it,” Lewis said. “We don’t know how complicit they all are, and they aren’t the enemy, and this isn’t an officially sanctioned mission.”
“I suppose you are right,” Micah sighed. “I’ll give you bastards cover. Now go on in there, and end this before it gets serious.”
The grounds had an eerie feeling to them. They seemed almost haunted. And Freddie was quickly reminded of how similar this day felt to the day when Iris had almost lost her life because of Lewis’s mad brother. The only thing that was missing was the thunderstorm…aside from that, it looked and felt the same.
They stalked up to the house. There didn’t seem to be any men roaming the grounds. They had to smoke them out. Lewis nodded at Lucky who was a safe distance from the house, and Lucky produced one of his nifty little noisemakers, lit it, and threw it. It exploded and made one hell of a noise that probably rattled the house.
He could only pray that what they were doing, wouldn’t scare the hell out of Julia, and Ruby.
The blackguards that had Julia were about to get the fright of their lives.
*****
“Did you hear that?” Julia asked, as they all stopped and Alfie pawed at her leg, and started whining. The dreadful noise had made all of them jump, and yet, if her suspicions were correct, they had no reason to fear it.
It was The Angels of Death saying how do you do.
“You’d have to be bloody deaf not to hear that,” Tobias said sarcastically. “I take it your honey is out there somehow having Lord Prescott play his special kind of bombastic music. You have to hand it to the man, he certainly knows his trade.”
“You’ve been on the receiving end of this before?” Ruby asked incredulously.
“Oh, aye. Cheeky little buggers that they are. No harm came to me, though, or any of my men. I don’t think they’ll be acting so graciously with the blackguards that have caused us so much grief.”
“I daresay, they won’t,” Julia said proudly. “They are going to scare them witless, and I have to say, I think they all deserve it.”
“Huzzah to that,” Tobias said. “The popinjays that tied us up don’t have the look to them that would allow them to be footmen. They were mean, ugly looking bastards. They are definitely bad business, and the sooner they are hauled off to New Bridewell, the better.”
“Now that I know Freddie is here waiting for us, I’ll take us to the secret passage that leads out onto the grounds. Freddie will no doubt be waiting for us. Or at least, I pray he will.”
They stopped, as some more explosive noises rocked through the house. She was a little scared listening to the cacophony. After the din had cleared, they heard men shouting and shots being fired. She knew she had no reason to fret over Freddie, he’d come through the Wars basically none the worse for wear, but she worried nonetheless.
After a few tense moments, they reached the door that led out onto the expansive grounds. If only she could see out there and know if it was safe for them.
“I suppose we are taking a chance if we open that door and find the enemy on the other side, eh?” Tobias asked.
“You and Ruby best get behind us,” Charles said, as he reached for Ruby’s arm, and maneuvered her so she stood behind them. Alfie stopped,
and sat at Julia’s feet.
“How well armed were the cads that tied you up?” Julia asked.
“Armed to the bloody teeth,” Charles said. “So we had best expect a bloody fight, unless Freddie and his mates have cleared the way.”
Nerve wrenching silence blanketed the house. As it was so quiet, they heard Hargreaves yelling, “Where the bloody hell are those two little lordly bastards, and find me that whore of a lady! We’re going to have to use her and her bitch companion as bargaining pieces.”
“I ain’t sticking around. The lord and his mates scare me,” one of the gang said, as Lucky played more of his tunes. She could hear men shrieking, and the same one that said he wasn’t going to stick around, screamed, “It’s every man for himself! Run for your lives!”
Julia smiled. “I think they might have seen Freddie and Tiny.”
“I do believe you might be right,” Tobias said, chuckling.
Freddie laughed. “It’s your face, Tiny. It has to be your face. It does it every time.”
Tiny laughed. “Your mug isn’t exactly like looking at an angel who came out of heaven, either, Mouse.”
“Ah, that’s where you’re wrong, mate. I look good enough to be painted by Michelangelo.”
“I don’t know who that bloke is…but I don’t think so, mate!”
Freddie led them toward the exit that Julia would use, if she was in the secret passageways inside of the house. Most of the gang from London had been taken care of, while some of the others lurked inside of the house waiting for the right moment, or what they believed was the right moment to strike out against them.
He saw the small hidden door opening, and he knew that Julia and Ruby would be behind it. He stopped as he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He turned to fire at the man who raised his pistol and had it aimed at him and Tiny, but Micah was on it. Micah hit the man in his kneecap, and the man’s cry of anguish echoed across the grounds.
“Guess that’s how Micah is getting over the whole not shooting to kill thing,” Tiny mused. “That bastard is going to be lucky to keep that leg, though.”
The door opened slowly, and he saw Julia as she stepped down out of the house. She turned, and her face lit up when she saw him. Ruby stepped down next, with Alfie by her side, and then, he sighed as his eyes caught sight of the other two men that were with her. Tobias and the man he never welcomed seeing, Lord Charles Tempest.
They walked across the lawn toward him, and he smiled, noticing that she had found a few of his dueling pistols. He started running toward them, and Charles and Tobias were lagging a bit behind, as Avondale had a bum leg that caused him no end of grief, sometimes. Freddie’s eyes widened, as he saw a gang member come up behind Charles and Tobias.
He had his pistol cocked.
Damnation. He didn’t like the man, but Freddie sure as hell wasn’t going to let someone shoot him in the back. Only cowards shot someone in the back. He raised his own pistol, and aimed.
Julia’s eyes widened, and she screamed, just as he discharged his pistol.
Julia couldn’t believe it. She couldn’t fathom what had just happened. Freddie wouldn’t have killed Charles, would he? No…he wasn’t that sort of a man. She turned around, and relief swept through her, as she noticed that it was one of the members of the poaching gang that had been shot.
“I think…I think I might require clean drawers,” Tobias jested.
“I think my whole life passed before my eyes…even the bits filled with French,” Charles joked.
Julia quickened her pace, and threw herself into Freddie’s arms. “Thank God, you came,” she said, clinging to him. He tightened his hold on her, and drank in her heavenly scent. He wanted to take her away from all of the danger that still lurked around them, but he knew he couldn’t leave, until he had rid the estate of all of the blackguards.
“Mr. Browne discovered them, and they killed him, Freddie,” Julia rushed out. “They are a poaching gang from London, and it seems that Mr. Hargreaves works with them as well.”
“Are all of the servants working for them?” he asked.
“I cannot say. But one of the maids risked her life to come and warn Ruby and me. We used the hidden tunnels inside of the house to access the Billiards Room, as that was where they had tied up Tobias and Charles.”
“And why were they there?”
“They…they thought that they thought could talk to you man to man, or at least Charles did. I don’t think Tobias had anything to do with it.”
“Indeed, I did not. I am not an idiot,” Tobias said. “I only came with Charles in an effort to see the fool didn’t get himself killed. I suppose I believed I could appeal to your better nature and beseech you not to beat Charles black and blue for his impudence. I can see that you and Julia are fated to be together and whether Charles wants to believe it or not…he has to let you go, Julia.”
“I know. I know I have to let her go,” Charles said, his voice rough. “I…” his eyes darkened, and he raised his pistol toward Freddie, and was about to shoot the man that was about to shoot Freddie, when Micah got him. “How the hell many of them are there?” Charles demanded.
“I don’t know,” Freddie said, through clenched teeth. “But I need you to take them to where Mr. Lovett and my father are waiting. They are up by the Gatekeeper’s House.”
“Aye, we can do that,” Tobias said. “Are you and your mates able to deal with what is left here?”
“Oh, it will be great fun,” Freddie said. “Keep her safe.” He kissed Julia lightly on the lips. “Go with them, Julia, and I will see you shortly.”
“Don’t do anything rash, Freddie. I want you to come back to me.”
“No matter what happens, Julia, I will always find my way back to you.”
She smiled, and squeezed his hand before she let Tobias, Ruby and Charles lead her away. “Take my pistol,” she said.
“Thank you, my lady. You will always be mistress of my heart, Julia.”
“Aye, I know,” she said, smiling.
As they walked toward the Gatekeeper’s House, something tickled the back of her neck. She didn’t know why, but she felt as if she needed Freddie again. Pulling her skirt up, she heard Ruby inhale deeply.
“What are you doing, Julia?” Ruby asked.
“I feel strange. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something isn’t quite right, Ruby. Just trust me, and everyone get ready to fight.”
She pulled the dagger Freddie had given her out of the holster on her leg, and as they came stepped out of the thicket of trees, what she saw made her blood curdle. Her uncle lay prone on the ground, and Freddie’s father was trying to help him. It looked as if her Uncle Edward had been shot.
Julia stilled the scream that welled in her throat, and as they approached, the men that had hurt her uncle, turned. Tobias and Charles shot, as did Ruby. They all hit their targets, save for Ruby. The man she’d missed still had his pistol aimed in their direction. Julia threw her dagger, and got the man right in his side. He let out a scream, and his pistol discharged, but his aim had been off, and he missed.
“It is all in the wrist,” she muttered, racing to drop onto her knees by her uncle’s side.
“Not to worry,” Edward rasped. “Fortunately, I’ve merely been winged.” Alfie went over to Edward, and gave him an affectionate lick on his face.
She ripped off part of her petticoat, and wrapped it around his wound. “You need Lewis,” she said.
“Aye, Julia, I believe you might be right,” he smiled wanly at her.
“He pushed me out of the way,” the Duke said. “The man has courage I haven’t seen before.”
“That is my Uncle Edward for you. He has a heart of gold. Do you think you men can get him up and inside of the carriage?”
“I think we can manage,” Tobias said, assisting the Duke in getting Edward to his feet, and leading him over to the carriage.
Julia wanted it all to be over.
She needed to see
Freddie again.
Chapter Twenty
The nightmare was over.
Julia had Freddie back, and the members of the poaching gang had been handed over to the local Yeomanry, and they were taking them onward to New Bridewell. They sunk their ship by shooting one of the local magistrates, and Freddie didn’t think that Edward would let them off with a slap on the wrists.
Edward told him that Enoch Smith had been sent to Australia with his wife, and Freddie wouldn’t have to see them ever again. And he was deeply thankful for that. As for the poaching gang, he hoped they would be sentenced to hang, once they stood trial, as they were guilty of much more than just poaching. They had killed a man, hurt others, and had threatened some of his household staff.
Freddie sat with Julia in Castleton Court, and he didn’t want to leave her to go back home to Wilton Park. He wanted to hold her in his arms forever. She had mentioned that they summon the vicar and marry straightaway, but he didn’t want too rushed of an affair. He wanted their wedding to be special, and he wanted it to be a day unto itself, not marred by any sort of drama.
“The thing is,” Julia sighed. “We would have walked straight into those blackguards’ clutches, if the maid hadn’t warned us.”
“Aye…what was her name? I should reward her greatly for her assistance,” Freddie said.
“She said her name was Millie,” Julia said softly.
“Millie?” Freddie felt a sinking in his gut. “We had no one hired as a maid that went by that name, Julia.”
He had known a Millie in his life, but it couldn’t be her, could it?
Julia gave him a blank stare. “Well, of course we did. We must have done. She said her name was Millie…she…”
“Was she about your height with dark blond hair and warm brown eyes?”
“Yes,” she said slowly.
His father walked into the Red Saloon. “Did someone mention Millie?”
“Aye, we were talking about the maid who helped Julia and Ruby. But it cannot be. I…but then, after my experience with Lewis, and a few of the unexplainable happenings I saw during the Wars…” Freddie looked as if he had seen a ghost.
His Michaelmas Mistress Page 20