Now, she hefted her carpetbag and plodded up and down the hillsides, heading due east. Thank heavens for the compass William had brought her the last time he’d been in London, years ago. Thank goodness that sentiment hadn’t let her sell it in a secondhand shop the way she and her sisters had done to everything else not nailed down in their once-grand home.
Blyth, she knew, was slightly northeast of Ballam Hall, but if Lily headed due east, she would hit the village of Stannington. From there one could follow the road into Blyth. Her brother’s man was presumably already there in that port town, waiting at the Cask and Crowne Inn.
Blyth was not a short distance, however. Travelling by road, it was approximately twenty miles. The distance was shortenedby a negligible amount when one walked a straight line as the crow flies, but it became a much longer journey for skipping the solid surface of roadway. Even now, the wind picked up, alternately plastering her wet cloak against her and sending it billowing dramatically behind.
Despite the less than ideal conditions, Lily thought she could make it to Stannington by sundown. It was only seven miles. It was a very small hamlet, but one in possession of an inn. She would use her last month’s wages to secure a room and send a messenger to Blyth, requesting that her brother’s steward collect her there instead.
“There will be a fire and stew once I arrive,” she promised herself aloud. “And a warm fire.”
Her stomach sounded a long, low lament in response. She’d missed lunch and now tea, and was heartily regretting both. Perhaps she could have nipped into the kitchens to take a loaf of bread before she’d left. Her back straightened at the errant thought. She was not a thief. And despite Lord Hayes’s understandable umbrage, Lily didn’t believe she’d done anything worthy of arrest.
Misrepresenting who she was had been wrong, certainly, but she’d done so with excellent intentions. Besides, her contrition for lying had prodded her into becoming the best governess possible to Rebecca. In that quarter at least, Lily had no guilt whatsoever.
As she slogged up the next muddy hill, her boots slipping in the slick clay, she prayed that Lord Hayes would reconsider. If that weren’t possible, she hoped she’d at least reach the safety of Stannington before anyone realized she’d fled.
CHAPTER 4- LILY
Hours later, when Lily crested the last small rise and saw the road into Stannington, the church steeple, and beyond that, smoke tufting from the building she knew to be the inn, her face crumpled with relief. It had been a difficult journey, but she’d made it. Now all that was left was to relax in her warm room and wait for this Mr. Abeer to fetch her.
The sun was nothing more than a faint smudge of brightness hanging low behind the clouds as she fought her way up the embankment to the road leading into town. Thistles snagged at her gown while low branches tried to tug the cloak from her shoulders, nearly choking her several times.
Not for the first time, Lily regretted the five brocade gowns rolled within her carpetbag. They were practical, but heavy. All that difficulty was behind her now, however. When her feet hit the solid packed earth of the country road, she took a moment and tilted her head back. The sun had finally managed to peek through the clouds. The light sent steam curling from the road.
She was steaming too, she realized with amusement. Wisps of moisture rolled from her wet garments as if she were a pudding fresh from the oven. Lily had just pointed herselftoward town when she heard them—hoofbeats, coming fast along the road behind her.
Her heart clenched and she darted back off the road, ducking behind the thick trunk of a gnarled oak tree. Though her journey from Ballam Hall had taken her the greater part of the day, it was only seven miles by road.
Seven miles was not so great a distance if one had fast horses. And who else had the occasion to be riding pell-mell down the country road? This was a quiet hamlet, very remote. By the cadence of the pounding hoofbeats, Lily could tell there were at least two riders.
It’s Lord Hayes,she thought, her breath catching in her throat.Lord Hayes and the Magistrate.
With her next breath, she declared herself silly. It was probably the local farmer’s boys, racing their horses. Young men did that often for amusement, did they not? Surely her luck couldn’t bethatpoor, could it?
But then his deep voice snaked through the air, winding around the protection of the oak tree to reach her.
“Head into town,” Lord Hayes said. “Ask at the church and the inn, as well as anyone you see on the street.”
“You truly believe she made it this far, my lord?”
Lily recognized the voice of George, the groomsman, and sagged against the tree in partial relief. The magistrate must not have arrived yet.
“Where else would a young woman run to, other than to town?”
“And she didn’t say where she was going?”
There was a pause in which Lily was certain she and Lord Hayes were thinking the same thing—he hadn’t asked where she was going to meet her brother. And thank goodness he hadn’t, or Lily might have told him.
“Just check the town, George.” Lord Hayes sounded exhausted, as ifhewere the one being chased on foot across the countryside, not her.
“Of course, my lord.”
Hoofbeats cantered toward the direction of town. Lily glanced at her surroundings. The oak she hid behind was so large it had shaded out any other trees. Only thin and sun-starved underbrush had taken shelter beneath its mighty branches.
There wasn’t any possibility of slinking away, and not just because there was no cover for at least a dozen feet or so. The same oak that shielded her had dropped a hundred thousand leaves in its lifetime. She was surrounded by the dried, decaying things. If she took a step in any direction, he was bound to hear her crunching movements.
Lord Hayes remained on the road, right where the main road met the smaller one into town. Every few seconds, there was a reminder—the huff of his horse, a stomping hoof, the creak of his leather saddle. And then, a heavy sigh that spoke of regret.
It intrigued her, that sigh. Despite the little voice inside screaming not to take the risk, Lily couldn’t help but peek around the trunk ever so slowly.
