Page 40 of The Smuggler’s Escape

Just short of Tifton’s drive, Will Dalbey took Snowflake off the road, squeezed through a gap in the hedgerow, and vanished into a small copse.

Noelle stiffened. “Will’s got a sixth sense. Tommy has too, although not as good as Will’s.”

She’d been spending way too much time with the free traders. “That’s how they’ve evaded the authorities for centuries,” Richard said. “It’s one reason I feel comfortable enlisting their aid.”

“Don’t you understand? Will left the road because someone’s coming, and he knows he shouldn’t be seen with us.”

“No,” Richard said, “he left the road because there are two tubs of brandy in the copse. He’s gone to fetch them.”

“How dared you put Will at such risk in broad daylight?”

“It was Will’s notion, since it’s only a step from here to your uncle’s place.”

Galloping hooves sounded up ahead. Noelle sucked in a breath. She shot Richard a horrified look.

He grinned. Stubbs, his groom, appeared around the bend on a big bay. He slid off the horse as Richard pulled his pair to a halt. “It’s just as you expected, my lord,” Stubbs said, tipping his hat to Noelle. He went to the greys’ heads. “The vicar’s doing his best, but . . .” His voice trailed away.

Richard had already jumped down from the curricle. He extended a hand to Noelle as Will Dalbey and Snowflake reappeared from the copse, the two tubs of brandy in plain view. “I have to rescue Tommy from the excisemen. Do you want to come? Stubbs will drive you home, if you prefer.”

She clambered down from the curricle. Her eyes darted helplessly to Will, who was transferring the tubs of brandy to the curricle.

“Not to worry,” Richard said. She was delightful, if quite hopeless as a conspirator when surprised. “Everything is going according to plan.”

Richard tossed Noelle onto Snowflake and mounted the bay. “Wait for me at Sir Matthew’s,” he told the two men, and they were off.