Page 9 of The Lady’s Sweet Revenge

Chapter Four

The man, Lord Breckenridge, listened to her horrid story, looking appalled at all the appropriate times, which was to say everything that had happened to her since she’d been riding in the park.

“And you say your Uncle Edgar, a man who has doted on you since you were a lass, is responsible for such a heinous act?” He seemed shocked, but not as if he didn’t believe her.

“Yes. I am to understand he has gotten himself into a mess and owes money to this Captain. For what, I can’t possibly know as my uncle is not much of a gambler. But the men aboard the Zephyr said my uncle had allowed them to… keep me.”

Reese, she remembered he’d told her his name at some point, looked at her with wide eyes.

“Did you say the Zephyr? That was the name of the ship?”

“Yes. Before I jumped overboard, I heard two men talking about the captain’s plans.”

“The captain?” he said, his voice dropping to a whisper.

“Merrick,” she and Reese said at the same time and he near to jumped up from his seat to pace the room with his hands clenched in his thick, blond hair.

“You were aboard Captain Merrick’s ship and escaped.” It was more a statement of astonishment than a question, yet she answered.

“It was not so difficult. They hadn’t even locked me inside the room. They’d only bound my wrists.” She couldn’t help her tone of disgust. While she was truly grateful for their ineptness, she was rather offended they thought her such an easy captive.

“Are you complaining about the poor job they did of securing you?”

She hadn’t meant to make it so obvious. “It was rather insulting to think a woman so incapable of escaping them.”

He smiled and it warmed his brown eyes. She couldn’t help but smile back. Then she laughed, one chuckle burst free, followed by another until she was caught up in a state of hilarity. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes and ran down her cheeks, and she couldn’t be entirely sure if they weren’t from the fear and hurt resurfacing or the laughter that had gripped her.

“I would have loved to have seen the look on Merrick’s face when he learned you were not in that room.” He bowed from his seat. “I’m honored to make the acquaintance of the lady who bested Merrick and his savages from the Zephyr.”

“It sounds as if you know them.”

“No. Though I’ve heard of them.” He frowned and it looked as if he rubbed his thigh. “What else did they say?”

“Once they are safe in the port at Inverness, they plan to send a letter of ransom to my father. I don’t think the ransom was meant to cover my uncle’s debt.”

“Merrick is a smuggler. If your uncle is mixed up with him it would not be a gambling debt. Likely something else.”

Smuggling? What had her uncle gotten caught up in? How desperate was he to have handed her over to such a fate to save himself? What kind of a man did something like that? She thought she might be sick again, but Reese was speaking.

“Who are your brothers?” he asked, in a way she thought he hoped was cunning. She was nearly as offended as she’d been with her meager constraints on the ship. Did he think her so foolish as to accidentally give away her secret?

She still hadn’t told him who she was. What family she was from. It would do little good to escape one kidnapper only to have this man demand his own ransom for her.

Perhaps, though, it was time to tell him all. If she was wrong to trust this man, she would pay dearly for her mistake. But despite having escaped, she would need this man’s help to get back home. For she was in Scotland, with no funds and no proper clothes.

She shook her head and then let out a deep breath.

“My father is the Duke of Ardmere.”

His eyes went wide again and then he dipped his head in a quick bow.

“Lady Harlow,” he addressed her formally.

She waved her hand. There was really no reason to keep with such propriety now. Not when he was currently alone with her while she sat in bed in a voluminous dressing gown.

She didn’t say any of that. She certainly didn’t need to point out to him how improper all of this was. She cleared her throat to get them back to the matter at hand.

“Whatever reason my uncle owes him this money doesn’t matter. This Captain Merrick meant to hold me ransom, but my uncle had no plans to return me home after they received the money from my father.”