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But, no, he handed her off to the lad. “Bunky…she rides with you.”
“I don’t hold with this, Colin. No…this is not the line of work I signed up for,” Bunky said on a grumble.
“You signed up as a mate. I’m fond of you and you have served me well, but remember, lad, you take your orders from me. I make the decisions around here.” He put an affectionate hand around the boy’s skinny neck. “Now, gag and truss her up. Can’t have her screaming over the countryside.”
Sara handed the second man a linen napkin, which Bunky gently used to gag Heather, saying softly to her, “There now, miss, don’t struggle so and it will go better for ye.”
“Shut up, Bunky, don’t talk to the mort,” Colin snapped. “She isn’t an innocent in this, I told you that, so try and remember it.”
Heather tried to calm herself. She looked at Bunky, who appeared extremely uncomfortable in his role as co-abductor. She couldn’t believe he was already a hardened criminal. Could she appeal to him to let her escape?
She saw a blush steal onto Bunky’s cheeks, but as he took Heather’s arm, he whispered, “There now, ye be looking at me like I’m some kind of devil and I’m that sorry I am, but…I don’t have a choice.”
“Bunky…take her up on your horse with you now and don’t dawdle,” Colin yelled. “Right then, we had better be making pace to our boat.”
A few minutes later, Heather heard Sara laughing as she mounted the horse and sat straddling as best she could with her hands behind h
er back. Bunky mounted behind her and said, “I’ll try not to make ye too uncomfortable, miss…this is not to m’liking. Fiend seize it all…not to m’liking. Smuggling is one thing, but abducting a fine woman such as yerself, even if ye did steal that one’s husband…well, I just don’t hold with it.”
Heather didn’t see the point in struggling just then. What would be the advantage? She had nowhere to run. They would be on her and Colin would make good on his promise to knock her out, and then she would surely be lost. No, she simply had to wait for a better opportunity.
She was sick with fright, and had but one hope—Godwin. He would never believe that she had willingly left him. He would know better. He would find her. He had to find her. But dusk had set in and he would not see the horses’ tracks this evening. Tomorrow would be too late.
She was with child—his child, and he would never give up looking for her. He would not believe the note Sara was going to give him, even though he would know it was in her hand. He would suspect something. He simply had to have faith that she would not leave him.
She turned in the saddle and saw Sara watching, a smile wide across her face as they walked their horses off. She wouldn’t give up hope. She couldn’t, and yet she had an awful feeling in the pit of her being.
~ Eight ~
HEATHER SAT UNABLE TO SPEAK, unable to think beyond her present predicament. The cloth in her mouth and her level of anxiety made it difficult for her to even breathe.
She turned and stared at the lad called Bunky, pleading with her eyes.
“Lookee, ma’am…ye have pretty violet eyes, ye do, and I know ye want me to help ye. I can’t. I told ye I don’t hold wit this, and there isn’t anything I can do. If Colin sends me off, I have nowhere…nowhere to go. So what I like doesn’t make a ha’porth o’difference in m’world. I’m naught. That woman, the one who arranged this…she struck up a bargain with Colin, she did, and Colin never goes back on a bargain. I jest be doing whot Colin told me.”
Heather wanted to rail against this philosophy and beg him to free her, but the gag in her mouth kept her silent.
The color of wild purple crocus was everywhere, and even in the dusky light she could just make them out as they trotted along. Life was taking her away from everything she loved. How was she going to escape? How?
She needed to find a way to escape. Could she manage to slide off the horse…run, and maybe someone would come along before they recaptured her? Maybe if she slid off, she could scream? No, how could she get the gag out with her wrists tied behind her back? Oh, faith, what was she to do?
She shifted in her seat in front of the lad, and he said, “I know what ye are thinking. Ye want to run, but I’d have to chase ye, and Colin…well, he would be none too kind. Don’t do it…lest ye see someone coming along. Then mayhap ye’ll have a chance.”
So, he wouldn’t stop her if help was nearby. Hope trickled into her heart, but no one came along, and after thirty minutes of slow trotting, they reached the cove.
“Colin ordered the men to moor the sloop down in that cove…there.” Bunky indicated with his chin. “They be waiting for our signal.”
Bunky slid off his horse and helped Heather down, steadying her as she faltered. She was frantic. This couldn’t really be happening…could it?
She frantically looked about, checking her surroundings for some way she might escape. She saw Colin wave a lantern. No doubt to his men. Once she was on the vessel with them, she would be done. Life would be over. Oh Godwin…Godwin?
Bunky confirmed her worst fear. “He is signaling to the men to come for us with the small boat.”
She closed her eyes and Bunky clucked his tongue. “I’m sorry, miss…if I could help ye, I would.”
Colin came over, handed the lantern to Bunky and took Heather’s arm. “Right now, little missy, I want no trouble from you. So come along.” He dragged her as Heather put up a fight. He stopped suddenly and rounded on her. “Stop. I don’t want to hit you. In fact, a part of me knows I am crossing a line with this job. But I took payment and gave my word. That is the end of it. Don’t you think I know you want to flee, so I’m not going to rough you up any more than I must. Understand? But I’ll not take much more of your struggling. What is the point, woman? What is the point?”
Heather saw the boat in the shallow water and a tear fell down her cheek. A large burly man called out, “Whot is this, Captain? I don’t hold with gagging a lady.”
