AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The grooms were all asleep, and he didn’t wake any of them as he quietly took up his horse, tacked him, and easily mounted. Where the deuce was he going?
How the bloody hell would he find Freddy at night?
Suddenly dawning hit him between the eyes.
He had seen the look that passed between Freddy and Serena early that morning. They had planned to meet again at night, and he was guessing it was where they had met that very morning.
Of course! He suddenly saw it as though laid out for him. Their activity, whatever it had been, had been cut short when the sun had come up. They ha
d to give up whatever it was they were at and had made a pact to meet in the evening. It was already ten, and he wondered how long he had been asleep.
What were those two up to? He knew now it had nothing to do with a romantic, clandestine meeting. He knew that all this while, Serena had been treating Freddy more like a brother than a suitor. She had been trying to let him down easy. He saw it all, because his eyes had been opened by his nephew. He should have seen it on his own. He knew her; in his heart, he had known her.
Piney Woods. That was where they had found the body. That was what they were investigating, because it all had to do with the stolen gold.
His uncovered hair of black silk blew about his face as he made his way down the pike as quickly as he could in the waning moonlight. Clouds had moved in, and soon if this continued there would be no moonlight whatsoever.
He had been distraught all afternoon and into the evening over his conversation with Serena. How had he called her a ‘doxy’? What was wrong with him? He knew, better than anyone, that she was an innocent. She drove him mad with jealousy and agitation over Freddy, and yet in his heart he knew better. He simply knew better, and yet he had allowed his wild, unthinking green demon to take over.
He loved Serena Moorely. He knew that, had made his peace with the realization that his bachelor days were done, but now he would have to beg her forgiveness and beg on his hands and knees if he must, because he loved her and had to have her for his wife.
Yes, but first, he had to find the blasted pair!
* * *
Female instincts made Serena act without logic as she took Freddy’s hand and dragged him away from the gold and back down the dim, dank corridor to the stone steps. She only knew one thing—they had to get away and fast.
“But …” he objected as she pulled him along. “Did you hear something? Is that why we have to leave?”
“No, yet, oh, Freddy, this is no place for us. We must report this immediately and before the gold is removed.”
“Well, as to that, Serena, don’t know how they managed in the first place. It would have taken quite a number of trips for even a couple of men …”
“Freddy, I think only one man brought the gold here … only one man knows it is here, because he plans to cheat his partners in this, and I am afraid I think I know who that one man is.”
“Who? How do you know? What makes you say that?”
“Because he can’t afford to have anyone know who he is and what he has done. He means to kill them … probably down here. We have to go now … do stop asking questions that you can ask later. When we have left you can—”
“Well, it is too smoky by half,” Freddy interjected. “How did one man manage to get the gold in here without rousing someone at the rectory?”
“How, indeed, Freddy,” Serena said, her voice dripping with suggestion.
“Zounds, never say that prosy fellow Eustace has been bribed to keep mum?”
“No, I shan’t say that,” Serena returned as she took the steps, sliding her hand over the cold wall at her side. “It is even worse than that, Freddy.”
“What? Oh … Oh. Well, upon my soul! You think it is Eustace!”
She turned to him on the last step and said, “Freddy, it all makes sense to me now—” She turned and found the trap door flung open, and with Freddy at her shoulder, both discovered themselves staring into the muzzle of a horse pistol.
“Slowly, lovely … slowly … aye, there’s a good lad … let me see yer hands …”
“All right then,” Freddy said. “You have me. Let the young lady go.”
“Now whot do ye take me for? Ye both be dead where ye stand, ye do know that, I’m thinking.”
Serena was staring at Eustace, but before she could speak he growled at her, “I knew it was your horse, and still I could not believe this of you!”
