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Ben snorted. “They will be looking for people with cloaks on. Nobody will look twice at a man walking arm and arm down the street with a woman.”
“Oi!” Oscar protested as he looked warily at the man beside him. “I am not walking arm in arm with him. Now that would draw attention, and for all the wrong reasons.”
A smatter of sniggers rippled around the hallway.
“If you even tried, I would shoot you,” Ben snorted but, even so, couldn’t hide his grin.
“Right, off to work we go,” Barnaby declared cheerfully. “Good luck everybody. Stay safe. Connor; don’t forget to invite us to the wedding.”
Tahlia felt her cheeks blush but grinned at the mention of Connor marrying her. She wondered what they had discussed while they had been in the library, but couldn’t turn around to ask. With this hood she was struggling to see her own feet.
“Don’t look down,” Connor chastised as he watched Barnaby tug his own hood up. “Keep your eyes on the path ahead. Your hoods need to be tucked up as far as you can go. Ladies, make sure your cloaks cover your skirts. You don’t want anybody being able to identify you are a woman.”
Wrapping herself up, Tahlia tucked her hands into her sleeves and followed everyone out of the door. It was the most surreal moment of her life, but she stepped out into a completely different world of adventure. It revealed a new side to Connor, and the life he had led. She suddenly began to understand him, and how the events of the past had transpired the way they had. She felt as though she was being pushed along on a tide of orders, driven by danger, that she had no strength to fight.
On the pavement they split into groups of four and went in opposite directions without saying a word. She wished she had the time to say goodbye to Oscar and Cecily, but couldn’t before she was practically marched down the road. Nobody spoke as they left the house behind. The only sound that could be heard was the rapid clip of their boots on the pavement. People they passed stopped and stared at the rather sinister sight of them, but nobody challenged, or spoke to them.
At the end of the road, the four became two as each group split up again. As last time, the groups went in opposite directions.
Connor and Tahlia were on their own now.
Tahlia’s heart was pounding. From the depths of her cloak she studied each carriage that rumbled toward them. She half expected each one to stop beside them and its occupants to make a grab for her or Connor. Thankfully, as one mile passed after another, nothing untoward happened, and she began to relax.
“This way,” Connor whispered. “We need to cross the road.”
“What? Again?” Tahlia gasped. “But we have just done that.”
“Yes, I know,” Connor sighed. “But I need to keep checking behind us. I can’t keep stopping and looking behind us. It is too suspicious.”
“Have you seen anybody yet?” she asked quietly.
“I think I saw someone trying to pretend they weren’t there half a mile back, but I need to see if they are still behind us.”
With that he guided her across the road.
“Well?” she asked when they reached the other side.
“Yes,” was all he said.
Tahlia sighed and fought to quell her frustration. Talking to him was nearly impossible if all she was going to get was one word answers. She wondered what he wasn’t telling her. When she tried to look at him, all she saw was her cloak. Panic began to build.
“Connor?”
“Here. Just keep walking.”
The steady calmness in his voice reassured her. She wished they could hold hands or something, but knew that would then look even more unusual than they did right now.
They continued in silence for several more miles until Connor decided that enough was enough.
“Up ahead, there is a tavern. The road is relatively quiet. Don’t go into the tavern. We are going into the coaching yard beside it. Once inside there, we will remove the cloaks. We can go into the tavern through a side door,” he breathed.
Tahlia thought her heart was going to pound right out of her chest. She visibly shook with nerves. The need to look behind her was almost desperate, but she daren’t. Connor had said not to. She had little choice but to do as she was told. If she didn’t, they could both die.
Connor knew that this was most probably the ultimate test of her faith in him. If she did exactly as he instructed her to do without question, he knew that theirs would be a happy union full of mutual love and respect. If tension and fear got the better of her, he knew he was going to have the mother of all battles on his hands to get her to surrender some of her independent lifestyle to him, and agree to marriage.
“Is this it?” she asked as she eyed the tavern up ahead.
“Yes,” Connor said.
