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“This way,” Andrew whispered, indicating the front of the barn. Light spilled from the small windows of the Tucker cottage like long fingers, nearly reaching the barn doors. They would need to slip in quietly and hope they weren’t seen.
Pausing at the corner of the barn, Charles waited, chest heaving. He swept his gaze over the yard but saw nothing. Indicating to Boyle that it was clear, the short man snuck around him and toward the barn door. It creaked as he opened it, and the men paused, Charles struggling to hold his breath before Boyle continued. He managed to get the door open wide enough to slip through and disappeared.
This was the portion of their rescue mission Charles had looked forward to the very least. He and Andrew could do nothing but wait while Boyle crept around inside, checking for horses, counting them, and assuring them that Howard was among them.
“This wait is agonizing.” Andrew spoke so quietly that Charles almost didn’t make out what he’d said. He nodded in response and rested his head back against the rough, wooden planks.
A moment later, a noise drew Charles’s gaze to the barn door, and he startled when eyes appeared in the dark space. “Come,” Boyle whispered, and Charles could have leapt for joy. The horses were within.
Instead, he crept across the ground and slid quietly through the doorway, Andrew just behind him.
Boyle was close, his voice low but discernible. “Howard is here, all right. And nine other horses besides.”
“Nine?” Charles swore under his breath. “How are we to know which belong to the men from Melbury?”
“We can’t,” Andrew said. “We’ll have to take the ones we know and point the magistrate here.”
“Tonight,” Boyle said. “Or they’ll just move them when they discover ours missing. We should go directly there following this.”
They located Howard and Maximus and slid the bits into their mouths, securing the straps over their ears and under their jaws. Charles had never before been so happy to see a horse, and he pressed down his elation, forcing himself to focus on the task at hand. There was no sense in celebrating, not when they weren’t yet in the clear.
“Did you find both of Green’s hunters?” he asked.
“Yes,” Andrew said, working on a horse on the other side of the barn. They’d gotten bridles on each of the four horses, and Andrew tossed each man a length of rope to tie to them. They would have to open the creaky door fully in order to lead the horses out, which could very well alert the Tuckers to their presence, but then all they would have to do was cross the field, make it through the shallow ditch, and over the lane. Once they reached Charles’s property across the road, they would be safe.
Boyle handed Charles the rope attached to Howard’s bridle and left to open the door. Charles’s heart raced. The light from the Tucker cottage felt as though it was crawling closer to the barn as the door opened, and he could see the faint outline of someone through one of the back windows. He swallowed hard. They were breaking the law by trespassing—it hardly mattered that they were retrieving stolen horses that belonged to them. Any of the Tucker men wouldn’t hesitate to shoot on sight. And blast it, but they would be within their rights to do so.
Mouth going dry, Charles prayed fervently that they would make it out of the barn and safely across the road before anyone in the cottage caught wind of what they were doing. When the door was open wide enough, Andrew gestured for Charles to precede him, and he wasted no time. One rope in each hand, he led Maximus and Howard out and started across the lawn, his steps quick. He was tempted to look over his shoulder and check on his friend’s progress, but he refrained, focusing ahead. He knew Andrew would be behind him. Boyle would bring up the rear so he might shut the barn door and stave off any notice of them having tampered with the barn to give them more time to get away.
They wanted to keep the Tuckers off their scent as long as possible.
Charles made it to the road when a sound to his right stole his attention, and he saw two men in front of the cottage, speaking in agitated tones.
Blast. They hadn’t noticed him yet, but he would not be able to make it much farther without being spotted. He could only hope Andrew was following close behind and would take his lead.
Breaking into a run, Charles had no other choice but to get away as fast as he could. He gripped the ropes in his hands tightly and led the horses down the shallow ditch and onto the road.
Footsteps pounded the ground behind him, and a man yelled, “You, there!”
Charles didn’t stop. He crossed the road and slipped into the trees, snagging his boots on roots and hopping over rocks, hoping the darkness would be more of a help than a hindrance. Turning in the direction of Sheffield House, his estate, he picked his way through the woods as fast as he could go, hoping to lead whoever was following him away from the horses they’d left tied to the tree.
“Stop!” the man yelled. “Those are mine!”
Charles picked up his speed, his heart hammering in his chest. The voice had been far closer than he’d anticipated.
And where were Andrew and Boyle?
Hitting his foot against a tree root, Charles pitched forward, sprawling on the ground. He hopped up quickly, searching for the ropes that had slipped free of his hands when he’d gone down. He managed to clasp Howard’s rope to the sound of an unhappy whinny when a tall man stumbled through the brush.
“You’ll answer for this,” the man seethed, tall and blond, chest heaving. He lunged for the rope with a wild look in his dark eyes, and Charles dropped it, pulling back his clenched fist and landing the man a facer. The blond stranger flew back, knocking into a tree before crumpling to the ground.
“Actually, I think you’ll be the one forced to answer for this,” Charles said, shaking out his hand. Pain shot through his knuckles, and he was almost certain he’d broken something on the man’s jaw. Perhaps he’d even given him a scar to match the other side of his ugly Melbury mug.
Untying the rope from his own horse, Charles took the blond man’s hands behind his back and tied them together. Now, he needed to locate his friends.
