AllFreeNovel
Share Us
To Lily’s amusement, Merlin snorted and bobbed his head up and down as if to say, ‘you’d better.’ Even Captain Jones unbent enough to chuckle.
They were so preoccupied, the sound of a shout made Lily jump. She had not been paying attention to the path, much less whether or not someone was making their way down it.
“There she is! I see her!” The voice was unknown, and she frowned as she turned her head to see a man on a horse who looked vaguely familiar. The triumphant tone of his voice made no sense to her, and she could not see who he was calling to behind him. “My God, and with Captain Jones after all. Is the highwayman gone then?”
If Captain Jones had been ice before, now he was a glacier, his body rigid. The way he was looking at the other gentleman was not at all friendly.
“Long gone,” he said.
“Ah, well…” The man looked behind them at the cottage, his eyebrows rising. “Then you two spent the night together?”
She did not need to recognize him to recognize the gleam in his eye, and her stomach turned over. London was full of malicious gossips, those who delighted in the misfortune of their peers and loved to talk about it.
Perfect.
There was no escaping ruination now.
Captain Jones walked up beside her, wrapping his arm around her waist and causing her to jump.
“Lord Hatchet, I am sure you are not insinuating anything untoward about my fiancée.”
His what?Lily clenched her jaw, barely keeping from shouting the words. The effort to maintain an even expression was even more difficult. Truthfully, it was probably shock more than anything that kept her quiet.
Not one word—not one word—all night, even though he knew she was worried over her reputation! Would it have killed him to talk to her about it first?
“Your fiancée?” Lord Hatchet’s eyebrows rose in suspicion, and she thought there was a bit of disappointment as well.
“Of course. Why do you think I was so frantic to reach her yesterday?” Captain Jones tightened his hold.
Lily forced herself to smile sweetly at Lord Hatchet before turning her gaze to her erstwhile fiancé. If he had bothered to look at her, he would have seen pure murder in her eyes.
“Thankfully, I rescued her before anything terrible happened.”
In one fell swoop, he’d managed to save her reputation. Not only had he pronounced them engaged—which did not entirely forgive them spending the night together unchaperoned, but no one would care once they were married—he had also reassured the others she had not been ravished by the highwayman. Lord Hatchet struggled to cover his disappointment at the lackluster gossip he’d been presented. The loathsome man.
When Mary and her husband, the Marquess of Hartford, came riding up the path behind him, Lord Hatchet turned at the sound. Lily felt a surge of relief at the sight of her friend. They appeared unharmed. Of all her friends, they were the only ones Captain Jones’ had no information on. Perhaps they had been left out of the attacks?
“There you are! Thank goodness,” Mary said. Lily was clearly not the only one who was relieved.
* * *
Nathan
The rigid way Miss Davies was holding herself did not bode well for his future, but it was well-locked in now. If it had been their friends who had found them first, they might have been able to come up with… something. Lord Hatchet’s presence made that impossible. Nathan had seen the other man’s excitement at having such a juicy bit of gossip to chew on.
Miss Davies rushed from his side to embrace her friend. Nathan had to admit his own surge of relief at seeing the pair, especially since the Marchioness did not appear to be upset or in mourning. She was as close to the Camden family as Miss Davies was, so that must mean the Marquess of Camden still lived.
The tension he’d been holding in his chest all night relaxed, leaving him feeling like a cloth that had just been wrung out.
At least something was going right.
The urge to get back to London, as quickly as possible, to get caught up on everything was rampant, but he knew he could not let on. Not with Hatchet there.
“Thank you for joining in the search,” he said casually to Hatchet, drawing the man’s attention away from the two women and their whispering. “I would have expected you to be well on your way to your estates by now.” Hopefully, he would think Miss Davies’ distress and the Marchioness’ relief at finding her was entirely due to her ordeal and nothing else.
If gossip got out about the attack on Camden House, Nathan hoped this would be all Hatchet remembered. Or if he did realize it, he would think the two things were entirely unrelated.
“Yes… well.” Hatchet looked uncomfortable at the reminder he’d been less than gracious to Miss Davies’ maid. “Once I realized you were taking the situation seriously, I could hardly do any less. It bothered my conscience, so I turned back to London to inform Miss Davies’ parents and offered my services, along with Miss Davies’ friends. I daresay, none of us expected to find you alone here.”
