AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Leaning across him, Rhys peeked out the window. Cornwall was a lonesome place, but like Devonshire, it had a stark beauty. As they rounded a bend, the fog lifted. He glimpsed long, green fingers of earth grasping at a brilliant blue sea. The coves between them were dark, honeycombed cliffs. There was a sense of wobbling along the edge of the world as their coach and team navigated the coastal road, high above the breaking waves.
“What sort of place are we looking for?” he asked.
“According to my source, the house is perched above a rocky cove.”
“Was your source any more specific? There seem to be a great many rocky coves hereabouts.”
“We’ll know it when we come to it,” Bellamy said with confidence. “Last time we stopped, that crofter told me it’s the only house of any size for miles.”
The carriage tilted around another steep curve, and Rhys grabbed the edge of the seat to keep from sliding into Bellamy’s lap. That wouldn’t go over well.
“Tell me something,” he said after a minute. “You believe this Peter Faraday took Leo into an alleywayknowingthey would be attacked? That he meant to lure Leo to his death?”
“Possibly.”
“Why would he do that?”
Bellamy grit his teeth. “That’s why we’re on this little journey, isn’t it? To find out.”
“Well, if your theory is true …” Rhys peered out at the road. “How do you know we’re not being lured into an ambush ourselves?”
“I don’t.” He tapped a finger against the window glass. “We’ll be on our guard.”
A house came into view, emerging from the mist as though it floated on its own low-hovering cloud. It was a small stone and brick affair, eccentrically designed. The window shutters’ paint had peeled away from the wood. No lights emanated from within, and no smoke puffed from the chimney.
“Doesn’t look especially welcoming, does it?”
“No,” Rhys agreed. Neither did it look especially occupied. “Perhaps your sources were misinformed.”
“No, just look at it. It’s the perfect place to hide.” He shook Cora awake. “You’ll have to wake up now. Ashworth and I will go inside. You’ll stay here. If we don’t come out for you within a half hour, you’re to tell the coachman to drive you straight back.”
Blinking, Cora rose to a sitting position. After a lazy stretch, she peered out the window, just as they were drawing up to the house.
“La!” she said. “Isn’t that just the picture of a fright. I’m not staying in the coach alone. I want to come in with you.”
“We don’t know what we’ll meet with inside,” Rhys said. “There may be danger.”
“I thought I was here to identify the man. How can I do that from here? I tell you, I’m not staying in this coach.”
As the carriage rolled to a halt, Bellamy leaned forward. “What will you do? Run off into the fog again?”
“I didn’t run off into the fog. I do know better than that, it’s just what everyone assumed.” She sighed. “I suppose I’m used to being thought stupid.”
“You’d rather be thought a whore?”
“I’m not a whore! Not any longer. I never took a penny from Mr. Myles. It wasn’t at all like you’re thinking.” She cast a brief, fearful look at Rhys. “Or what you supposed, my lord. Gideon was very kind to me. We have a great deal in common, it seems. We talked all night. Mostly.”
“Oh,mostly,”Bellamy echoed. “And now I suppose you’re in love with this criminal.”
“What if I were?” Cora said. “I don’t see that it’s any of your affair.”
“The way you weresoin love with Leo after an hour in his company, then stripped his corpse of every last coin before dumping it on my doorstep?”
Cora’s lip quivered. “I can’t believe you’d say that. I might have left Leo there, you know. Let him die on the street, unclaimed and alone.”
Rhys sighed heavily. “Leave off, Bellamy. God only knows what manner of lies the cur fed her, just to get under her skirts. She’s not a bad girl, just too easily swayed.”
Cora’s bronze lashes trembled as she studied her hands. “Perhaps I am.”
