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“And he wouldn’t open the door to admit you?”
“No. Usually he comes out to help me with the horse and the wagon, but he didn’t come when I know he heard me arrive. He doesn’t speak very well, and he can be a bit hard of hearing, so I went to the door and tried to open it. I thought he might have been sleeping or preoccupied with something else and hadn’t heard me. But when I tried to open the door, it was bolted from within.”
“And that’s not usual?” Will asked.
“No one here bolts their door. We only do that if we’re gone for more than a few days, and we don’t travel much as we have the chickens to feed—”
“So this was unusual,” Will said, trying to speed the story along.
“Yes, but I thought Edgar might have bolted it because I was away. So I pounded on the door and told him to come unhitch old Molly here, but he didn’t open the door. And he didn’t answer. I called again, and that’s when I heard her.”
“You heard Lady Averley?” Will asked, leaning forward.
“I don’t know if it was your Lady Averley, but it was a woman, and she was speaking softly. I couldn’t hear well—it was through a door—but I didn’t recognize the voice. I tried pounding and calling for Edgar again, and then I remembered all the soldiers and started thinking perhaps they were searching for someone and perhaps Edgar had found her and...” She trailed off.
Will wanted to finish for her—perhaps this Edgar had kidnapped Emily. Will clenched his jaw.
The woman cleared her throat. “I thought Edgar might have found her and thought he—er, might keep her.”
“Keepher?” Will was growing more concerned by the moment.
The woman held up a hand. “I know how that sounds, but Edgar is simple and gentle.”
Except she’d said he doesn’t always know his own strength.
“He likes to collect pretty things. A pebble that sparkles, a piece of metal, a broken bracelet—that sort of thing. Lady Averley might have had some pretty thing he liked.”
Yes, Will could imagine many men might like Lady Averley, with her rare eye color and that pale, lovely hair.
“I think you’d better lead us to your home, Mrs....?”
“Church, sir. Sarah Church.”
“I’ll follow you, Mrs. Church.”
Ten minutes later Will rode into the yard of a small, well-kept cottage with a thatched roof and a half dozen chickens pecking in the yard. The door was closed, and the curtainsdrawn. No smoke puffed from the chimney. Will did not wait for Mrs. Church to slow her cart or climb down. He jumped from his horse, marched to the door, and pounded on it. Edgar had exactly one minute to open it before he kicked it in.
Chapter Ten
Emily jumped at the pounding on the door and glanced at the man seated at the table. He was a large man, well over six feet tall and probably close to sixteen or seventeen stone. He grunted at the sound of the pounding and hunched forward, seeming to try to ignore it.
Emily forced herself to remain calm. She’d been forcing herself to remain calm for the better part of a night and day. “Sir, you had better open the door,” she said quietly. “I told you that my friends will come looking for me.”
The large man just covered his ears and made a low moaning sound. In the time she had been here, she had come to understand he didn’t like loud noises. She hadn’t understood much else as he either didn’t speak or wouldn’t speak to her. He didn’t need to speak to express his wishes clearly, though. When Emily tried to leave, he blocked her way. When she’d cried and screamed at him, he’d covered his ears, as he did now.
“Open the door or I shall knock it down!”
Emily’s heart kicked. She knew that voice. It was Will. Will had found her, and it was he pounding on the door. A woman had pounded on it earlier, saying, “Edgar, open this door!” But the large man—presumably Edgar—had not opened it, though he’d looked as though he felt he should.
“Mr. Galloway!” Emily called.
The pounding paused. “Lady Averley?”
“Yes!”
“Are you hurt?”
Emily dared not say more as Edgar had risen now and was lumbering toward the chair on the far side of the room where she sat.Where she had been placedmight be a more accurate description as Edgar had lifted her and put her there several hours ago and blocked her way whenever she’d tried to move. Emily tilted her head back to look up at Edgar, who now stood over her. He glared down at her and put a finger to his lips as though shushing her so a baby might sleep. Emily swallowed and pressed her lips together.
