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Lily blinked. This line of questioning was even more nonsensical.
“Absolutely not. You already asked who my correspondents are.” She could not help but sound huffy. The longer the questioning had gone on, the less fear she felt. She could not see what his questions had to do with anything. She’d worked her hands free of the rope, holding it as she feigned being still restrained.
The only thing she could think of was this must have something to do with the traitor she and her friends had been hunting.Traitors, though the one they really wanted was the mastermind behind it all. For some reason, they must suspect she knew something.
“I did not ask if he was one of your usual correspondents. I asked if you have had any communication with him since he left for the Continent, but I will take that as a no.” The highwayman’s voice remained calm, measured. “What do you know of the Earl of Talbot?”
“Christian name Sebastian Talbot. Though he came out of mourning in time for the Season, he did not attend and instead sent his younger brother, Captain Nathan Jones, to London. The estate is rumored to be in shambles.” Something which made her very suspicious of the man and of his younger brother. She had met the handsome captain during the Season and had found his penetrating gaze to be rather disturbing.
The man was very intense and not friendly. Not only that, but considering some of the things her correspondents had said, there was a serious smuggling operation happening along the coastline of Talbot lands. Smuggling had abounded along the coastlines during the war, but several of her connections with high places in their governments had indicated the smugglers along the Talbot coastline had been willing to take more than lace or brandy—they’d smuggled spies in and out of the country.
Spies against Britain.
If the Talbots had already engaged in treason once, why not again? The captain actually worked for White Hall as a spy, so perhaps it was a double-cross.
Lily did not speak any of her suppositions aloud. She did not know what her questioner was looking for, and she had no concrete proof for any of her thoughts. That her friends had outright dismissed her suspicions had hurt and made her second guess herself. They did not want to believe it about someone their ‘Uncle Oliver’ trusted. Lily had a more cynical mindset.
“And Captain Nathan Talbot?”
Lily shrugged, ignoring the way the man’s face flashed across her mind’s eye. Far too handsome for his own good, despite his unfriendly expressions.
“A second son, he joined the army and this past Season came to London to help sort through his brother’s affairs in the wake of the earl’s inheritance.”
Though the room was growing darker, despite it being afternoon and the highwayman’s face completely cast in shadow, she had the sudden feeling he was smiling at her. A shiver ran down her spine. Her instincts were screaming at her that it was not a nice smile. She pressed herself back against the chair.
“You forgot to mention he is also a spy, working under the direction of your neighbor, the Marquess of Camden, and that the Marquess of Camden is the crown’s spymaster.” The silky tone of the man’s voice made him sound more threatening, not less.
All the hair on Lily’s arms and the back of her neck stood up in reaction to the smooth menace, as well as his words. Though she and her friends knew those things, they had been sworn to secrecy by Evie when she had first told them about her uncle. Even Lily’s godparents did not know.
“You seem to be leaving out a few pertinent details, Miss Davies. I wonder what else you have been leaving out.”
Lily sucked in a breath as he got to his feet, slowly, leisurely, as though he had all the time in the world. His movement was accompanied by an ominous crack of thunder, and a moment later, she heard the first splats of rain falling on the cottage’s roof.
“Perhaps we need to loosen your tongue.”
It was a threat, delivered in a tone that said he was looking forward to doing so. Lily did not know what he intended and was not going to sit to find out. She had hoped Chastity might find her way back to London or flag down a passerby to send someone to help, but her hopes had already dwindled when the highwayman had moved off the main road to the cottage, and at that moment, they died completely.
No one would be able to see the path into the woods in a downpour.
There would be no rescue. She was entirely on her own.
* * *
Nathan
Creeping around the house, Nathan ignored the crack of thunder. The sound of voices was coming from the back, and he realized the window was open.
“No!” Miss Davies’ voice was clear, and there was the sound of flesh hitting flesh.
“You little bitch!”
Nathan dashed back to the front of the house and threw open the door. The rain was already coming down harder, but he barely noticed as he barreled into the cottage. Thunder rolled overhead as the two in the cottage turned towards him. They were grappling next to a chair that had fallen to its side on the floor.
“Bollocks,” the man cursed, shoving Lily aside. With a small cry, she fell over the chair, her skirts tangling about her legs, rousing Nathan’s protective instincts as much as her first cry had, despite knowing she might be a traitor. If she was, and this was her associate, they were clearly not on good terms.
Or she is innocent and was actually kidnapped for some nefarious reason.
A conjecture he would examine more closely when he had the time to think about it.
