gged up, riding with the coach driver. There were also several outriders Sir Henry had arranged to accompany them, as an added precaution. He’d had another word with Richard before they left.
“You know, don’t you, that this fellow Sutton may follow you to Kent?”
“I’m aware of that, sir.”
“All right, don’t get testy, Richard. I’m sure you are perfectly capable of protecting this girl, but I need to be sure you’re cognizant of the full picture. The girl has become the bait, hasn’t she? Where she goes, this fellow will follow, and when he decides to strike, we will have him.” He clapped his hands together like a man squashing a fly.
“I don’t want to think of Miss Smythe as bait for this thug,” Richard said grimly, “but I understand what you’re saying. I will be protecting her with my life, Sir Henry, believe me.”
Sir Henry gave him a curious look and then smiled. “I believe you will, Richard. Good, good. But don’t let that blind you to the possibilities. If you lay your trap carefully and lure him in . . .”
Richard shifted restlessly. “I don’t like to think—”
“Well you’ll have to. This fellow will be very valuable to us, together with Branson and Lord Horace. And if Lord Horace is the Captain, then we’ll have taken the head of this particular snake. I don’t think it will be able to function without his brains.”
“If he is the Captain?”
“I know you dislike him, but I’m of a cooler disposition, and I’m not entirely certain of it, not yet. Wouldn’t want to get it wrong and let the real Captain go free, would we? By the way, have you seen Mr. Little?”
“He is leaving in the morning.”
“Yes, he came up to me and expressed his shock. Of course gossip is rife now, all sorts of strange stories flying about the Hall as to what’s going on, but I think I said enough to put his mind at rest. He thinks Lord Horace was heading up a ring of poachers.”
Richard laughed.
“Unlikely but people will believe anything if you say it with enough panache.”
“Did you manage to get the reason why he was going to Kent in May, before the riots?”
“Without resorting to fisticuffs do you mean? I did. He was rather surprised, but he said he had relatives he was visiting, and it was his bumping into Lord Horace that day that brought them together in what has been an unlikely friendship. He sounded sincere, so I let him go. For now. We know where to find him if we need him, Richard. He’s a businessman with an importing business to run. He couldn’t just vanish even if he wanted to.”
Just before Richard left he remembered something else. “You told Branson you’d let him go, and now you’re taking him to London. I thought you were a man of your word, Sir Henry?”
Sir Henry smiled a crafty smile. “One’s word is a flexible thing, Richard. There are times when it can stretch to include all sorts of half-truths. Oh I’ll let him go, if he gives me everything he has, but first I want to make sure he never involves himself in anything like this again.”
The coach hit a rut in the road and brought Richard back to the here and now. In the gloomy interior, lit by a single light, his companions looked like strangers, even Tina. A beautiful stranger. He glanced at her, but she was looking down at her folded hands, smoothing her gloved fingers one by one, deep in her own thoughts.
And he would not be able to fathom those thoughts until they could speak alone, and that would probably not be until they reached Kent. He was certain Tina would not seek him out before then, and if he tried to seek her out, she would avoid him.
He caught sight of one of the outriders beyond the window and was glad of the extra protection. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about Tina’s safety on the journey. When they reached Eversham Manor he would have two choices: to keep the men about them, making certain no one got near her, or to let them go and leave Tina seemingly unprotected. To use her, as Sir Henry had said, for bait, to once and for all capture this threat to her safety.
He hadn’t decided yet. He’d always been a man of decisive actions, but this time he was having difficulty.
Once more Richard settled his gaze on Tina, the soft downward curve of her mouth, her dark lashes hiding her green eyes, the dark curl that had come loose from beneath her bonnet and kissed her cheek. He knew his feelings hadn’t changed; he still wanted her, to be with her, to spend his life with her.
As if she sensed him watching, she looked up and caught him. Surprise widened her eyes, but a moment later other emotions hardened her beautiful face. Distrust and suspicion. And quite possibly disgust—his eye was swollen and bruised from Gilfoyle’s ministrations.
“Get some rest, Miss Smythe,” he said evenly. “It is a long journey.”
Resolutely she turned away and rested her head against the seat, closing her eyes, shutting him out.
Oh yes, she had changed her opinion of him all right, but it was up to him to win her back.
A lesser man might give up, but Richard had spent the past two years teaching gentlemen how to win the ladies of their dreams. He was confident he could win back Tina. At least, he wasn’t about to give up without a fight.
Chapter 33
“Oh, Archie!” Maria chuckled sympathetically. His curly hair was standing on end from the force of the wind, and his cheeks were bright red. Traveling outside the coach was rather closer to the elements than he was used to. Still, he gave her a grin and, with a glance over his shoulder to make sure they were not being observed, a hug.