“Can we go now?” Hugo snapped, having shoved his head back through the door to glare at everyone. “We will be arrested if we don’t get going.”
Peter rolled his eyes and shook his head ruefully at Jemima. “The things I do for you,” he grumbled, moving to the front of the cottage to the small bedroom in which he had deposited the cat earlier. The feral beast sat waiting patiently as Peter walked across the room. He didn’t give the cat the opportunity to move before swinging him into his arms and marching back through the cottage.
“Let’s go,” he ordered the ladies, sweeping past a started-looking Edward with an arrogant look.
“What the -?” Hugo’s brows shot skyward as he caught sight of the black bundle sitting calmly in Peter’s arms. “How?”
“You will never know,” Peter announced smugly, holding out the cat for Hugo to take, only for the other man to back away warily.
“I’m busy,” Hugo argued, moving to the front of the group and pausing long enough to study the landscape carefully from the protection of the cottage walls. After a few moments he signalled to Edward, who was walking alongside the ladies as they slowly made their way along the short road leading away from the cottage.
As they left, Harriett seemed to have lost all her anger, and had withdrawn into a worried silence.
“Are you all right Peter?” she asked, staring in surprise at Harrold, who was now purring contentedly in his arms. “I didn’t even know he could purr,” she muttered eyeing her one-time protector balefully, and Peter with a wary respect.
Jemima watched him absently stroke the thick fur at the back of the cat’s neck as he strode along, and wondered at the depth of his capacity to care for others. He had given everything for her: risked his reputation, his life, his fortune to keep his promises and protect her from harm, asking for very little in return other than her trust. Despite his reluctance to go to Padstow, he had nevertheless gone along with the plans and accompanied her without protest, enduring fights, a carriage accident, fear and worry along the way in order to protect her.
Now, he had even managed to tame a feral beast in an attempt to ease the worries of a woman he didn’t even know, purely because she was Jemima’s friend.
She loved him more than ever and felt certain that her future lay with him, wherever he chose to live. If she was honest, although it was wonderful to be back in her home town again, she longed for the easy-going close-knit village of her youth. The Padstow it had become was foreign to her, and she would be glad to leave it behind.
She wondered if Eliza felt the same way, and watched her sister as she walked alongside Edward. To look at her, so relaxed and carefree, she could be out for a Sunday afternoon stroll rather than outrunning a skirmish between smugglers and Redcoats.
It was as though Harriett had read her mind.
“Do you think we will ever have the old Padstow back?” Harriett paused, and looked back for a moment to study the village she had once considered home.
“I think it will take a while to heal, for locals to resume their lives, and people who have been forced out to understand that it is perfectly safe to return, but I am sure that their own love for the village will make them come back at some point,” Jemima replied gently. If she was honest, she wasn’t sure that the Padstow they had grown up in wasn’t already gone for good.
“I think smuggling has had its day,” Edward added from beside them. “After today, I think the memories of what could befall them will stop even the most determined fisherman from smuggling anything.”
“This way.” Hugo paused beside a gap in the hedgerow and waved everyone through into the field beyond.
“Wait!” Peter whispered suddenly, frowning as he studied the hedgerow surrounding the field. Every hair on his body stood on end, his senses screaming that something was amiss. Harrold began to squirm in his arms, his hackles rising as he glanced toward the same corner of the field in which Peter had detected movement.
“What is it, boy? Do you sense it too?” Peter murmured, rubbing the cat’s ears.
Although everything looked still and quiet, he had the distinct feeling they were being watched, and he was clearly not alone. Harrold’s steady yellow gaze was locked firmly on the hedgerow only a few feet away.
Hugo moved to stand by him, sensing Peter’s concern. He knew that Peter had a very long service history, having earned many medals for bravery during his time in the army, and that was enough for Hugo. If Peter decided something was amiss, they all needed to pay attention.
“We’re being watched,” Peter muttered directly into Hugo’s ear before turning and gently placing Harrold in Harriett’s arms.
“Stay with the ladies,” Hugo ordered Edward, not waiting for his agreement before Peter scurried off in one direction and Hugo the other. They circled the field, disappearing through the thicket as silently as the gentle breeze that teased them.
Tension and fear hovered over the group as they waited, cowering against the meagre protection of the bushes.
Jemima sighed with relief when Peter eventually reappeared through the thicket a few feet ahead of them, a frown on his face. Hugo joined them from the opposite direction.
“We are being followed,” Hugo whispered softly. “He isn’t one of Scraggan’s men as far as I am aware, but we have got to get moving.”
“Who is he?” Jemima asked, shooting Peter a worried frown. Immediately her thoughts turned to the wheel on the cart that had nearly killed them.
Peter knew what she was thinking and hastened to offer her some reassurance, even if he wasn’t entirely convinced himself.
“We don’t know at the moment, it could just be someone being nosy. But we can’t take risks. The sooner we are through the line of R
edcoats the better.” Hugo shook his head, wishing he had more men. He motioned for everyone to start moving, quietly moving to walk beside Harriett, while Peter moved to Jemima’s side and Edward walked with his arm around Eliza.