Hiding Rose (Saved By Desire 5)

“Where?”

“Here,” Reg muttered as the carriage glided to a halt outside of a large hotel.

“Right, just try to behave as though you are going to the finest ball. Don’t speak unless you absolutely have to. You look the part, but it is important that you play the part. Don’t panic when you get outside, and try not to look around you too much. I will do the talking,” Barnaby murmured as he drew his cloak over his shoulders.

Barnaby waited for Reg to lower the step and left the carriage. Once outside, he glanced casually around and held a hand out to help Rose down.

Rose took his hand with a smile and stepped gracefully out of the carriage. It was parked unnecessarily close to the front door of the hotel; so much so that when Rose stepped down she was immediately under the canopy of the entrance.

“Welcome to the Dormere Hotel, ma’am,” the concierge murmured politely.

Dutifully, Rose remained mute but nodded regally to the man as she walked into the entrance hall with Barnaby close beside her.

“Wait here a minute,” he murmured and left to speak to the clerk.

Minutes later, a liveried footman escorted them up the main flight of stairs, unmindful of the fact that neither Rose nor Barnaby had any luggage with them.

“This is your room, sir, ma’am,” the footman murmured. He unlocked the door and stood back to let them in.

Rose walked into the room, stunned by the opulence that awaited her. Furnished in gold brocade and highly polished dark oak, it was refined luxury at its very best. While Barnaby dealt with the footman, Rose wandered aimlessly around the room. It was a reminder of just how harsh her life had been in the last few days.

“It’s wonderful,” she murmured once Barnaby had closed the door behind the footman and deposited the large iron key on the table beside it.

“Do you like it?” Barnaby asked as he sauntered across the room to her.

Rose nodded and studied the parkland visible from the huge bay window. She wanted to ask him where he was staying but the footman had spoken to Barnaby as though this was his room. She suspected that the huge double-doors on the opposite side of the room led to the bedroom, but she didn’t venture over there to take a look, just in case there was only one bed.

“I think we have one of the very best rooms the hotel has,” Barnaby replied. “Sir Hugo is picking up the bill so there will be no expense spared. Now that we are here, I fully intend for the rest of our journey to be in equal if not better comfort from now on, Rose. I can only apologise for the hardships you have already endured because of Chadwick. Unfortunately, I had no choice but to ask you to come with me given what we witnessed.”

“You sound so formal,” Rose murmured with a frown. She didn’t like it. It put far too much distance between them.

“I don’t mean to. What I am saying is that the days of living out of doors and being half starved to death are at an end. Whatever happens from here on we will live in more luxury.”

“What do you mean, ‘whatever happens from here on’?” She knew Chadwick’s men were in the town but wondered just how close they were.

Barnaby poured them both a brandy. Handing her one he led her to the chaise positioned directly in front of the roaring fireplace. Once seated, he explained to her the plans the men had made for the next few days.

“So, we are here right under their noses but do not expect them to see us?” Rose asked incredulously. She couldn’t see that Chadwick would be so stupid, especially if he had been waiting for them and had men on watch. “How did he know we were coming here?”

“We have a traitor in the Star Elite,” he said reluctantly now that the fact was proven. “Chadwick knew we were coming here – somebody told him, Rose. Somebody I thought I could trust.”

“Somebody told him we were coming to this hotel?” she whispered in horror.

“No. A spy in our camp told Chadwick we were coming to Edinburgh. It is the only explanation for Chadwick having men positioned on the road we used to enter the town. Edinburgh is huge, and would take them a very long time to search from house to house. It is more than just chance that they knew which road to wait on to look for us.”

“Someone told them recently,” Rose whispered.

Barnaby nodded. “Chadwick wouldn’t go to so much time and trouble to come up here if he didn’t know for definite we were on our way.”

“He followed us in the ship, though,” Rose murmured.

“Yes, but we reached land well away from here. We could have taken any direction. Why did he pick Edinburgh?”

Rose thought about that but couldn’t come to any other conclusion other than he might have been told. She nodded her complete understanding, but wondered why Barnaby was telling her this now.

“There are other trustworthy men from the Star Elite in the town now aside from me, Ben, and Reg. They will all work with us to try to find out who is feeding Sayers information on what we are doing.”

“It sounds dangerous.”