Hiding Rose (Saved By Desire 5)

“She isn’t with Chadwick. He is in the

pub by the harbour,” Ryan reported with a frown. “Josh, Seth, and the others are going to ambush him as soon as he leaves.”

“I don’t give a rat’s carcass about Chadwick. Where is Rose? Where is she? I leave her with you for two minutes and you go and lose her,” Barnaby bellowed.

“She said she felt ill and asked us to stop,” Reg repeated for the third time.

“So she is ill and lost,” Barnaby spat. “Brilliant.”

Stomping backward and forward in front of the fireplace in his room at the hotel, Barnaby glared at Seth when he appeared in the doorway.

“Your horse is ready,” Seth announced.

“Where are you going?” Ryan asked.

“To bloody well find her, where else? She can’t have gone too far.”

The men followed Barnaby out of the room.

“Where are you lot going?” he demanded, slamming to a halt in the middle of the hallway.

“With you,” Ryan replied. “We have men watching Chadwick. He can wait for an hour or two. You need as much help as you can get, boss, and we are it.”

Barnaby suspected he was going to need them and raced out of the building. If they could keep up they could go with him. If not then they were going to get left behind.

“Get me the inn keeper,” Barnaby ordered as he stalked into the tavern a little while later. Within seconds, a timid looking inn keeper appeared before him. Barnaby drew himself to his full height and glared sinisterly down at the terrified man.

“Which coach left here about two or three hours ago, and have you seen a young woman about this high with light brown hair wearing a brilliant blue dress today?” He demanded querulously.

“Yes, she was here earlier,” the inn keeper stammered. He nodded to Reg and Ben. “They were with her.”

“Where did she go?” When the man hesitated, Barnaby fought the urge to shake him.

“She got onto the 10.30 to Bonnington,” the man stammered.

“What? She got onto the coach? Are you sure? The 10.30 to Bonnington, you say? Was anyone else with her?” Barnaby’s voice grew louder the more questions he asked until he was shouting by the time he fell silent.

The inn keeper was a little dazed beneath the force of the questions being fired at him and looked at Barnaby’s colleagues nervously.

“She was on her own, I think, but I can’t be sure. I didn’t see if she got on the coach. She showed me her ticket and asked when it left. It was about to leave so I told her to get on it. She disappeared after that so I assume-”

He fell quiet and watched in shock as the tall, threatening man vanished before he had finished his sentence. Thankfully, the rest of the men with him all followed. A stunned silence fell over the tavern’s patrons while they all listened to the thundering of their horses’ hooves disappear into the distance.

“I wonder what she has done then,” a man at the bar murmured with a frown.

“I don’t know, but I don’t want to be around when they catch up with that woman,” the inn keeper grumbled before he staggered behind the bar and helped himself to a large brandy.

Rose cried out when the coach suddenly slammed to a stop and she nearly toppled off the seat. The other travellers crammed into the tiny space began to bluster and protest at the poor driving while they resumed their seats and waited to see what was happening.

“What the Devil-?” an elderly gentleman beside the window grumbled as he slammed the window down and leaned outside.

“I wonder if a wheel has fallen off?” A woman suggested, nodding as though she knew this for a fact.

Rose wasn’t paying attention. Her heart hammered wildly in her throat. She placed a hand over her stomach, which churned with nerves. She knew deep down inside that this had nothing to do with any accident; the coach had been stopped by the people who were now talking to the driver. The low rumble of voices filtered through to them but it was difficult to hear what was being said. Whoever it was, Rose doubted it was anybody from the Star Elite. Reg and Ben had no idea which coach she had taken.

Was it Chadwick, or any of his men? Nervously, she waited.

“I am going to see what’s what,” the elderly gent grunted as he let himself out of carriage, ignoring the protests of his wife to stay inside where it was safe. Before he could reach the door, it was yanked open by someone outside.