Mary tutted. She’d chastised Mackenzie numerous times for his familiarity. “Yes, my lady, I can walk by your side if it pleases you.”
A low moan drifted through the darkness, followed by the loud clank of metal hitting metal. It echoed through the cramped chamber like a death knell.
“You Scottish bastard, let me out of this damn cage.” The gruff voice came from a chamber further along the corridor. “Show yourself.” The clanging continued.
“I swear I shall whip that man’s bahooky with a birch if he doesn’t keep his filthy mouth shut,” Mackenzie muttered through gritted teeth. He turned to Lillian. “Don’t go down there, my lady.”
Lillian squared her shoulders. “I shall be fine. The man is behind bars. It was never his intention to do me harm, only to spy.”
“Och, I doubt the Devil himself could deter you from your course when you’ve got your mind set.”
“Did Lord Ravenscroft not tell you? The Sandfords are known for their stubbornness and impatience.” Gathering her courage, Lillian began her slow march towards the cell. She ignored the squeaking and scuttling to her left. If she screamed, Mackenzie would come running.
“Do you hear me?” Aubrey shouted.
Lillian drew closer. The orange glow from the torch cast a dim light over the figure standing at the cell door. The iron poles were the only thing preventing the rogue escaping.
Gnarled hands gripped the bars and tried to shake them loose. “Highlander? Come show me your pretty skirt.”
“It’s not Mackenzie.” Lillian came to a halt outside the prison but remained more than an arm’s length away. “It is Lady Ravenscroft.”
Aubrey pressed his scarred face to the bars. Purple bruises lined his eyes and his nose looked crooked. The ugly snarl vanished. “Please, my lady, tell them to release me. There are rats and insects aplenty down here, and a man can’t sleep on a damp floor.”
The man should have thought about that before he came trespassing. “I’m afraid you must wait until my husband returns. He alone has the power to release you.”
Aubrey’s nostrils flared, and he shook the bars so violently on
e could imagine him wringing a person’s neck with ease.
“But if you answer my questions,” Lillian continued, “I shall do what I can to persuade Lord Ravenscroft to set you free.”
“What good is that? I could be locked in here for months.”
“He’s expected back in the next day or so.” The lie helped to allay her fears. “My brother is also due to arrive soon, and let me tell you, he is not as forgiving as the Raven.”
“Trevane?” Aubrey’s eyes widened. “Trevane is coming here?”
“Indeed. I don’t imagine he will look favourably upon your actions.” She didn’t care how Vane dealt with Aubrey, but her brother was liable to fly into an uncontrollable rage when he discovered the extent of her duplicity.
“And if I answer your questions will you tell Trevane I helped you?”
“Yes.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Did you come here with an accomplice?” She couldn’t shake the feeling that someone lurked out on the heathland. Perhaps it was nothing, just one of Fabian’s men walking with a lamp. Still, she should mention it to Mackenzie. “I doubt you rowed all the way from the mainland single-handedly.”
“I could row to France and it would be no hardship,” Aubrey grunted. “And I ain’t got no accomplice. I work alone.”
“If you’re lying, I cannot plead for your release.”
“I ain’t no rich man. Only a fool shares his bounty, and his lordship don’t want the whole world knowing his business.”
Probably because Lord Cornell didn’t want anyone to know he was a heartless coward. “Why does Lord Cornell want to hurt my brother?”
Aubrey shrugged. “It has something to do with his wife, but that’s all I know.”
Vane was a man with a voracious appetite for carnal pleasures. It was his way of erasing the pain caused by Estelle’s death, Lillian knew that. But since Lord Martin’s deception, her brother had shied away from all illicit liaisons.