Prince of Ravenscar (Sherbrooke Brides 11)

“Thank you, Vicky, but I believe we will ride to the river ourselves, see what’s for luncheon.”

Ten minutes later, they heard a horse whinny.

“That is Beamis, Richard’s gelding,” Julian said. They rode down to the river’s edge to see Richard and Leah sitting decorously on a spread blanket beneath a willow tree, food between them. Leah was laughing at something Richard said. She looked up, saw them, and called out, “Richard, I do believe we have unexpected company. Alas, we have only two apples left.”

Richard pulled his knife from his boot as he leapt to his feet.

Julian realized they’d both carried a boot knife since they were ten years old, when an old gin-sodden varmint had tried to pound them, for what reason, Julian couldn’t remember. He watched Richard slowly straighten, the knife still held in his hand. Then he gave a grunt, resheathed the knife, and pulled on his riding coat.

“What are you three doing here, uninvited?” Leah asked lazily, sitting back on her elbows, watching them closely.

Richard said, “I should like to know as well.”

Sophie jumped off her mare and strode up to him like a boy. She grabbed his coat collar and shook him. “Where is Roxanne?”

“Roxanne?” He repeated her name slowly, his head cocked to one side, then lightly laid his own hands over hers. “What is this? You have managed to lose your aunt?”

Sophie looked him right in the eyes. “Where is she? You took her; you’ve got her hidden somewhere. Where?”

“Another drama you’re enacting for us, Sophie?” Leah gathered her lovely sea-foam-green shawl around her shoulders and came up to her knees. “All three of you—what is happening here? You have somehow lost Roxanne? Perhaps she returned to Plymouth? Perhaps she met a gentleman there who pleased her?”

Devlin said, “How do you know we went to Plymouth?”

Richard said, “You know as well as I do you cannot change your coat without it being known throughout the county. I believe my man mentioned it to me.”

Sophie said, rage bubbling up, “She is missing, sir. You took her, I know you did, to get back at Julian for your sister’s death. Look at him—Julian wouldn’t ever hurt a woman, ever. I have known him only a month, whereas you have known him all your life. How could you ever believe such an awful thing? You, sir, must be an idiot.” She smacked her knuckles to her cheek. “Why am I repeating myself? Where is Roxanne?”

Richard said, “Julian is so guilty it shines from his eyes, hard, brutal. He ceased being the boy I knew years ago. Go away, all of you. I know nothing of Roxanne.”

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Leah jumped to her feet. “Listen to me, Richard and I have been together for hours now. Go back to Ravenscar; I’ll wager Roxanne has been there all the time, teasing you. She’s always wanted attention, you know, and now she’s got it.”

Sophie yelled, “How can you say that about your own sister, Aunt Leah? She was kidnapped right out of her bed. Don’t you care? Don’t you care that this man you believe so very gallant is behind it?”

“That is absurd. Roxanne wouldn’t allow anyone to kidnap her. She’s back at Ravenscar, laughing her head off, you’ll see.”

Julian said quietly, “Come, let’s go.”

“Where?” Richard asked.

“Since you are so innocent, I don’t believe that is any of your business,” Devlin said.

Julian said, “We will be back, once we have Roxanne. Then you and I will finish this. It will be over, once and for all.”

“No,” Devlin said, “I shall finish it.”

They rode through a long, narrow field. Julian watched Sophie close her eyes when her mare jumped a fence, and smiled. She had guts.

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Julian pointed, clucked Cannon forward. “There is the barn,” he said, over his shoulder.

A wreck of a barn sat crumbling in a clearing in the middle of a maple forest, its wide door hanging drunkenly on its rusted hinges and its roof caved in in several places. Maple trees crowded close. The barn looked deserted, as though it had been deserted for more years than any of them had been on the earth.

Julian put his finger to his lips, dismounted Cannon, and tethered him to a low-hanging maple tree branch some twenty feet away. “Let’s go quietly. Sophie, you stay—”

She stopped him with a look.