How had anyone found out about this?
He saw her running lightly toward him, a black shadow weaving in and out of all the other shadows. She was at his side in the next second, breathing hard. He leaned close. “We’re going back to the cave. You will stay in there, safe, and I’ll try to find out what’s happening.”
He led her to the entrance, pulled aside the branches. “Get inside. Don’t make any noise, all right? I’ll come to you as soon as I can. You know where the lantern is. If you light it, make certain you keep it partially covered. Everything will be all right.”
“Of course it will be all right, because you will make sure that it is,” she said, and the certainty in her voice made something deep inside him expand with pleasure. He touched his fingers to her face, then he was gone.
Sophie heard him piling more branches to cover the cave opening. She quickly lit the lantern and placed it beneath a narrow ledge to hide most of the light.
She straightened, looked around, crept to the entrance of the cave, and listened. She heard more shots. Was that a man yelling? Had someone been hit? One of his men? Julian?
Her blood ran cold. She desperately wanted to run out of the bloody cave and see what was happening, but she wasn’t an idiot. If she left the cave, she might cause more danger for Julian or Roxanne and Devlin.
She waited, the hardest thing she’d ever had to do in her life. Time passed, but how much, she didn’t know.
It had to be excisemen, and they’d been told about tonight’s smuggling run. But who had informed on them? Had Leah somehow overheard them? She didn’t think so. But who?
She thought of Roxanne and Devlin down at the beach. She closed her eyes and prayed with all her might, promising God more good works than a single person could accomplish in a lifetime.
Her heart jumped into her throat when she heard a man’s voice outside. It was Julian, whispering for her not to worry. When he came into the cave, she ran to him, stroked her hands down his arms, his chest. She dropped to her knees, her hands on his legs. He grabbed her hands, hauled her back to her feet. “Sophie, I’m all right. Now, listen to me.”
“Roxanne, is she all right? It is excisemen, isn’t it? Someone told them.”
“Yes. There are at least a half-dozen, not planted down at the beach where Devlin and Roxanne were supposed to meet the boat but near the mouth of the river, maybe a hundred steps away. My men know if there is ever trouble they are not to fight, they are to row back to the ship. Devlin and Roxanne weren’t to come with them to the cave, only guide them to the river entrance. They’re all right.”
There was more gunfire.
Julian quickly put out the lantern. He gathered Sophie to him and eased down to the cave floor and pulled her close. “They won’t find the cave. Don’t worry. Now we have to wait.”
59
Roxanne and Devlin greeted the men on the large boat at the entrance of the river. A dark-coated man stepped forward. He said quietly, “Jake doesn’t like the way things smell. I don’t like it, either. We want to get this done. Where is his lordship’s cave?”
Devlin whispered the instructions. The man nodded, but no more words were spoken, and they were off, rowing up the river.
Roxanne said, “I wonder what doesn’t smell right to Jake. This worries me, Devlin. Sophie and Julian are at the cave. What if—”
He placed a finger over her mouth. “I don’t smell anything. It will be all right. Who could possibly know about tonight? You’re thinking about Richard—but he is in London.”
“So Leah told us. All right, no one at Ravenscar, even if they knew about tonight, would betray the prince. I wish there had been room in the boat. I should have liked to help unload the goods and carry them into the cave. Do you know what they were bringing in?”
Devlin shook his head. “The storm will hit very soon now. Come along, our part is played. Let’s go back to Ravenscar.”
They’d only taken three steps when they heard gunfire, sharp and terrifyingly loud. Devlin grabbed her hand, and they ran up the cliff path. A bullet struck a rock a foot from Roxanne’s boot.
All Roxanne could think was that their marvelous adventure had turned into a nightmare.
She never broke stride. “I’m worried about Sophie. We must do something, Devlin.”
“The best thing we can do is get to safety. Trust Julian to take care of Sophie.”
Three men leapt out of the darkness, blocking the path, each holding a gun. “That’s enough,” the man said when Devlin would have gone after him. “Now, it’s the lady we wish, not you.”
Devlin heard a whoosh of sound. He whirled around, his derringer in his hand, but he wasn’t fast enough. Roxanne screamed. A gun butt cracked down hard over his temple, and he collapsed where he stood.
“Ye’re to come wi’ us, Miss Radcliffe.” She kicked him, hoping for his groin, but her foot struck hard against his thigh. He g
runted, jumped back.