Page 129 of Storm of Bells
I smirked.
We girls were going to have a fun timetogether.
I caught up with them and, arm in arm, westrode down the street, gathering admiring gazes from all sides. Ididn’t stop until we had reached the point where the driveway tothe manor forked away from the village lane. It took a moment forthe others to notice. Finally, Amy turned around, and frowned.
‘Aren’t you coming, Lilly?’
‘Soon. But right now…right now I have someerrands to do.’
‘Errands?’
‘Yes.’ I couldn’t keep the grin of my face.‘After all, I have to inform the reverend of a change in thewedding, haven’t I? I’m sure he’ll be delighted to hear we havefound a maid of honour.’
Amy blinked—then an answering grin spreadover her face, and once again, I saw the devil dancing in her eyes.‘Aye. Absolutely delighted. Tell ‘im I’ll be down to introducemyself to ‘im, will ye?’
‘I will.’
‘Oh, and…Lilly?’
‘Yes?’
‘Is he married?’
‘Not that I’m aware of.’
Amy hid her growing grin behind her fan. ‘Ah.Then he’lldefinitelybe delighted.’
And, with a wink, she turned towards themanor.
Shaking my head, I turned back towards thevillage, and down the side lane that led towards the picturesquelittle church. I didn’t see the vicar anywhere outside. Hm…maybe hewas in the back? I had seen hints of red and pink last time I hadlooked down at the church from a distance. Maybe he had anotherrose garden back there.
Humming, I circumvented the church, steppinginto the shadow of the big stone building with its arches andstained glass windows. It was so nice to be out of the hot summersun that I closed my eyes for a moment and sighed in relief—whichwas why I didn’t see the hand before it grabbed me and pulled mefurther into the shadow.
‘Isn’t this sweet?’ said a smooth, cultured,and dreadfully familiar voice. ‘So nice to see you again, MissLinton—or should I sayMisterLinton?’
Greymail
Before I could do somuch as blink, my back slammed into a cold stone wall, and an armpressed against my throat, holding me in place. Coughing, I blinkedup into the aquiline face of Lord Daniel Eugene Dalgliesh. Timehadn’t been kind to him since last we met. In fact, the consideratelady with the hourglass seemed to have given him a good kick in thederrière. There were new lines in his face that accentuated thearistocratic arrogance etched into every inch of his visage, and,for the first time since I’d known him, I spotted a few grey hairsin his blonde lion’s mane. A small part of me took savagesatisfaction in that. The bigger part of me, however, was concernedwith the hard arm digging into my throat—and with what he’d justsaid.
So nice to see you again, Miss Linton—orshould I sayMisterLinton?
He knew.
He knew everything about me.
Well…
Maybe not ‘everything’. If he’d knowneverything, he would have made sure to grab hold of my feet as wellas my arms.
My foot rose and, with full force, smasheddown onto his elegant, soft, black-leather town shoes.
‘Aar! You b—’
And then he said a word I would have added tomy collection of insults if it weren’t exclusively applicable toladies.
‘Now, now, then, Lord Dalgliesh,’ I said,slipping underneath his arm just as I slipped my hand into thepocket that held my revolver. ‘Manners!’
Suddenly, two more figures appeared out ofthe shadows at Dalgliesh’s side. They were dressed in plain farmhand’s clothing, but from the way they held themselves, I doubtedvery much they’d spent much time working in agriculture. Besides,not many farm hands had brand-new military-grade rifles strapped totheir backs. Rifles for which they were just now reaching.
