Page 95 of A Night of Forever
“You look puzzled, my lord. I made sure they met each other after a harrowing carriage ride. I simply let Lord Labourd’s natural suspicions throw them together, and your virginal little daughter was the bait. She managed to hook Lord Labourd’s attention with little trouble.”
“Then you can let my father go free. You don’t need him—you only need me.” Fear for her father and fear for Arend began to choke her. It was as if she was being smothered and had no idea how she could stop any of this.
“I never give up an advantage until I’m certain of the outcome. I have to get to France and plan my showdown with Lord Labourd. It should be an even match, for he knows Paris almost as well as I.”
“He’ll rescue me before you leave these shores.” Her brave words sounded hollow in the echoing cave.
Victoria merely laughed and walked into an adjoining cave, where Isobel assumed her men and Dufort were hiding.
Her father sank back down onto the one area of the cave floor that was covered with sand. “I’m so sorry for bringing that woman into our lives. I thought she simply wanted to marry me for my title.”
“What’s done is done. We have to stay alert. If we find a way to escape, we have to be ready to take it. She will kill us, maybe not now but eventually. Besides, I refuse to be her bait.”
“Once in France it will be virtually impossible to flee.”
She patted her father’s hand. “Agreed. I suggest we escape as the boat is rowing out. We are both good swimmers. If we dive deep enough, the shots won’t hit us.”
“With you in your gown we’d never outswim the longboat.”
She considered her father’s words. “I’m hoping Arend and the men will come looking for us and find us. They know Victoria wants to head to France. They will assume it’s soon, since she’s taken me. Unless…”
Fear gripped her—fear that Arend would think she’d betrayed him. He trusted few people and he’d trusted her when he’d followed her to their room. But she’d disappeared as soon as his back was turned. It might look as if she had run, as if she was the enemy. Would he trust her now?
Would he think she’d used sex to distract him and then sent him downstairs so she could escape? Would he begin to think Maitland was right?
Her mind was a hurricane of thoughts, trying to second-guess his reaction to finding her gone.
She tried to think what Mrs. Clarke would tell him. Did the old woman think she had willingly gone with Victoria?
Arend would need little to convict her without a second thought. And it would take a miracle for one of the men to find her hairpins on a dirt floor with limited light, and understand what they meant. So no one was coming for them.
Fear began to give way to panic. Once on the water, likely halfway to France, she knew her father would be thrown overboard. He was no longer useful.
She asked to use the privy. They took her to a small cave that was obviously being used as a toilet. It stank but she took the opportunity to shed her corset and undergarments, rolling them up and hiding them behind some rocks. If she could leave only a few hooks done up on her gown, once in the water she could slip free of the garment. She’d have a chance to make it to shore, especially in the dark.
It was risky, but it was the only chance they had.
Wrapping her shawl around her to hide her dishabille, Isobel rejoined her father, and they began to make their escape plan.
—
The men gathered in a copse near the cliff top. Philip’s men had followed the tunnel aboveground, and once Arend and Maitland had found the entrance to Victoria’s cavern hideaway, they’d withdrawn to plan how to capture her before she fled on the dawn tide—and, most important, without Isobel becoming a casualty.
“The one advantage we have is that they have no idea we have found them.”
Maitland’s words were true, and the men noted that the smugglers had only posted one guard.
“They probably have the local watch in their pocket. They will not be expecting any interruptions.”
Philip smiled. “That is probably why Victoria picked this motley crew to ferry her back to France. They have connections that will ensure they are not bothered by the revenue officers.”
“It would seem a two-pronged attack should do the trick. A group of us through the front of the caves, and the rest in the back through the tunnels.”
Arend felt his throat tighten at Maitland’s suggestion. “No. What about Isobel? We have to get her out first. I don’t want her hurt in the crossfire.”
This time Maitland did not disagree. “It would appear Isobel left us a trail, so perhaps I have been too hasty in my condemnation.”
Philip scratched his head. “How do you propose to rescue her without alerting Victoria to the fact we have found her?”
