Page 71 of A Whisper of Desire
“Angelo’s dead. Shot. I found no sign of Marisa, but the boy here says he saw her taken.”
Maitland wanted to scream, but no sound could get through the knot in his throat.
“Angelo wasn’t clever enough. Our enemy must have found out he’d discovered her identity.”
Their villainess had Marisa. Murder leaped into Maitland’s eyes as he struggled to comprehend the danger Marisa was in.
“You have to help her.” The quietly spoken words from Clarence made him pull himself together. The panic was still roaring through him, but he called on all his years of control to think logically and calmly. Fear was the enemy.
“You saw who took her?”
Clarence nodded to confirm his words. “I came up to warn Her Grace that Angelo was on the prowl. I saw a woman, dressed like a man, fire a pistol at Angelo as he exited the room. Then she disappeared. When Her Grace came out to help him, a man who was most definitely with the woman grabbed her and pressed a cloth to her face, and then she simply fainted into his arms.”
She’d been drugged. “Did you see where they took her?”
“They carried her to a carriage in the alleyway behind the club. I saw the carriage turn north toward Smithfield. I didn’t know what to do, follow further or find you.”
Hadley beckoned with his hand. “Stop chatting out there and get in; we need to start a pursuit.” With that, Hadley pulled Clarence into the carriage. Maitland and Arend piled in after him.
“Do we follow now or get fresh horses?” Arend said.
“Horses would be faster, this carriage is too slow with all of us in it,” Hadley responded.
“Plus, I have to drop the boys at home. We cannot endanger them, Marisa would tear my flesh off with her scolding.”
Everyone looked at Maitland.
“They want her alive or else they would have killed her at the same time they killed Angelo.”
“True.” Arend’s words did little to calm his inner beast, even though he knew them to be true.
They dropped the boys at his townhouse. Priscilla took them in and would see to their needs until they got back. Once they had saddled their horses, Maitland gathered up more of his men and the posse rode north toward Smithfield.
Every few miles they stopped to ask anyone they saw if they had seen a large black carriage with gold-painted-trim wheel spokes. Clarence had given them a good description. The carriage was quite distinctive, thank God, so it was quite easy to follow. They were soon out of the city limits, still traveling north toward Cambridgeshire.
“Wewillreach her before she is hurt. They want her found, you know that, don’t you?”
Never had Maitland been so grateful for Arend’s cool demeanor. His words helped reel Maitland back from the edge of mindless fury. “They are making it too easy for us to follow,” he said coolly. “For some reason our villainess wants us to rescue her.”
“Is it a trap for all of us? She must know Maitland won’t come alone,” Hadley added.
“Perhaps she wants a trade,” Maitland suggested. “If so, she can have one.” He shut his eyes briefly, struggling to sort out what to do, given the chaotic fury pounding in his temples.
“Let’s hope it won’t come to that. If we can catch the carriage before they get to some form of cover, I like our chances.”
Maitland shook his head. “We do nothing that places Marisa in danger.” He looked at Arend, already seeing Hadley vigorously nodding in agreement out of the corner of his eye. “Arend, I will have your word.”
A growl, as deep as a lion’s, filled the air as the horses pounded north. “Fine. I doubt our enemy is in the carriage, especially if she wants us to follow it.”
—
As Marisa opened her eyes, the first thing that made sense was the bile filling her mouth. Her stomach recoiled as if she were on a ship out at sea. It took her a few minutes to understand the movement was that of a carriage. She was in a fast-moving carriage, but it wasn’t Maitland’s.
Fear gripped her as she remembered what had happened. Someone had shot Angelo, and she had an idea of who that was and why their enemy would kidnap her. She had to escape before Maitland came after her.
She turned her head and waited for the dizziness to fade. She wasn’t alone in the carriage. There was a lady across from her, asleep, or perhaps, like her, drugged.
She wished her head didn’t hurt so much. Was this a trap? Could this woman, the young woman across from her, be the villainess pretending to be captured too?
