Page 77 of A Lady's Lesson in Scandal
‘Billy, what do you mean “before they move her”?’ Millie took the saddle from him. There was no way she could allow him to ride Medusa alone. It would be akin to letting him jump off a cliff while hoping he sprouted wings.
‘Will you come wif me? I couldn’t tell the rest of ’em. Loud bunch of half-wits. They’d just muck things up and ruin the rescue. But not you, Millie. We’re alike, the two of us. Major General Drake is a nice bloke, but ’e doesn’t fink we can ’andle this. ’E finks we’ll just get ’urt. But we won’t. We’re tuffer than any of those toffs with their guns and swords. An ’eaps smarter too. You an’ me togefer, we can save ’er.’ Billy nodded but ruined the confident gesture by biting his lip and tugging at his hair.
Millie didn’t think. She jumped into action. ‘Of course I will. Tell me what you know while I saddle Medusa. She’s very fast, Billy. You’re going to have to hold on tight.’
‘I won’t let go of you, Millie. I swear.’
Ten minutes later, they were racing across the fields toward the forest, heading for the hunting lodge Millie saw the day before. Billy clung to Millie’s back like a determined little spider monkey, refusing to budge even when Medusa leapt over a fallen log.
Billy believed the girl was being kept in the cabin. He liked to sneak away every once in a while. When things became a bit too ‘stuffy’. Running wild in the country was nothing like living onthe streets of Bethnal Green where he grew up, but it gave him a sense of freedom when ‘the walls got tight’.
He had run across the same cabin as Millie, but before he could go in, two men had come out. He was too far to see them clearly in the shadowed woods, but the instincts honed on the streets of Bethnal Green had kicked in, and Billy had found himself a snug hiding spot under the bush. The men were arguing about a package. One wanted to move it right away, but the other thought it best to wait. In the end, one of them had left while the other stayed. Billy thought the whole conversation was odd, but he could hardly go poking about the cabin knowing one of the men was still in there. It wasn’t until later he realised what that package could be. Lucy. The missing girl.
‘I knew I should have investigated that cabin yesterday,’ Millie muttered as the wind ripped through her hair and Medusa shifted left to avoid a large boulder.
Billy let out a yelp and tightened his grip around her waist.
Millie needed to keep her focus on the deer trail they were following instead of punishing herself for the past. The terrain was tricky. The last thing she or Billy needed was to be thrown or for Medusa to be injured.
They would find this girl. They had to. If only Franklin didn’t get spooked by the search party being organised. Billy explained that his haste was partly motivated from fear of the men trying to move the girl before he and Millie reached the cabin.
Imagining the shock on Drake’s stupid, handsome, infuriating face as she brought poor Lucy back – safe and sound – was a moment Millie prepared to savour.
She slowed Medusa as they entered the tree line.
‘The trail is rough, Billy. Keep a tight hold,’ she warned, not wanting the boy to loosen his grip just because they’d slowed from a gallop to a careful walk. The uneven terrain could be just as treacherous as their blistering pace in the fields.
Twenty painstaking minutes later, Millie reined Medusa to a stop. They were still a fair distance from the cabin, but if Franklin was there, she didn’t want the sound of Medusa to alert him.
‘We go on foot from here, Billy.’
They tied Medusa to a tree and picked their way through the thick bracken as quickly and quietly as possible. She had to hand it to Billy. He was swift and silent on his feet. He knew the trail much better than Millie and took the lead.
After ten minutes of scrambling, Billy crouched down low and waved her closer.
‘Just there,’ he whispered, pointing through the ferns at the clearing.
The cabin looked much as it had the day before, though no smoke came from the chimney.
Shit! What if he’s already taken her?
The very idea of poor Lucy being spirited away to a life of horror across the Channel was untenable. Millie swallowed her nerves and created a plan.
‘There’s no use barging in before we know the situation.’ She spoke in hushed tones to Billy as the wind rustled the leaves around them. Haste would only create mistakes. If Lucy was gone, it wouldn’t matter how long they took to assess the situation, and if she was there, caution was even more paramount. ‘Let’s circle around. I can go right, you left. We’ll meet at the back. If you see signs of anyone or see a horse, stay where you are, and I’ll find you. Same for me. Yes?’
‘Right you are, Millie. Careful.’ His wide eyes blinked like an owl, and Millie’s heart expanded in her chest.
What a precious lad.
‘You too, Billy.’ She nodded to him, and they both headed quietly and carefully in opposite directions.
The forest had patches of thick gorse bushes, muddy streams, and hidden rocks, all determined to thwart Millie. She was grateful her split skirts were narrow, but they still got caught on every branch, thornbush, and dead fern. Her hair was pulled from its braid, her arms and cheeks scratched by the angry forest, some deep enough to bleed, but none of it mattered if they could save Lucy. Millie reached into the slit Penny had sewn into her skirt, allowing her access to the blade strapped on her thigh. She was immensely grateful for Philippa’s gift.
Philippa!
In her haste, Millie hadn’t even thought about alerting Philippa to her plans. The duchess would not be pleased.
Well, she can join the list of people I love who are angry with me.
