Page 75 of The Meaning of Love
He paused only to fill his lungs, then repeated the call.
She started to hope. The gardeners would be somewhere about, and the shrubbery wasn’t all that far from the stable.
The next time Ulysses paused, during the momentary silence, she raised her own voice. “Help!”
Ulysses seemed to think that meant they were in competition and threw himself into howling even louder and longer.
She continued to add her voice to his chorus, and within minutes, she heard voices in the distance. Even though she couldn’t make out the words, she could sense the consternation. The voices drew nearer, and she yelled, “I’m here—in the shrubbery!”
Ulysses let out a series of high-pitched yips and stood and turned to face the other way.
“Where?” Julian called from somewhere close.
She felt faint with relief. “Down the path leading from the northeast corner of the lily pond court!”
Ulysses was yipping and bouncing, adding to her directions.
Then a bevy of people came rushing down the avenue, Julian in the lead, with Felix close behind, and Hockey and the head groundsman and several grooms and undergardeners following.
As they neared, Melissa held up her hands in warning. “Don’t step around the corner. There’s a trap. It caught my train, and I’m stuck.”
The looks of concern on everyone’s faces grew even starker.
Julian reached her and swept her into his arms, crushing her to him. Feeling the tug on the back of her gown, he looked around her and down. “What the devil…?” A second later, his stunned incredulity was swamped by a thunderous expression. “Edgerton. Hockey. What the devil is a mantrap doing in the shrubbery?”
“What?” Edgerton was the head groundsman. Frowning, he pushed past Felix—who had reached Melissa and Julian and was also goggling at the trap—and stared down at the metal jaws. “Good God!” After a moment, he glanced at Hockey. “We haven’t had any mantraps on the estate for…how long?”
“At least a decade.” Hockey leaned to peer past Felix, then his face set in grim lines, and he looked at Julian. “Your father got rid of them all years ago.”
“That’s what I thought.” Julian forced himself to haul in a deep breath, rein in his reactions, and focus on the fact that Melissa was unharmed and in his arms, alive and well; he told himself to cling to that.
Edgerton had crouched and was examining the trap. “This wasn’t here when we went through with the scythes day before yesterday. Couldn’t’ve been—we tramped all over this path.”
When Edgerton looked at Julian, clearly waiting for direction, he managed a nod. “We’ll worry about where it came from later. The first thing we need to do is to free the countess.”
Ulysses had followed Julian to Melissa and now plonked his rear on Julian’s boot.
He glanced at the pup. “Lucky he didn’t come around the corner first.”
“He did.” Melissa looked at Ulysses. “If it wasn’t for him, I would most likely have walked into it.” She explained how the puppy had reacted, how he’d fled and forced her to turn, releasing her train.
Edgerton reached out and patted the pup on the head. “Gooddog.” Then he looked up and said, “Seems like the trigger’s been set too light, which in this case, ended well, because the weight of her ladyship’s train was enough to spring the trap.”
“Be that as it may, now that it’s sprung, how do we release it?” Julian’s question had Edgerton and Hockey conferring, then both sent grooms and undergardeners running for various tools.
The exodus allowed Julian to see his mother, who had followed him and Felix from the house, but had hung back some way along the path. Despite the distance, he could see she was white-faced and, judging from the way her hands were tightly gripped, deeply rattled and upset.
Luckily, Frederick had followed as well; although also shocked, he’d remained by Veronica’s side. Julian caught Frederick’s gaze, glanced at his mother, then looked back.
Frederick nodded. Gently, he touched Veronica’s arm. “My dear, Julian and the others have this well in hand, and Melissa, it seems, is unharmed.”
Realizing what was happening, Melissa, who’d been watching Edgerton and Hockey work their way around the trap, freeing it from the turf that had been laid over it to conceal it, looked at Veronica and Frederick, smiled, and called, “I truly am unhurt, Veronica. Quite unharmed.”
Julian saw his mother drag in a breath.
“That’s a relief to hear, dear,” Veronica replied.
“Perhaps,” Frederick suggested, “we might return to the house and order some tea. I’m sure Melissa will want some once she’s free.”
