Page 49 of The Artisan and the Duke
Jules was trying her best not to fall asleep in the saddle. The storm seemed to be staying a few miles away, but it felt like they had been riding for hours. “Do you think that we should stop and rest somewhere?”
“Give me your reins, and I’ll pull your horse if you need to sleep,” David suggested.
Jules frowned. “I don’t fancy falling off this horse while I am asleep,” she said as she eyed the ground beneath her.
“You won’t,” David said with a shrug. “I’ve slept in the saddle before. You get used to it.”
Jules was so tired that even the idea of falling out of the saddle was not keeping her eyes open. She nodded and agreed, “Very well.” After David had her reins, she leaned over and hugged the mare’s neck. The gentle motion of the horse’s walk lulled her, and soon her eyelids were drooping.
The next time her eyes opened, the sky was streaked with yellows and pinks. Jules sat up and rubbed her eyes wearily. She ached something awful for having sat in the saddle all night. “Where are we?”
David looked around at her with a smile. “Decided to wake up, have we? We, my dear Duchess, are almost to London.”
“What?” Jules looked around frantically. “But Lord St Claire …”
David shook his head. “I saw no sign of people or carriages through the night. Rest assured that your dear Lord St Claire will no doubt be paying off his captors and being returned to his cushy bed perhaps even as we speak.”
“The Duke will be out looking for him,” Jules said as she pushed some of her hair out of her face. It had come loose from the clip she had it tucked into, and she had no inclination to worry over how she looked at the moment. “I should find the Duke and help,” she said in worry. “He’ll probably be most angry that I went off by myself with some man. I didn’t think about how it would look to him.”
David scoffed, “People are so concerned with the looks of things. All we did was ride and look for your brother-in-law. It was a noble and brave act on your part.” David shrugged and continued, “Unfortunately, we did not find him. Do you really think your Duke is going to get out and ride personally to look for you or his brother? That isn’t really how the nobles do things, Duchess.”
“You don’t know my husband or his family,” Jules said sternly. “It would do you well not to speak of them as if you do.”
David snorted and bit back, “You speak as if you do know them. You haven’t known them that long, Duchess.”
Jules sighed and turned her head away from the man. She pulled the reins back out of his hands as the tops of the houses on this side of London became visible.
Part of her wanted to dash on ahead and find Lady St Claire to explain things, but part of her also wanted to turn around and find Gregory. She knew that if he had learned of Fredrick’s abduction, the man would not have slept until his brother was found.
***
Gregory stalked through the woods. A farmer nearby had told Gregory that he had heard strange noises coming from a glen near his farm. Thompson and Gregory rode into the woods towards the place the farmer indicated and then tied the horses to trees when the woods became too thick to ride.
If highwaymen were getting things as big as carriages in and out of these woods, there clearly had to be another way in, Gregory mused to himself. “I see why no one has found anything when they have come to look,” Gregory said quietly to Thompson.
Thompson nodded, “It’s a right squeeze. Do you really think it’s them?”
“It’s the best lead we’ve had all night. With dawn coming, we may not get a better one,” Gregory said softly as his breath came in bursts. He was bone weary but determined to find his brother and his wife.
They had seen no signs of either Fred or Jules, but the same farmer said that he saw two riders go by a couple of hours before Gregory and Thompson. Gregory wagered that was probably Jules and Mr Larkin. They would be near to London by now.
Thompson and Gregory eased through the trees. Ahead they could see a flicker of a fire. At least the rain had left them be, but Gregory was still chilled to the bone from the previous shower. The sound of voices made Gregory and Thompson still.
“How long do we have to sit on this one?” The voice was male and irritated. It spat, “Why don’t we just kill him? Isn’t that what we were hired to do?”
Another voice replied, “We were hired to get him out of the way. We were only to kill him if necessary, now be quiet before he wakes up.”
The words made hope soar in Gregory’s heart that his brother was indeed still alive and well. Though the idea that someone had paid the highwaymen to do this made Gregory’s blood boil.
He meant to have the scoundrel’s name, but first, he had to figure out how many men were actually holding his brother. Two voices did not take into account any who might be silent or sleeping.
Gregory motioned for Thompson to stay still which the man was happy to do. Through the thick trees, Gregory could easily slip without drawing attention from those around the fire.
He could make out two men, probably the two who had been talking by the fire. There was a third figure slumped against a tree which Gregory recognized immediately as Fredrick.
It took a few minutes to get close to his brother. Fredrick appeared to be sleeping or unconscious as Gregory took in what he could see of the camp. He glanced across the way and where he thought Thompson’s position was. There were only two men visible, but there was the carriage which could have men sleeping inside it.
The horses from the carriage were unburdened and loitered near the tree line. Gregory dared not try to grab one or he might spook the creatures that appeared to be dozing. Gregory instead slipped up near Fredrick and nudged the man cautiously.
