Page 22 of Her Wicked Highwayman
Peele escorted her to the largest sitting room. She paused at the sight of the three men standing there. Two she recognized at once—the father and son from her coach ride yesterday, Edwin and Claude Fellows.
“Miss Fox, thank goodness, are you well?” Claude rushed over to her and reached for her hands in a way that was far too familiar for their brief acquaintance. She shied back, yet he did not release her fingers.
“I am well. Thank you for inquiring, Mr. Fellows.”
The third man now spoke, his voice cool and his gaze appraising. “Miss Fox, I am Lord Caddington, the local magistrate. I was informed that you were abducted from a stagecoach two days ago?”
“Yes, my lord, I was.” She could feel Lord Caddington’s gaze move over her, assessing her. What was he looking for? Or rather, what was hehopingfor? Because he was clearly seeking something.
“Did you suffer an assault on your person?” Caddington asked. Then she saw it, a lightning-quick flash of excitement in his eyes as he examined her. Did hewantto learn she had been injured in some way?
An eerie chill ran down Diana’s spine. This man liked pain. She wasn’t sure how she knew that, but she was certain of it. She had always been able to read people, even as a girl, and the time she had spent working with her servants, trying to keep their home alive, had honed that ability. Caddington was well dressed, well spoken, held a title, and no doubt possessed a fair-sized estate, along with his magistrate’s powers. It would be easy for most people to place their trust in such a man and learn too late he was not a good man.
“I was not harmed, Lord Caddington, but I appreciate your concern for my welfare.” She kept her tone polite. “I was fortunate enough to make my escape and find my way home on my own, but thankfully I was not harmed in any way.”
Please let this be the end of his questions,she prayed.
“But that scoundrel threatened you!” Claude insisted, still holding on to her hands. “When you would not surrender your necklace, he said he would remove your clothing to get to it,” the young man declared, his face flushed with rage and embarrassment on her behalf.
She delicately pulled her hands free of Claude’s grasp. “The thief said that, yes, but it was a mere boast. He did not carry out his threat.”
“But heabductedyou!” Claude continued. “He might have done anything to you.”
“And yet I tell you he did not harm me. I am fairly certain I would remember if he had.”
The father spoke up. “If you can recall, Miss Fox, where did the highwayman take you? We informed Lord Caddington of all that we know, including the general direction he and his companions took. We would have come sooner to see to your health and safety, but we were not positive we knew the location of your residence. We live several miles away, you see. It wasn’t until one of the servants in our household mentioned that she knew of your estate that we were able to inform his lordship of where you lived.”
Diana deeply wished that servant hadn’t said anything, but she no doubt thought she was being helpful. Diana would have to be careful about what she revealed to Caddington from this point on.
“I was carried blindfolded at first to a little glen perhaps a mile away from where our coach was halted on the road. I am so wretched with distances,” she lied. “And directions. I believe they took me westward? The sun was setting in the east...” She touched her fingertips to her temples as if in pained recollection.
“The sun sets in thewest, Miss Fox,” Caddington said. “So did you ride in the direction of the setting sun or against it?”
She fluttered her lashes, ready to feign a fainting spell. It wouldn’t be the first time she’d had to play the role of a delicate lady. The last time had been at a ball two years before, and she’d been desperately trying to avoid dancing with the vicar’s son. The young man simply had too many hands, and those hands had a tendency to wander where they weren’t welcome.
“Please sit, Miss Fox.” Claude pulled her toward a settee and sat down beside her. She inwardly bristled at the young man who had the audacity to offer her a seat in her own house.
“Think hard, Miss Fox,” Caddington ordered. “Which way did you go, toward or away from the setting sun?”
“It was toward the setting sun, I am certain of it.” Tyburn had, in fact, taken her east, but she wasn’t about to give that information to Caddington or any other authorities.
Of course, her protection of a lawless criminal wasn’t entirely based on a secret desire to shield her mysterious lover from the hangman’s noose, though that did play a small part. Truth was, if Tyburn was caught, he might tell the authorities that she had robbed him of most of his loot. Then she would also be facing the noose.
“Tell me your account of the robbery,” Caddington said. “What happened when you were stopped in the woods?”
He walked to where she sat and stopped just inches from her so as to loom over her, no doubt expecting her to wilt in his presence. She reminded herself that she had to keep playing the role of the helpless female. She preferred men who underestimated her.
Diana cleared her throat, letting tears shine in her eyes. “I was so scared at first. There was a loud crack, which we thought was thunder. Only it was a pistol shot. A man in a mask came and forced us all to leave the carriage. He demanded that I surrender my necklace to him. I refused and hid it in a place I thought he would not attempt to retrieve it from. I was wrong.” She reached up to touch her neck to feel the pearl that usually hung there, but it was gone. She prayed it was still fastened around Tyburn’s wrist. “He took me on his horse far from the road and made it clear I had no choice in the matter. Thankfully, I was allowed to remove it from my hiding place without the men watching. I gave it to the thieves, and they showed me mercy.”
“Mercy? Ha!” Caddington snorted. “That trio of bastards has robbed me of more than four thousand pounds just this year. Whenever I get close to finding them, they go to ground.”
Ah . . .Diana thought with grim understanding.
Now she could see why Caddington was interested in her story. He wanted to catch the clever thieves who had robbed him repeatedly. If she were to ever see that seductive—er, dreadful—Tyburn again, she might just kiss him because he had caused so much trouble for such a foul man.
“Lord Caddington,” Claude warned, “we are in the presence of a young lady. I advise you to remember that.”
“I will not censor myself in front of anyone, not even alady.” He said the words as though he thought her quite the opposite of a lady. He pressed on with his interrogation. “What did they do when they let you go? Where did they take you? Did they bring you back to this house?” He threw his questions at her like barbed spears, looming ever closer, invading her space as an almost manic energy seemed to pour off him.
