Page 28 of Her Wicked Highwayman
“You made it! The lads arrived before you, and we feared the worst.” Mrs. Ripley covered her mouth with a trembling hand. “I didn’t know you meant to come back separately. You mustn’t do that again.”
“We feared you had been captured,” Peele added.
“I took the longest route, the easiest one to follow. I didn’t want to risk Matthew and Luke more than I risked my own life.”
Her butler gave a huff of disapproval but didn’t argue with her.
“Where are Luke and Matthew?” she asked.
“In the sitting room waiting for you,” said Peele. “I now realize that, if we continue this, we shall need a proper place to hide you when you return, in case you are followed and discover that fact too late. Perhaps the wine cellar? It has an old priest hole that runs into the woods behind the stables.”
Diana nodded. “Yes, that is an excellent idea. We shall look into that tomorrow.” She pulled her mask, wig, and gloves off and gave them to Mrs. Ripley, who rushed away to hide them.
Diana retired to the sitting room and found her accomplices still dressed in their black trousers and black waistcoats as shewas. Peele was right. They would need a place to change clothes and hide their highwayman disguises before returning to the house. Dark-haired Matthew was seated, while the fairer-haired Luke paced back and forth by the fire. They looked like young lords of light and dark. The two jolted to attention when she entered and closed the door behind her.
“Well? Did anyone try to follow you?” she asked.
“No,” Matthew replied. “I watched the coach. The woman seemed to insist the gentlemen stay put like we instructed.”
Luke chuckled. “We made an impression on her, no mistake. The lass looked both terrified and fascinated, especially by you, my lady.”
Diana snorted. “Put a woman in a wig and she’ll look as handsome as any man,” she retorted.
Matthew and Luke both laughed. “Shedidthink you were that Tyburn fellow everyone is talking about. I suppose that means your plan worked out very well, my lady.”
In truth, she wasn’t proud, she was just... relieved. Relieved that no one had been hurt, captured, or killed.
Luke retrieved the pouches from by the fireplace and handed them to Diana.
“Shall we see how we fared?” She poured the contents onto a nearby reading table, then separated the jewels from the coins and banknotes.
“Here.” She gave the men each their agreed share of coins and banknotes. “I shall have Peele fence the other items and pay you your hazard fees once I receive the money for them. The rest goes to the estate.”
The two men gratefully accepted their payments.
“You must be sure to hide your money,” she warned in a low tone. “No one can know where it is. Do you understand? Do not hide it in the servants’ quarters.”
“My lady?” Luke’s brows rose. “Do you believe someone who works here will steal it?”
“No, of course not. Not anyone in this house. But if anyone suspects us, they will search this house, especially your quarters. Being found with too much money will bring you under suspicion.”
“Ah,” Matthew sighed in understanding. “Because we areservants. They will suspect us first.”
“Unfortunately, they will,” Diana agreed. “But my financial position won’t be hidden for much longer. I may face a similar level of scrutiny. No one would suspect me of riding out with you, but they may suspect that I have hired others to steal for me. I will be hiding my portion as well.”
A gleam of excitement filled Luke’s eyes. “When do we ride again?”
“We must wait and watch for a few days. I want to see how the authorities handle the situation. That will tell us how our next... acquisition will go. Now, ’tis late and you both need rest. Off to bed.”
She shooed the footmen out of the room, then retired to her own bedchamber and stripped out of her black clothing, which she would need to see carefully hidden away on the morrow. She was too exhausted after the anxiety of that first robbery to worry about it tonight.
Mrs. Ripley had thoughtfully left out a nightgown for her, for she had no lady’s maid. After her father had died, a number of the servants had sought employment elsewhere, and her maid had been one of those she’d had to bid a tearful farewell to. Once she’d donned the nightgown, she hastily brushed her hair out and collapsed into bed.
Diana lay there, unable to sleep, watching the moonlight move in slow patterns across the walls. It took several longmoments for her fears and the tension of the night to finally bleed out of her. Perhaps this mad scheme would work after all.
A lady highwayman.
What a shocking notion indeed. She tried not to think about what her parents would have said had they still been alive. Instead, her thoughts drifted back to the mysterious Tyburn. Had he taken advantage of the moonlight to conduct his own nefarious robberies as well? Had he stopped another woman passenger and had he looked at her with desire as he had Diana? Would he kiss that other woman? Or was he lying alone in a bed, wondering about her and where she was? Could he be dreaming about her?
