Page 91 of Lord of Fortune
Chapter 17
They arrivedin Glastonbury the following afternoon after spending the night in Ston Easton at a tiny inn. He and Gideon had shared a chamber, and when Penn had attempted to discuss the earldom, Gideon had feigned exhaustion.
Penn hadn’t believed him, but neither had he pressed the issue. In truth, he didn’t particularly want to talk about it either. He didn’t even want tothinkabout it. He just prayed Egg had found the vicar.
Gideon led them west of the town toward Foliot’s estate, and presumably Forrest’s cottage. Though Gideon was somewhat familiar with the estate, it took him a little while to find what he thought was the right place. He motioned for them to join him near a stand of trees.
“That looks like what Forrest described, doesn’t it?” Gideon inclined his head toward the cottage at the base of a gentle slope.
Amelia nodded. “Yes. There are sheep grazing, as he said, and a tall oak tree. It’s also nicer than the cottage we shared.”
Penn ignored the pang of jealousy that shot through him. “I see the front door. Presumably, there is a window or a door for me to enter in the back. I’ll find something.”
She looked over at him from beneath the brim of her bonnet. Her riding habit, a dark bottle green with gold trim, intensified the color of her eyes. Or perhaps that was just his whimsy. Whenever he looked at her, he felt like a man dying of unquenched thirst.
“What if you don’t?” she asked. “How will I know if we need to abort the plan?”
“I’ll use the signal we discussed earlier,” Gideon said. He’d demonstrated a birdcall that would be easy to discern, even from inside the cottage.
She didn’t appear entirely mollified. Her gaze fixed on Penn. “And will I know if you’re able to get inside?”
“Hopefully not. I try to be quieter than air.” He winked at her, hoping to put her at ease even though his own insides were a combustive mess.
Gideon cleared his throat. “Let’s review this one more time. Amelia and I will go to the inn to hire the coach and change our clothing. Penn, you’ll stay here and scout your entry point.
“We’ll return in an hour or so. While Amelia distracts that imbecile, I’ll wait with the coach. Penn will have found his way inside and will nab the book. When he arrives at the coach, I’ll give the signal. Amelia, you’ll extricate yourself from the cretin and come to the coach. Once you’re inside, we’ll leave immediately.”
Amelia exhaled. “Then we’ll drop Penn here at his horse and take the coach back to the inn.”
“Where Gideon will obtain your horses, and we’ll meet at that abandoned cottage we found outside the north end of town,” Penn said. “Then we’ll solve this bloody riddle and find the heart.”
“It all sounds so neat and tidy.” Amelia sounded nervous. “You seem to have thought of everything.”
Penn wanted to take her in his arms to reassure her. “I try to do that in these situations—it’s how I’m so successful.”
Gideon snorted. “Is that what you were when the dagger was stolen from you?”
They’d related that story to him last night over supper. Amelia was sorry she likely wouldn’t get the dagger back, but finding the “key” her grandfather had mentioned and solving this mystery would be enough. Or so she’d said.
Penn glowered at Gideon in response, which only made his half brother smile.
“Shouldn’t we get going?” Amelia asked. “I’d like to get this over with.”
“Yes, let’s.” Penn was eager to have the book in his possession and Amelia away from Forrest. It was going to take every ounce of self-control he had not to pound her husband into the floorboards.
“One more thing,” Gideon said. “The heart.”
“I’ll bring it with me to the cottage.” The two halves were nestled in Amelia’s saddlebag. They’d written down the code, then altered it on the stone just in case she had to give it to Thaddeus. Penn really had thought of and planned for everything.
Amelia turned her head toward him and gave him a soft smile. “Be safe.”
He nodded and watched as she and Gideon rode east toward Glastonbury. When they were out of sight, he put his mind to the task at hand—finding a way in to Forrest’s cottage.
Then he would wait.
* * *
Though she’d reviewedthe plan in her mind a dozen times, anxiety pulsed through Amelia’s frame. She smoothed her hand along her skirt, finding the slight bulge of the small pistol she had hidden in her pocket. It made her feel marginally better. She’d shot Thaddeus once before, and she could do it again.
