You have to grow up some time, kitten, and I have a notion it will be very soon and very sudden. I wish I could protect you, but I cannot. I need protecting from myself, as Grandmama was quick to point out…’
‘Grandmama?’ she murmured.
‘Oh, you are not as sleepy as you pretend, are you? Grandmama is Lady Connaught.’
She lifted her head from his shoulder and turned towards him. In the moonlight, his face seemed sombre beneath a large black hat. ‘You are surely not the Earl of Connaught?’
He laughed under his breath, a harsh, rather bitter sound which troubled her a little. ‘No, I am not the Earl of Connaught. I belong to a different branch of the family.’
‘The poor side. Every great family has a poor side, does it not?’
‘And its black sheep.’ This time his laugh was one of genuine amusement.
‘Oh, I see. But I should guess you are her ladyship’s favourite, all the same.’
‘Perhaps.’
‘Oh, how romantic! I expect you have had hundreds of adventures.’
‘So, your headache has magically vanished.’
‘No, it is still there.’ She hurried to assure him. ‘It will be better tomorrow, perhaps.’
‘It is already tomorrow. See, the sun is on the horizon and soon it will be daylight.’
‘So it is.’ She could see the road winding downhill to a group of buildings and a church. ‘Is that Aylsham ahead of us?’
‘Yes. The Red Lion is a respectable hostelry. We will stay there for a few hours until you are feeling better. Then I will see you safely on the coach to Cromer. If your horse is tied on behind, you will be able to ride from there to Stacey Manor.’
‘Where are you going?’
‘Wherever the fancy takes me.’
‘That’s sounds very indecisive to me and you do not seem to me to be an indecisive man. A secretive one, perhaps. Do you not want me to know where you are going?’
‘There is no need for you to know. Your little adventure is at an end.’
She was silent for a moment. ‘When you have seen your friend are you going on to London?’
‘I might. On the other hand I might not. It depends.’
‘On what?’
‘On what transpires,’ he said enigmatically.
‘I should very much like to go there…’
‘Perhaps one day you will. I collect my grandmother saying you had been promised a Season.’
‘Oh, that will only happen if Mama finds herself a rich husband.’ She sighed. ‘I am afraid she is not very good at judging how wealthy a man is and may very well mistake the matter again. I hold out no great hope.’
‘So young and so cynical!’
‘Realistic, Captain. So, will you take me to London?’
He chuckled, unable to take her seriously. ‘Minx! You have been play-acting the whole time. It will not serve, you know. What would my grandmother say if I were to carry you off?’
‘We could ride back and tell her. She will be quite content to let me go with you.’
She squirmed to turn and look at him again when he roared with laughter. He laughed so long and so loud, the tears ran down his face.
‘I amuse you?’ she asked stiffly.
‘Oh, I was not laughing at you but at myself. How anyone could be such a gowk, I do not know.’
‘Gowk?’
‘Fool, Molly. I am a fool. I have fallen for a ploy as old as time.’
‘Then will you take me to London? To Mama?’
‘I doubt your sudden arrival would please your mama.’
‘Oh, she might ring a peal over me to start with but I shall turn her up sweet, then she will take me out and about with her.’
The idea amused him even more than knowing Molly had inadvertently played into Lady Connaught’s hands. Harriet would be furious. It was almost worth considering just to discomfit her. But that would not be fair on Molly. And between the Red Lion and London were a great many miles and every one of them fraught with danger. Miss Molly Martineau must be returned to Stacey Manor.
He turned into the inn yard and dismounted before lifting her down and setting her on her feet. He ordered the ostler to look after the horses and escorted her inside. Not until he had bespoken a room and tipped a chambermaid to help her to bed did he feel free to go in search of Frank.
Frank Upjohn, once a sergeant in the Norfolk Regiment and now his servant, had taken two rooms along the corridor. Duncan tiptoed along and quietly let himself in, but Frank had been watching for him and was wide awake, sitting by the window.
‘You’re late, Captain,’ he said. ‘I had all but given you up for lost.’
‘I was delayed.’
‘Yes, I saw her. A pretty little filly, no doubt, but a distraction we could well do without.’
‘You mistake the matter,’ Duncan said. ‘She is a distant cousin. I shall put her on the Cromer stage when she has rested.’
‘No, Captain, you cannot do that, unless you want to upset all our plans. ‘Tis the stage our target will be on.’
‘How so?’
‘He travels a day early. It were meant to confound anyone with an eye to waylaying him. He will be coming through here in two hours’ time.’
Duncan swore roundly. Now what was he to do? He could not involve Molly in what he was about to do and he needed to get away quickly after the deed was done. ‘She will have to stay where she is for another day and go on tomorrow,’ he said, hoping Molly would be docile and do as she was told without further argument about sharing his adventures.
‘We had no plans to come back here,’ Frank reminded him.
‘Then we shall have to change our plans.’
‘I don’t like it,’ Frank muttered. ‘Don’t like it at all. Petticoats are the very devil…’
Duncan laughed. ‘You never said a truer word, old friend, but what would we do without them, eh? But enough of that. Tell me all you have discovered and let’s get down to business.’
Molly woke with a start when a
