As the steward bowed and went into the sitting room, Thea relaxed a fraction. Despite her fears, hunger finally gnawed at her stomach, churning it along with the worry she could not find any release for. “Michael,” she said. “Go to the kitchen and bring back food. Lots of it. I think we may be in this room for a while.”
From the corner of her eye, she saw him bow. “Yes, Miss Miller.”
As he left, Thea found a bit of irony that she was locked in a room with two men not related to her. However, she could not be concerned with her reputation. She eyed Freddie wryly. “You are my chaperone, brother.”
Settling into the chair, Thea watched the rise and fall of Freddie’s chest, praying that a cure for his ailment could be found. “You had better not die,” she said, her tone grim. “I want to save the pleasure of killing you for myself.”
Turning her worry to Liam, she wondered how Ampleforth had managed to overcome him, and where he was being held. Surely he could not still be on the estate, for someone would have seen him. One cannot keep a servant hostage hidden in a room or a closet, for other servants would stumble across him.
“Did he take you out into the hills, Liam?” she asked the air. “Please, please, come back to me. I love you. I need you.”
Chapter 28
His hands bound behind him, his head aching from the sharp blow that had knocked him out cold, Liam gazed around at the dark musty tunnel where he sat. His back was against a pillar, tied to it by a short length of rope, he peered into the gloom, seeing the light of a torch a short distance away. The rat in the walls sat beside it, he thought, squinting. If that was indeed their villain, he made no move or sound, and almost appeared to be waiting for something.
Liam tested the ropes that bound his hands together, trying to recall how long he may have been here. The last thing he remembered was listening to Lord Willowdale inform Thea that she would marry the Baron of Ampleforth. He knew he felt his heart shatter when Lord Willowdale became enraged that she dared fall in love with him, a mere servant and commoner. Feeling sick, he had started to walk away when he was hit.
That was last night, or so he thought.Surely I was not unconscious all night, was I?The last time this bastard hit him on the head, he had been out for only a short while. If that was the case now, it may only be around midnight. He glanced at the figure by the torch again, finding the man still had not moved.What was he waiting for? Orders to kill me?
Time passed slowly. Liam wrestled with the knot that bound his hands, trying to reach it with his fingers. But all he succeeded in doing was bruising his wrists.What I would not do for a nice sharp knife.He carried no such thing and might not have been able to reach it in any case. Moving his legs informed him they were not tied, and he could stand if he needed to.
Movement down the tunnel caught his attention. The assassin who came so close to killing Lord Willowdale and Thea stepped toward him, carrying the torch high over his head. For the first time, Liam got a good look at the man who had caused so much trouble. He wore the black cloak Liam had seen when he tried to shoot Thea and killed John instead, and he had a short puckered scar on his right cheek.
For a long moment, he stared at Liam, the light of the flame illuminating his deep-set dark eyes and thin lips. His nose appeared to have been broken at some point in his life and he looked to be perhaps in his middle twenties. “You are the bloke that keeps saving His Lordship,” he said in a flat voice.
“I suppose I am.”
“A right bit of trouble you have caused me.”
“About as much as you caused me.”
“Because of you, I have not been paid.” The villain’s lip curled. “Because of you, I have to live in this nasty place.”
Liam shrugged. “You caused your own problems by trying to kill Lord Willowdale. Why did you try to kill Miss Miller?”
The thug glanced away. “I was not supposed to kill her,” he admitted. “I got so bloody frustrated, I just lost my mind. My master was not pleased.”
“Who is your master?”
“You will find out soon enough. If he tells me to do you in, then I will. But for now, he wants you alive.”
“Why?”
The man shrugged. “I do as I am told, not ask any questions. He will not answer them anyway.”
Liam leaned his head back, watching the fellow closely. “So I am a hostage?”
“I expect so.”
“What time is it?”
The assassin blinked as though confused by the question. “Not much past midnight, I believe. I was told to bring you in here, alive, mostly unharmed, then wait for him to come.”
“Do you even know his name?”
The villain thinned his lips and said nothing. Liam chuckled. “I did not think so.”
“I just work for pay,” he replied. “I received gold as a down payment, the rest upon His Lordship’s death. I will get extra for killing you.”
