“What are you—” they said in unison, before breaking off in stunned silence.
Vincent let go, and she swiped the scarf from her face.
“Well, fancy meeting you here,” Matthew softly said, as though they had all just encountered each other on the terrace at a ball.
Belatedly Vincent realized his legs were still covering Miss Walden’s lower half.He sat up, then stood and reached a hand down to help her to her feet.He gave her a moment to dust herself off, as he did the same.“You aren’t out for an evening stroll.”
“Neither are you,” she replied, gesturing at them.Vincent and Matthew were both dressed all in black, including their shirts and neckcloths.
“I imagine she’s trying to do the same thing we are,” Matthew said, still conversing as though they were attending a ball rather than hiding on a beach late at night.Though at least he kept his voice low.“Catch smugglers in the act.”
“The question remains, why?”Vincent folded his arms over his chest.“This in no way comes under the heading of anything Aunt Gertrude hired you for.”Could she be part of whatever was going on with the fake ghost?It had not appeared until after her arrival at Hobart Grange.
And now it had disappeared.No one else was on the beach but the three of them.He’d lost his chance to catch whatever mortal was impersonating the ghost.
This time.
“True.”Miss Walden mimicked his posture.With her scarf dangling loose over one shoulder, her folded arms pressed her breasts upward, peeking over the neckline of her dress, the top curves just visible in the moonlight.“I am not here for Mrs.Digby, nor for myself.”
Vincent struggled to focus on her words and not the tantalizing strip of creamy skin on display.With great effort he raised his gaze to her face.“Then—”
“The smugglers are interfering in my friend’s work.”The quirk of her brow let him know she knew exactly what he’d been doing.To his disappointment, she dropped her arms to her sides, reducing the amount of her breasts visible.“I thought if I could see them, identify them, the magistrate could take them into custody.Miss Burrell will be able to return to her dig.”
Vincent opened his mouth to argue that it was far too dangerous for her to do that on her own, but they all turned their heads at a soft sound.
Footsteps.
On the beach.Headed their way.
Miss Walden stepped backward and to the side before crouching down, practically disappearing into the darkness at the base of the bluff where she had been hiding before Vincent tripped on her.It was much easier to hide her tiny frame.Vincent glanced about, looking for a boulder large enough to conceal himself … that wasn’t already occupied by Matthew.He spotted one and dashed the two steps to it and ducked down.
The footsteps grew louder, crunching on the rocks.
Vincent risked peeking around the side of the boulder.Two men, their outline barely visible as they, too, had dressed all in black, walked directly to the tunnel entrance.Not until they stepped inside did they light a torch one of them carried.Knit caps concealed their hair, and they spoke not a word as they continued into the tunnel, their flickering torchlight fading as they walked farther away.
Vincent caught Matthew’s attention.“You stay here, and we’ll catch them in a squeeze.”
Matthew nodded.Vincent hurried into the tunnel.
He stayed far enough back that the smugglers were unlikely to see or hear him, keeping them and their torch in his sight, paying attention to where there were caves off to one side or the other in case he needed to hide.Some of them branched off into other tunnels and caves in the rabbit warren-like network, formed over centuries of natural and human intervention.
The two smugglers ducked into the filled cavern.Sounds filtered out of crates scraping on the ground.“Get the lead out of yer arse, ye worthless piece of shite,” one of them growled.
Just as his mind processed that familiar phrase, a muffled gasp startled Vincent… because the gasp came frombehindhim.
He turned around in time to see a flash of brown cloak disappearing into a cavern.
“What—” he cut himself off, but he had already given himself away.He caught a glimpse of the two men, one holding a torch with one hand, his other balancing a sack of flour over his shoulder.The other man also had a sack of flour over his shoulder, but instead of holding a torch, he held a pistol … pointed at Vincent.
Was this cave that Miss Walden had ducked into one of them that had a second exit that joined another tunnel?No matter.Vincent leaped over the rocks littering the opening and dove into the cavern just as he heard the bark of the pistol fire.
The impossibly loud explosion ricocheted around the small space, bouncing off the rock walls until Vincent thought his head would explode.Rocks tumbled down, striking his shoulders and legs.The side of his face hit the cold, gritty ground and he had a moment to wonder if the cave had collapsed.Then everything went black, and he thought no more.
* * *
Sophia huddled against the cave wall, covering her head and face with her arms and hands as rocks tumbled and the sound of the gunfire echoed, seeming as loud as a cannon in the confined space.When at last it quieted and rocks settled into place, she cautiously lowered her arms and blinked.
Nothing.
