Before, he had thought the distant horse hooves his imagination.
Now they had forms. Ten or twenty indistinct, mounted shadows all galloping in unison.
Leaning Duke’s reins to the left, William pressed himself along the stone wall by the road, ready to let the riders past.
But as they neared, they slowed. “That is him!” A muffled shout. Men dismounted.
William stiffened as three strangers lunged forward. He groped for his gun, but before he could aim it, two shadows wrestled the weapon in his hand.
“Release it, gent, if you know what is good for you.”
“What is this about?”
Prying the gun from his fingers, they yanked him from the saddle and slung him into the grass, but William bounced back to his feet swinging both fists. He landed a punch across someone’s face, a second blow into soft, cracking cartilage …
A boot smashed William’s face. He fell back, but hands caught him and propelled him forward into another group of shadows. He caught a second boot, this time in his ribs. He doubled over with the third. He hit the ground with the fourth.
Pain weaved in and out of his rib cage as they dragged him back to his feet and pinned back his arms. Warm blood rushed from his nose to his mouth, tasting like halfpennies and salt water.
Then another shadow moved before William. Taller than the rest. Only when he angled his face did the moonlight illuminate him.
Lord Gresham.William’s temples throbbed. He swallowed blood. Was the man so angered at William’s return to Sharottewood that he would gather all these men to apprehend him?
“Where is she?”
“Who?”
Lord Gresham’s hand stung William’s cheek. “Do not dare disrespect me now. I will not have it. What have you done with her? What have you done with my daughter?”
Confusion overcame the pain ringing in William’s brain. “I do not know what you speak of.”
“You were seen going into the garden.”
“I was there.”
“My daughter was with you.”
“Yes—”
“Then where is she?” Edward groped for William’s neck, his fingers squeezing, eyes bulging in the moonlight. “She never returned. One of her slippers was found on the path.”
God, no.Ice-cold fear spread through William. He could not think any more than he could breathe. He had just seen her. He had just touched her. She had been alone in the garden, but she had been well. What could have happened?
“Answer me, Kensley.” The words held death on their tips. The hands gripped his neck tighter, until William had to wheeze in every painful breath. “Answer me!”
“My lahrd, please.” A young voice from a horse top. “Please, ya shall kill him.”
Isaac.Blackness fluttered before William’s eyes then was gone. He drew in air. Slow, easy, grimacing against the ache in his throat.
“I shall ask once more, and heaven help me, if you say nothing, I shall break your neck.”
“My lahrd, please listen! It was not him. Someone else. Please listen.”
“What?” Edward turned.
The boy must have ridden closer, because his young voice gained volume. “ ’Deed, yer lahrdship. I was tryin’ to tell ya before but ya would not listen. That be why I followed ya tonight.”
“Tell me what?”
