“She be rightly ready to give out, she be.”
“We cannot have that, can we?” Arm lacing through hers, as if they were but strolling through Hyde Park, Lord Livingstone guided her from the road. They waded through tall grass, and her vision stilled long enough for the small pond to come into focus.
She swallowed air and staggered forward—
“Just a moment.” Lord Livingstone yanked her back, inches from his face. “I might be inclined to revoke your punishment, should you convince me.”
Her chin rose. He had abducted her freedom but not her spirit. She would not beg. She would not surrender herself to his desires, despite every unquenchable need to taste water.
“You are not listening to me.”
“I have nothing,” she rasped, “that would convince you.”
“On the contrary. You have something I very much want.” He glanced at Pike then back at her face. His black hair hovered half over his eyes, and the gaze that used to intrigue her now held no mystery. He was exposed in the fullest. “You see, my darling, before we are finished,youshall begmeto marry you.”
“Never.”
“I would not speak so hastily.”
“I would … die first.”
“You may wish you could.” He motioned toward the pond. “Have your drink then, Miss Gresham, but do so quickly. We must be on our way.”
She hurried to the edge, dropped to her stomach, and cupped brown water to her mouth. The liquid rushed down her throat, warm yet satisfying, stinging the cracks in her lips.
He hauled her back before she was finished, and she sucked back a protest. She would not have him sense her weakness.
She would not have him know she had never been so desperate and terrified in her life.
William snapped another stick and placed it into the fire as sparks followed smoke into the dark night air. The heat caused perspiration to dampen his chest.
From the other side of the flames, Lord Gresham passed a map to Colonel Nagel. “The fact that we can no longer determine a trail has nothing to do with it. This is the logical location. Where else would he take her?”
“Wetherbell Hall is not an estate accustomed to company.”
“Good mercy, man, we are not visiting for tea. They have my daughter!” Edward cursed then raked a hand through his hair as if attempting to gain control of himself. He grabbed the map again. “The elder Lord Livingstone is not a man who partakes in society. I realize that. And in any other circumstance, I would grant him his privacy.”
“It is more than a dislike for company, by all accounts.”
“You think it matters to me if the man has grudges against England?”
“But arriving with a regiment of redcoats—”
“If you are afraid, Colonel, do not speak in circles.” Edward rose to his feet, breathing hard, stuffing the map into the pocket of his tailcoat. “Turn back, and I shall continue on with the others.”
Colonel Nagel, rarely aroused by anything, simply shrugged off the comment and glanced into the flames. “No indeed. We shall carry on. I meant only to forewarn you that we are no longer in England, and the Lord of Wetherbell Hall may not be as welcoming as you might hope.”
“He can blaspheme the King for all I care, so long as I find my daughter.” Edward marched off into the darkness, the echo of his words still lingering.
William stoked the fire with a twig.Five days.Sickness swept through him, intensified by the nauseating smell of a roasting hare at another fire.
Five days since she was taken.
The past three, they had remained in England. Today they had followed and lost the trail within the borders of Scotland.
In all their searching, they had discovered but one evidence of her.
A slipper.
