“I’ll be bringing up fresh water for you too, miss.” The girl straightened the napkin beside the plate. “I can help you wif unfastening your stays too, but that can wait until your two friends are done visiting wif you.”
Eliza’s gaze snapped to the girl. “Two…friends?”
“Yes, miss. I heard them asking Cleda which chamber you was in as I was coming up the steps to—”
Eliza flung for the door. She slammed it shut, slid the latch. Her heartbeat throbbed to her throat as she turned around and glanced about the room.God?
“What be the matter, miss? I done somefing wrong?”
Eliza flung to one of the windows. Too dark to see, even in the faint moonlight, how many feet stood between her and the ledge.
The girl rushed behind her. “You not be thinking of jumping, are you, miss?”
No, she wouldn’t jump. She couldn’t jump. The beast would want her to jump, with the red curtains and the glass breaking and the screams …
A body slammed into the door. The rattle shook the room, followed by a low curse.
“Miss, you can’t!”
Eliza pushed one leg out the window. Her breath came out in gasps, as she grasped the ledge with both hands and eased herself out. Her body dangled along the rough brick. The door crashed open above. The maid screamed.
Now.Air whistled in her ears as she fell. Her body slammed into the earth and pain jolted through both ankles, but she rolled forward and pushed herself behind a scraggly bush.God, help me.She covered her ears, closed her eyes, willed the breath to come back into her lungs.Help Felton find me.
Before the beast saw her dead.
Like Captain.
“I say, fellow, you a bit bosky tonight?”
Wooden beams. Cobwebs. Then a face—thin, greasy, with a ratty topper and bulging eyes.
Felton jerked upright. Pain stabbed his temple, as the groom grabbed Felton’s coat and leaned him up against a beam.
“There now. I’ve been dipping rather deep lately myself. That is, until Cleda catches me. The fastidious old biddy allows no ale for those in need of merriment—”
“Eliza.” Felton pushed the hands away. Everything careened, but he pulled himself up and grasped the beam. “You…get help.”
“Get what, sir?”
“Eliza…the woman with me. Get inside the building. Get into her room.” He stumbled back to the stall and grabbed his pistol from the saddlebags.
“If you don’t mind my saying so, sir, I think perhaps you should lie down until you feel a bit steadier on your feet—”
“Now!”
With a slight jump, the man grumbled and darted out the open stabledoors.
The stalls, the beams, the hay—they all spun again. If anything happened to her, if he’d allowed the danger to get past him and hurt her …
He staggered forward, Merrylad next to him, and gained steadiness when he made it outside and took the path along the house. The windows glowed orange, all open but none emitting screams. Mayhap they hadn’t reached her yet.
Merrylad yelped.
He jerked around, pistol drawn, and faced the bush the dog circled. His stomach tensed. “Come out with your hands up.”
The shadowy branches stirred. “F–Felton?”
Relief pushed through the panic. He dropped to the bush and dragged her out by the arm. “Are you hurt?”
