Not only did the new driver not recognize her for who she was (although, truth be told, she doubted she’d recognize herself if she caught sight of her reflection in a looking glass) but her parents had obviously received her last missive andstilldidn’t feel compelled to check on their daughter firsthand. How utterly like them.
“Well?” the driver prompted.
“Just a moment,” she muttered.
She had some thinking to do, and she obviously had to do it quickly. If she sent him away empty-handed, she well knew her parents would never again pay heed to a request to return. Or welcome her home if she arrived on her own. Susan certainly had no wish to be exiled in Bournemouth for the rest of her life. Yet her conscience wouldn’t let her abandon her cousin, just to appease her own comfort.
The driver coughed. “Miss?”
“Just amoment.”
Think, think, think.She’d sent her plea to her parents a few hours after she’d sent her emergency missive to the Bow Street Runners’ headquarters. The Runners had taken her—and Dead Mr. Bothwick—seriously enough to send one investigator, who had never returned or reported back. Which meant they would take her follow-up letter doubly serious. And would be arriving at any moment.
“If you don’t know who she is,” the driver began, “allow me to find someone who—”
“I know her personally,” Susan interrupted, a plan taking form at last. “But she won’t be ready until at least nightfall. Do you give your word to remain until then?”
He gazed at her haughtily. “I gave my master my word that I wouldn’t wait a moment past twilight. He gave me leave to tell her so.”
Susan forced a brittle smile and glanced up at the cloud-covered sky. Noon, at the earliest. She had a maximum of eight hours to find the strongbox and pray the Runners arrived. If not, her choices would be severely limited. Leaving with the driver risked her cousin’s life (and ensured the freedom of the pirates) even if Susan’s first stop in Town was to the Runners’ front door. Letting the driver go home without her, on the other glove, risked no one coming back for her at all.Ever.
“She’ll be here,” Susan promised. “No matter what.”
Chapter 47
When the horses continued past without stopping, Evan realized they must not belong to the Runners after all. Relief coursed through his veins. Briefly. Then a sense of foreboding returned. Just because carriage wheels hadn’t rolled onto his property this time didn’t mean they would not do so soon.
He strode out to his carriages. Having both a phaeton and a coach might seem a bit excessive in a town where bare feet often passed as an acceptable mode of transportation, but the phaeton was an oversize frippery left over from his Town days, and the coach was stuffed to the gills with his most cherished worldly belongings.
But now... The truth was, for perhaps the first time in Evan’s life, he didn’t long for escape, whether literal or figurative. He didn’t want to adventure-seek as a ruthless pirate sailing the high seas in search of treasure and pleasure. He just wanted to be Evan Bothwick.
So long as he had Susan Stanton.
Which was why he was standing uncertainly outside of his empty house, staring at his still-waiting horses, and trying to decide what the devil he was going to do.
He’d asked her to go with him. She’d said no. And he couldn’t blame her. Asking her to give up the life she wanted just because he’d made a muck of his was hardly fair.
What if he stayed here? Bah, nonsensical. Neither of them held any love for this town. The constant trepidation would cast a dark cloud over their potential happiness. Could he return to London? His fingers twitched. The very thought of that falsely gay town gave Evan hives. Besides, rumors of having a former smuggler for a husband would not be conducive to regaining the life Susan wished to live.
Husband.That was the real point, wasn’t it? One of the words he wouldn’t let himself think in the privacy and secrecy of his own mind, much less escape his lips when he’d asked her to give up everything to be with him. But those were the stakes.
Marriage. Commitment. Forever. The biggest risk of all.
He glared at his pawing horses. The groomsman he most often employed as a driver cast inquisitive glances toward his master but asked no questions, despite having had both carriages and horses at the ready for several hours.
Evan swore under his breath. He couldn’t stay. And he couldn’t go. Rather than his usual circumstance of being overwhelmed by possibilities for adventure, he found himself mired in a horrible limbo between two undesirable choices. Stay, and face the law. Leave, and lose Susan.
Branches cracked from the footpath up ahead. The woman of his dreams burst from the trees and blinked in shocked pleasure at his stables as if she hadn’t expected them to still be there. She turned a little more, caught sight of him watching her, and started running toward him. She looked deadly focused.
He didn’tseea knife in her hands. Although one never knew.
What he preferred to see on her hand was a wedding band, marking her as his. But he couldn’t ask her yet. Not so close on the heels of his previous failed proposition. She wouldn’t see that anything of significance had changed. And really, had it?Hefelt different, inside. As though he’d reached a turning point in his life—or was, at least, attempting to. But he would have to prove himself before she would believe such a thing.
“I need the box,” she panted by way of greeting. “I’m out of time.”
If she was out of time, so was he.
“The carriage?” he asked.
