Her Highness and the Highlander: A Princess Brides Romance (40 page)

Daniel flexed his hands at his sides, deep in thought. “He must have been the one
behind the original attack on her coach. They meant to kidnap and hold her for ransom,
then, but she got away.”

“Of course,” Nick said. “And from what you’ve told us, they tried again while you
and Mercedes were on your way here to London. You thwarted them a second time, but
there must have been others, someone who trailed you here.”

“But they didn’t need to trail anyone,” Ariadne interjected. “Lang was here in the
house, part of the prince’s staff. Once Mercedes arrived, it was only a matter of
waiting until she was left alone. The day of the garden fete was the perfect opportunity.”

The prince dropped into a nearby chair, his face ashen. “He’s given me three weeks
to arrange Hans’s release and provide him with safe passage. He will send word to
Lang to let him know he is safe. Only then will he free Mercedes.”

Daniel’s hands fisted, nausea rising in his gut. He’d known
men like Lang, knew the tricks they played. He would never honor his word. Once Peter
Hans was free, he would kill Mercedes and be on his way abroad to join Hans.

“We have tae find her,” he said. “And the longer we wait, the less chance we have
of recovering her.”

“But how?” Nick shot back. “We’ve gone over every place he might have taken her and
come up empty. The prince’s staff knows nothing of use, and we’ve questioned all the
servants as well.”

“Then we’ll question them all again.” Daniel paced a few steps. “We’ll go back to
the beginning and think it through again. The answer is here. We just have to find
it.”

Mercedes chafed against her bonds, her wrists and ankles aching from the restraint.
They untied her every few hours so she could see to her physical needs and have something
to eat. Otherwise, they kept her trussed tight, recumbent on the moldy-smelling bed.

The odd little man, whom she’d inadvertently learned was named Smeek, and the big
brute, whom he called Joseph, took turns watching her. She liked it better when it
was Smeek’s turn, since the other one stared at her in a way that made her shudder
from head to foot. He hadn’t touched her yet, but she feared it was only a matter
of time.

She’d also overheard them, when they’d thought she was asleep, discussing a plan to
move her. From what she’d gleaned, they were currently in a cottage a few miles outside
London. If she was still that close to the city, it was possible her father and his
men would be able to locate and free her. But if they moved her farther into the countryside,
her hopes of rescue decreased to almost nil.

She’d lain for hours thinking, sick with misery and fear. She’d even been ill once,
Smeek racing forward with a slop bucket just in time. Maybe she could use that to
her advantage? Maybe somehow she could convince them she was sick again and get them
to untie her long enough for her to escape?

It was a desperate, poorly conceived plan, she knew, but
she had to do something. Her last opportunity to be free was slipping quickly from
her grasp, and she didn’t think she could afford to do nothing but wait and pray.
Smeek was currently guarding her, the brutish Joseph having ridden off to get supplies.
With only one man here, this was likely the best chance she would get.

But first she had to convince Smeek to take off her bonds.

“Hello,” she said, “please, do you think you could loosen these for a while?” She
held up her tied hands. “I can’t seem to feel my hands anymore. My feet either.”

He looked up from where he sat whittling and frowned. “I’ll untie you for dinner.
Just stay put for now.”

She lay silent for another minute. “Please, I wouldn’t ask but I’m worried there’s
something wrong. I heard about a prisoner once whose hands turned black and fell off.
They said it was because his bonds were too tight and they’d cut off the blood supply.”

Smeek’s scowl deepened, a hint of concern in his eyes. “You’re fine.”

Blast, now what?

She considered for a moment, then closed her eyes and turned her head away.

Sad. She needed to feel sad.

And what made her sadder than remembering the day Daniel had left her? Soon tears
dampened her eyes. She sniffed loudly, then sniffed again.

“Are ye cryin’ over there? Don’t do that.”

Most men hated tears. To her joy, Smeek was apparently one of them.

“I’m s-sorry.” She sniffed again and squeezed out a few more tears. “I c-can’t help
it.”

“Well, try to help it,” he grumbled.

Loudly enough for him to hear, she continued crying.

Less than a minute later, he cursed under his breath and set his knife and the wood
he’d been carving down on the table. He stood up and walked over to her. “’Ere, now,
don’t carry on so, Princess.”

She cried a bit more.

“Oh, all right, I shouldn’t do this, but since ye’re so miserable, I don’t see as
it’ll hurt.” Leaning over, he loosened the ropes around both her ankles and wrists.

She hid a smile, thrilled she had made some progress, but still it wasn’t enough.
She needed to be completely freed from her bonds. But how?

“Thank you,” she said, wiggling her fingers as if in relief. “That’s much better.”

He nodded.

“Do you…think I could sit up for a while? I’m feeling a little queasy from lying still
so long.”

“Ye’re not going to be sick again, are ye?” he asked suspiciously.

“No. Well, actually I am not certain. Maybe if I could have some water?”

He huffed out a breath, then stomped across to the water bucket to pour her a cup.
When he tried to set the tin cup in her hands, she deliberately fumbled it, spilling
most of the water on her dress and the floor. “I’m sorry,” she apologized. “It’s so
hard to hold anything with my wrists tied like this.”

He scowled again, then took the cup away. He refilled it, then set it nearby while
he unwound the ropes from her wrists. The skin was red and raw where the hemp had
dug into her flesh, and she sighed in honest relief.

Slowly she lifted the cup to her mouth and took a sip. “You were there, weren’t you?
In Scotland?”

His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t respond.

“You must be very clever to have followed me all this way. Cleverer than the men who
set upon Daniel and me in our curricle. Were you there that day too?”

For a minute, she didn’t think he was going to answer.

“I was waiting in a crofter’s hut a couple miles off where we were goin’ to keep ye.
When I found out they’d botched the job again, I decided to come to London and tell
the big boss about it.”

“Mr. Lang, you mean?”

“That’s the name he goes by here. I didn’t realize at first, but he’s the one who’s
really been in charge all this time. The one I worked for to start got killed by yer
Scotsman. When the big boss found out he was dead, well, he weren’t happy. Not happy
at all.”

“But he’s happy now.”

He nodded. “He’s promised me a huge purse for keepin’ ye here. Have to split it, though,
and I don’t much like sharing.”

“With Joseph, you mean?”

“That’s right.”

“I don’t like Joseph,” she said honestly. “He scares me.”

He gave her a look. “He should. Likes to hurt women, that one.”

She looked away, realizing suddenly why he was being so forthcoming and why it didn’t
matter that she knew so much, including their names. They didn’t plan to ever let
her go. In the end, they were going to kill her.

Steeling her nerve, she bent double and moaned, letting the cup fall out of her hands.

“What? What is it?” he demanded.

“Oh, I have a pain.”

“Pain? What kind of pain?”

“In my stomach.” She moaned again. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

Obviously remembering the last time she had been ill, he raced across to retrieve
the empty chamber pot. He thrust it into her hands, then stood back, waiting.

Bending low, she pretended to vomit, which wasn’t hard considering the lingering smell
in the pot. She heaved, making loud retching noises. “Help,” she moaned.

“What?”

“Help me. Come here.”

Instinctively he moved closer, bending forward. She didn’t wait, knowing any hesitation
would be her doom. Grasping the pot handle, she swung it upward as hard as she could.
She cringed at the sickening thud it made as the pottery connected
with his skull. Before he had time to recover, she hit him again, hard enough this
time that he crumpled to the floor, where he lay unmoving.

Tossing the pot aside, she frantically worked to untie the rope binding her ankles.
Mercifully it came free with only a few deft tugs. Kicking it aside, she started toward
the door, pausing only long enough to snatch up the knife he’d been using to whittle.

With a quick glance, she checked to make sure Smeek was still unconscious, then cracked
open the door and peered out. Nothing moved; the yard was empty. There wasn’t even
an animal stirring. She’d hoped she would find a horse she could ride, but apparently
Joseph had taken the coach and team with him.

How soon would he be back?

How soon would Smeek regain consciousness?

Knowing she had to get as far away, as fast as she could, she headed into the woods
and ran.

“E
xcuse me, Your Highness, Major,” Symms said, stepping inside the library, “but there
is something I believe you ought to hear.”

Daniel turned from where he stood with Lyndhurst. For the past hour, the two of them
had been poring over maps of the area, discussing yet again the likeliest places where
Mercedes’s abductors might have taken her.

Glancing over, he noticed a kitchen maid hovering just behind the butler, a worried
expression on her rounded features. They had questioned her, of course, beginning
for a second time that morning. If Daniel remembered correctly, her name was Maggie.

“Yes? What is it?” Lyndhurst asked, clearly also taking note of the girl.

The butler gave her an encouraging nod. “Just tell them what you told me. You want
to help Princess Mercedes, don’t you?”

She nodded, her eyes glazed with nervous fear. “I didn’t remember it at first or I
would have told you sooner.”

“Told us what?” Lyndhurst said in a soothing tone. “You’ve no need to worry. We are
all friends here.”

She took a steadying breath. “Yes, my lord…I mean, Your Highness. I was afraid ye’d
be angry at me for not remembering sooner and that I might lose me place.”

“Your position here is safe. Please go on.”

“Well,” the girl said, after gulping another breath. “He asked me some questions,
he did, that Mr. Lang.”

Instantly, Daniel and Lyndhurst were riveted.

“We was just talking, like,” she said, “one evening late after the others had gone
to bed. I was still scrubbing one of the stoves when he came down to the kitchen,
said he wanted a cup of milk to help him sleep. While I heated it for him, he began
to ask me about London and how long I’d lived here and if I knew anything about the
area. I told him I’d been born out in the countryside and come ter Town ter make me
way.”

“Get on with it, Maggie,” Symms said. “Get to the point.”

She darted a glance at the butler, then swallowed and nodded. “Aye, the point, right.
Well, the thing of it is, he asked me if I knew any good places around the city that
were wild, somewhere quiet-like without so many people. Said where he’s from that
you can hunt anytime ye walk out yer back door and he missed it. Told me he wanted
to go where he could hunt some game and relax on his day off, but still be able to
get back in time not to be late for his duties.”

Daniel looked sideways at Lyndhurst, then again at the girl, his pulse beating with
sudden excitement. “And where did you suggest?”

“Oh, I told him he should try Epping Forest. There’s deer there and rabbits and lots
of green, empty places.”

He turned to Lyndhurst. “Is that it? Do you think that could be where he’s taken her?”

“It’s very possible. Definitely worth investigating.”

“Show me where it is,” Daniel ordered, turning back to the map.

Lyndhurst moved quickly to comply.

As soon as Daniel had gotten his bearings from the map, he strode toward the door.
“I’m leaving immediately.”

“It’s a fair few miles of territory to search,” Lyndhurst reminded him. “Let me come
with you, and the prince’s men as well. We’ll make a thorough search of it. I’ll tell
the ladies and Mercedes’s father what’s going on; then we can leave.”

“Tell them by all means, but I’ll no’ delay. I doona know why but I can feel there’s
no time to be lost. If I can, I’d like to borrow a carriage. I’m going to take Mercedes’s
dog with me. He might be useful following a trail.”

“Yes, he might at that. Very well, go ahead. We’ll follow after as soon as may be.”

With a nod, Daniel hurried from the room.

Mercedes leaned forward, a painful stitch in her side. She’d been alternately running
and walking for the past two hours, trying to put as much distance between herself
and her makeshift prison as she possibly could. By now, she’d hoped to encounter a
farmer or villager of some sort, anyone who could help her return safely to London.
But she seemed to be deep in a forest of some kind, and the more she walked, the more
convinced she was that she was lost. For all she knew, she was walking in circles.

The idea brought a sob of panic to her lips, but she held back the sound, knowing
she needed to remain as silent as possible. Even worse, she feared that Smeek had
regained consciousness by now and that he was searching for her, together with the
detestable Joseph.

She tried to make herself run again, but she was too exhausted to do more than limp
weakly forward. Her arms itched from the myriad scratches she’d received pushing foliage
aside. Her feet were cramped and aching, her dress torn and sweat dampened.

It was her nightmare all over again, and any minute she feared they would find her.
But she wasn’t giving up this time any more than she had the last. She would find
her way out somehow, even if she had to stay here all night and walk to London in
the morning.