if hes wicked (33 page)

“When we are stil out of sight of your home I wil be able to tel you if your enemies are there. Do not need to see them to know.”

“Damnation, but that must have been helpful out in that wilderness.”

“Very,” said Nigel and a shadow crossed his eyes that told Julian his young brother had seen more of the ugliness of war than he had ever

planned on. “He can get right up behind them before they even know he is there, but he wil know where each and every one of the bastards are. Man

could steal the saddle you are sitting on and you would hardly notice.”

“Not that good,” murmured Bened, and then he looked at Julian. “But I wil know where your enemies are and how many of them they are. That

might help.”

“Let us just hope they are not there and we worry for naught,” said Julian, although he did not believe in his own assurances.

“Aye. But do not forget Chloe. She has the knowing.”

She did, but even she admitted that it did not work every time she would like it to, thought Julian. He just prayed that, if their enemies were going

after Colinsmoor, Chloe’s gift was kind enough to give her a warning.

Chloe woke up with a start and it took her a moment to realize that she had fal en asleep on the settee again. Her heart was pounding and she felt

the bitter taste of fear in her mouth. Slowly sitting up, she tried to recal what her dream had been about and then her eyes widened as the images rushed

back into her mind and the warning chil she was al too familiar with washed over her.

It had al started out so pleasantly. She had seen Julian and a younger man who looked a great deal like him laughing and slapping each other on

the back in that strange way men did. Then everything had begun to grow dark. Shadows crept toward the house. There was blood splashed upon the

outer wal of the stable. A young man slumped on the ground not moving. The shadows kept coming closer.

Chloe could feel her heart pounding with fear but she kept forcing the memory of the dream to the forefront of her mind. The shadows burst into the

house. They were big, and she sensed evil and anger. Knives flashed. Screams echoed in the hal s. There was blood on the wal . One shadow kept

moving toward a smal bed and Chloe realized it was in the nursery.

“Anthony,” she whispered in terror and leapt to her feet.

As she ran to the nursery, she suddenly understood. The house was about to be attacked. There were armed men outside to protect them, but her

dream had shown the shadows right in the house, kil ing and destroying everything they touched, so she could not be sure that the men guarding them

would be enough to save them. Not knowing how much time she had to warn everyone, she banged on the bedchamber doors as she ran past them and

yel ed for everyone to gather in the front hal . By the time she reached the nursery, Dilys had a sleepy Anthony dressed and in her arms.

“Heard your warning, miss,” Dilys said.

“Good girl. Get him to the room in the wine cel ar that Julian showed us. I wil try to get everyone else rounded up and down there.” Chloe took a

moment to kiss Anthony’s forehead and stroke his head.

“Aye, miss,” Dilys said and ran for the stairs while Chloe resumed her search of the house.

“Heavens, child,” said Lady Mildred as she stepped out of her bedchamber, her spectacles stil perched on her nose. “What is al the noise?”

“We al have to get to the room in the wine cel ar,” she said. “Where are your daughters?”

“Here, m’lady,” said Helena, the oldest of Mildred’s three daughters, the two younger ones huddled behind her.

“Down into the hiding room. You remember how to get to it?”

“Yes, m’lady.” Helena grasped her mother by the arm. “Come, Mama, we need to hurry.”

“But I have not heard a sound.”

“You wil soon, Lady Mildred,” said Chloe. “If anyone is down in the front hal , make sure they understand that they must go with you.”

“But do we not have men outside to guard us?”

“Mildred, I think you better do as Chloe asks,” said Lady Evelyn as she stepped out of her room. “Are you sure we in the house are in danger?”

she asked Chloe.

“Aye, m’lady,” she replied. “The shadows came into the house. I went for Anthony first because a shadow was making its way to the nursery.”

“He is safe now?”

“Dilys took him right down there.”

“What the bloody hel do you mean by this talk of shadows?” demanded Mildred.

Chloe almost smiled at the way al three of Mildred’s daughters gasped and stared at their mother in shock. “Perhaps Lady Evelyn can explain. I

have to make sure everyone is headed down to that room.”

Lady Evelyn nodded. “I wil explain it al to you, Mildred, as soon as we get into that room. Chloe?” she cal ed over her shoulder.

“Aye, m’lady?” Chloe answered absently as she peeked into each bedchamber.

“Remember that you might have more than yourself to worry about now.”

“Oh.” Chloe could not stop herself from putting her hand on her bel y. “I wil remember.”

“Good. Then I shal see you soon.”

Chloe marveled at how Lady Evelyn could make an order sound so polite as she watched the women go down the stairs. They paused only to pul

Julian’s two sisters in with them. Chloe hurried back to checking the bedchambers and then rushed down the servants’ stairs. In the kitchen she found two

kitchen maids huddled by the stove and shooed them down to the wine cel ar.

The girls argued that the cook had told them to stay in the kitchen, and just as Chloe was reminding them that she outranked the cook, shouting

and a few shots sounded from outside. Chloe rushed to bar the kitchen door even as she ordered the girls to get into the wine cel ar. This was going to be

a very close cal , she thought as she moved away from the door, and a moment later a shot shattered the glass in the window over the huge sink.

“I do not understand, Evelyn,” said Mildred as they made their way down the stairs, servants in front and behind. “I hear nothing and I saw nothing.

Everything is quiet out there. Why are we al rushing into that smal dark room?”

“Mildred, Chloe, wel , knows things,” Evelyn tried to explain. “Can you not trust me when I say that if she believes we need to get into that little

room, then we real y need to get into that little room.”

“Because Chloe knows things?”

“She has the sight, Mama,” Helena said quietly and her two sisters nodded in agreement.

“The sight? Where did you get that idea?” asked Mildred.

Helena blushed a little. “Because I heard Julian and Lord Sir Leopold speaking of it. The earl believes in it,” she added quickly when she saw the

doubt on her mother’s face.

“There have always been rumors about such things concerning the Wherlockes and the Vaughns. That does not mean it is true.”

At that moment two terrified scul ery maids came running down the stairs, nearly knocking over the Kenwoods. There were muffled shouts of alarm

and then the crash of glass breaking. Lady Evelyn grabbed the arm of one of the scul ery maids and then had to lightly slap her to make her stop

screaming.

“Where is Lady Kenwood?” she demanded.

“She was in the kitchen and told us to be coming down here right quick. Them men is shooting at us, m’lady. They shot right inta the window in the

kitchen.”

Lady Evelyn turned to start back up the stairs only to have Mildred grab her by the arm and hold her back. “I have to go find Chloe.”

“This house is so huge it is easy to get lost, and you mean to search for her while men are shooting into the house? You wil only get yourself shot,”

Mildred said and pul ed Evelyn along with her. “And while we are waiting for her to join us, you can explain this whole thing to me in a far clearer way than just saying Chloe
knows
things.”

“Mildred, I am almost sure that she is with child.”

Mildred stumbled a little but then straightened and kept on walking. “You wil be of no help to her running around up there when you do not even

know where she has gone. She is no tenderly raised child and she obviously has a very useful gift. She wil find a place to hide if she cannot get down

here before whoever those people are break in.” Mildred sighed. “I am sorry if I sound hard.”

“No, practical, and that is what is needed. Searching for her now would be much akin to trying to find the proverbial needle in the haystack. I could

not even cal out for her, as that could bring their attention on me or her. So I wil come along quietly.”

Just as Lady Evelyn stepped into the crowded room and prepared to shut the door, a frantic Dilys pushed her way to the front. “You have to stay

here, Dilys. Where is Anthony?”

“I do not know, m’lady,” she choked out. “He was right with me and I set him on his feet just as people started to push in here and then he was just

gone. I have to find him.”

Mildred pushed a stunned Lady Evelyn farther into the room, blocked Dilys’s attempt to get out, and shut the door. “Now, we shal be calm and try

to think of a sensible way to find that child and Lady Kenwood. Rushing out into the middle of a battle wil just get one or both of you kil ed.”

“Mildred, it is Anthony,” protested Lady Evelyn. “He is out there where there is shooting and men fighting, and—”

“And he is a smal er target than either of you women. He is also a very clever little boy who has the wit to hide.” Several people murmured a hearty

agreement and Mildred fleetingly wondered what that little devil had been up to. “We need a plan. No one is rushing out there to do anything unless they

can give me a plan.”

A lot of people started whispering to each other, but no one immediately stepped forward. Mildred stared at Evelyn’s tear-fil ed eyes and sighed. If

none of these younger and stronger people came up with a plan or an offer to enact a good plan, then she and Evelyn would go together to find Anthony

and Chloe. It would destroy Julian if he lost either of them even if he was being a blind fool and not seeing what was right in front of him. She nodded in response to Evelyn’s pleading look and saw her relax. Mildred just hoped someone came up with a plan, because she real y did not wish to go out there

even though she loved that little boy and was very fond of Chloe. She had also lost her spectacles on the stairs and her vision was not that keen.

Chloe kept crouched low as she made her way toward the stairs down to the wine cel ar. As far as she knew she had managed to herd everyone

downstairs. Now it was time to herd herself down there.

Just as she crawled in front of a linen closet she heard a whimper. Trying very hard to be quiet in case someone was already in the house, Chloe

eased open the door. The wide, tear-drenched eyes of an ash-bucket girl stared back at her. The girl could not be much more than ten or she was very

smal for her age. Chloe realized she needed to meet al the servants and not just those who warranted the stature of being addressed by their last name.

“Do you know who I am?” she asked in a whisper.

The girl wiped her dripping nose on her sleeve and nodded. “You be the new lady, the one what married the earl.”

“Good, then you know you should do as I say. Your name?”

“Brindle.”

“Do you know how to get down to the wine cel ar?”

“Aye, m’lady, but why would I be wanting to go there?”

Obviously someone had neglected to tel the lowest-ranking servants that there was a place they could go to be safe. Chloe made a note to herself

that she would find out why they were not told and then personal y show every one of the lower servants the room. Since most of them were very young

boys or girls, it made her angry that no one was looking out for them.

“Because there is a room there to hide in with a door so heavy and thick even a bul et would not get through. Now, are you alone?”

A dirty little face suddenly appeared over her shoulder. “I be here, too, m’lady.”

“And you are?”

“Drew, the boot boy, Mama,” said a voice by her shoulder that sent shards of icy fear into her heart.

Julian immediately slowed his mount to a halt at one signal from Leo. “I think I heard a shot,” he protested but trusted Leo to know what he was

doing. In truth, the other three men were far more experienced in such matters than he was, and he decided he would be wise to fol ow them no matter

how much higher in social rank he was.

“Aye, m’lord, you did that,” said Bened in a voice that would make one think they were talking about a bird’s cal . “There is fighting up ahead.” He

dismounted. “Be back in but a minute.”

The man disappeared into the shadows of early evening so quickly it startled Julian. “Where is he going?”

“To see what we are up against,” replied Nigel. “He has been trying to teach me how to move like that but I am not sure I wil ever get the trick of it.”

“He is good,” agreed Leo. “I think my cousin Owain might be better, though.”

“How many bloody cousins do you have?” asked Julian.

“I told you—”

“I know—like rabbits.”

Julian suddenly thought of the suspicions he had had about Chloe last night and his heart clenched. It was not only his wife down there but quite

possibly his
pregnant
wife. His mother, his sisters, his cousins, his aunt, and his son, the son he had only just found. He could lose everything that mattered to him. Fear clutched like a vise around his chest.

“Breathe, Julian,” snapped Nigel as he reached over and shook his older brother by the arm. “We wil get them al out safely. They went to the

room in the wine cel ar. I am certain of it. Do you not recal how often Mother made us practice getting to that room from several different ways?”

Before Julian could reply to his brother’s assurances, a sound made Nigel draw his pistol and turn, al the while keeping his mount steady. “Who is