Lord Melvedere's Ghost (3 page)

Although
they had lost valuable time travelling at a slower pace while
waiting for her to recuperate, they had still managed to cover some
considerable distance. But neither Jamie nor Jonathan had lost
sight of the fact that they had to stick to the roads because of
the carriage, and couldn’t hope to travel as quickly as they would
have on horseback, even with Jonathan driving. It was quite
conceivable that the guards could have overtaken them or be
following at a close distance.

Jamie
had taken the opportunity a couple of hours ago to sit with
Jonathan and discuss what they were going to do. It had already
been agreed that Applemore was too risky to venture near,
especially with the possibility of a traitor in their midst who was
probably using Applemore as a base to gather information on the
activities of the Star Elite. Instead, they had agreed on the
safest option that was also the most satisfying to Jamie.
Strangely, it hadn’t taken much persuasion to talk Jonathan into
travelling the extra day to the Cumbrian border, and Jamie wondered
if there was another reason why his long-time friend and colleague
was happy to go to Jamie’s family seat; Belvedere Manor.

It was
evident to both of them that they had to ditch the carriage.
Although Jamie was fairly certain that neither Cecily, nor Portia,
had been taught to ride, both of them would be considerably faster,
and far more agile, on horseback than in a lumbering carriage. In
spite of Jonathan’s dextrous skills with the reins, there was only
so fast they could travel without putting their own lives at risk,
and it was incomprehensible that they would consider remaining in
the carriage knowing they were leaving themselves open to attack.
The only other options were to either go on foot, which wasn’t even
considered as it was too far and too dangerous or, travel on
horseback, which posed a problem if Cecily couldn’t ride. Still,
they had no choice. Jamie and Jonathan eventually agreed that they
would take turns riding alongside Cecily until they got to within
half a day’s ride of Cumbria, then they could switch to a carriage
again if the need arose.

Something deep with Jamie baulked at having his future wife
arrive at her home ungraciously on horseback. He wanted her to
arrive in style, as the true future lady of the manor should, but
they were a long way off getting there yet and, at that moment, he
didn’t really care how she got there as long as they were all alive
and well.

Firstly,
he had to convince Cecily to take on more food. Travelling was an
arduous task at the best of times, but on horseback it was
essential that she had plenty of sustenance. He hoped that the
fresh air would ease her travelling malady, if only she didn’t balk
at the idea of riding astride a horse. There was enough food in the
basket in the carriage but they would have to stock up at the next
village while hiring the horses that would take them onward. It
would have to be a quick, rudimentary riding lesson for Cecily and
he could only hope that she was physically strong enough to cope
with what lay ahead. He shared a rueful glance with Jonathan and
reluctantly clambered down from the box seat to return to the
carriage.

“
Cecily, come on, wake up,” Jamie murmured gently. The bones of
her shoulder were hard beneath his fingers and he mentally cursed
her father once more. He made a mental note to instruct the
housekeeper to find out what Cecily liked to eat, and make whatever
she wanted, whenever she wanted it. He hated to wake her, she
looked so peaceful. The much needed sleep had erased some of the
dark smudges beneath her eyes, and restored the colour to her
cheeks somewhat. Still, he was aware that she hadn’t eaten in
several hours and it was imperative to all of them that she takes
on food as quickly as possible.

“
What is it?” Cecily mumbled around a yawn. Her heart lurched
when she lifted her eyes and found Jamie mere inches away. The
intimacy of their situation wasn’t lost on her and she pushed
herself upright, ducking away from his imposing masculinity. She
pushed the wild tangle of her hair out of her eyes with one hand
while she smothered a yawn with the other. “Where are
we?”

“
Coming into a small town,” Jamie replied, watching regretfully
as she scooted along the seat to put distance between them. “We
need to change the horses.”

Cecily
blinked and took a deep breath. She was glad she had slept but now
felt slightly fuzzy around the edges, and struggled to find
anything to say to him. This afternoon had to be one of the most
humiliating of her life but, and she mentally checked, her stomach
had at least settled down somewhat.

“
Tell me, Cecily, do you ride?”

“
What? Horses?” She mentally winced at the stupidity of the
statement.

“
Do you ride anything else?” Jamie retorted and wondered if she
was awake yet. She clearly had no idea of her double entendre and
he mentally swore. She was adorable at the best of times now
though, she was so damned gorgeous that he had to move to the
farthest corner of the carriage in a desperate attempt to keep his
hands to himself.

“
I-I don’t know, I have never tried,” Cecily replied, frowning
across at him. “Do I need to?”

Jamie
nodded slowly. “We are losing too much time travelling by coach. By
sticking to the roads we are at serious risk of attack.” They had
seen neither hide nor hare of anyone for several long miles, but
his warrior instincts were warning him that it wouldn’t last.
Danger was nearby, he could practically smell it.

“
I could try, I suppose,” Cecily replied, wondering how one
went about riding a horse at all, let alone across country. “I
won’t have to jump things on it, will I?”

Jamie
blew out his cheeks and shook his head. “I hope to God you don’t,”
he muttered, glaring out at the small row of houses that appeared
out of the window. The coaching inn they were going to use was on
the near side of the town but, within minutes, Jonathan had
smoothly navigated the nearly empty roads and they pulled into the
yard.

The
carriage hadn’t even stopped before Jamie slammed the door open,
and ordered her to remain where she was. He slammed the carriage
door behind him and turned to study the assembled buildings. The
inn’s ostler moseyed toward them, a beefy sandwich clenched in his
huge fist. A small, thin stable hand ran behind him and immediately
began to unharness the horses.

“
You lookin’ at stayin’?” The ostler asked, glaring at the
horses accusingly.

“
No, we want three of your best horses,” Jamie snapped, drawing
his pouch of gold coins out of his pocket. He smothered a sigh when
the ostler immediately snapped to attention at the sight of the
promised coinage. Jamie lifted hard eyes to the beefy man, his gaze
promising retribution if he failed to carry out instructions.
“Three of your
best
horses, understand?” His voice was cold and hard as he stared
at the ostler’s greedy gaze.

“
Aye. It’ll cost ya though,” the ostler warned with an air of
satisfaction.

“
Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Jamie mused wryly and watched
as the ostler shouted orders to a stable hand, who immediately
scurried off behind the huge hay barn.

The
ostler glanced curiously from Jamie to Jonathan, clearly wanting to
ask a few questions, until Jonathan shifted warningly. He lapsed
into a cautious silence instead.

Jamie
flicked him a gold coin and a glare. “Don’t ask and you won’t
regret knowing,” he warned, shooting the man a hard look that was
met with a hesitant nod. The silent warning had been received and
that was just what Jamie wanted. He turned and shared a look with
Jonathan who was seemingly lighting a pipe while carefully studying
the area. They could have been the only people for miles
around.

“
Is it always this quiet?”

“
Yep, nice and quiet around here,” the ostler warned, “just the
way we like it.”

“
Good,” Jamie replied. “Go and get us some food and ale but
make sure it is in saddle bags.” He flicked the ostler another coin
and watched the man’s eyes bug as he stared down at the gold in his
palm. The man studied Jonathan carefully for a moment before
turning his gaze toward Jamie’s equally bland stare. It was clear
that the big man was positively bristling with questions but
instead, he shrugged and ambled off to get the food having clearly
decided it was not worth the risk of losing further payment to
ignore anything he was told.

No
sooner had the man disappeared inside than Jamie wrenched open the
door and reached into the carriage. He didn’t bother with the
steps, and ignored Cecily’s cry of protest as she was lifted out of
the carriage and dumped unceremoniously on her feet before
him.

Cecily
tipped her head back and glared up at him, her cheeks fiery with
indignation.

Jamie
was glad to see the fire back in her eyes and smiled unrepentantly
at her.

“
Don’t say anything, don’t look around you and don’t answer any
questions, understand?”

Cecily
stared up at him and sighed with deep annoyance. “Why is all the
subterfuge necessary?” She glanced suspiciously around them as
though expecting a three headed dragon to pop up at any moment
before turning her gaze back to Jamie, who was shaking his head
chidingly at her clear refusal to follow orders.

“
Just do as you are told. Don’t attempt to climb into the
saddle, I will lift you up and for God’s sake, when you get up
there, hang on.” He hated not having the opportunity to introduce
her to riding properly, but they didn’t have the time to waste to
see if she was going to take to it. She had to ride for the next
part of the journey whether she liked it or not. It was going to be
hard, tiring and uncomfortable, but there was nothing else for it.
This was a matter of life and death, and she needed to understand
that certain discomforts were going to come with the need to stay
alive.

A small
part of him hated being so callous, but he couldn’t bear the
thought of her being hurt or injured. He had no hesitation in
fighting to the death to protect her and knew that Jonathan would
do the same, but he didn’t need her taking unnecessary risks or
hesitating when following instructions. He had no intention of
losing this particular battle, not when so much was at stake, and
it had nothing to do with the Star Elite, spy smugglers or anyone
else.

Jamie
watched the ostler leave the tavern, three laden saddle bags draped
over his shoulder. The horses arrived from the opposite side of the
yard. Jamie, Jonathan and Cecily stood in contemplative silence for
several moments while the horses were readied.

Cecily
was aware of the curious glances the ostler kept throwing her way,
but a warning look from Jamie was all it took to prevent any
attempt at conversation. The silence was lengthy and had grown
almost uncomfortable by the time the last cinch was tied and the
horses were led toward them. Jonathan jumped down from the carriage
and moved to the huge chestnut, taking hold of reins while Jamie
took her elbow. Cecily’s stomach dropped as she stared at the white
rimmed eyes of the huge beast as she passed its head, and moved to
stand beside its saddle. The beast was so big that she couldn’t see
over its back, and its feet were so massive that they looked like
dinner plates. She jumped when the animal snorted in derision and
bent its neck to stare at her.

Within
seconds Jamie hefted her into the saddle and Jonathan was placing
her fingers around the reins.

“
Don’t do any sudden movements with these. Don’t jerk them
around because they are in his mouth, see? You will hurt him and he
will object,” Jonathan warned, checking her stirrup closest to him
before turning and checking his own horse.

Cecily
sat frozen in place and turned panicked eyes toward Jamie, who
studiously ignored her as he tied a saddle bag into position and
turned to his own horse. She daren’t move. She daren’t speak. The
horse coughed and she was certain she was going to end up on the
hard, cobbled floor. Her fingers were clenched so tightly on the
strips of leather she wasn’t entirely certain that they wouldn’t
break under the pressure. She swallowed and closed her eyes on a
silent prayer as the horse ambled into motion behind Jonathan. She
daren’t look back at Jamie, and couldn’t bring herself to open her
eyes and stare down at the passing ground. She was so high up that
she felt sick again, and she wasn’t usually a sickly
person.

“
You can open your eyes now,” Jamie suggested gently. “It is
going to be very difficult if you can’t see where you are
going.”

Cecily’s
eyes snapped open and she turned to stare at him as he moved
alongside her on the main road out of town. “Jonathan is right,
don’t make any sudden moves on his mouth and you will be fine. Sit
still and let him do the work. Relax a little because he knows what
he is doing. A word of warning though,” his voice dipped gently and
he placed one gloved fingertip beneath her chin to tip her head
upward to face forward. “Don’t look down. If you look down at the
ground as it passes you are likely to fall off. Keep looking
directly ahead because that is the part the horse struggles to see.
Look for any potholes or anything that can trip him up and navigate
around them, like this. See?” Jamie turned his horse this way and
that and watched as Cecily copied him. Nodding in approval he
turned to look at Jonathan who had twisted in his saddle, a look of
silent warning on his face.