His Wicked Wish (36 page)

He threw open the front door and plunged out into the night. The note had alluded to the time being nearly dark. Twilight had been an hour ago.

Driven by fear, he dashed across the street. All the while he scanned the darkened park for any sign of her. Despite the star-studded black sky, it was impossible to see much of anything in the murky gloom beneath the trees. He might have to organize a search party—

Then he saw it. The glitter of broken glass.

Dropping down on his haunches, he spied a lamp lying on the ground, the chimney shattered, the candle extinguished. He recognized it straightaway. That lamp usually sat on Madelyn's bedside table.

Dread knotted his insides. If she'd dropped the lamp, someone must have been lying in wait to grab her. Where was she? He couldn't see her anywhere in the darkness. Had she been abducted?

Taken somewhere to be misused—or even murdered?

A sudden certainty gripped him. He could think of no other logical explanation for someone to have concocted the elaborate scheme of a forged note in order to lure her out here.

But who? Why?

In a fit of anguished fury, Nate sprang to his feet. Only one name stood out in his mind. One man who surely resented her now that she'd been named heiress. Her cousin, Alfred, Lord Dunham.

Where the devil would he have taken her?

*   *   *

Where was she?

Her brain groggy, Maddy opened her eyes and blinked at her dark surroundings. She was seated in a straight-backed chair, her hands tied behind her back. The faint light from an uncurtained window revealed a shadowy bedchamber. She could discern a four-poster bed along with a few other black lumps of furniture. The rug had been rolled up in a corner and a smell of mustiness pervaded the air as if the room had been closed up for a long time.

Memories flooded her mind. The carriage coming straight at her. The masked man jumping out and seizing her. He had pressed a smelly cloth to her face. Then everything had gone dark.

Now, a rhythmic rumbling noise in the distance caught her attention. She cocked her head in puzzlement. It sounded like waves crashing onto rocks. As a child, she had visited the seashore …

Horror seeped into her. Dear God, she was no longer in London. The coast lay many hours distant. Nathan would never find her here.

Her heartbeat raced and her body trembled. She jerked frantically at her bonds to no avail. If only this were a bad dream. If only she could close her eyes and wake up in her bed at Gilmore House …

Maddy took several deep breaths to calm herself. Succumbing to panic wouldn't help matters. She must keep her wits about her and formulate a plan for escape. Surely her captor would show himself soon.

Who was he? Who could have planned such an abduction?

A name pushed its way into her beleaguered mind. Loath to believe it, she considered the matter from all angles. Truly, there could be no other explanation …

Her senses sprang to the alert. Amid the muffled crashing of the waves, the tramp of footsteps approached from out in the corridor. Maddy braced herself, her gaze glued to the dark outline of the door. A strip of faint light appeared on the floor. Then the door swung open and two men stepped into the bedchamber.

The burly stranger in the rear held a lantern that illuminated his coarse, whiskered features and thick eyebrows. The glow also fell upon his leader's flaxen hair and narrow, aristocratic face.

Maddy's insides squeezed. Just as she'd suspected, the villain was her cousin Alfred. And he surely meant her grave harm.

He sauntered forward to stand in front of her. A sly smile of triumph tilted his lips. “My dearest Madelyn. It's good to see you're finally awake.”

The urge to spit in his face boiled up inside her. But that would be foolish. He'd strike back, and with her hands bound, she'd be unable to defend herself. Or her baby. She would have a better chance of escape if she used her acting talent to play the meek, frightened female.

She looked up at him fearfully, her lower lip quivering. “Lord Dunham! I—I don't understand. Why am I tied to this chair? Was it
you
who brought me here?”

“Of course it was me, you fool. You didn't think I'd let you get away with stealing my inheritance, did you?” Reaching inside his coat, he drew out a small pistol and caressed the barrel.

Maddy gasped in true alarm. “Please don't shoot! As I told you before, I don't want the money. I mean that!”

“Stop your sniveling.” Grinning at her distress, he lowered the pistol. “I want you to remember who's in charge here, for you'll live if you cooperate. The boat should arrive soon.”

“Boat?”

“I'm sending you somewhere far away so that you can't ever claim your inheritance. Pidgeon will accompany you.”

The brute with the lantern leered at her.

Alarm surged in Maddy again, though she struggled to keep her expression cowed. Alfred was lying to her. He would never allow her to survive. He'd never risk the chance of her returning. He'd probably instructed Pidgeon to sail far offshore and dump her into the cold black sea.

“Where—where are we?” she asked. “What time is it?”

“It's nearly dawn. We're at a small estate our grandfather owns on the Sussex coast.” Alfred's face twisted in a sneer. “Too bad you'll never inherit it—or any of his many other holdings.”

Maddy struggled to think. Her cousin was chillingly intent on his plot to get rid of her. She couldn't expect help from Nathan, either. Even if he realized she'd been abducted, he couldn't possibly know where to find her. She was utterly on her own.

Then the perfect solution struck her. It might also act as a deterrent to Alfred abusing her in any way. “You needn't threaten me,” she said. “I'll gladly sign over my portion of the inheritance to you.”

“What? Don't be absurd.”

“I assure you, I'm quite sincere. Nathan has given me more than enough funds. Anyway, I don't want blood money from the duke after the terrible way he treated my mother.”

“You can't mean that.”

“I do, indeed. And I would be pleased to sign a legal paper to that effect.” Striving for a look of sincerity, she leaned toward him. “You see, this would work out even better for you. As of now, the inheritance is split three ways. If I disappear, you and Theo will each have a half share again. But if I stay and sign over my portion to you, then you shall receive two-thirds.”

One of Alfred's blond eyebrows arched. His pale blue eyes shifted away from her as if he were weighing all the ramifications. Greed showed plainly in his look of concentration. The inheritance must be a tremendous amount of money, indeed.

He swung his attention back to her. “I know your game. You're planning to tell Rowley that I abducted you. He'll come after me and have the agreement overturned.”

“No! Nathan and I have quarreled. I told him I'm leaving Gilmore House. He probably doesn't even realize that I'm gone.” This time, she didn't have to pretend anguish. Even if Gertie had informed him she was missing, he was likely to assume that Maddy had moved out early.

Alfred shoved the pistol back into his coat. He prowled back and forth, his hands on his hips. “I don't see how this could be legal.”

“Why not?” she countered. “We must return to London posthaste. Surely we can be there by late morning. The moment your solicitor draws up the papers, I
will
sign them, I promise.”

Her cousin stared intently at her another moment. She held his gaze, hoping and praying he would agree to her plan. “All right, then,” he said. “But I'll fetch the papers and bring them here. Pidgeon can watch you during my absence.”

Maddy drew in a searing breath. As she glanced at the guard with the lantern, he smirked at her, his curled-back lips revealing several blackened gaps in his teeth. Dear heavens, she couldn't remain here at the mercy of this cold-blooded brute.

But Alfred was already starting toward the door.

“Wait, please!” she begged. “If you insist upon leaving me here, then pray be so kind as to untie me. My arms are quite numb, and by the time you return, I won't be able to sign anything.”

To her great relief, Alfred jerked his head at Pidgeon, who lumbered over to unbind her. As the ropes fell away, she rubbed her wrists as if they pained her. She slumped in the chair and bowed her head dejectedly, wanting both men to view her as weak and beaten.

The door closed. A key rattled in the lock. Two sets of male footsteps stomped away.

Maddy jumped up from the chair. She had to find a way out. She first tried the door in case the lock hadn't fully engaged. But the latch refused to budge. Whirling around, she darted to the window.

To her frustration, the casement was stuck. She jerked on it numerous times, hitting the latch with the heel of her hand, until finally the window opened to a loud creaking of hinges. She froze, glancing back at the shadowed door. Luckily, no footsteps came running.

Pushing the window all the way open, Maddy leaned out onto the stone ledge. The crashing of the waves sounded much louder now. A chilly wind blew at her face. The moon had risen to scatter a thousand diamonds over the vast blackness of the water.

Looking down, she blinked in dismay.

The house perched on the edge of a cliff. It was a long drop to the water's edge, where the surf collided with a great pile of rocks. The foamy waves hissed and growled like a beast waiting to swallow her.

She was trapped. Escape seemed impossible. Yet what other choice did she have? If she stayed in this bedchamber, Pidgeon might very well come back and force himself on her. She had no guarantee, either, that once she'd signed the agreement, Alfred would let her go.

Maddy forced herself to look down again at the steep slope. She realized her mistake in thinking the house was situated on the very edge. A narrow verge of grass lay two stories below. From it, a hardy tree had grown up to hug the stone wall, its roots sunk into the side of the cliff.

Leaning out, she could easily touch one of the stout branches. She had climbed plenty of trees as a child. She also had clambered like a monkey over stage sets. Surely this should be no different. At least not much.

Maddy quickly prepared herself. She reached beneath her gown to untie her petticoats, kicking them aside. Freed of that bulk, she placed a stool beneath the window and scrambled up onto the ledge.

Her courage nearly failed her as she glanced down at the long drop. Instead, she focused her steely gaze on the tree and stepped to the end of the ledge. Her palms felt damp. A cold breeze nipped at her skin and tugged at her hair, sending loose tendrils blowing around her face.

It was now or never.

Whispering a prayer, she stepped out onto the branch. It swayed beneath her weight and her fingers scrabbled at the bark of an upper branch. Bit by bit, she inched toward the trunk. Luckily, her shoes were soft-soled to prevent slippage. Several times, she had to stop to yank her skirt free from a twig or another protrusion. Finally arriving at the trunk, she felt her way down, branch by branch.

Despite her best efforts, however, she half slid down the last section, her arms hugging the tree. As her toes met the earth, a sense of triumph filled her and she eased her grip. She'd made it!

Abruptly, the sandy soil began to crumble beneath her feet and she grabbed at the trunk again. Her heart thumped wildly. Hearing the waves booming onto the rocks below, she feared to let go. But she couldn't cling forever. Taking a fortifying breath, she edged over to the stone wall and then crept toward the corner of the house.

At last she emerged onto a wider, grassy stretch. Maddy allowed herself a moment to recover. Her cheeks stung from several scrapes and her nerves felt battered. Setting her hand over her belly, she gave thanks to God Almighty that she and her baby had survived the first hurdle.

Now, she just had to find her way back to London.

She mustn't linger, either. The moment Pidgeon discovered her absence, he would mount a search. He looked a rather dull-witted sort, but it wouldn't take a genius to realize she'd escaped out the window.

After readjusting her gown, Maddy hastened along the side of the house. Scrubby bushes impeded her progress and the darkness made it difficult to keep from stumbling on stones or dips in the ground. There must be a lane ahead. She'd follow it to the main road. After that, she'd have to use her wits to convince someone to return her to the city.

Nearing the front of the house, however, she heard something over the roar of the waves. Voices.

She crept forward and peeked around the corner. Two shadowy figures loomed in the darkness a short distance away. Her eyes widened on Alfred's wiry form standing on the graveled drive. He appeared to be giving orders to Pidgeon, who held the team of two horses.

Maddy had imagined her cousin would already be on his way to London. It seemed a lifetime since he'd left the bedchamber. But perhaps no more than fifteen minutes had passed. Since the horses would have been stabled for the night, it must have taken Pidgeon that long to attach the harness and hitch the team.

His dark cloak flaring, Alfred bounded up onto the high seat of the carriage. He grabbed the reins and snapped them. The wheels rattled as the horses went trotting down the drive. Pidgeon clomped back up to the porch and vanished inside the house.

Knowing that the servant might go upstairs and discover her gone, Maddy lost no time in hurrying after Alfred. She kept parallel to the drive while staying out of sight beneath the cover of the trees. The thorny underbrush snagged her skirts. Scarcely able to see her way through the gloom, she stumbled more than once on some invisible obstacle.

The damp sea air made her shiver. Until this moment, fear and determination had kept her warm, but now that she'd made her escape and felt somewhat safe, the full effect of the night chill enveloped her. She crossed her arms, her teeth chattering. She'd cheerfully sign away her inheritance for a thick, warm cloak.