If He's Noble (Wherlocke Book 7) (Paranormal Historical Romance) (5 page)

“Not a bad piece of wisdom for a parent to leave a child with.”

For a while they just drank their tea and ate the sandwiches. Try as she would, Primrose could think of nothing to say to convince him to save his own life and leave her to face her own troubles. She understood why he would not. For him it was far easier to stay and face the danger than to run for his life and leave her to face it alone. That probably tasted of cowardice to him. The newly dubbed Sir Bened Vaughn would never give in to cowardice.

She watched the other couple sharing the parlor get up to leave. They walked by with their arms wrapped around each other’s waists and the man was whispering in the woman’s ear. If the woman’s blushes were any indication, those words were very heated ones.

“Newlyweds,” she said after they were gone.

“Or ones having an affair.”

“Cynical man. Why would you think such a thing?”

“Because I believe her husband has just come looking for her.”

Primrose suddenly became aware of a loud disturbance outside the door. She listened closely and heard a man demanding to know where his wife was, that he had watched her come into the inn to meet her lover. He also went into great detail about what he planned to do to the rogue who had stolen his wife from him. She had to give the angry man credit for being creative even if it was in a bloodthirsty way.

“That is just sad.”

Bened laughed but never took his gaze from the window overlooking the stables. “True more often than not.”

“What are you looking at? Have my aunt’s men come back for you?”

“Nay. I am watching a lover flee the scene of the crime he did not have time to commit.”

She breathed a sigh of relief then frowned. “He did not even stay to try to help her.”

“She has a better chance of soothing her husband than he does.”

If the loud voices she heard were any indication, that soothing was going to take a long time. Then there was the sound of a blow and a scream of pain. She did not even have time to get to her feet before Bened was up and out the door. Off to protect someone else, she thought as she stood up and followed him.

The young woman who had been cooing and flirting with her lover a short time ago now lay on the floor weeping. Bened was holding a big, homely man back by the arms and talking to him in a low, hard voice. Primrose turned her attention to the woman as it appeared no one else cared to interfere. She crouched next to the woman, wincing when she looked up for she was going to have a badly bruised eye soon.

“Does he hit you regularly?” she asked, and watched those bruised eyes narrow in a sly way.

“He beats me all the time, m’lady,” she said in a trembling voice.

“Do not lie to me. He should not have hit you as you are much smaller than he is but do not try to turn this into a lie that will stain his name forever. But you are hardly innocent in all of this. If you did not want him, why did you marry him?”

“He has his own shop.”

That was probably the most honest the woman had been in a long time. “A poor reason to tie your life to a man you obviously do not want.”

“What do you know with your big, handsome gent? Not all of us have such choices.” The woman used her own skirts to wipe the tears of pain from her face. “I had to think of my future.”

Primrose stood up, took the woman by the hand, and helped her to her feet. “Then stop trying to destroy it.”

Once she knew no one had forced the woman to marry her big husband, Primrose lost all sympathy. She still thought the man had not been right to strike someone so much smaller than he, a woman not trained in the ways one can defend oneself or the strength to use them, but it appeared her erring was not even done out of love. She had not even asked after her lover.

It was several moments before the pair were calmed enough to leave. By the looks on the faces of the others at the inn, they had not been surprised by the scene they had witnessed and Primrose sensed sympathy lay with the husband. All she hoped was that the man would not hit the woman again no matter how hurt and angry he was. She headed back into the parlor to get her coat.

“What did the woman have to say?” asked Bened.

“She chose that man because he has a shop but she neither likes nor respects him. Oh, she did not say so, but you can almost feel it. He should not have hit her as she is smaller and weaker, but she chose him and should at least try to care for more than his shop. It is something one sees too often. My father was very firm with the people who live at Willow Hill but even his rules and punishments could not completely put an end to it.” She picked up her coat and turned to smile at Bened. “And what did that big shop owner have to say for himself?”

“Not much but he was ashamed of himself and that is good. Fool loves her.”

“And I think that is probably the saddest part of it all. I must seek my bed. It has been a very long day with too much excitement, I think.”

“There is one thing I meant to say—I think your aunt may already know where your brother is.”

A chill went through her and she stared at him, dreading learning how he had come to that conclusion. “Do you think she has killed him?”

“Nay or she would not still be around to cause us trouble. Yet, I have been careful to leave no easy trail for them to follow but they still find us. I do not believe it is because they are good trackers but because they are close on your brother’s trail, they might even know where he is heading.”

“That would explain why he never lingers in one place for long and the direction he has taken.”

“You have some idea of where he is going?”

“I think he is headed to Uncle George’s, my mother’s brother. He lives but a few miles from your cousin’s castle with his companion of thirty years. Atop a hill surrounded by fields. No one can creep up on him. Simeon would think it a good place to hide. I just worry that he is bringing more trouble than he knows to Uncle George’s door. Then again, our uncle is an old soldier and no weakling. He would be insulted if we thought him too old to protect his sister’s child.” She watched him closely as she added, “His companion Frederick is also an old soldier so neither one is without some skill at defending themselves or someone else.”

“That will make it a lot easier when we end up there then.”

“So, do you want to just head there?”

“I think it might be a good plan.” He lightly brushed his fingers over her cheek. “Go and get some rest. We can decide in the morning.”

She nodded and headed for her bedchamber, asking the maid to lead her to it. The madness her aunt had pulled her into was exhausting her and she thought a lot of that weariness was of the spirit as well as from an unending fear for her brother. Now she had to be afraid for Bened. Her aunt had clearly decided that he was a problem and wished to be rid of him. How could she have missed this evil in the woman for so long?

As she undressed for bed and washed up, she thought back over the years she had known the woman. The hints of Augusta chasing her and Simeon down had been there but Primrose had never thought her aunt would become murderous. She doubted her father had, either. Even when in the midst of a temper, they had never considered her dangerous. Selfish, greedy, vain, and far too aware of her consequence, something the woman thought was greater than it actually was, but never the sort they needed to watch their backs around. They were paying dearly for that blindness now. She just hoped Simeon was not still blind to the danger their aunt had become.

 

 

Lord Simeon Wootten stretched in the bed he shared with Lucy, the inn’s maid. It had been too long since he had enjoyed a woman, or even a night of comfort in a good bed in a warm inn. His body still ached from his time spent with his aunt and her men but not so much that he had been unable to enjoy himself for a little while. He sat up and was pleased to see that his clothing was neatly placed on a chair. He did not wish to show up at Uncle George’s home looking shabby and travel-worn.

A soft rap came at the door and he slipped out of the bed, yanked on his drawers, and went to open it just a little. The stableboy he had paid to watch for anyone asking after him stood there. He sighed, knowing that his moment of peace was about to end.

“Someone has asked after me?”

“Aye, m’lord. Some woman.”

“Did you see her?”

“Nay. She stayed in the carriage and sent her man to speak to me. He was tall, thin, and had silver hair. Big long nose, too.”

“Jenson. Damn.”

“I think he slipped into the stables and had a look around while the old woman talked to me.”

“So they might know I am here.”

“That gelding of yours be easy to spot.”

“True. Ajax is a fine steed.” He fetched a coin from his money purse and handed it to the boy. “Time for me to be leaving, I think. Get Ajax ready and leave him where I showed you.”

The moment the boy was gone, Simeon hurried to dress. He watched Lucy slowly wake up and stretch out her luscious body before smiling at him. It was tempting but he did not think she was worth dying for. He smiled and shook his head, ignoring her pout. If Jenson had seen Ajax and told Aunt Augusta, he could be facing a hard run for his life.

Collecting up his possessions, he paused to kiss Lucy good-bye and then slipped out of the room. He headed for the back stairs, keeping a close watch behind him. Just as he slipped into the shadowed opening of the back stairs he heard someone rap on one of the doors. A careful look around the corner of the wall revealed a man he did not recognize talking to Lucy. Not waiting to see how that went, he hurried down the stairs and slipped out the kitchen door.

Weaving his way through the alleys of the town, he caught sight of his aunt’s carriage and ducked into a dress shop. With a cap hiding his hair, he strolled over to the counter and looked at the ribbons displayed there. There were some red ones he knew his sister would love and bought three. That made the girl behind the counter more than willing to keep his visit a secret if asked. She even showed him how to leave the shop without being seen.

It still took him an hour to get to where the stableboy stood with his horse. He attached his bags to the horse and mounted it before handing the boy another coin. If he had known how many people he was going to have to bribe to keep his passing through a secret, he would have brought a chest of coins.

He turned his horse toward the direction of his uncle’s home and rode off, staying away from the main roads and doing his best to remain out of sight. It worried him that his aunt believed killing him would gain her anything. The only way that would be true was if something had happened to his father. Simeon felt a pang in his chest as he feared that may be the case. He also worried about his sister’s fate.

Primrose did not know just how much Augusta disliked her, never had. His father and he had done their best to shelter her from the worst of it. That might have been a mistake, he thought. It had been, and still was, difficult to resist the urge to ride for home and see just what was happening but he had to remember that he was the last of the Woottens of Willow Hill, the last one to carry on the barony and the name, something his father had considered very important. So, for his father’s sake, he prayed for the safety of his family and fought to stay alive.

“Are you certain?”

“Very certain, miss. I would have noted a gentleman as fine as the one you have described and I saw no one like that.”

Primrose stared at the woman. She was a little plump with shapely curves, just as Simeon always liked women to be. There was little doubt in her mind that this woman had
noted
and was worldly enough to have done a great deal more if the chance had arisen.

“Yet I followed his horse’s trail right to this inn.”

“If he was here, it must have been on the day I do not work.”

The words
you are a liar
were hot on her tongue when Bened grabbed her by the arm and dragged Primrose out to where their horses waited. She did not know who she was most angry with, the lying woman in the shop or Sir Bened.

“She
knows.
She
saw
him,” she protested even as she mounted her horse.

“Yes, she does,” he agreed as he mounted Mercury and started to ride out of the village, pleased that Primrose followed him with no further protest. “She was also not going to tell you a thing.”

“Why? I told her I was his sister, gave her my name, which she clearly recognized, and assured her that I meant him no harm. Simeon would not hide from me.”

“But he is apparently hiding from someone, which I find very interesting.”

“Oh.” She frowned and thought on the failed interrogation of the woman at the inn, as well as what Bened had said just before she had retired last night. “So you were right to think my aunt is actually following Simeon’s trail, not ours. And my brother has become aware of her pursuit.”

Bened nodded as he thought over all the reluctant, even missing, witnesses they had sought out. They would find Simeon’s trail only to end up being told that no one had seen the man, a man whose own sister said was very noticeable. Or they could not locate a person, when everyone insisted they would know about any stranger coming through the village. He hoped they were just hiding and not been silenced.

“I do think he has discovered someone, aside from you, is following him and that person is not looking to keep him safe until he can return to Willow Hill. He is the one trying to hide his own trail.”

“So he must know he is in danger now. That is a relief. Yet, why has he not tried to reach me? If he knows the enemy is on his trail he must also know that I am.”

“He may but who does he trust to give you a message? Much safer to just tell everyone not to let anyone know that he has passed their way. Then they cannot be tricked into revealing anything to the enemy instead of the friend.”

“Silence is golden.”

“Certainly safer.”

“Do you think I now waste our time hunting for him?”

“Oh, nay. He will discover that soon enough and will then try to safely meet with you. We stay on his trail to give him that chance. The fact that he now works to hide his trail tells me that your aunt and her hirelings have gotten too close from time to time. Your brother is in dire need of some ally, someone to watch his back.”

Those words both pleased and frightened her. She had not wanted to stop looking for Simeon so was happy Sir Bened agreed that they should continue. If he had decided she should stop and go home or someplace he decided was safe, they could have come to a parting of the ways. Primrose knew that she could not stop now, she had to find Simeon and, if he already knew he was in danger, she had to stand with him. Although grateful beyond words for Sir Bened’s aid, this was a family matter and when Simeon faced the threat from within their own family, she had to be at his side.

“This has turned out to be a very tangled web you have gotten tangled in,” she said.

“Nay, I am not leaving.”

She scowled at him. “That was not what I said.”

“Aye, it was.”

“Well, then, it is a reasonable thing to contemplate.”

“It might be reasonable if and when we certainly find your brother. I untangle myself now and you return to riding about alone. Not a good plan. The theft of your horse was not the first attempt to stop you from continuing in your search, was it? Just why were you separated from your horse when I found you?”

Primrose silently cursed. She had hoped he would not ask that question. Before it had been because she had not wished to drag him into the mire with her. Now it was because he would just use the information to strengthen his opinion that she could not continue alone, that even if Simeon was sitting right around the corner, it was not safe for her to turn that corner alone.

“Some hunter shot at his game too close to me and it startled Smudge.”

“So she tossed you.”

“I fell, lost my grip when she bucked in alarm.”

Bened gave her a look that silently asked just how gullible she thought he was. “Of course. Tell me, how close was this shot?”

“Not close at all. It hit a tree several feet behind us.”

“Would it, perhaps, have been a tree you had just ridden by?”

“Perhaps he mistook us for game?”

“Strange-looking game. Sounds as if he might need spectacles too. Very strong ones. Or he was a man who had little practice shooting at moving targets or one who even thought you might pause for a moment to admire the tree.” He could not fully suppress a smile when she growled at him.

“If someone was trying to kill me, then why did he leave me lying in the road? I would have been a very easy kill. As it was I had only just roused myself when I heard a carriage coming. I got out of the way then.”

The image of her sprawled in the road while a carriage raced toward her chilled Bened to the bone. “He did not check on you because he believed the carriage would finish the job he had begun. I believe that if you think back, each and every problem you have had in finding Simeon can be attributed to intentional interference.” Her shoulders slumped and he resisted the urge to comfort her. She knew he was right and it was past time she faced the dangerous days ahead of her with a sharp, clear eye.

“She knew what I was about from the beginning. When she did not get blamed for Papa’s death, she probably began to immediately plot the many ways she could get rid of me and Simeon.” Primrose shook her head. “Long years of resentment and envy have twisted her mind. It was always there. That ability to be rid of anything and anyone in her way or which annoyed her, has always been there. It was just never turned against us before.”

“The death of your father made her see the chance to get everything.”

“Which makes it even more plausible that she killed him when he threatened to take away what she had managed to hang on to, all through his generosity. And she would only kill the man who held the purse if she believed she could soon get it all.”

“True and that is truly a shame. He sounds as if he was a good man.”

“He was. He did not much like his own brother and certainly not his wife but he did as he felt honor and family duty demanded and took them in when they were in trouble. That she may have killed him, the one person who actually helped her, only makes her crimes more heinous.” Primrose took a deep breath and let it out slowly, releasing the heavy grief that could still swamp her when thinking of her father. “Is your father still alive?”

“Aye, although whenever we all gather he claims we will be the death of him.” Bened had to smile when he thought of his father complaining about his lively brood. “I tell him it is our mother we should all worry about since he made her bear so many big fellows.”

“No sisters?”

“Only the women my brothers have chosen. Good choices each one. And six nephews. Only one niece.”

“And very spoiled, I suspect, with so many watching out for her.”

He laughed as he thought of little Angharad who, at just five, was already ruling the whole family. One tear fell from her big brown eyes and every male Vaughn within reach groveled to make her smile. “Oh, very spoiled indeed but, fortunately, she shows signs of having a very good heart, so we do worry when she wields her power over all of us.”

He abruptly shut up before he rambled on about his large family anymore. It suddenly occurred to him that he was boasting a little, perhaps even trying to catch her interest with the size and closeness of his family. Considering all she was facing now, he decided it might be just a little cruel to continue.

A movement in the trees on the left side of the road caught his attention and he decided he needed to check it out more closely. “Keep riding and pay no heed to me disappearing for a moment. If anyone notices I am not at your side I want them to think it is but a brief visit to a tree that drew me aside. So stay calm and act as if you do no more than take a ride in the country.”

“You have seen something.” She forced herself not to look around.

“I think so but cannot see it clearly. Could be no more than a stray cow.”

She doubted it, but nodded, and kept on riding, studying the many birds that abruptly flew from one tree to another. Primrose sensed more than saw him leave but kept on riding slowly down the road. To calm herself she told herself that it did not need to be another attack from her aunt’s men. Or even highwaymen. It could just be someone who was merely traveling between farms. She prayed that was what it was and began to worry about what Bened was riding into.

Bened slipped off Mercury’s back, kept his mount’s reins in hand, and crept toward where he had seen the movement as well as the sudden rousing of the birds. That chilly itch on the back of his neck that warned him of an enemy was back. He paused at the top of the rise that bordered the road, hiding himself in the heavy shade of the trees, and watched a man ride quickly along the route to a place where he would be forward of where he and Primrose would ride. Hoping Primrose kept her pace slow as instructed to, Bened followed the man.

The man dismounted and climbed a tree. Bened cursed. That was going to make it difficult to end the threat the man posed. He pulled his rifle from its place on his saddle and loaded it. It would be a difficult shot but he had taken such ones before. It had served him well in Canada when he had been watching out for the Earl of Collinsmoor’s brother. And he could boast of some skill with it. Shooting a man out of a tree was not easy, however, no matter how skilled one was.

Taking aim, he sighed. This was not a part of battle he had ever liked. The only thing that would make it easier this time was that the man was planning to shoot an unarmed woman, to shoot Primrose. This was not a fight for freedom or to take or hold on to land, but a killing driven by one woman’s greed. Bened did not think he would suffer the usual touch of sadness he did after such a shot.

He heard the slow approach of Primrose’s horse and watched through his sights as the man tensed and settled in to make his shot. Anger swelled in Bened. Primrose had done nothing to her aunt, had suffered the woman’s presence in her life because that is what family did. Charity might gall some people but it did not often inspire murder and this is what this was.

The moment the man adjusted his aim and stilled, Bened fired. He watched the man’s body jerk and tumble from the tree to lie still on the ground. Bened waited for that regret he always felt at taking a life and it did not come. He hoped it was because this man had been willing to murder an innocent woman for a few coins and not because he was growing hardened to such killing.

He returned his rifle to its sheath on his horse, mounted Mercury, and rejoined Primrose. It touched him when she reached across the space between him and squeezed his hand. The sound of a shot was enough to tell her what had happened and he was glad she did not ask any more about it.

Primrose felt her heart clench with sorrow and pain. This man had killed for her. A part of her wanted to know how he felt about that but she silenced it. She knew little about men who did battle but she suspected it was not something they easily shrugged aside when that fight caused a death, not even when there was no real choice in the matter. She had caused him to get blood on his hands and she cursed her aunt for driving them to this point.

It was almost an hour before Bened spoke, surprised at how comfortable the long silence had been. “I think we shall have to spend the night outside,” he said.

“Sleep on the ground?”

“Aye. We will never make the next village until after dark and I do not want to ride into a village when there are so many shadows to avoid or peer into.”

“Ah.” She frowned and looked around. “I have never slept outside.”

“Never? Not even when you were a little girl?”

“Never. Why should I have? I had a nice room and a warm bed at Willow Hill. Once my mother passed, we never traveled much or far enough to warrant it. Simeon must have since he went hunting or fishing with Papa.”

“You never went hunting or fishing, either?”

“No. Is that something I should have been doing? Once I heard it required such things as worms impaled on hooks, I had no interest in it. I preferred just going on nice long rides with Papa and, sometimes, Simeon. We never rode long enough to need to sleep out on the ground, either.”

“Not to worry. I have done it many times and in several countries so I can set us up comfortably.”

Primrose frowned and looked around as he led them off the road to a small glen. It was pretty and the ground looked clean. It also looked hard. It was not until he began to spread out the roll of bedding he had been carrying on the back of his horse that she recognized the enforced intimacy of what they were about to do. It was not until he went to her horse and pulled off another roll of bedding that she realized that had somehow appeared since she had left Willow Hill.

“When did I get that?”

“In the last village,” he answered as he spread that bedding out not far from his own. “I became aware of the lack and knew that at some point we might have to camp.”