The Lady Is Innocent (The Star Elite Series) (14 page)

Once she was safely in Norfolk
, and the threat from Beaulieu had been removed forever, he would go to her and explain that he had needed to take his fair share of watch with the others and, as a result, that meant that he couldn’t keep as close an eye on her as he needed to. Unfortunately, because she had been the one who had discovered the body in the churchyard; the body that they now believed that Beaulieu had left there, Florrie was at considerably more at risk than anyone else in the house. Pie couldn’t bear the thought of anything happening to her while he wasn’t around to watch over her. She had to go to Norfolk and as quickly as possible.

He studied the haughty distance in her eyes and briefly contemplated telling her everything now, but he didn’t want her to feel panicked or worried that Beaulieu would turn up for her. He would do everything in his power to make sure that didn’t happen, but he was only human and, right now, there were far too many questions than answers. Beaulieu had vanished again, and that was one of the reasons why Pie had come back.

“When y
ou found the body in the churchyard, can you remember seeing anything unusual around the body?”

Florrie
frowned at the grate holding the logs at bay and thought back to that horrible morning. It all seemed like so very long ago now that she struggled to remember anything except the horror and the blood. She shook her head slowly and threw him a look of regret.

“Sorry, I don’t recall anything that I haven’t already told you.”

“Are you certain?”

Florrie
sighed. “Yes, I am certain,” she bit out and pushed to her feet with a sigh. She was struggling with a heart that had been torn to ribbons and he was thinking about murder scenes. If that didn’t tell her what he thought of their intimacies nothing would. She suddenly felt intensely annoyed, with herself as much as him.

“
Florrie, I need you to think carefully.”

“What about?”

“The body? Was there anything unusual about it?”

“What, you mean besides the fact that he had been brutally stabbed?”
Florrie snapped sarcastically.

Pie stared hard at her. “Think,
Florrie. Did you see anyone?”

“The dead man.”

“Did you hear anything?”

“The birds in the trees and you.”
Florrie sighed and stared.

“Go over that morning, what do you remember.” Pie tried to keep his voice soft but couldn’t keep the ruthless determination out of his tone or gaze. He knew that he was pushing her too hard and didn’t fully understand why he needed her to think about that day. He had no idea what he was asking for and felt as though he was clutching at straws a bit, and being a bit unfair on her.

“I walked up to him and checked to see if he was still alive by placing my hand on his chest.”

“Then what did you do?”

“I stood up.”

“You picked the weapon up.”

Florrie frowned. “I knocked it with my skirt or foot or something, I am not sure.”

Pie remained quiet for several moments and watched
Florrie’s frown turn thoughtful. He felt triumphant satisfaction grow as she turned knowing eyes toward him. “What? What is it that you have remembered?”

“The weapon, the knife, had a strange handle to it. A coat of arms or some sort of emblem that was unusual. It was a wooden handle with some sort of detailed silver scroll work around it. It was very unusual, and a little disturbing.”
Florrie stared at him. “Is it significant?”

“I don’t know but I am going to take a look,” Pie sighed, trying to remember the blade. He hadn’t looked at it closely and wondered if it was with the body or tucked away in the study somewhere. “What else to you remember?”

“Nothing.” Florrie thought over that morning but couldn’t come up with anything else.

“Think,
Florrie, think!”

“I have,”
Florrie snapped. “What more do you want from me?” she snapped, turning to glare at him.

Pie pushed to his feet. A shiver of awareness swept through him at the fire in her eyes. He had started to grow concerned at her almost watchful silence. Now
that his spitting cat was back he was almost relieved to be able to lock horns with her.

“I want you to go through everything that
morning.”

“I have,”
Florrie protested. “I have thought about it over, and over again. I cannot tell you anything else.”

“You need to think,
Florrie,” Pie persisted. He didn’t know why he was badgering her so much. He seriously doubted that she had anything else she could remember about the day when so much had changed, but he felt compelled to keep pushing.

“I do think Pie, far more than you do.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Pie demanded, turning to face her with a frown.

“I mean
, that it’s all you think about, isn’t it? The Star Elite, your work, spies, death and destruction.”

“It’s what I do,
Florrie,” Pie reasoned, his voice dropping dangerously low.

“Don’t I know it,”
Florrie sighed. “Tell me one thing?” She watched Pie dip his head once. “What are you going to do when you have to leave the Star Elite?”

She watched him closely. He stared at her for a moment and pulled a face. “Then I shall find another cause to fight, I don’t doubt. The work of the Star Elite will never end. There are thefts, murders, fraudulent gangs running rife. There are all sorts of things we can
, and undoubtedly will, get involved with. I have been doing this for so long now that I can’t conceive of doing anything else. I am not the home and hearth kind of man,” he admitted ruefully.

Each word he uttered drove the stake just a little bit deeper into her heart. She had the answer to
all of her questions right there. There was no acrimony behind his words, just simple honesty and, while she had willingly accepted his kisses, and more, she couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit of resentment for his willingness to take what she offered while being unprepared to give anything back or even consider a different kind of future.

She felt several kinds of fool f
or taking the risks she had already taken, but wanted just one more night with the man who held her heart in spite of the fact that they had no future together. She was heading to Norfolk tomorrow, and would leave this man who had come to mean so much to her, behind. She would go to Norfolk and never look back but, before then, would make sure that she had warm memories to take with her.

Pie watched as her hands disappeared around her back. He wondered what she had there that required her to contort her arms in such a way and stared as her dress began to loosen.
The realisation dawned that she was undoing the buttons. Regret warred with rampant need. He knew he shouldn’t touch her. They had already taken more than enough risks and it would be some months yet before he would be free to be able to visit her in her new home, but he just wanted to be able to touch her one more time.

His hand trembled as he reached out to touch the petal softness of her shoulder. One finger trailed down the pale skin to capture her hand. He lifted their clasped hands to his lips. With his eyes locked upon hers
, he kissed the back of her hand and repeated the process with her other hand. Once he had both of her hands in his, he drew them both behind her back, pulling her toward him until she was flush against his hardness. He made no attempt to hide his need for her and watched awareness enter her eyes.

Her sultry gaze stared up at him for a moment before her eyes closed
and she tipped her head back. The silken tendrils of her hair brushed their entwined hands. She felt the soft brush of his lips against her neck and sighed as she leaned against him.

Just one more night,
that was all she wanted; needed, and then somehow, she would find the strength to let him go.

She awoke the following morning to find herself alone in the big bed. She curled around the pillow Pie had used and breathed in the scent of him that lingered on the cool sheets. They had made love twice during the night. The last time had been fuelled with a desperation that had made them both gasp for breath and reel from the shock
in the golden afterglow of sensation. Neither of them had spoken. Words were not needed. There was nothing either of them could say. There had been no lies or false promises. Both of them had been completely honest about the futures they had planned for themselves. What they had shared last night had been purely two people, two lovers, who were saying their final goodbyes.

She allowed herself a few moments for her tears
to fall before she angrily swiped them away and climbed out of bed. Today, hopefully, her belongings would arrive from Tabatha’s house. It had already been agreed with Hugo that they would remain on the coach. The horses would be changed while Florrie said her goodbyes to the ladies, and then she would leave. Because everyone from the Star Elite were busy with this Beulieu person, Billy, the new coachman, was going to be fully armed while he drove her all the way to Norfolk, and they would only stop to change horses and take on more refreshments.

With the plans made, all she had to do now was sit and wait.

Her heart lurched at the clopping of hooves on the driveway later that morning. The wild surge of emotions that swept through her at the sight of the carriage moving slowly toward the house left her feeling somewhat bereft. She wished that Pie was there to reassure her that she was doing the right thing, but he had already said his goodbye. She knew before she got downstairs that that he had already left the house.

She was right.

Half an hour later, she swept out of the hallway and climbed aboard the coach. She accepted the basket of provisions Harriett handed her and put on a brave smile while the door was closed and the step raised. She waved goodbye to her new friends with a smile on her face that didn’t meet her eyes and, by the time the carriage reached the end of the driveway, she was crying her heart out.

Pie stood within the shelter of the trees and watched the carriage turn toward the village. He watched carefully until it trundled out of sight and had to struggle with the urge to go after her. Everything within him screamed
at him that he was making a huge mistake in letting her go but he ruthlessly quashed his instincts. Instead, he cast one last, lingering look at the conveyance that was taking her to her new life and turned away.

He had no sooner gone five feet
before gunshot broke the silence. He froze. His gaze flew to the carriage. Horror swept through him. He moved out onto the road leading to the village and instinctively kicked his horse into a gallop. He hadn’t gone far before he caught sight of Billy half-lying slumped over the reins. At first, it didn’t register that the horses weren’t running anywhere, in spite of the gunfire and the loose reins, until Beaulieu appeared from the front of the carriage. The Frenchman roughly yanked Billy off the vehicle, and Beaulieu took his seat. He had no sooner gathered the reins than the horses where whipped into a full gallop.

Pie saw
Florrie’s head appear briefly out of the window. He wanted to shout at her to get out of the carriage, but she was too far away to hear him over the noise of the wheels and the squealing horses. He nudged his mount into a canter, mentally plotting where his colleagues from the Star Elite were hiding in the village. Hopefully, they would see the carriage careering wildly past, but would they realise that it was Beaulieu driving? The Frenchman was wearing a long coachman’s cloak and a dark hat that was invariably pulled low to conceal his face. Pie couldn’t risk that his colleagues wouldn’t be able to identify their quarry. He had no idea where Beaulieu was going, but he wasn’t prepared to allow the man to take Florrie with him.

Pie
chased the conveyance toward the village as fast as he could only to curse his luck fiercely when his exhausted horse began to slow beneath him. The fresh horses attached to the carriage, although pulling the additional weight, were still charging ahead and creating a distance between Pie and the carriage that he couldn’t hope to close. Pie felt a helpless rage sweep through him as he watched the retreating coach. Bitter regret warred with determination and desperation to keep her alive. He swore loudly and kicked his horse ruthlessly on.

Once in the village
, he watched the back of the carriage disappear through the houses and scowled darkly at Simon, who was heading at a gallop toward Melvedere.

“Give me your horse, now,” Pie snarled, all but dragging his boss of the horse. He briefly rapped out wh
at he had seen. “I need your fresh horse. Get the others,” he ordered, spinning the horse around and taking off around the outskirts of the village. He mentally plotted where the carriage could get to in the time he had been with Simon. The speed of the new mount was much more satisfying and, although Pie couldn’t see the carriage any longer, he knew the Frenchman, and Florrie, wouldn’t have been able to get too far ahead.

Now
all he had to do was find them while Florrie was still alive.

Florrie slid the window down and tried to peer outside. The wildly swinging carriage tipped this way and that. She cried out as the carriage turned a corner and threw her heavily into the solid wall of the coach. She had only just righted herself when the carriage turned the other way and she found herself sliding across the seat. They were travelling far too fast than was wise and it would be a miracle if they didn’t crash on the winding country roads.

Her stomach turned with the mixture of the rough carriage ride and the
memory of Billy being thrown off the carriage and landing on the ground beside the door. She had no idea who was at the reins. She could hear him yelling at the horses, relentlessly urging them on but didn’t recognise his voice. Where were the Star Elite? Did they realise that something had gone wrong? She tried to peer out of the window to see if she could see someone, anything, but it was impossible to identify anything except for flashing hedgerow that was passing by at a dangerous speed.

“Pie, where are you?” she gasped, managing to let go of the seat long enough to slide the window down
down. If she jumped out at this speed she knew that she would die. She had to wait until the carriage slowed down a bit, and could only hope that they would pass through a town or something so she could jump out without causing herself significant injury.

Whoever the man was he didn’t know that there was a passenger on board.
She stared blankly at the seat opposite. Or did he? Was the driver of the carriage the same person who had tried to run her over? If so, what did he want with her? Was he one of Tabatha’s creditors? If so, he wasn’t going to get any money off her if she was dead. She wondered if she should shout, but with the screams of the horses and the rattling of the carriage, knew that it would be impossible to be heard. She considered thumping the roof of the carriage but knew that it would be futile, even if she could let go of the seat long enough, this man, whoever he was, would stop at nothing.

Pie hadn’t been around at all that day, and most of the Star Elite had been try
ing to find this Beaulieu person. The chances of any of them realising that something had gone wrong were remote. As far as she could tell, nobody was following them so that meant she was all alone. She gasped at the cruelty of her situation and wondered how much worse things could get.

She had spent her entire life secure in the knowle
dge that she would never marry and that was fine; it had been her decision. However, on the verge of setting out on her new spinsterly life, she had to go and meet the one man who had ever come close to enticing her into matrimony, only for him to be more averse to the thought of marriage than she was. She had finally broken free of Tabatha, to find herself mired in debt she hadn’t run up and, with the help of the Star Elite, had finally freed herself from her embittered and greedy aunt to find herself kidnapped by someone she didn’t know. At least, she thought she didn’t know the man. She wasn’t aware that she had done anything to anyone enough for them to want her dead. Unless it was another case of mistaken identity, and they wrongly thought she was Tabatha.

She briefly considered shouting out of the window that she wasn’t
Tabatha, but then decided it was best not to take the risk. The man had shot Billy, and was undoubtedly not prepared to stop and listen to her just yet. Because she couldn’t rely on Pie coming to the rescue this time, she had to get herself out of this desperate situation somehow.

She glanced out of the window and caught sight of a small group of houses. There was nothing to say that the coachman/kidnapper would slow down; he certainly hadn’t
when they had barrelled through Melvedere, but at least if she jumped out and was seriously injured, there would be people nearby to help her. If she landed in the hedge, the least that could harm her was prickly bushes. She could live with that, if only she was alive.

Although in theory it sounded plausible and a reasonable, if desperate, thing to do, the idea of it filled her with absolute horror. But, the thought of staying inside and waiting for the reckless murdere
r who had kidnapped her was even worse. When he did stop the carriage, was he going to kill her too? She had no idea, but she knew it would be reckless of her to stay and find out.

Glancing out of the door
, she gauged the distance between the ground and the carriage floor. Although the landing would be heavy, she could at least try to aim for the hedge but she had to be quick. The horses wouldn’t be able to carry on running so fast for too much longer. They were already tiring and unable to keep the pace that was being asked of them. The angry cries of the madman at the reins as he urged the beasts on did little to increase the pace, and for that Florrie could only be grateful.

She knew that if she was going to jump then she had to do it now. It was either that
, or wait for the carriage to slow down completely. She stood a better chance of surviving if the kidnapper didn’t realise that she had gone. But then what was she going to do about her belongings? Everything she owned was on the carriage roof. If she left it and it disappeared, she would lose everything except for the clothing on her back.

Still, they were still only belongings. They would do no good to her if she was too dead to use them. Taking a deep breath she fought her way to the door. She knew that she had
to jump in one swift motion so the man up top didn’t realise she had gone.

Her thoughts turned to Pie, and her heart ached for the loss.
She suddenly wished that she had left him a note telling him everything she couldn’t tell him face-to-face. Now though, she wished she was back at Crompton and able to say goodbye to him properly.

She was about to reach for the door when the sound of
more gunshot broke the deafening noise of the carriage. Her cry of horror locked in her throat. Her gaze flew to the flurry of movement outside and she gasped at the sight of Pie riding past at breakneck pace. His horse was running at a flat out gallop and easily keeping up with the heavy conveyance. Another shot made him swerve toward the carriage. She didn’t know if he could see her inside because his eyes were locked firmly on the man who was undoubtedly shooting at him.

“Pie,” she cried when another sound of gunfire broke the air and he disappeared from view.

Had he been hit?

Where was he?

She couldn’t tell. Sickness loomed and she glanced around in desperation. Pressing her face against one window, she tried desperately to catch sight of Pie but could see nothing except hedgerow and a small sliver of road. She threw herself over to the other side window but couldn’t see anything more on that side either. Tears gathered in her eyes and she angrily sniffed them away. Her thoughts turned to the cruel beast who was driving the carriage, and she felt a slow burning tide of fury settle in her stomach.

A scream locked in her throat and she stared up
at the loud banging coming from the roof of the carriage. Her eyes tracked the sound of movement as it crashed over the boxes on the roof heading toward the driver. The carriage began to slow. Within minutes it had stopped completely. She lunged for the door and grabbed a firm hold of the handle when a blonde haired man appeared from the front of the coach. He was heavily garbed in the same cloak the man who had shot Billy had been wearing. This was the gunman turned kidnapper. She held the handle in a fierce grip when he tried to wrench the door open and pulled with all of her might to stop him from opening the door. Her eyes widened at the sight of the gun he held and, when he moved to lift the weapon to point it at her, he suddenly turned and looked to the side. He let go and disappeared.

Florrie’s
heart pounded so loudly that she struggled to hear anything else. She heard more banging on the roof of the carriage. Her craned her neck around in an attempt to catch sight of Pie, or the blonde haired man in the dark cloak, and cursed at her lack of ability to see anything.

She felt sick when a heavy silence settled around her. The carriage jolted a little. After several moments when nothing else happened, she slowly opened the door and peered
cautiously out. There was no sign of either man outside. Where were they? What had happened? She stared around her in confusion and looked at the horses who were still harnessed to the carriage, breathing heavily. She wasn’t sure what she would do if they took off again but, from the look of them, neither wanted to run anywhere. She was faintly reassured that they wouldn’t give her too much of a problem, if only she knew what to do next.