“Oh my,” said Mrs.Rains with genuine awe.“We don’t normally have guests of such quality.We’re too out of the way, see?Well, you make yourselves comfortable, my ladies...”She waddled off, closing the door carefully behind her.
“What a strange inn,” Lily remarked.“It looks as if it’s on its last legs.”She sank down on the bed.“As am I.”
A small, slightly grubby girl brought a jug of warm washing water, which she left on top of the chest before effacing herself.Both women almost pounced on the water and were still drying their hands when Mrs.Rains appeared with a laden tray.
Their meal smelled surprisingly good, and it came with a jug of rather excellent wine.
“They’re certainly used to catering to someone’s expensive tastes,” Tabitha remarked, setting down her glass.She began to suspect the origins of those lights they had followed.
While Lily consumed the cold apple pie and cream that followed the stew, Tabitha went to the window and slipped behind the heavy curtains to peer outside.However, the view was from the back of the house, looking away from the sea.To her far left, a faint glow seemed to imply that James had been given a berth at the back too, but above the stable block.She knew he would not have retired if his horses had not been well enough cared for, so she did not need to worry about them either.
On the other hand, she saw no familiar pattern of bobbing lights, so whoever they belonged to, they had not passed the Headless Horseman.She wondered if they were still advancing.On sudden impulse, she turned and took one of the spare candles she always carried when she travelled and lit it from one of the wall sconces.
“I’m just going to explore and walk off this dinner,” she said casually.“Will you stay awake long enough to finish the pie?”
“Maybe not,” Lily said with a sleepy smile.Her unease about the inn seemed to have been overcome by food or exhaustion or both.“Just be careful, Tabbie—it seems an odd sort of a place to me.”
And to Tabitha.Wrapping herself in a shawl against the drafts, she took a candle and left the room.She walked along the passage to where she had seen the half-glass door and the outside staircase.Although the door was locked, the key had been left inserted, so she turned it carefully to avoid any loud clicks, then slipped outside onto the stone landing.
The stairs were at the side of the house, and she peered out into the darkness toward the front.Her heart thudded once with excitement, for there were the moving lights, very close now.
She flitted silently down the stairs, abandoned her candle on the bottom step, and moved through the darkness at the base of the building toward the main yard.She had just crept as far as the corner when her skin prickled.
Someone was just around that corner.She could sense their breath, their heat.Considering her suspicions of the house and the approaching lights, she really did not want to fall over any lookouts and betray that she was spying.She eased carefully back, listening to the slow, gentle thud of hooves on soft ground.
Inevitably, curiosity got the better of her.Sensing that the other presence had moved away, she crept forward again, craning her neck, and watched as an array of men with lanterns and ponies ambled through the arch and into the yard.Tabitha almost crowed with triumph, for the ponies were all burdened with casks and baskets of bottles.The lights they had been following belonged to smugglers, moving from their landing beach to this inn where, presumably, the contraband was stored before being distributed.She could not imagine the Headless Horseman got enough trade to justify so much brandy and wine and whatever else the poor ponies carried.A few darkly-dressed men led the ponies.Another more dignified fellow walked in their midst beside a gangly boy.
Something moved too close to her, treading on her toe, and abruptly she was thrust back against the wall, both hands gripped captive above her head and a gloved hand hard across her mouth.
Terrified, she was held too strongly to struggle, though she kicked instinctively at her attacker’s shins.She heard his breath hiss, but he only moved closer, restricting the rest of her body with his own.She stared up into her attacker’s face, waiting with angry helplessness for the blow of fist or knife.
Her brows flew up.The rest of her suddenly sagged.For enough light now spilled around from the yard for her to recognize the features of Jack De’Ath.
The gentle eyes that had disturbed her dreams were unexpectedly hard.And then they changed to warm astonishment.At the same time, his teeth gleamed, and his hand fell away from her face.He bent his head and covered her mouth with his.
***
LILY, HAVING GUILTILYconsumed both portions of apple pie, felt slightly sick and stood up to walk it off.She looked forward to bed, but the inn made her so uneasy that she didn’t want to retire before Tabitha returned and locked their chamber door.What took her so long?Was there really so much of the inn to explore?
Well, it did seem to be an odd place, big and rambling with no guests, extremely plain food, and wine worthy of her father’s table.No doubt the last was smuggled, a crime that most people she knew seemed to regard with indulgence—decent bottles being of greater importance than either the King’s revenue or the ongoing war with France.
Eventually, after a few circuits of the room, she decided to go in search of Tabitha and find out what was so wretchedly interesting that it had to keep them from their soft feather beds.Copying her stepmother, she threw a shawl about her shoulders, lit one of the spare candles, and opened the bedchamber door.
She gasped and almost shut it again, for outside the door on the right, only a few yards down the passage, stood a man looking directly at her.
For a moment, they both seemed to be paralyzed.The candle he grasped lent his face an oddly sinister tone, until he said, “I beg your pardon, ma’am.I did not mean to startle you.”
She smiled with relief, for his speech alone proved he was a gentleman.And now that she could think again, she realized he was young and in military uniform, with a shock of fair hair and a most pleasing countenance—not quite handsome perhaps, but very agreeable.
He bowed.“Allow me to introduce myself?Lieutenant Nathaniel Meade, at your service.”
She curtseyed.“Lily Lisle.”
“What a pretty name.”
“Do you think so?My cousin says it makes me sound like a flower girl in Covent Garden.”
He laughed.“Hardly!Are you looking for Mrs.Rains?May I escort you?”
