“Sit,” he commanded.
Langdon was pushed on the barrel next to her by Jocko. She was grateful for his nearness as she tried to fight the tremors that racked her body. If she could come up with a plan, she might be able to save both of them. Idle was kidnapping them for a reason. If she had the upper hand, she might bargain her way out of this mess.
“What do you want, Idle?” Langdon asked.
“What do I want?” He tapped his finger to his chin and paced back and forth. The greatcoat flapped around his Hessian boots, the leather polished to a high shine. The quality of the clothing was topnotch. Either he was paid well for his services, or he stole what he needed to obtain his elevated status. “I want you dead, of course. Dead men tell no tales.”
“If you wanted us dead, you could have killed us already.” Langdon stared down Idle. A growth of beard shadowed his cheeks, and his hair was disheveled. He was a far cry from the polished man she’d first met, but he was no less cunning. He was facing the threat head on and she would follow his lead. “You want something else otherwise you wouldn’t have brought us down here,” Langdon said.
“If you had listened to Stanton to begin with, your life wouldn’t be in peril, but you had to play the hero and defy his request—the one I insisted he issue—to stay out of the Randell affair.”
“Does Stanton know you are here?” It was imperative she discover if Stanton was part of the kidnapping. From what he inferred, he was the third smuggler. The dangerous one. Her heart sunk and she fought a wave of nervous laughter.
“Of course he does. This was his plan all along,” Idle approached, a wolfish gleam in his eyes. He leered at Elizabeth. He trailed one gloved finger along her chin. She turned her head away, revolted by the lust that sparked his eyes. “Or so I will tell everyone.”
“Liar.” Langdon struggled with his bindings, his shoulder bumping hers in his effort to escape his bonds. “Don’t touch her.”
“You’re hardly able to dictate anything at this moment. Mrs. Adare—or should I say Mr. Zander—and I will exchange many intimacies before she succumbs to her fate.”
Her stomach dropped at the revelation and she snapped her head up. She studied Langdon’s face and read the confusion in his gaze, followed by recognition. Betrayal shined through before he shuttered his expression.
Unable to hold his gaze, she glanced about the cavern as a movement in the corner caught her eye. A fourth man had slipped into the cavern. Denial was the single tool in her arsenal at this juncture and she would use it to her advantage. “I don’t know what you speak of. Who is Mr. Zander?”
“You know very well who Zander is, Mrs. Adare.” The man in the shadows spoke. Once in the light, she sucked in a sharp breath. Bradley, her father’s servant, stepped closer. The brass buttons of his livery reflected the firelight. “You have been stealing money from your father and investing it under the name of the late Mr. Zander for the past three years.”
“This isn’t about the smuggled goods,” Langdon said under his breath.
“No, the profits from this endeavor are a pittance compared to Zander’s wealth. I want the money, Mrs. Adare, and you will give it to me.” Idle sank his fingers into the thickness of her hair and wrenched her head back, his mouth inches from hers. “Or I will kill your lover.”
“You already plan on killing him and me,” she said, her throat tight. Hooded eyes held her gaze, evil shining through. She never liked him and now she knew why. “Do your worst. You can prove nothing.”
“But Bradley can.” He pressed a wet kiss to her mouth and lifted his head, the lust more pronounced. “You committed a very egregious crime, Mrs. Adare. Fraud, theft—from your own father, tsk, tsk. If the proper authorities found out, you would be jailed. Because of your criminal past, I will let you live.”
“You mean you will blackmail me into silence after you kill Langdon.” Life without Langdon would be a worse fate than death. She had to save his life, even at the expense of her own. The odds were stacked against them, but she had to turn them into her favor.
“A crude way of putting it, but yes.” He shrugged and dropped his hand from her person. Relief shot through her and the churning in her stomach lessened. She yearned to wash her mouth and scrub every trace of him off her lips. He pulled a piece of parchment from his inner pocket and held it out.
Elizabeth lifted a questioning brow and made no move to take it. She wasn’t going to be ordered about. If he wished her harm, he would have hurt her by now. Of course, his crude attempt at seduction added to her determination to flout his dictate. “What is it?”
Idle narrowed his eyes at her bid for dominance. “It is the key to saving your life. Now read it.”
“Fine.” She skimmed the words, taking in the details. Having drawn up several contracts on behalf of the Zander Trading Company, she had a difficult time finding fault with the wording. Worrying her bottom lip, she despaired of discovering a loophole until she reached the end of the document.I, the undersigned...“It appears as if you thought this out with detail, however, even if I wished to sign over the money, it is not that straightforward.”
“There you are wrong, Mrs. Adare.” Idle ruined his statement by sharing a lengthy stare with Bradley. The servant’s rigid stance spoke of agitation, and he rocked back and forth on his heels. The two men were in this together with Randell. All signs pointed to him, and her instincts rarely steered her wrong.
Willing her hands to remain steady, she fiddled with the edge of the parchment. If she could delay, she and Langdon could escape through the tunnel leading up to the hut. “Removing the money from the trust would require approval from the head of the board of directors. My uncle, to be exact.”
He lifted his hand and loomed over her, rage in his glare. “You are lying again. I don’t like liars, Mrs. Adare.”
“I am not lying. I am telling the truth.” She would follow Langdon’s lead and cast doubt on his plans by speaking the quiet part out loud. “I could simply sign the document, leave, and let you kill Langdon. Once his body was found, I could tell the entire world what you did. Yes, I might land in jail, but it is a small price to pay for a man’s life.”
“You really are an annoying chit.” Idle cupped the back of his neck, resuming his earlier pacing. “You are determined to make me kill you.”
“Believe me, that is the furthest thing from my mind.” She bristled at the insult but remained resolute. What she said next would determine her future. She chanced a glance at Langdon, willing him to forgive her. “There is one solution.”
He met her stare with a closed off one of his own. She didn’t need to read his expression to know his thoughts about what Idle revealed. He had told her about Maria and how she tricked him. Although the situations were different, they were similar in one regard; both she and Maria had lied to him. Elizabeth had done so to protect all of those involved in the scheme, and if she had to do it all over again, she would choose the same path. Even at the expense of her own happiness.
“Go on.” Idle rocked back on his heels.
