“This will be your chamber for the duration of your visit. If you will excuse me, I have a missive to send. We shall see, my lady, if the duke has any honor after all.” With that, he backed out of the room, closed it, and from the clanking sounds of metal, turned some sort of heavy lock. Lilly waited for his footsteps to recede before pulling the ropes off her hands and freeing herself.
Unexpected pain shot through her arms.
She’d not considered that having them in such an unnatural position would cause her muscles to cramp. Massaging her hands and wrists, she set her blood to circulating once again. She then stretched and twisted to relieve the kinks she had developed over the long, uncomfortable drive.
Feeling somewhat better, she went to the door and testedthe knob. It was locked, as she had suspected. Next, she tiptoed over to the window, quietly managed to push it upwards, and looked down.
A considerable distance stretched between the window and the ground, but a branch from a nearby tree beckoned, just within reach. In a pinch, she thought she could reach it and climb down the tree to safety. She chuckled. If this wasn’t a pinch, she didn’t know quite what was.
But it would be near impossible in her gown.
She pulled her head back into the room. The earl had left the lantern, and she used it to illuminate the shelves inside the large wardrobe. Just what she needed!
She’d located a pair of men’s breeches and a large shirt. Knowing she would never make it down the tree in her skirts and corset, with somewhat of a struggle, she managed to undress herself and slip into the less cumbersome clothes. The pants hung loosely, so she tied the waist with the rope that had bound her hands and rolled the bottom of the legs up. Grabbing a sharp letter knife from the top of the desk, she tucked it into her waistband and then went back to the window.
This aspect of her escape was going to require more than a little courage.
Setting the lantern down on a small table by the window, she tentatively slid her bum onto the ledge and then reached one foot through the window so she straddled it. Clutching the building between her thighs, she reached her arms out as far as they could go.
The branch was just out of reach.
Damn, damn, and double damn!
She leaned back inside but stilled at the grinding of the lock on the heavy door once again. Triple damn!
She didn’t have a choice.
No longer tentative, she pulled both feet up to the base of the window and crouched on the sill.
One, two, three!
Using all of her strength and sending up a quick prayer, she launched herself toward the branch awkwardly. As her feet pushed away from the sill, one of them inadvertently caught the edge of the lantern and knocked it off the table. As she grasped at the branch, she was vaguely aware of the sound of shattering glass.
But she had made it to the tree.
Grasping the branch for dear life, she reached around with her feet until she could steady herself on a few of the lower branches. She’d done it. As she analyzed where she ought to climb next, a few crackling pops sounded from the window and an odd sensation warmed her back.
She looked over her shoulder in dawning horror.
Flames climbed the counterpane of the bed and had spread across the floor. The fuel from the lantern must have saturated the carpet! Even the leaves and the trunk were now illuminated by the golden light flickering through the window.
She’d set the manor on fire!
In the next instant, the earl lurched into the room. Indecision contorted his features. Should he stop Lilly or attempt to douse the blaze?
Not waiting for his decision, Lilly swung herself around the branch and pulled herself closer to the trunk. Once there, she slipped and clawed her way down. She was terrified if she took too much time, she’d find the earl waiting at the bottom. After what seemed like forever, she finally deemed herself close enough to the ground to jump. Letting go of the rough bark, she pushed herself away from the trunk and once again launched herself into the unknown.
The ground was hard, but she rolled as she landed. As she caught her breath, her gaze was pulled back to the window.
Flames greedily reached toward the branches of the treewhere she had just been. Screaming, tortured wails sounded from the open window. He was still upstairs in the bedroom.
Was he trapped in the inferno?
If the earl stayed in that room any longer, he would likely not make it out alive.
Surely he would come after her any moment.
She jumped to her feet and took off for the stables. There did not seem to be any household servants about, and the stable employees ignored her to gawk at the fire.
