Alice fled the room, her sobs fading as she took the stairs two at a time.
Mason pushed Kenna toward the table where he picked up the paring knife and pocketed it. “I want you to clean up this mess and do it quickly.” He could feel her resistance and gave her a little shake. “Do it!”
“Why should I? You’re going to kill me. Why should I care if I leave a clean kitchen behind?” She despised the quaver in her voice.
“Because I am not going to kill you, not unless you become completely uncooperative. If I had wanted to kill you I had opportunity some time ago. Have you forgotten the carriage accident?”
“That was you?”
“Do you doubt it? I saw you coming down the path and was afraid you would recognize me. I spurred my mount on but he veered too closely to your carriage. You handled it very well. As I said, I have no plans to kill you. I am going to hold you for ransom and a clean kitchen is necessary to my plans.”
“Rhys will not give you asou.” She finally identified his faint accent as French. His command of English was truly remarkable.
“Clean the kitchen,” Mason said tightly. He eased the knife from her throat.
Kenna took off her apron and used it to wipe off that table. She wrapped the apple peelings in newspaper and threw the bundle in a barrel standing in one corner of the pantry. Next, she washed the few utensils she used, put them away, and then threw out the dishwater. “Satisfied?” she asked scornfully.
“Put the apron away. Sweep the floor.”
Kenna did as she was told. Alice returned to the room with two valises as she was putting the broom in its place.
“Sit down at the table, Kenna. Alice, get some paper, ink, and a pen for Mrs. Canning. She has a letter to compose.”
Alice dropped the valise and fled the room. Kenna sat down, her shoulders slumping as she stared helplessly at her hands. Much too soon Alice returned with the writing implements and under Mason’s direction she placed them on the table in front of Kenna.
“Come here, Alice.” She cast one fearful glance in Kenna’s direction before she stepped in front of Mason. He twisted her around and pulled her hands behind her back, putting his knife between his teeth while he bound her wrists with a length of rope he extracted from his pocket. He took the knife from his mouth, shoving Alice into a chair. “Now write, Mrs. Canning. I want you to compose a suitable missive to your husband, telling him you have reconsidered your position and have decided you cannot live here any longer. Explain that you cannot be satisfied with your husband’s attempts to find your father’s murderer and Dunnelly’s traitor. You have decided to find these things for yourself; therefore, you are leaving him.”
Kenna paled as Mason basically outlined the content of her last argument with Rhys. “How did you know these things?” Alice’s sharp sob gave her the answer. The girl had been listening shamelessly at the door! “Alice! How could you!”
“I heard you scream one night,” Alice defended herself. “I came to see if you were all right. I thought Mr. Canning was beating…but then I realized I was wrong and I listened to you, just to make it right in my own mind. I heard what you said about your father. Then the day of your carriage accident, I was bringing you tea, and I heard you arguing again. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I couldn’t help myself. I was worried for you. Honestly.” Two tears slipped from her eyes. “I didn’t want to tell him. I didn’t! But he had a way of getting me to talk without my even knowing it.”
Kenna quite believed it. Mason Deverell was as handsome as he was unscrupulous and Alice would have been totally vulnerable to his easy, practiced charm.
“Be quiet, Alice. Write the letter, Kenna. Oh, and make some mention that you are taking your personal maid with you.”
A protest came automatically to Kenna’s mind but she hurriedly bit it back. So Mason thought Alice was a lady’s maid, did he? No doubt Alice had thought to elevate her position in the house and told Mason the lie to impress him. Kenna could have kissed the girl then for giving herself airs. It was precisely the thing she needed to write that would make Rhys suspicious. What a lovely irony that Mason had ordered her to do it.
Mason looked over Kenna’s shoulder while she wrote the letter. It took three attempts until he announced he was satisfied. He folded the letter, put it in his pocket before tied Kenna’s wrists as he had Alice’s. Making a quick tour of the house with both women in front of him, Mason made certain Alice had left no incriminating message behind in her own room or Kenna’s. He returned the ink, pen, and paper to the study and left Kenna’s letter on the desktop. Pushing the women toward the kitchen again, he forced them each to carry a valise then directed them out the back door.
Alice glanced at Kenna nervously as they were ordered to enter the closed carriage in the stable. Kenna realized that Alice was looking to her for guidance, expecting her to somehow put everything right again, and Kenna hadn’t the vaguest notion of how that could be accomplished. Mason had planned this abduction with infinite care.
Kenna and Alice followed Mason’s curt instructions and lay down on opposite seats with their backs to one another. Mason tied Kenna’s ankles first then used a short length of rope to lash the ankle and wrist cords together, making it impossible for her to do anything but roll or perhaps move about on her knees. When he had done the same to Alice he gagged them both with rags he found in the stable. Just when Kenna thought he could not do anything more to either of them Mason proved her wrong. After tossing the two valises on the floor of the carriage he disappeared for a few minutes and returned with a bridle. Using his knife to cut away the reins, he tied one of the leather ribbons around Kenna’s neck, one around Alice’s, then attached the ends to the carriage’s door handle.
“In the event either one of you decide to throw yourself from the carriage,” he explained, throwing the damaged bridle on top of the valises. “This is fair warning that you’ll likely break your neck.” He closed the carriage door, slackening the tethers, then harnessed and hitched two mounts. His bound companions rocked helplessly as the carriage jerked once before it started on its journey.
With a great deal of difficulty Kenna managed to turn over so she could see Alice. The other girl struggled to turn also. When they finally faced each other they independently decided the effort was worth it. There was a certain amount of comfort in being able to see each other even though they remained powerless to do anything about their situation.
Kenna estimated an hour had passed when the carriage was brought to a halt. She glanced up at the door, trying not to show her fear as Mason appeared. He shook his head as he noted their rearranged positions. “I can see these tethers were necessary,” he said. He loosened Alice’s leash on the door handle and gave it a rough tug so that Alice was pulled to the floor. Her cry of pain was muffled by the gag. Kenna watched in horror as Mason grasped Alice’s shoulders and hauled her out of the carriage. He did not bother to close the door and Kenna realized a moment later he had left it open on purpose. He wanted her to see what he was doing to Alice.
Kenna’s view of the surrounding landscape was not wide enough for her to get her bearings but she supposed they were on some portion of the banks of the Charles River. She did not have to see more to know the area was deserted. Mason would not have stopped the carriage otherwise. He carried Alice to the edge of the bank, seemingly oblivious to her struggles, then with no sign of hesitation or the briefest of second thoughts, he dumped her unceremoniously into the churning water.
When Mason returned to the carriage a minute later he discovered Kenna had fainted. Shrugging indifferently, he closed the door.
* * *
Rhys tethered his horse outside the stable, thinking he could coerce Kenna into going for a ride before dinner. He walked in the back door, expecting to find her deliciously disheveled. He only had to look at her apron to know what manner of feast she had decided to prepare.
She wore a bit of everything on it by the time dinner was ready.
