“But—”
“Stop arguing. You won’t like how I win,” he said, and tossed her into the bed.
Not another word. He waited to see if she would roll off the other side of the bed and run back to the door, but she didn’t. She pulled the blanket over her head instead and made some snarling noises underneath it and what sounded like a muffled scream of frustration. Aggressive, stubborn—and a temper. Their mysterious companion really was a delightful surprise.
He donned his pants, slipped on his greatcoat, picked up a second pistol, then went back to the damaged door. Glancing back at the bed, he saw no movement under the blanket, but he still said, “I’ll find out who I should thank for ridding this ax of its wielder. I’ll be back in a moment.”
There had been only the one loud whack, so he wasn’t worried about Charley’s safety, but he still needed to check on the boy. His knock wasn’t answered immediately, and the door was locked, as it should be, so he just knocked harder. Then it was yanked open and a pistol came very close to his face, although Arlo’s hand was trembling.
The servant backed away immediately and pointed the weapon at the floor. “Apologies, my lord!”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I hope you would have used that if necessary.”
“Of course, he is also mine to protect.”
Hewas sitting up in bed wearing a ridiculously luxurious nightshirt. And yawning. Charley had to have been awakened by the disturbance, but Montgomery guessed he was too arrogant to be afraid, confident that his people would protect him. But another glance at that silly nightshirt had him rolling his eyes. So much for the boy trying to blend in as an ordinary fellow.
“You two can get back to sleep. That particular miscreant was after me, not you.”
“Do try to keep these disturbances to a minimum!”
Montgomery just snorted and left the room, but paused long enough to hear the door being locked again. He headed downstairs barefoot and bare-chested under the greatcoat, one pistol still in his hand, another tucked in his pants. The ax wielder had been deposited in front of the innkeeper’s desk. The gash on the man’s head was bleeding a little, but he was still breathing.
The innkeeper cringed when he saw Montgomery. “Profuse apologies, m’lord. My boys have gone to fetch rope and hitch a wagon to take this criminal to the magistrate.”
“Did he ask for me?”
“Not by name. He said he had something for the lord staying here, so I told him which room you are in since you’re the only guest who resembles a lord. Utterly my mistake, but we’re not used to having noblemen under our roof.”
“What he had for me was the ax. He’s a bloody maniac. Make sure your boys tell the magistrate that.”
The only other person in the common room was a big fellow sitting at one of the tables with a tall mug of ale before him. Montgomery caught his eye and nodded toward the body. “Did you do that?”
He didn’t really expect an answer. The man could have been involved in the attack and was just sitting there trying to figure out how to get his friend out of there.
Yet he got an “Aye.”
Montgomery approached him but gripped his weapon a little tighter when what he’d thought was just a shadow on the man’s back appeared to be an ax blade. And the big fellow had a distinctly unfriendly demeanor, was actually glowering at him.
Cautiously, he said, “I’m not sure whether to thank you or ask if you arrived with the man who attacked my door. You do appear to be carrying the same weapon.”
“The ax is an easy weapon, doesna need tae be reloaded and causes a guid fright.”
The man’s size alone would cause a good fright. Chanders’s London thugs had been big brutes, but this chap far surpassed them in size.
But before Montgomery’s suspicions got out of hand, the big fellow yelled at the man behind the desk, “Innkeep, who was it brought the miscreant tae ye?”
“You did!”
Montgomery smiled at that point. “Well, I’m glad you were disturbed sooner than I and put an end to the noise for me. Much appreciated. I didn’t relish sleeping with blood spilled in my room.
“I’m going to check the stable.” He nodded to the big Scotsman and headed to the front door, grabbing one of the lanterns.
“Ye expect more?”
Montgomery paused to admit, “Merely a precaution. I want to assure m’self there are no other suspicious chaps lurking about.”
He didn’t think there would be or they would have come upstairs en masse to take his head off, but his duty to his ward demanded he make sure. Chanders certainly was determined to avenge himself. No doubt he’d had the Townsend family home in London watched when Montgomery didn’t return to his flat. The watcher could have seen him leave in the coach with Charley and followed the coach as it left London on the northwest road. Even if the man had kept his distance, all he’d needed to do was check all the inns on that road until he found him.
