“If it rains, I am going to scream,” Amelia growled as she cast a quelling glance skyward. “I’m sure I just felt a drop on my nose.”
Sophie’s attempt at a laugh was more of a snuffle.
“What?” Amelia whispered into her ear.
“You’re worried about getting wet after what we just escaped from?”
Amelia giggled, then clapped a hand over her mouth as it threatened to erupt into hysteria.
They smelled the stables before they saw them. A mix of hay, manure, and animal scents filled the air. Tiptoeing inside, Sophie hoped no one was awake and on guard. The sound of snores coming from one stall told them someone was sleeping nearby.
Placing a finger to her lips, she pointed to a stall, and Amelia went to look inside. Sophie grabbed the bridle hanging on a peg. Hurrying to the stall, she looked inside, too, and found her friend and a large horse. She handed over the bridle.
Minutes later, they were leading the animal out of the stables slowly. The snoring thankfully didn’t stop. Reaching the driveway, Amelia halted.
“Help me up,” she said, sticking out her leg. Sophie did as she asked. “Now your turn.” She held out her hand and stuck out her foot.
Taking her arm out of the sling, Sophie maneuvered herself onto the back of the horse with a lot of pulling from Amelia. She then clamped her arms around her waist.
Walking as quietly as they could down the drive, they reached the bottom. Sophie looked at the sign again, and this time made out one of the words.Barton.Amelia then turned onto the road. Seconds later, they were galloping to freedom.
CHAPTER 46
“Someone has to have seen them.” Stephen’s words were a snarl.
“We’ve passed two villages, and no one has. It’s like they’ve disappeared,” Patrick said.
They’d left the fair an hour after Sophie and Amelia, and during that hour, someone had kidnapped them. The woman he loved had vanished, and he had to find her.
When Patrick had seen the staff member he’d tasked with protecting the carriage Sophie and Amelia were traveling in riding toward him, he’d known fear, especially when he’d noted the blood on his sleeve.
Patrick and Stephen had ridden hard when he’d told them riders had shot at the carriage, and they’d found the Coulter carriage, one unconscious driver, and Robbie, Sophie’s driver, shot in the leg.
Robbie had told them to leave and hurry about it. He could get himself and the unconscious man home, as it was not far to Garland Hall. So they had galloped after the men who had taken Sophie from him.
“It has to be Jack Spode,” Patrick said. “And when I get her back, I’m tracking him down and ending his life.”
“Agreed,” Stephen said.
He’d found love, and now that his happiness was reliant on another, she’d been taken from him. Patrick wanted to roar his rage but knew that he couldn’t help Sophie unless he remained in control.
“Someone has to have seen two women seated before men on horseback,” Stephen said, and Patrick could hear his frustration.
They’d been searching for hours and were no closer to finding them. Every turn they took was a dead end, and every person they questioned had seen nothing. He alternated between burning rage and desperation.
“Stop,” Stephen said suddenly, pulling his horse to a halt.
“What?” Patrick called softly.
“A horse is coming,” Stephen whispered, waving ahead of him into the darkness.
Patrick walked his mount off the path and into the trees to one side, and Stephen did the same. Both sat still and listened.
“Is that singing?”
“Sounds like it.” Patrick turned his head to listen.
“Is that?—”
