“Hurry!” Evie stepped through and ushered them behind her. She then shut and relocked the door.
“Run now, and don’t look back!”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Brawley was asmall village near to the coast that took them three hours to reach. Three of the longest hours of his life.
They’d ridden hard, and conversed rarely, and the entire time thoughts of Evie had plagued Anthony. Was she all right? Had someone hurt her?
He’d spent his last moments with Evangeline Spencer inflicting pain on her, and he would never forgive himself for that.
She was right; he’d been a coward. For many years, Anthony had kept himself distant from anyone but his family and two friends because he’d never allow anyone to hurt him again.
But she’d been different from the start. Evie had infiltrated his soul, and this deep aching pain inside told Anthony it was love he felt for the woman he’d pushed away. Where he’d endured hell before and survived, to lose her now, he knew he wouldn’t.
It was terrifying to think she was suffering because of him. That she was going through pain like he and his friends had as boys.Was Cavendish responsible?They were staking everything on that being the case, and Anthony prayed they were right.
The Fox and Crown tavern was in the middle of the village. After stabling their horses, they headed there.
“Do not go in there lording about the place. We need to find out what these people know, and to do that, we have to be civil,” Toby said.
“I’ll be civil,” Anthony said, his tone dark.
“And that’s you being civil, is it?” Jamie said.
He grunted something unintelligible.
“Do you love her?” Toby asked.
“What?”
“Do you love Evangeline, Anthony?” Jamie demanded. “Don’t be a coward and answer the question.”
“Yes.” He stopped fighting what he knew. “It has to be that, because it hurts, in here.” He rubbed above his heart.
“Well then, let’s find her,” Jamie said after clearing his throat.
The interior was like most he’d entered. Dark, with the tang of alcohol and body odor in the air, and a steady hum of voices.
They approached the man behind the bar.
“Good day,” he said with a pleasant smile.
“Good day to you. We are after some information if you could help us,” Jamie said.
“Of course.”
“A woman has gone missing, and we are trying to locate her,” Toby said.
The man’s smile fell.
“She is my fiancée,” Anthony added.
The man studied him for several seconds, and Anthony withstood it, instead of grabbing him and shaking the answers he needed from him.
“We’ve had two girls go missing from Brawley, and a further one from the next village.”
“Yes, we heard that. One of those girls, Molly Allsopp, is my housekeeper’s niece,” Jamie said.
