“Yes. That is quite clear,” Emory agreed as she helped unload one of the last crates then took her seat on the wagon, took up the reins, and turned the team to drive them back upon the road.
Emory couldn’t help but chuckle to himself when he remembered she had insisted that driving a wagon wasn’t so difficult. And, after seeing her lift the crates as she’d done, he understood why she didn’t believe retrieving belongings for servants would be so difficult on her own.
How much more had she lied to him about? Though, he could understand her not telling him that she actively participated in smuggling, but…she’d been quite self-sufficient with her intentions of retrieving the items for the servants on her own until she’d gone into the lightkeeper’s home and when she emerged, accepted Emory’s help.
It was a subterfuge. She hadn’t needed him at all. Just as she didn’t need him now.
“We need to go,” Kilmuir insisted. “I need to be at the place we agreed to meet so I can retrieve my daughter.”
Liam and Emory pulled back and away from the cliff then followed Kilmuir to his carriage and returned to Laswell where they stopped just at the edge of town. “I’d take you further, but this is where I must wait.”
“The walk isn’t far,” Liam chuckled. “Enjoy meeting your daughter and bring her to me if you have concerns for her health.”
“Thank you,” Kilmuir acknowledged as Liam alighted from the carriage, followed by Emory. However, instead of returning to town, Emory led his brother to the shadows to wait. It wasn’t long before the wagon carrying the men who’d brought the child ashore drew near the carriage. Everyone alighted except Violet, and there was little exchange before she turned the wagon and drove back toward the lighthouse.
She was alone, in the middle of the night, with nobody to protect her. Was her father mad for allowing her to do this? How long had she been conducting herself in this manner?
“Let’s go,” Liam pulled on Emory’s arm.
“No. I’m going back, and I intend to have a word with Lady Violet.” He’d run if he had to, but he’d catch up to her before she began her descent to the beach again.
“Are you certain that is wise?”
“I’m certain that it isn’t.” Though Emory knew he must. He took off at a sprint, chasing her down the dark road like a madman until he was near enough to shout out.
Violet slowed the horses and turned in her seat, then frowned. “Lord Ferrard, what are you doing out at this time of night?”
“I could ask you the same,” he said before bending over and trying to catch his breath. Blast, he hadn’t run like that since he was a child and didn’t recall becoming so winded.
“You need to return to Laswell,” Violet insisted.
“You need a keeper.”
She gasped. “I most certainly do not!”
“I cannot believe that your brother and father allowed you to drive a wagon, this late at night, alone and on a deserted road. Did you even know those men you were driving? Any manner of injury could have happened to you.”
Violet blew out a sigh. “What else did you see?”
Even if she weren’t honest, he was going to be. “I was with Kilmuir tonight and spied on you from the cliffs. He wanted to make certain his daughter arrived safely.”
“She did.”
“I also saw you hauling cargo and whatnot. Do you know how dangerous your activities are?” Emory hadn’t realized how angry he was until he started speaking to her. Actually, he was yelling. While Epworth may be worried about her emotional vulnerability, her family certainly wasn’t worried about the possibility of physical injury. The chances she took made him livid, and he wanted to haul her right off that wagon and deliver her home and lock her up in her room.
Except, that was the one thing she feared would happen when she married.
The thought chilled his blood. With the freedom that Violet had been allotted, he could well understand why she feared being trapped and being denied what she wished after experiencing freedoms that most ladies in her position couldn’t begin to imagine.
“Are you going to inform the authorities?” she asked calmly.
“Of course not. I’d not see you jailed for your activities.”
“Thank you. Besides, it would not be me alone, but many of the Laswell residents.”
“I’ll not say a word,” he promised.
“Thank you.”
