She smiled. “Seems we got a lot of you asking for fresh horses in these early hours this morning.”
“What do you mean?” Hugh asked. “Is there someone else here from London? A beautiful young woman, perhaps, and a copper-haired fellow?”
The woman folded her arms. “Is your name Warsham by chance?”
“Yes, how did you know that?” Hugh asked. “I’m looking for my betrothed. She’s been abducted. Have you seen her here tonight?”
“I might have. But it will cost you. You ain’t the only one looking for her.” She gave him a calculating look.
“What do you mean?” Hugh asked, hope rising in his heart.
The woman shrugged and held out her open palm.
Hugh reached into his pocket and when he pulled out the thick wad of banknotes he carried, the woman’s eyes grew wide. “A hundred pounds, and I’ll take you to her,” she said, her voice tremulous and eager.
“Fine. But where’s the man she came with? I want him as well. He needs to be taken to prison for the crime of abduction.”
“Oh, me and my Jacob ran him and his bleeding hand out of here. He was howling like a babe after she stabbed him.”
Stabbed him? Charlotte stabbed Lucas?His body turned cold. What had Lucas done to her? Had he tried to ravish her? “Stabbed him, did you say?”
“Only through the hand.” The woman snickered. “She pinned him to the table. An’ he screamed like a little girl.”
Lucas almost laughed out loud, envisioning the scene. He was surprised by the admiration he felt for his wife-to-be. Beautiful, clever,andresourceful.
But Charlotte must have been terrified to have resorted to violence. There was no doubt in his mind that Lucas would return to the inn to find her and exact his revenge. He would need to buy the loyalty of the innkeepers to keep Charlotte safe. “I’ll give you a hundred and fifty if you take me to her now and hide us until the horses have been changed.”
The woman’s tiny eyes widened, and her entire face lit up at the mention of such an enormous sum. “Very good, sir,” she said loudly. “I have just the room you are looking for. Follow me.”
“In here.” Theinnkeeper’s wife took out a large set of keys and unlocked the door.
Hugh’s shoulders tensed as he watched her.Why is the door locked from the outside? This woman is a sly one—she’s not to be trusted.
She pushed open the door and stepped inside ahead of Hugh. His heart raced as he stepped into the room and saw Charlotte curled up asleep on the bed.
“Now the money,” the innkeeper’s wife said.
“First, give me that key. I won’t be locked in here like a caged animal.”
She removed the key from the large ring on which it dangled and handed it to him. Hugh inserted the weighty iron key into the lock and pushed the door open. He glanced inside and after seeing Charlotte asleep on the bed, he took the bank notes out of his pocket and gave them to the waiting woman. “There will be another fifty if you give us safe passage when my horses are ready. No one must see us leave.”
“Yes, you can go out the back way. Perhaps, you should wait until nightfall.” She exited the room, and Hugh turned his attention back to Charlotte. She lay curled on her side, cocooned in her dark woolen coat and hugging her carpet bag. Her alabaster skin, red lips, and strawberry-gold hair almost took his breath away. Hugh sat beside her and gently stroked a few stray locks from her cheek. As though sensing his presence, she opened her beautiful green eyes and blinked.
“Hugh!” She sat up and threw her arms around him. “How did you find me?”
“It’s a long story.” He pressed his face to her hair, breathing in her scent and thanking God he’d found her. “Did he hurt you?”
“No, I didn’t give him the chance. But he planned to force me to marry him, and he put his hand on me, saying vile things about forcing me to share his room.”
An inferno blazed in Hugh’s chest. He’d never been one for violence, but he felt he could easily kill Lucas if given the chance. “That swine! No wonder you stabbed him.”
“I was desperate. He touched my thigh, taking liberties…”
Hugh stood up, unable to tolerate it anymore. He breathed heavily, seething from within. “I won’t let him get away with this.”
“He hasn’t,” Charlotte stood. “I gave him what he deserved, and I escaped his clutches. He’s been humiliated by a woman. The men laughed and jeered at him when he screamed like ababe. All that matters now is that we continue our journey to Gretna Greene and get married.”
“But you’ve been through such an ordeal, and your mama will be worried. I should take you home.”
