Devon.
Chapter Twenty
“I say we go at once.” She spoke firmly.
“We will wait until the directions arrive.” His tone more than matched her own.
“It is stupid to delay.”
“It is reckless not to wait.”
The argument had been simmering all day. It boiled over when Langford came to her chambers that night and found her packing her trunk.
He reached down, grabbed the garments in the trunk, and threw them down on the divan. “Unless you intend to walk the house naked, you will still need these.”
“She is in Devon. I am sure of it.”
“It is a big county.”
“She is at that man’s property. You have the name. The thread is thick enough now to follow. We can get there in a few days and release her and—”
“And if she is not? Then the letter comes and no one retrieves it. No one can follow the dagger back to her and her captor.”
“No one will need to because I will have already rescued her.” How could he not see the simplicity of her plan? After worrying for months, she wanted to race to Devon and finish this.
“We will wait for the letter.” He spoke with strained forbearance, like she was a child. With finality. The lord had spoken.
She wanted to kick him. She stomped her foot in frustration instead. “You are horrible. You said you would help, and now you want to dawdle when action is needed.” She grabbed the garments off the divan and threw them into her trunk again. “I will do it alone. I don’t need you for such a simple task, and my skills will probably be more useful than you anyway.”
He gripped her arm firmly. “Do not try my patience, Amanda. You will go nowhere without me. I will not have you riding across the country and confronting this man alone.”
“You cannot stop me.”
“I have already stopped you, and will do so again.”
She stuck her face up at his. “Do you really believe I could not have left if I chose to? The lock on your back portal would take two minutes to release. That folly’s roof provides an easy way to go over the wall and I could climb up on it easily. I could have lost Vincent any day we went to check for the letter, and once I ran he would never have seen where I went.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
“Because I did not know where to go,thanks to your interference. Now I do.”
“You still could have left and found another cellar to wait in until the next letter came.”
“Why wait in a cellar when I could wait in luxury?”
He reacted as if she had challenged him with a slap to the face. Jaw tight and eyes blazing, he strode to the door. “You can enjoy the silken bower a few more days, Amanda. You will be held in close confinement here.”
She almost cried from frustration. He was so damned stubborn. She kicked her trunk. The pain to her toe sliced through her fury. She dropped to the divan and checked to see how badly she had hurt herself. Not too badly, although her toe would be sore for a day or so.
Her open trunk gaped at her, displaying a jumble of made-over dresses and simple chemises. Mixed with the other fabrics, a dark patterned silk drew her attention. The shawl.
His expression when he left came back to her. Anger and resolve, but something else in those eyes. Insult. Hurt.
Then why didn’t you?
A good question. A fair one. The true answer had not been the reason she’d thrown at him. Perhaps it had not been the one he’d wanted to hear, either.
She could not be sure that the emotions she experienced when they embraced were shared by him. She sensed at times that they were, but her heart could be lying to her as surely as she had just lied to him.
