“Well, I think—I could be wrong, see—but I think maybe the woman saw me.” He shrugged as if it mattered little.
Gabriel kept glaring until Vincent grew uncomfortable enough to continue. “I was at that wall, looking over, hanging on, when she stopped walking and looked around the grounds, casual like. Admiring the trees, so to speak, when suddenly she looked right at me. There were branches and such between us, so I could be wrong. She did not stop looking around. She did not cry out, but I had the feeling she saw me there. For a second, it seemed she gazed right into my eyes.”
“And the man?”
“Nah, he was behind her, like I said. She moved on before he came up to her.”
“It may not be so bad if she did see you. I will have to think about that. Is there any othermore?Out with it now, if there is.”
Vincent flushed. “No, Your Grace. I swear that is all the more there is.” He turned to go. “Will you be needing me in the morning, Your Grace?”
“I haven’t decided yet. Be up and ready in case I do.” He had not thought to have Vincent along. Already the footman knew more than was wise, and must have guessed that this mission’s mystery meant someone was up to no good. Still, it might be useful to have him on hand.
He went above, to tell Amanda about Vincent’s “more.”
* * *
The inn at Colton was hardly luxurious, but Amanda did not care. Gabriel took two chambers for them upon their arrival and had a meal sent up to hers.
She and Gabriel ate in silence. The entire journey here had been made without their talking too much. She did not know what occupied his mind, but she could not control the thoughts that plagued hers.
Everything had changed when they’d woken this morning. The end had begun. Even last night it had affected their passion. That had been just as emotional as on the beach, but her heart had grown desperate while she’d held him, grabbing for whatever it could have while it could.
“If Vincent thinks my mother saw him, she probably did,” she finally said. “Fortunately, Mama is clever enough to sense that help is at hand, and keep this to herself.”
He took her hand. “First, we do not know for certain it was your mother. It could have been a friend, a sister, a wife. Then, we do not know she saw Vincent. The lad has a strong imagination and is full of himself what with these unusual duties he has been given.”
She finished her meal before speaking again. “I think we should go there tonight and try to get her out.”
“Even if it is your mother and even if she thinks we are coming, it will not affect how matters unfold. She is confined there. She can hardly choose to take a walk in the garden alone and run off with you.”
His relentless logic irritated her. “We won’t know until wego there.”
“We are not going anywhere until I confirm that this is the man, and the property, to which that dagger is delivered.”
“And how will you do that? Call on him tomorrow and ask if he recently received delivery of a stolen dagger? Present your card, sip some brandy, and have a chat? Ask if he happens to have a woman imprisoned in his house?”
“Something like that.”
Impossible. She could not sit here until tomorrow. “He might have seen Vincent. He could move my mother before we get there. We cannot waste time waiting for that dagger to be placed in his hand.” She began pulling garments out of her valise.
“What are you doing?”
“I am gathering the clothing I will wear this evening.”
He lifted the top item so it unfolded. “A man’s brown shirt.” He lifted the other one. “Pantaloons.”
She grabbed both from him. “I need those.”
He set his hands on his hips. “Why?”
“What if I need to go over a wall? It would be a fine thing if you are trying to help me do that while I am in a long skirt. Or . . . we may have to run fast. Today’s fashions barely permit walking.”
He sighed heavily and vaguely shook his head.
“Or I may have to climb a tree. Or . . . or . . .”
“Go in a window? Or out one?”
