He wanted them to be found. The man was mad. In among the trees a saddled horse was cropping grass. Von Bremen untied the reins and scooped Jenny up onto the saddle. The horse shied nervously as he vaulted up behind her. He was wiry and strong. One arm encircled her waist as he slapped the reins and kicked the animal. They took off toward the woods.
“You won’t escape.” She tried to pull her gown and petticoat down over her legs.
“I have a plan,” he said in her ear. “I’ve been studying the terrain for just this purpose. One should always be prepared, yes?”
“I think your plan, whatever it is, is doomed to failure, Von Bremen.”
His hand painfully squeezed her waist. “You’d better be careful what you say. I am not nice when I’m angry.”
“What about your sister?” she asked, hoping to distract him.
“Greta will return to Germany, disgusted with me, no doubt.”
“Don’t you intend to join her?”
“I think not. I’m afraid she will be distraught when she discovers her coffers are almost empty. Gambling is such a curse, you know. And the salons in Paris such a lure.” He sighed, his breath stirring her hair. “Pity Greta did not manage to get the duke to the altar. It would ease the pain of losing all her money, and she was most fond of him.”
“You won’t get away with this you know. They’ll hunt you down.”
“I have friends in London. They asked me to join them in their venture. I didn’t wish to then. I am inherently lazy, Miss Harrismith, and I prefer the life in Paris, but now that my pockets are to let, I will meet up with them. They will be only too happy to have my help, especially after I’ve killed the duke for them.”
Jenny wanted to scream at him, but she stayed silent. They were riding fast along a woodland path, heading north. Who were these people in London? She didn’t understand what he was talking about. But somehow she must stop him. “You don’t need me now. You’ll go faster without me.”
“Not quite yet.” He chuckled, squeezing her waist again. “I will deal with Harrow first. The death of a duke will be quite a coup.”
Appalled, Jenny prayed the duke wouldn’t find them. “Castlebridge estate is enormous, it could be days before he rides this way.”
Von Bremen pulled up the horse.
Jenny’s hope that he had decided to put her down, soon faded when he grasped the lace on her collar and tore it away. “Give me your brooch, Miss Harrismith.”
She covered it with her hand. “No!”
He reached around and pulled it roughly from her breast, breaking the loose catch. Then stabbing it into the lace, he tossed it onto the middle of the path.
“You may come to regret that,” she said, her voice rasping in her dry throat. “His Grace will kill you.”
“He won’t know what hit him,” he said, as he nudged the horse into a canter.
They rode on in silence, skirting the gamekeeper’s cottage. Jenny considered yelling for help, but feared Von Bremen would merely shoot Clovis down. On reaching the meadow where the sheep grazed, he continued on past the small hut where Jenny and the children had hidden from him.
When they came to Spender’s Bluff, he reined in. Jumping to the ground, he reached up and pulled Jenny roughly down from the horse.
“Surely we’re not going to climb up there?” she asked, incredulity banishing the fear.
“Not all the way.” He nudged her forward.
Half dragging her, Von Bremen forced her up the slope to a rocky shelf formed by huge boulders, forty feet or so below the cliff top. Above, the bluff towered over them, and beyond birds wheeled about in the sky.
His hand digging into her arm, he pushed Jenny down onto a rock, bruising her thigh. Then he reached into a crevice and withdrew a long shape wrapped in oilcloth. He uncovered a rifle and began to load it.
“You’ve had that gun here all the time?”
“I put it here the day you met me on the path. After I shot at William.”
“And missed. The duke will have no trouble dealing with you.”
Von Bremen backhanded her across the face. “The boy bent over at the precise time I fired. I’m an excellent shot, I assure you.”
