The storekeeper’s discussion with the patron continued in a raucous vein.
“I cannot,” Daffin said. “If he is watching you, he’s doing a damn fine job of pretending as if he isn’t.”
Regina bit her lip. How could they tell if the man was the one they were after? “Should I go outside? Perhaps to the next store?”
“I’m not certain that’s a good idea. I have no way of telling Grim that’s our plan. We should go home. That man may follow us.”
Mark was stationed across the street. He’d left much earlier than they had, in a rough-hewn wagon kept on the estate for moving hay. He’d worn the clothing of one of the stable hands so no one would recognize him. He was waiting in the shadows between two buildings across the road at an angle from the bookstore. Regina had glanced outside to try to get a glimpse of him, but she hadn’t seen him, which was probably precisely the way Mark wanted it.
“But what if he doesn’t follow us?” Regina asked. She hated to think of their hard work going to waste.
“We must be patient. We don’t want to risk your safety,” Daffin replied, his voice stern.
Regina nodded. It was disappointing to think of them leaving empty-handed today, but Daffin was the security expert. She needed to listen to him. “Very well, let’s go home.”
The two of them slipped out of the bookstore moments later. Regina turned her head toward the shop windows on her side of the street to continue her ruse of shopping, as Daffin escorted her toward the coach. He kept his hand on the small of her back. She didn’t glance in the man’s direction. Their work would be wasted if he suspected they knew he was watching them.
“Lady Regina!” a man’s voice called from behind them.
Daffin swiveled to see a young man come bounding toward them. Daffin reached for his pistol. “Do you know him?” he asked Regina.
She squinted. “I don’t think so.”
“Lady Regina,” another voice called. Regina turned in the opposite direction to see another man step out of a nearby alley straight into their path. Daffin turned, too.
“Excuse me,” the man said, just as the first man came from behind and tripped Daffin.
Regina whirled to see what had happened. Daffin was lying on his back in a cloud of dust, the two men standing over him with pistols drawn. Two other men had materialized to point pistols at the coachman and footmen. She opened her mouth to scream, but a dirty hand clapped over it from behind. Before she could wrestle away, she was grabbed roughly around the waist, tossed over a fifth man’s shoulder, and bundled off into the coach that had been sitting in front of theirs.
Fear clutched at her insides. Where was Mark? She could only guess he was being held at gunpoint, too. Oh, dear God, what had happened?
She managed to scramble up from the floor of the coach to look out at Daffin, who was still in the dirt, his hands lifted in surrender.
“No!” As the strangled sob left her lips, a crushing blow exploded at the back of her head, and her world went black.
CHAPTER THIRTY
The duke’s coach thundered to a stop in front of the manor house. Daffin jumped from the interior and raced to the front door, Grimaldi closely on his heels. Nicole had obviously been waiting and watching because the door flew open and she and Lady Harriet came running out.
Nicole’s eyes were wide with fear. “Where is Regina?”
When she saw the bloody abrasions on the men’s faces and the state of their ripped, dirty clothing, Nicole crumpled. Grimaldi caught her and scooped her up into his arms, carrying her into the green salon.
The others followed.
Once Nicole was settled on the settee, her face pale, her hands shaking, Lady Harriet ventured, “Regina?” The older woman’s voice was weak, her handkerchief tightly pressed to her lips.
“Please sit,” Daffin said to Lady Harriet.
Her eyes filled with tears, but she lowered herself to the settee. The men quickly recounted the story for them.
“After they took Regina, they ran off,” Daffin said. “Scattered like roaches. There were at least seven of them by our count. Two each with their guns drawn on me, Grim, and the coachman in addition to the one who grabbed Regina.”
Grimaldi’s jaw tightened. “We suspected he was a professional, but we had no idea we were working against more than one man. They took us completely by surprise, outnumbering us.” His nostrils flared. He was beyond enraged.
Tears ran down Nicole’s face. Grimaldi pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to his wife.
“I’m sorry, darling. It was far different from what we thought,” he said. “This was an organized group.”
