“There’s a river?” That complicated matters, and not in a good way.
She nodded gravely. “Not a big one, but its lively enough to be of concern.”
With his own panic rising now that the sun was setting, Harry tried to think. “If he’s got himself lost, we need to find him before it gets dark.” Out here, in the middle of nowhere, they both knew it would be like searching for a needle in a haystack. “I dread to think how he’ll cope out in the wilderness alone all night.”
“I am sure the wretch will cope far better than those who have to hunt for him will.” Miss Rowe was justifiably angry. “As he apparently camps out overnight at home all the time with his dog.”
“He does?” That was news to Harry.
“He can even light a fire, or so he claims. So as long as he hasn’t hurt himself and has the common sense to stay where he is and await rescue, Norbert will look after the rest. That dog would give his life for your troublesome nephew. Felix saved his, after all.”
“He did?” There seemed to be huge swaths of his nephew’s recent life that Harry had somehow missed because he had been too busy with work to notice, and that added another layer of guilt to the heavy pack on his shoulder. “How?”
“Young Master Felix apparently found that scabrous bag of fleas half-starved and washed up on the beach like a drowned rat a couple of months ago.” Even Simpkins, who had no particular fondness for either the children or their dog, seemed to know more about Harry’s kith and kin than he now did, and that brought him up short. Theymight all be as mad as hatters and as irritating as an itchy rash, but his family were everything to him. Or had been before the Admiralty had clearly taken over his life. Suddenly, he simultaneously resented and felt ashamed at that intrusion. It also went straight to the top of his list of problems to fix. “So close to death that he had to find a couple of fishermen to help carry the wretched beast home, where he hand-fed him and nursed him back to health.” His trusty right-hand slapped him on the back in manly reassurance. “Georgie is right.” Oh, she was Georgie to him, now was she? And how pathetic was Harry for being jealous at that too? “Norbert won’t let anything bad happen to Felix. I daresay if something had, he’d have come right back here to fetch us. That dog might well be a crazed menace, but he’s got a compass inside his head that would rival any sailor’s.”
When Georgie and Harry simultaneously turned to him, quizzical, to explain how he knew that bizarre tidbit, he shrugged. “I’ll admit I might have tried to lose him in Hyde Park during one particularly trying walk and the bugger still beat me home.”
“Well, that’s something.” Not much, but enough to give Harry hope that all was not lost. “Even if it means we are putting all our trust in blasted Norbert.”
Rather than run around like headless chickens after a second search in the larger woods again proved fruitless, Harry organized a proper search party as soon as they regrouped at the inn.
Thankfully, as the London-to-Exeter post had overnighted here too, there were a couple of extra men to add to the motley group who gathered in the stable yard with lanterns. After a short and heated battle, which Harry lost, Miss Rowe refused to wait at the inn and insisted on joining the search. As the only woman, and as he was—ironically—the only man he trusted with her safety, he then had to insist that she stay close to him for the duration.
Split into two groups, and with the reluctant and put-upon innkeeper and his ostlers in Harry’s, they headed toward the river that formed a natural barrier. One he hoped that even the reckless Felix wouldn’t have attempted to cross.
But as the minutes stretched to an hour and there was still no sign of Felix, the darkness cloaked them. Then when the heavens decided to open to soak them, making every step more treacherous, it became clear that Harry’s sensible and thorough plan was in jeopardy because the stench of mutiny was in the air.
ChapterSEVENTEEN
“Let’s turn back and search again at dawn when we can actually see something.” The innkeeper refused to budge and addressed his staff rather than Captain Kincaid, who had already gone farther ahead after he had tried and failed to reason with the man. “We’re on a wild goose chase tonight, lads, as I knew we would be.” He glared at Georgie while jerking his thumb at the captain, letting her know in no uncertain terms, yet again, that he thought that this was all their fault. “I told him this would be futile before we set off and you heard him just now—he still refuses to listen.”
“That’s because he’s right!” The captain might have given up all hope of getting the innkeeper to help, but she hadn’t, and they had more chance of finding Felix with more eyes looking for him than fewer. “We can’t stop now! The poor boy must be terrified, and we’ve come this far. We have to meet with the other group as planned or they will think that we are lost too—and it would be criminal to do that to them.” Especially when she could not disagree that all of this was all her fault. As one rebel understood another, Georgienever should have let Felix out of her sight. Not when he had been so determined to be.
“Not my problem.” The innkeeper raised his meaty hand rudely near her face. “And what’s criminal, miss, is that nobody would be lost if you and that idiot up ahead had kept a closer eye on your charges!” Again, an undeniable fact she could not disagree with. “Hopefully the boy has more sense than either of you do! If he’s got any at all he’ll have found some shelter and will stay there till morning, when we actually stand a chance of finding him.”
“But—” The meaty palm came up so swift again, it almost hit her nose.
“It’s late. It’s pitch-black and this is a wild goose chase. So if I say we’re done for the night, we’re done. You and his nibs over there can battle on if you’re daft enough to do things his way and still think that the other group are daft enough to have not turned back already, but he ain’t the boss of me and neither are you.” He spun around and started walking away. “Come on, boys!”
The two ostlers began to follow. She grabbed the arm of the second and most sympathetic to try and stop him, but the young man shook it off. “I’m afraid heisthe boss of me, miss, so I’ve got to listen to him… sorry.” And off he went too.
“Captain—wait!” Georgie shouted, and when he didn’t stop, likely because he was still furious at her for not properly supervising his nephew too, she picked up her sodden, mud-filled skirts to dash after him. “The others have turned back.”
He grunted but didn’t slow.
“If you are quick, you might be able to reason with them some more. He knows the lay of this land better than we do and we need as much help as we can get if we are going to find Felix.”
The captain still did not bother stopping. “You can only reasonwith a person who wants to be reasoned with, Miss Rowe, and our friendly innkeeper doesn’t.” Unperturbed at the desertion, he continued onward, then paused to watch the ostlers’ lanterns disappear. “But it is late, it is dark, and you are soaked to the skin, so you should return to the inn with them before you catch your death of cold.”
“What, and leave you to get lost too?”
She saw his eyes roll in the lamplight before he hoisted it aloft to point at the stars. “I’m a sailor, Miss Rowe, so I read the night sky as well as I read a map. I can assure you that I won’t get lost, so go. In fact, I insist. I’ll move quicker without you. This is no place for a woman. Especially such a…” He flapped his hand in the general vicinity of her body. “… compact one.”
He couldn’t have called her a hindrance more plainly if he had tried, and while he was probably right because his legs were much longer and not weighed down by layers of skirts that caught on everything, his dismissive lack of faith in her abilities incensed St. Joan within.
“You can insist until you are blue in the face. I am not giving up. I shall continue to search for Felix alone, if need be.” She pushed past him to continue onward and immediately caught her skirt on a branch.
“Somehow, I knew you would say that.” He bent to yank the fabric free.
