Page 42 of Wicked Highland Heroes

“Of that I have no doubt. What then?”

“I tried to take her to the rear exit, but she wouldn’t let me. Said it was just as dangerous for me to return to the house alone as it was for her to leave alone.”

More so, in fact. The maid was fair game for any unscrupulous bastard she might have the misfortune to encounter.

“So I came back to the kitchen.” Sally began ringing a corner of her apron.

“Miss Crenshaw was angry with me?” he asked.

Sally’s eyes widened and she gave a tiny nod.

“And rightfully so,” Erroll said. “I was a cad.” Though Miss Crenshaw had yet to discover just how much of a cad he could be. “Nothing else happened?” he asked.

Sally began to cry, but before Erroll could say anything, Mrs. Childs said, “Sally, girl, I will beat you myself. Now speak up.”

Sally took a step backwards, then swung her gaze onto Erroll and said, “Just gossip, m’lord, nothing more. You know how people talk.”

He knew well enough. “Go on.”

“Rumor is, she left with Lord Halifax.”

Minutes later, Erroll halted on the sidewalk outside the mansion, Somerset alongside him. Erroll scanned the crowded side street for Tolland’s coach. Only thirty minutes had passed since Oscar and David had dropped him back at the mansion, and the street was so clogged with vehicles trying to maneuver along the street that he felt certain they couldn’t have gotten far. Erroll sighted the carriage at the end of the street as it inched its way through the intersection with David and Oscar in the driver's seat.

“Come along, Somerset." Erroll started at a brisk walk down the sidewalk.

Moments later, they reached the carriage, which had halted behind a hired cab, waiting in a long line of vehicles trying to escape the congestion.

"Gentlemen," Erroll called to Oscar and David. Their heads turned. "Oscar, if you would join us." Erroll pulled open the door and stepped inside with Somerset close behind.

The viscount settled on the seat beside Erroll as the carriage listed to one side. A second later, the brute jumped inside and pulled the door shut behind him.

"We have a bit of a dilemma," Erroll said.

"Dilemma?" Oscar repeated in a low voice that told Erroll he would plunge his knife into Erroll's heart with the same ease in which he'd spoken the words if anything had happened to his mistress. The coachman was unusually attached to the lady.

"Indeed. Miss Crenshaw is missing."

"What do you mean missing?” Oscar said.

"I mean her mamma has not seen her since our, er, meeting in the gardens. I spoke with the maid you said happened upon you two. She directed Miss Crenshaw to the rear gate and that is the last she saw of her.”

“We would have been only a minute or two apart,” Oscar said. “There was no one else in the gardens. I wouldn’t have left her if there had been.”

“I am sure,” Erroll said. “But despite your chivalry, rumor has it, she left with Lord Halifax.”

"Halifax?" Somerset burst out. “Eve would never willingly leave with that reprobate.”

Erroll had to agree. And didn’t like it one bit.

The last five hours in the saddle had been no better than the five-hour ride Erroll made three days ago, and this time he developed a headache—and the damned revolver he’d stuffed into his waistband was digging into his belly. He shifted the weapon and urged his horse into a gallop as he and his companions had done as often as possible in the darkness. The compelling need to paddle Miss Crenshaw’s bare arse rose with ferocity for the hundredth time since they’d set out after her. The vision only frustrated him all the more—for more reasons than one. This time, however, he would satiate his need. After he shot Halifax.

Erroll wasn’t naïve enough to believe the earl intended to marry her. He intended to ruin Miss Crenshaw once and for all and embarrass his enemy in the bargain, in recompense for the set down Erroll had given him in the garden. The fact she hadn’t consented to go with Halifax—and Erroll knew she hadn’t—wouldn’t be believed by the ton. The race toward Gretna Green in the privacy of Halifax’s covered carriage would leave no doubt that she wasn’t a lady, but Erroll doubted that Halifax had any intention of going all the way to Scotland.

So why hadn’t they encountered the two on the road yet?

Erroll was reasonably sure Halifax wouldn’t harm her. The man was lazy at heart, which meant he preyed on women who were easy victims to sweet words. Miss Eve Crenshaw was anything but a victim. Erroll recalled the gun she had pressed into his belly when he’d sneaked into her room. He also recalled her saying she wasn’t carrying a gun tonight and regretted that fact. Neville deserved a bullet in the belly.

Either way, Halifax would likely try to seduce her, which meant Erroll would have to kill him just for trying. He dug his heels into his horse’s belly. The animal lunged past Somerset and Oscar’s horses. Seconds later, the two men came up alongside him.