The Marquis and I (The Worthingtons #4)(9)

“I dunno. We’ve been helping her for about two months, I think. You’re the fourth or fifth one.”

Somehow, Charlotte vowed, she would find a way to rescue the women and children that woman had abducted. “Do you know where she takes them from here?”

The girl’s eyes widened. “To their families. Where else?”

Where else, indeed. Well, now was not the time to fight this battle. Once she was home she would work to stop the former madam.

When the maid placed the large cotton nightgown Charlotte had left hanging over a chair on the bed, she leveled the pistol at the girl. “I am terribly sorry, but I must ask you to sit on that chair.” The girl’s mouth dropped open. “Please do not scream. I will shoot if I have to.”

Not that she thought she could kill the maid, but she had to make the threat.

The girl’s throat worked, and she nodded a few times, then sat on the chair.

“Good, I’m just in time.” The gentleman who had been speaking with her through the door strode into the room. He had on a greatcoat and his hat was pulled down, shading his face.

Even if the room had had more than one candle, it would have been hard to get a good look at him. All she could make out was that he was tall and at least as broad in the shoulders as her brother-in-law, and he had an almost square jaw with a dimple. She wondered what the color of his eyes was and if he was as handsome as she thought he might be.

The pounding in her chest increased. Really, this was not the time to be having any sort of reaction to a man.

He quickly tied the maid’s hands and feet. “If I may make a suggestion?”

Charlotte blinked, bringing her attention to the matter at hand. “Of course.”

The corners of his lips tipped up. “She can make a great deal of noise in this chair. I suggest we tie her to the bed.”

“Very well.” She helped him move the girl and secure her to the small bed.

When that was done, Charlotte put her bonnet on and tied the ribbons, then gathered the food in a napkin before placing it in the basket.

“I do apologize,” she said to the girl. “But I do not wish to go where Miss Betsy would take me. Despite what you may believe, she is not a good person.” She tied a gag around the girl’s mouth. “I am sorry about this as well.”

The gentleman slid a sharp glance at Charlotte, but said nothing. She retrieved the keys, locking the door behind them. “Is your carriage ready?”

“Yes. That’s the reason I was a little late. I went to the stables and harnessed them myself.” He held out his arm and whispered, “My lady?”

She placed her hand on his arm, and they quietly made their way down the front stairs and out into the yard. A pair of neatish bays were harnessed to a very dashing phaeton.

“They are lovely,” she said, keeping her voice as low as possible. At the same time, her heart was pounding so hard she thought it might burst from her chest. At the rate she was going, she’d have apoplexy before she was twenty.

“Come, we must hurry. We only have a few hours before it is light. I would like to have you back at your own home before then.”

“What time is it?” She hadn’t bothered looking at her watch before they left the bedchamber, and, even with the moonlight, it was too dark to see it now. Still, it could not be past midnight.

“Almost two o’clock.” Oh, dear. She must have slept much longer than she’d thought. “Why would she have come to me so late?”

“She was working in the common room. Their last customer left about a half hour ago.”

“That makes sense, then.” She wondered what the maid and her parents would think if they knew what Miss Betsy truly did with the people she kidnapped. Perhaps Charlotte should have told the girl everything she knew, but if the innkeeper confronted the woman, Miss Betsy would merely change where she took her captives. As soon as Charlotte arrived home, she must write Dotty.

Once they were in the carriage, he clicked softly and the pair began to walk. For the next several minutes Charlotte’s skin prickled with fear that someone in the inn would discover they had gone and come looking for them. She wished he would go faster, but she knew that making as little noise as possible would help them get away.

Finally, he urged the horses to a trot, and she relaxed a little.

Neither of them spoke, not, she thought, because they had nothing to say, but due to the fact that sound seemed to carry more at night. Charlotte wondered how long they had before the maid’s disappearance was noted, and prayed it was not until after the sun had risen.

Still, she would not get the problem off her mind. How much sleep was the girl allowed after working until two in the morning? Her sister insisted that the staff be well rested, and Charlotte made sure that May, her dresser, napped if Charlotte was coming in late. Yet she did not think the innkeeper and his wife would be so kind, even to their own daughter.

She and her rescuer passed an open field and Charlotte could see the horizon lightening. How long would it be before the sun rose?

The road in front of them appeared almost white, and she murmured to herself, “It seems too light.”

“The moon has not yet set.”

Charlotte jumped. Really, she had to stop talking to herself, particularly when she wasn’t alone. Or be prepared to receive an answer.

She glanced at the sky, which was a strange thing to do when the gentleman had already told her that the moon was still up. But people did that type of thing all the time. It could not be because they did not believe the other person, it just seemed to be a natural, albeit unnecessary, reaction. “So I see.” She could also see his lordship’s white teeth flash in a grin. “I have never been awake at this time of day. Do you know how many hours there are until dawn?”