Conquering a Viscount (6 page)

             
Within minutes of contacting the bow street runners and searching the club,
Clinton
and
Jonathan
were en route back to the estates.  Traveling by horse was quicker and would put them only a little behind the hackney arriving home.  
Jonathan
could not shake an impending feeling of dread.  Something was not right.  He could feel it.  Rescuing Olivia had been easy.  Almost, too easy for one’s comfort. 

             
They rode swiftly in silence. 
Jonathan
knew he would not relax until he was sure Juliet and the rest of the ladies were safe. 
Thomas
was with them he knew, but he was only one man, and he had no idea the extremes a mad man could take to exact his revenge.  He also knew that mercenaries would do anything for the right amount of coin, even kidnap or kill.   He felt panic rising in his chest at the thought of
Thomas
being outnumbered and harm falling to anyone.

             
It was almost as if
Clinton
were having the same thoughts.  They both simultaneously kicked their horses up to a greater speed, and thundered through the dark. 
Jonathan
had no idea how correct his feelings would turn out to be.

~~~*****~~~

             
She had not been able to put up much of a fight.  Caught unaware in her deep sleep, a smelly hand had covered her mouth with a cloth with a peculiar odor to which blackness quickly followed.  Juliet woke up to discover her hands and feet bound behind her and a gag tied tightly around her mouth.  Damnation.  Would this nightmare ever end?  She cracked her eyes trying to feign unconsciousness and took in her surroundings. She had no idea where she was.  She also was unsure of how long she had been out, so they could have traveled for hours with her blissfully unaware.

             
Her teeth clenched in anger. She was not a ten-year-old helpless child, and God help the man who finally showed himself as her offender.  As soon as she was free, she would scratch his eyes out.  She shut her eyes quickly at the sound of a door opening.  She could discern by the sound that her back was facing the door; her face was towards the wall.  Someone was whistling a tune.  A chair scrubbed against the floor and creaked as the whistler plopped upon it. 

             
A loud barking laugh came from across the room, and caused her to jump.  “I know you are not asleep girl; I can see how stiff you are.”  He took a long swig of something and slammed it upon a surface.  “Uncle Albert isn’t going to hurt you, so long as I get my due.  Highhanded bastard thinks he can march in somewhere and ruin what I built! He has another thing coming; I’ll take every member of his snotty family if I have too, even my good for nothing whore of a niece.”  Albert belched loudly.  Juliet wrinkled her nose in disgust.  Uncle Albert had her.

She let her anger build to a boiling point.  This man was responsible for her near rape at the hands of Joe.  He was behind the torment, fear, and desperation her family had sustained over the last couple of days.  He wanted his due did he?  She would give him what he deserved.  She let out a loud moan.

             
“What’s wrong with you girl?” Albert asked.  She answered by moaning even louder.  “Well, hell isn’t any cause for you to go and be unwell; I didn’t even hit you on your head.” He said irritably.   She moaned again for good measure.

             
Her ploy to bring him closer to her was diverted by the creaking of the door opening. A hostile female voice that was a near screech pierced her ears.  Evelyn was in on the ordeal.  She was blistering Albert’s ears with tales of her treatment by the duke and his holier than thou friends.  She barely escaped with her life she told her husband and plopped down with a huff.  Juliet heard the chair moan in protest against her weight.

             
“Now what the hell are we supposed to do with this chit?” she asked Albert after a moment. 

“We start our ploy over my dear; we must have funds to make it to the continent.”  Albert belched loudly.

  “I know that you dim wit, if this ploy did not work the last time, what makes you think it will work this time?  We are going to end up in bloody prison.  If the men you hired could break in and steal both girls so easily, then why is it you did not have them steal something of value we could have sold for sea fare?”

             
Juliet stifled a laugh at Albert’s silence.  Clearly Evelyn was the brains of the outfit. “What would you have me do dear?” Albert asked sheepishly. 

             
“I would have you bloody well follow through with what you have started now, we would not even leave the port if we let this little bitch go free now, she would tell them who held her!”

             
Juliet barely stopped herself from nodding in agreement.  She needed to roll over so that her arms were behind her and out of their view so she could work on her bindings.  She moaned again.

             
“Albert, what is wrong with that chit? I thought you said they did her no harm.” Evelyn snapped.

             
“We didn’t!” Albert protested.  Juliet felt hands on her as she was rolled around to face her assailants. 

             
“Out with it girl, what ails you?” Evelyn asked hatefully after Albert removed her gag.

             
“My head.” Juliet replied weakly, “May I have some water?”  Evelyn shot her a look of pure disgust before pouring her a cup of water and handing it to Albert.  She drank it greedily to abate her thirst.  Now she was in a position to unravel the rope.  She started slowly wiggling her hands back in forth trying to keep a grimace off her face as the rope cut into her tender wrists.

             
She said a silent prayer for
Jonathan
to find her quickly once she freed herself, her chances were better when she only had one assailant to fight, now she had two.

Jonathan
pounded his fist in frustration as well as fear.  They were too late.  Juliet was gone.  He knew it! His gut warned him, and he knew it deep down.  He should have accompanied her back.  He would have more than likely been in her bed when the kidnappers struck.  He chose to let
Thomas
take her home as a way to try and put distance between them, what a fool he was.  He loved her!  His heart was aching with fear for her, and she could die before she ever knew what he really felt.

             
He was tired of denying it.  He was hopelessly and madly in love with Juliet Wells.  He tried to focus on what
Thomas
was telling
Clinton
. Images of Juliet lying hurt somewhere kept flowing in and out of his head.

             
He started as Elisabeth touched his arm.  “
Jonathan
allow me to fetch you and
Clinton
something to eat, you must be starving.” She asked him kindly. 
Jonathan
ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. 

             
“I appreciate the offer, Elisabeth, but I am afraid I could not eat anything.”

             
“We will find her,
Jonathan
.” She told him firmly.  He nodded his head in agreement, but could not get past the sinking feeling in his s
tomach
.

             
Elisabeth shifted uncomfortably as she turned to
Thomas
and asked him if he would care for anything to eat.  He promptly told her that what he would like would be for her to stay safe and out the way, which caused Elisabeth to abruptly leave the room.

             
Jonathan
shot him an icy glare, in response to his rudeness but
Thomas
painstakingly ignored him. 
Clinton
was organizing search parties and was barking orders in every direction. 
Jonathan
listened to his detailed instructions and hurried out to begin searching his designated area.

             
After riding for a half hour he still had not found any sign that would indicate a trail to lead him to Juliet.  He was just about to signal his party in another direction when he noticed a piece of fabric blowing in the wind from a tree branch.

             
He leapt from his horse to examine the fabric.  It looked to be fine white linen that could be used in a woman’s night rail.  He quickly sent a runner to find
Clinton
’s party and shift them in this direction.  Upon further inspection, he could see foot prints in the soft dirt leading deep into the forest. 

             
Like a blood hound on a scent, he followed the trail until it lead him to another run down log house in the woods. 
Clinton
really needs to check into who was poaching on his land, he thought angrily.  Make shift cabins were a certain give away to poaching.  It infuriated him to know someone had scouted out the land before hand and secured places to hide.

             
He spread his men out in every direction and waited impatiently on
Clinton
to join him.  He fought down the urge to storm the house, guns blazing, and rescue Juliet.  By God, someone would pay for this he promised himself.

             
After what seemed like hours but in actuality were only minutes,
Clinton
and
Thomas
both crouched down beside him.

             
“Have you been able to get close to see how many are in there?”
Thomas
asked.

             
Jonathan
shook his head.  “I haven’t gotten close, I was afraid I would not be able to control myself.” 
Thomas
nodded his understanding and quietly crawled towards the run down shack.  Within minutes he was back, with a smile upon his face.

             
“Unless they are waiting on someone else, the aunt and uncle are the only two inside with Juliet.  She is bound in the far left corner away from the door, there is a gun sitting on the table between them.”

             
Clinton
looked to
Jonathan
for his thoughts.  Before he could say anything, his attention was diverted by the sound of a rider approaching rapidly.  A burly man with a nap sack stopped in front of the house and hurried inside.

             
“Damn!”
Jonathan
muttered.  How many men did Albert have in his employ?  He could only imagine the riches that Albert had promised them from the ransom money.  “Shit!” he looked at
Clinton
as the realization dawned on him that the man was probably returning from the main home after delivering the ransom note.  Their absence at the home would no doubt be noticed.

             
Clinton
seemed to understand his thoughts at the exact same moment.  They would have no other option but to storm the house to try to catch them off guard.  Pistols drawn they slowly made their way upon the house.

             
They were within feet of the home when the front door flew open and Juliet ran from inside. 
Jonathan
started to run towards her and saw the man who had just arrived raise his gun in Juliet’s direction.  Gun blast blared from all directions as
Clinton
’s men shot the man in an attempt to keep Juliet from harm.

             
Just as
Jonathan
made it to her and he thought she had escaped harm she slowly crumpled to the ground. The front of her night dress was starting to stain a bright scarlet.  “No!” he roared and picked her limp body up into his arms.  She was pale and unconscious.  He could feel her warm blood soaking him as he raced to his horse.  He quickly mounted his horse and sped back towards the manor.

             
He looked down in confusion at the wetness upon Juliet’s cheeks, wondering how she could be crying while unconscious and lifted his fingers at the warmness on his cheeks.  They were not Juliet’s tears upon her face, they were his own.

Chapter 8

Jonathan
watched Juliet weakly scream out in pain as the doctor dug around in her shoulder for the bullet.  It had entered from the back and lodged itself in the front just above her breastbone.  He held her arms down as she cried out in agony and thrashed violently.  Elisabeth sniffled back a sob at witnessing her friend’s pain.  Unable to stand it anymore she fled from the room.

             
“Surely there must be something else you can give her for the pain?”
Jonathan
asked the doctor.

             
The doctor leaned back and wiped the perspiration from his brow.  He was covered in Juliet’s blood.  “I need her awake.  She has lost too much blood.  Once I remove the bullet and stop the bleeding, I will give her something.”