All Hallow's Eve (47 page)

“Denny tells me that Wickham has been borrowing cash from everyone in the regiment.
He knows that he will be running from us, especially
William
, and will ask for the ransom because he
will
require a great deal of money to live on, at least until next All Hallow’s Eve when he thinks
that
he will force Elizabeth to do his bidding.
I believe he is planning to leave at the first opportunity
that
presents itself after the delivery of the
money
—
without
dividing it with the others, of course.
I do not think there will be much of a delay
before he dispatches the letter once
he has secured
Elizabeth
since he will fear that we may find the cottage.
We must detain Wickham
immediately
after William receives the letter demanding the ransom.
”

Elizabeth assured them,
“
Please, let us not
forget that I can defend myself quite well
and
can
surely
escape
if by chance Wickham d
oes
take me away alone.
I
would prefer to capture the
Olc
now
, so that we do not have to do this all over again with another
of
it
s
host
s
in the future
.
I
will
find a way to detain Wickham if he tries to leave.”

Most of the group nodd
ed
their heads in agreement with the plan.
William visibly twitched when he heard Elizabeth ask quietly, “
Richard, w
h
at time
do you suggest that
I leave
in the carriage
?”

Richard replied, “Late
r in the
morning would be best.
I know that at least two of them were drinking heavily when we were there this evening
,
and Wickham will be in camp tonight.
They might not awaken very early on the morrow, but I do not
wish
to chance your being captured too late in the day or they might wait until the next day to send the letter to my cousin.”

Mrs. Bennet
’s voice was heard for the first time in this meeting
.
“William, you have been very quiet.
What is your opinion?
”

W
illiam asked in a stunned voice,
“
You wish to know
my
thoughts
?
”

“Yes, I would like to know what you think of
Richard’s
plan.”

William looked at
his mother-in-law
incredulously
.
“I
f you cannot
hazard a
guess as to what I am thinking, madam, then I
do not know
w
hat you expect
to hear
from me
now
.
Did
you
anticipate
that I would
calmly help
you all
plan how best to arrange for the woman I love
more than my own life
to be
kidnapped
by Wickham and five other men?
Do any of you realize that they could impose a great deal more upon her than simply hold
ing
her captive?
” He began to pace. “
Since you insist
on knowing what I am thinking
, I will tell you
that
e
very
fibre
of my being is
outraged
by this conversation!

“
As a member of her guard
, I am supposed to protect her! A
s
a gentleman
, I was brought up to do
anything
possible to
keep
a lady
far
from
anything that might bring her harm
.
As the man who loves her
—her
husband and
Soul Mate
—e
ven
at this very moment,
my heart
demand
s
that I
take hold of Elizabeth
and run
—
escape
as
far
away
from here as
we
possibly can, and hide
so
mewhere
that the
Olc
can never find her!
” William stopped
in front of Elizabeth
, capturing
her eyes in an iron grip
.
“
I have the means to do
it
, Elizabeth
,
with very little trouble for either of us!”

Elizabeth
’s
eyes filled with tears,
but she
refus
ed
to
blink lest she
allow
a
ny to fall.
He could see it in her eyes—the
truth was that s
he would like nothing better
than to do as he requested
!
With great difficulty she
answered
, her voice thick with emotion
, “I
must
do what is best for the Tribes
.
”

“I
know
, Elizabeth!
This makes it all the more frustrating!
”
William took several
labour
ed breaths
as h
is nostrils flared
,
and he pressed his lips together
firmly
, trying to
re
gain control over the emotions that
had been building
up
inside
hi
m
.
He took her hand in his
and held it close to his heart
. “
The
re is still a
small portion of my mind that is thinking
logic
ally
, and it is
that
which has prevented me from acting
in this manner thus
far
.
If I
proceed
in such a way and
succeed,
I
am quite aware of the fact that
Cher-nog
w
ould
n
ever
stop searching until
it
f
ou
nd
a
High
Priestess
again
, and that
it
has no preference as to
which one
it is
.
If
the
Olc
does not find you,
w
ould
i
t
be o
ur daughter?
Our granddaughter?
Even if we made certain that
we
had no children,
someone in the family
would
become High
Priestess
.
” He shook his head, “I cannot allow it!
There may never be an opportunity
such as this
again.
”
He
stepped
closer to
h
er
.
“
This
must
end now.
”

Her emotions running too high to trust her voice, Elizabeth nodded.

“But,” William
raised his eyebrows high, “
t
here
is
one thing I would like to add to the plan...”

Chapter 15

November 29, 1811

Julian stood on
a
woody
hill,
shifting from foot to fo
ot as quickly as he could manage
.
It was cold—
too
cold to
have to
spend hours upon ho
urs outdoors watching
a
house!
The man who would take over his post
was
late
, and
Julian
was losing patience
.
A
nother few minutes
ticked by
before
Julian
hear
d
Oliver’
s whistle
as
he approached, his horse behind him.

“Oliver!
’bout time you showed up!”
Julian
exclaimed.

“
What’ y
e
complainin’ ’bout?
Ye
r
lucky I came at all, Julian.
Y
e
ain’t the only one ’o deserves time off!”
Oliver
sp
a
t back at him.

“
There weren’t no sense stayin’ last night.
I couldn’t see
no
thing from ’ere wit’ all that fog!” Julian said defensively. At least that was
the excuse he would use
if Wickham found out that he had not gone to
watch
Netherfield the night before.
Let
Wickham
think
that
he was too simple minded to think of moving closer to the house
.
It would be fine with him—he would have
fewer responsibilities
that way
.
T
he tru
e reason he did not go
was that
h
aving a bit of fun was long overdue
!
T
his morning he had no
excuse
for
staying away
, so here he was
, no matter how much his head hurt
from all th
e
ale
he had consumed
last
night
.

“Anythin’ goin’
on
a
t the big ’ouse
this mornin’?”
Oliver
asked.

Julian nodded.
“I
seen
the tall one leav
in’
on
’
orseback
a
bout a
’
our ago, ’eading toward the road to Town.
The other three
blokes
went out
ridin’
that way
not long ago
.
”
Julian
pointed off in
to
the distance
, indicating they had ridden in the opposite direction from where they were standing
.
“The carriage
been sittin’ there in front for a
little
while.”

“Aye,
good choice Wickham made pickin’ ’is girl
!
Th
at
other
bloke’
s an earl, but ’
e
don’t look like ’e’s got as much jinglin’ in ’is
purse
as that one
.
”
Oliver
rubbed his hands together greedily.

“What’cha
talkin’ ’bout
?”
Julian
asked.

“The girl
—
the
one we be watchin’? I ’eard tell that she’s
set ta
marry that
rich
bugga’
.
Tha
’
tall one.
”
Oliver
answered.

“
When
d’ya think
Wickham
’
ll
wise up
—
that
lass
would
n’t
never go out alone, no matter what they
’
eard
she used ta do
!
Those rich ‘uns don’t like it when their g
a
ls go out alone.
”

“
Wickham says they
got
scared
a little while back
, is all, but
that
sooner or later
sh
e’ll
go
daft
sittin’ in the house all the time
.”

“I
’
ope
it’ll be
soon
.
Then we
’ll watch ’
er
in
side
, where it be warm
.
” Julian
crossed his arms and rubbed them with his hands.

“Aye, I
wo
uld
n’t
mind
warmin’
’er
up!
”
Oliver
snorted, “
Y
a ever
seen her up close
?”

Julian shook his head.

“I
seen
’er
once in the village
. Oh,
she
’
s a
looker!
Not as
tasty
as ’er sister, but still, I wouldn’t mind a piece o’ that
sweet
pie.
” Oliver
licked his lips
and waggled his eyebrows
.

Julian
opened
his eyes
wide.
“
You betta’
watch it, Oliver!
Wickham sa
ys
’ands off!”

“Wickham
wants
’
er to
’
i
s
self
is all
.
Ye know,
we
can
do the same as
I
did last time,
promise
’er
that
I’ll
’
elp
’
er
get away
from ’im
if she
gives
me
some
free
sweets and keeps ’er mouth shut
.
Better ’en payin’ for it.”

Julian
frowned
.
Skipping watch duty when it was foggy was one thing, but crossing Wickham on a direct order was another.
After a couple of minutes, he
spoke up again
,
“Wh
y
are we standin’ out ’ere
just
watchin’
anyway
?
Why c
an’t we
take ’er from
the house at night, like
we
done before
?”

“
There’s
too many
blokes
livin’ there.”
Oliver
gestured
toward
Netherfield.

“A
ww
,
we
can
’andle
’em!”
Julian

Oliver shook his head, “Wickham says they
’re ’spectin’
some
thin’ ta
happen to
the girl
,
and
they’re
prepared
.
Ye know those rich fellas are always
a-
goin’ off with their fencin
’
masters an
’
such.
Probly sleep with their swords since they ain’t got nothin’ t’
warm ’em at night
.
Th
em
ladies
don’t
do nothin’ without a ring on ’
eir finger!
”
Oliver’s
chuckle was cut short when his
attention was drawn to movement
at the
front
door
of the house. “
Look!
”

The two men watched as Elizabeth rushed out of
Netherfield
, looking behind her
toward
the door as if she were
afraid
someone
would
follow
her
.
No one did.
The carriage pulled away
as soon as she was inside
it
.

Oliver
slapped
Julian
’s chest with the back of his hand
. “
Come on
;
l
et’s go!”

~%~

It had been a morning
filled with varying,
but passionate
,
emotions
.

Elizabeth
had
slept
but
little when
she was
roused
by
the unique
delight
of
William
’s
arms
tightening around
her
.
When he realized that she, too, was awake by her contented sigh, h
e pulled
her
more firmly
against his form
.
She
could not
stop her hands from
exploring
his
magnificent
physique
once again
, and
without any hesitation,
her
attentions were returned enthusias
tically
.

W
hile they
made love
this morning
,
every so often
Elizabeth
notice
d
his eyes fill with
fear
,
and
she
recognize
d
the wretched state of his thoughts
—
these might be
our
last intimate moments together
—
and
then
suddenly,
his
actions
would
bec
o
me
urgent
—almost
desperate
in their intensity
.
H
e
soon
bec
a
me aware of he
r
concern
ed
expression
s
and bur
ied
tho
se
feelings,
redoubling
his
sweet torture
,
slowly and deliberately bringing about
his wife’s pleasure
.

As they lay
with their limbs
tangled
afterward, s
he made an attempt to
have him
discuss
his
fears
, but
William only
shook his head.
Elizabeth
understood him well enough to know that it was not that he
would
not speak of it, but that he
could
not.
She
also
suspected that he did not wish to instill some of his own fears within her heart
if she had not already thought of them
.
I
nstead
, he
gathered her to him
self
, embracing her so tightly that s
he
thought
he would
never
allow
her
to
leave
the safety of his arms.
B
etween
tender
kisses
and gentle nuzzles
, he
whispered
into her ear
, telling her of
all the ways he loved her.