Prelude to Love (20 page)

She should have told Elleri where she was going, before she left. What must her poor aunt have been thinking, all that long day? At least she had been in no danger. Not till Carlisle got back would the danger occur. She looked at her watch, wondering, worrying that he would be there before her.

Once out of city traffic, the pace increased till she was being bounced helplessly around in the carriage, like a rag doll in a child's wagon. Ordinarily, it might have made her ill, but on this occasion she felt such a sense of exhilaration and danger she did not mind in the least. Her only regret was that she was alone. It would have been more enjoyable with Colonel Landon by her side. She thought he would not be far behind her. Frequent looks out the carriage window failed to find him. There were many yellow curricles, but the one stolen from Mr. Brown was not amongst them.

As they approached the side road leading to Mrs. Euston's cottage, she pulled the check string to slow the carriage, but there was no sign of either Carlisle or the men Landon had sent. Her best chance of beating Carlisle to Colchester was to plunge on, and really she was not at all eager to see again the scene of her misery.

When the team slowed down from fatigue, they stopped to change horses. They were at the midpoint of their trip. No one there had any information about Carlisle having passed, but this was hardly remarkable. There were many choices of a stop. She took advantage of the delay to speak to the footmen, who were to help her.

"One of you is to stop off at the constable's office in Colchester and bring an armed officer to the inn. The other will come with me inside. We shall speak to the clerk there and see where my aunt is, and whether Carlisle or Mrs. Euston has been asking for her. He is extremely dangerous. Till the armed constable arrives, we shall do nothing but discover his location. I shall listen at my aunt's door, and if the situation is desperate, if they are threatening or hurting her, I'll pound on the door and create a disturbance. Very likely they will have a gun to loan me at the inn," she said hopefully.

The footmen settled between them which was to run for the constable, and they both agreed an inn would not be without a weapon. She felt very brave and efficient as she made all the arrangements for her aunt's rescue and the villains' capture. She was undecided in her mind whether it would be more glorious to present Landon with a
fait accompli,
hand the prisoners to him in manacles, or to let him watch with wonder as she managed the affair with the
sangfroid
of a seasoned campaigner. Having a fair notion which of them would do the managing if he were present, she decided her preference was to accomplish the entire deed before his arrival.

She got back into the carriage, the footmen mounted behind, and they continued on their way, their pace quickened again with the fresh team. It was already evening when they reached the town. Having no idea where the constable's office was to be found, they drove down the main street once, without discovering it. They had to stop to enquire of a pedestrian, who pointed up a side street. One would think the constable would be located on the main street, easy to find. The chosen footman hopped down from his perch at the carriage's rear to deliver an armed constable to them, at top speed. The carriage returned to the inn.

The lobby was busy, with dinner guests descending from their rooms, and others coming in off the street. The clerk was not at his post at the desk. After several minutes' searching, he was found, and condescended to examine his records. Yes, a Miss Simons was still registered in the White Rose Suite.

"Have you seen her about recently?" Vanessa asked.

Very scanty civility was offered a young lady who stood before the clerk in what he supposed to be her grandmother's gown. Had she not been accompanied by a liveried footman, she felt sure she would have been politely requested to leave the premises.

"My dear young lady," the clerk said, "I do not recognize by sight every client who stops with us for a day or two. She is registered—that is all I can tell you. Go to her suite, and see if she is in."

"Naturally
I mean to do so," she retaliated, her eyes flashing, "and I shall report your insolence to the proprietor as well."

"I
am
the proprietor."

She sniffed. "Then will you be good enough to tell me if Mr. Carlisle is also registered," she said, in her loftiest manner.

"Mr. Carlisle has been registered for two days, miss."

"He left this morning."

"You are mistaken. I saw him not a quarter of an hour ago. I could well do without such customers as Carlisle and Kiley, making disturbance in my rooms, calling constables, annoying my clients."

"Is Kiley here too?" she asked, her heart lurching in hope despite her daydream of settling the business without him.

"He slipped out last night, before the boy arrived with the constable."

"If he comes back, tell him to go directly to Miss Simons' suite."

"If he comes back, I shall personally usher him out the door."

"You must not!"

His supercilious smile deteriorated to a sneer. "Is there anything else, miss?"

She tossed her head and left, without replying. Then she went at a dragging gait to the stairway. "You had better go back and ask him for a gun,'' she said to the footman. She knew he would not hand it over to her if he had one.

"Yes, ma'am," the footman said. The alacrity with which he departed told her he was no more eager for the coming confrontation than she was herself. Really it made much better sense to wait for the constable's arrival. She looked up the stairs, looked around the lobby for a sign of Carlisle, half hoping and half dreading she would see him.

At least she knew he was here, and he did
not
know she was. That gave her a slight advantage. She looked back to the desk, to see the footman pleading with the clerk, who shook his head in a determined negative. Whoever thought it would be so difficult to be a heroine? The whole world was in league to prevent her. And why did not the constable come? He was only a few blocks away.

Meanwhile, her aunt sat alone and unaware of the danger Carlisle presented. Vanessa would tiptoe up to her door and put her ear to it. There could not be much danger in that. If all was silent, she would enter, and tell Elleri she must bar her door at once, or possibly it would be best for them to go down to the busy lobby.

She went reluctantly up the stairs, looked down the empty hallway to a series of closed doors. One opened, causing her flesh to crawl with fear. It was only a lady and gentleman who came out, laughing and talking together.

"They must be drunk," the lady said.

"Shocking behavior. The world's going to the dogs," the man answered.

Vanessa discerned no importance in these speeches. While the couple were still in view, offering some security by their mere presence, she scampered quickly to her aunt's door. There was silence within. She reached for the knob, then decided it would be better to peek in the keyhole first, as a precaution. The two customers had passed on down the stairs from view. She bent down, to see the key was in the hole, blocking her view.

The reassuring silence assumed a menacing aura. Suppose Carlisle had already been and gone—done his work, left Elleri wounded, or dead. Her brow was damp with fear, and within her body was a quaking that set every limb trembling. Did soldiers feel like this before a battle? she wondered.

Chapter Seventeen

Her shaking fingers reached for the knob; before they touched it, a voice raised in anger issued through the door. She jumped back as though she had been burned. The voice was followed by a loud rattle, as someone—surely not Elleri!—hit the door. It shook in its frame, before her eyes. Fear, caution, common sense—all were overcome in the fraction of a second. She hardly trembled as she flung the door wide and took a step inside. Her first view was of her aunt, safe for the moment but backed cowering into a corner, with a look of helpless terror in her eyes.

"What have you done to her?" she demanded, turning to the left, where a shadow of a man had already been seen from the corner of her eye.

"Colonel Landon!" she exclaimed joyfully, till she noticed his expression was very little different from her aunt's.

"Get out!" he shouted. He held a pistol, which was aimed in her direction. Her world was turned upside down again. Would she
never
sort out this muddle?

"I will not!"

There was a blurring movement just at the edge of her vision. A man slid silently out from behind the door, grabbed her arm and pulled her in front of him. It was not necessary to look to know his identity. Of course it was Carlisle. His voice confirmed it.

"Throw it down, Landon," he said.

Landon hesitated an instant, a wary, calculating light in his eyes.

"Toss it on to the bed, or your lady friend is dead."

Landon threw his pistol to the bed. Elleri Simons looked from one of them to the other, while Vanessa too surveyed the scene around her, looking for Mrs. Euston. If Carlisle was alone, surely the three of them could overpower him. She noticed the window was open, the curtains blowing in the breeze. One of the men had entered by that means, thus avoiding any curious onlookers in the hallway or lobby.

He would also have failed to see a constable, surely arriving by now. Why wasn't Mrs. Euston here? She would be awaiting below, with the carriage set to bolt. Carlisle was going to keep herself propped in front of him till he got out, then he would either push her aside or kill her. In either case, she had been a hindrance to Landon again, when she had wanted so much to help. He would have handled Carlisle very competently by himself. That body hitting the door when she arrived showed clearly which way the fight had been going. Now he was held helpless at gunpoint, unable to make a move, for fear of getting herself killed. His eyes focused on the small black hole of Carlisle's gun, reminding her of a snake readying itself to strike its victim.

The gun shifted, taking careful aim at Landon. She saw Landon's eyes shift with it, and had an intuition what was about to happen. There was a debt to be settled between the two men; Landon had not only kept the letter from him, he had given him a sound thrashing into the bargain. He was right to have said he should have killed him while he had the chance. Now the chance was in the other hand, and it was not an opportunity that would be passed up. What could be done about it? Nothing.

She gazed at Landon, helpless, horrified, paralyzed with grief and anxiety. She noticed he still followed the gun, his eyes steady, with some fear perhaps, but more of anger. He lifted his gaze to direct one short, sharp, commanding glance at her. What did he mean her to do? Carlisle held her, helpless, the gun not six inches from her—but not pointed
at
her. She had about three seconds between making a move and being shot. She looked back, understanding his meaning. She gave one sharp nod of her head to show him she understood, then jerked suddenly sideways, violently, pulling Carlisle and the gun with her. A loud retort rang out, echoing hideously in the chamber, and at the same instant, Landon leapt forward to tackle Carlisle. She closed her eyes, shivering uncontrollably. When she opened them, Landon lay at her feet, the blood trickling from his temple onto the carpet. Elleri groaned and slumped away in a faint.

So much happened within the next few seconds that her head was spinning, looking first to the doorway, where sounds were coming in, running, shouting sounds. A constable and the footman who had gone after him were there, both carrying guns. The uppity clerk and the other footman were also there, also with guns. Soon other heads popped up behind them, but she was not aware of this. Elleri opened her eyes, looked around and shrieked. Carlisle was escaping—halfway out the window already.

With a quickness born of desperation, Vanessa ran to the window and slammed it down on his leg, pinning him to the spot while the constable ran to grab hold of his boot.

"Somebody run around to the balcony and get him. He's wiggling out of his boot," the constable ordered.

A footman ran out, the gun waving dangerously in the air.

"If there is a carriage waiting below, stop it! It is his accomplice," Vanessa called after him. The other footman ran out, happy to be involved in such excitement, now that the great part of the danger was past.

She went to bend over Landon's prostrate form, to feel his pulse and heart for signs of life. Elleri ran to her side to stare in disapproval at the inert form. "If he's dead ..." Vanessa said, then stopped. Her mind refused to continue, would not accept the unacceptable.

"I hope he is!" Elleri said, with the greatest relish.

"Someone—call a doctor," Vanessa said, sparing a moment to look up at the throng around the door. It was swelling to a crowd. A man went off to do as she asked, a patron of the inn, she thought.

More chaos followed. Men she had never seen before pushed their way through the crowd, making important sounds of "Stand aside!" They were stalwart, compelling gentlemen, wearing the face of officialdom. They took charge of the shambles, put out the mere curiosity seekers. They were efficient, unemotional, reassuring types. They lifted Landon onto her aunt's bed, told her unequivocally he was not dying. They outlined briefly that they had come with him from London, had been waiting at various spots outside to apprehend Carlisle if he tried to escape.

"His female accomplice is already in custody," they told her.

"Everything was under control till your unexpected entry," one added with a rebukeful glance.

"Why didn't you come in with him? Why did you let him come alone?" she retorted.

"Lady, you don't
give
Colonel Landon orders; you
take
them, if you know what's good for you."

"It didn't seem necessary," the other explained. "We saw from the window that Carlisle was in the room alone, rummaging through drawers and furnishings. He'd left the window open, to escape quickly if he heard Miss Simons at the door. We saw the carriage waiting below, took command of it and arrested the female. Colonel Landon took the decision to go in by the door and arrest him, but the instant he sneaked in, the lady came back to her room."