Sweet Temptation (44 page)

“So?”

“I have just come from headquarters. I was there when Hawley organized the detail that will pursue the Prince. He is known to have taken the same route as Lady Carlisle. Hawley directed his men to pay particular attention to Lady Carlisle and her party. If there is any chance she may offer to help the Prince …” The Earl left his sentence unfinished, but Gavin understood. He knew there was
every
chance. In fact, he was quite certain that Sara would help the prince, if it were at all possible.

“I do not think Cumberland would go so far as to actually harm her,” the Earl began.

“But she must not be found with the prince,” Gavin finished for him. “Why did you tell me this?” he asked his father.

“It cost me a severe struggle before I could make up my mind, but there are many reasons.”

“Many?”

“Actually yes, but I will give you one which I think you will believe. If anything were to happen to the child your wife is carrying, Hawley could inherit Lochknole. I would commit half the crimes of Christendom to prevent that.”

Gavin let loose a crack of laughter. “Leave it to you to have a thoroughly hellish reason for doing something decent. We’ll send you an announcement of the birth.”

“Announcement be damned! I intend to be present at the baptism.”

Gavin stared hard at his father for a moment, then shrugged indifferently. “In a way, I suppose this child means as much to you as it does to us. I guess it’s only fair that you would be allowed to savor your success. Just don’t plan to stay too long.”

“I won’t. Domestic felicity sickens me.”

Sara could no longer hear the sounds of battle, but she knew what the deep boom of the big guns could mean to a human body, and her imagination continued to torture her with visions of what could be happening to the Highlanders, to men she knew, to Ian. She had not wanted to be separated from Gavin again, but she knew it was best. She really
didn’t
want to see the Prince’s dream come to an end, but more than that, she didn’t want to have to see what was happening to the people she knew. And she was certain their cause was lost. How often were wars started by the people least capable of winning them?

She tried to concentrate on Gavin and their future together, but for once her husband could not hold her thoughts. They were back on that terrible moor near Culloden.

“Are we going to reach Estameer tonight?” Betty asked. She was no more interested in the trip than Sara, but she seemed to be less upset about the battle.

“No. Gavin told me to spend tonight on the road.” They were silent for a while longer.

“I wonder if the Fraser is all right?” Betty wondered aloud.

“You like him, don’t you?” Sara asked. She tried to smile, but her face refused. “You should ask him to marry you.”

“Marry
me!”
Betty squawked so suddenly, Sara did smile. “I’m not such a bold piece as that,” exclaimed her maid. “Besides, what would a gentleman like him do with a female the likes of me?”

“Thank his lucky stars you agreed to marry him.”

“No, I like him well enough but not to marry. It’s just that he’s such a charming gentleman.”

“Not to mention handsome, loyal, and ruthless,” said Sara. “Thank you, but I’m just as glad I fell in love with Gavin.”

“I guess it is best, but …” Betty sighed and failed to finish her thought. Sara decided it would be useless to try and oust Ian in Betty’s affections. If her anger over his kidnapping Sara could only last a few days, she doubted anything else would serve to turn Betty against Ian. She would always remember his courtly behavior and delightful smile, and never see the vein of selfishness that ran so close to the surface. Oh well, it wasn’t necessary. Sara loved Gavin, and that was all that mattered.

They hadn’t been on the road for much more than two hours when they suddenly became aware of the sound of several horses somewhere on the road behind them, coming toward them at a gallop. Sara and Betty looked at each other, unsure of what this could mean. Was Gavin coming after her for some reason? Could it be bandits? With so many men away from their homes with the Prince, there had been no one to keep the highwaymen in check all winter. Betty hung her head out the window.

“It’s the Prince,” she told Sara in surprise, “and he’s coming this way as fast as he can.”

“Tell the coachman to stop.” Sara didn’t have to wait long before the Prince reined in alongside them.

“All is lost,” he declared dramatically. “There’s a reward of thirty thousand pounds on my head, so I must get away quickly. Cumberland’s men can’t be far behind.”

“Is there anywhere you can hide?” Sara asked.

“No. We must ride on and hope to find fresh horses before we are overtaken.”

An idea suddenly sprang into Sara’s mind. It seemed wild and improbable, but it might succeed for that very reason. “I can disguise you as my maid,” she told the prince. “Then your men can ride off, and the soldiers will follow them. Everybody knows Betty is as tall as a man, and in the shadows of the carriage, they won’t be able to see your features clearly.”

The prince was naturally reluctant to adopt such a disguise, but his vanguard heartily approved of it, and in a short time they had him in Betty’s clothes and seated opposite Sara. Betty was dressed as a man, given a hat and high collar which virtually covered her face, provided with a rifle, and told to ride in the box with the driver as a guard. Then the Prince’s men rode off to the south, promising to leave his horse where he could find it later.

“This is a sad way to end our adventure,” the Prince observed with a heavy sigh. “If I had known so many would lose their lives in my cause, I doubt I should have come.”

“You had to come,” Sara assured him. “It was your destiny, just as it was their choice to support your cause. They made the decision for themselves, so you must not reproach yourself with their deaths.”

“You are such a comforting woman,” the Prince said thankfully. “I wonder if your husband realizes what a treasure he has in you?”

“I’m not sure that treasure is the word Gavin would have chosen, but yes, I think he does know my worth.”

“He is the most fortunate of men.” The Prince lapsed into a period of introspection, only occasionally rousing himself to make a remark. Sara left him to his thoughts. She was worried about the soldiers she expected would soon follow them. They had turned to the east, away from the most logical route for the Prince to take, but she was certain Cumberland’s men would follow her. She wondered what she would say to them.

She didn’t have long to wait. Less than half an hour later, she heard the sound of thundering hooves again, and shortly afterwards Betty pounded on the roof with the butt of her rifle, the signal they had agreed upon to warn her the soldiers had come.

“Let me do all the talking,” Sara told the prince. “You may pass for Betty in general shape, but not in voice.”

A few moments later, the soldiers came alongside the coach, and Sara unfastened the window so she could talk to them.

“We’re looking for the Stuart Prince,” a soldier called out to her.

“We haven’t seen him. We left quite early this morning.”

“I know, but we were told he had come this way.”

“We did think we heard a troop of horses some time back, but they must have turned off. No one passed us.”

“Who goes with you?” the soldier asked.

“My maid and a rather surly young man my husband hired to safeguard us from highwaymen.” The soldier peered into the dim interior of the carriage. It was the man Betty had knocked down that very morning. “Surely you recognize my maid, or would you rather she got down, so you might inspect her more closely?”

“I remember her,” the man replied, wanting to give Betty no further opportunity to assault his person. Lt. Gen. Hawley had told him the Prince was heading this way; he had also told him that Lady Carlisle would not be above helping him escape. Still, there was no doubt that this was her ladyship’s maid. There couldn’t be two women in the whole world that size, and he wasn’t about to ask her to step out of the carriage. She might decide to fetch him another blow to the jaw in front of his men, and he would have to quit the army if they saw him bested by a woman twice in the same day, even if she was taller than he was. No, it had to be the maid, and that was all there was to it. “Would your driver have any idea where the horsemen turned off?”

“I don’t know, but you may ask him.” Sara waited patiently while the soldiers questioned the driver. At last they started back down the road at a gallop, and she was able to breath a sigh of relief.

“I congratulate you, Lady Carlisle,” the prince said, “but weren’t you afraid he would demand that I get out, so he might see me better.”

“No. This morning Betty knocked that same soldier down. I was certain he wouldn’t wish to give her the opportunity to do it again.”

The prince laughed softly. “Now, what do we do next?”

“I was hoping you would have the answer to that question. I suppose we just now turn our thoughts to its solution.” But neither of them had the opportunity to think for long. Within what seemed like minutes, they heard hooves approaching once again. The prince stiffened, and Sara turned white.

“Could they have returned?”

“But why? They couldn’t have had time to find your vanguard.”

“I have a pistol.”

“That won’t account for more than one, and you can’t get away without a horse. Sit quietly. I’ll think of something.” But moments later Sara could have cried with relief when Gavin’s beloved face came into view.

“I should have known I would find you here,” Gavin said, as soon as he saw the prince sitting where Betty should have been.

“Your wife was kind enough to suggest the disguise.”

“Foolish is the word I would have chosen,” Gavin said, “but there’s no time to worry about that now. We’ve got to get you out of those petticoats. If they should come back, they’re bound to have you out of the coach.”

“What did you tell them about Betty?”

“Just that she was a guard you had hired.”

“Did they show any interest in her?”

“No.”

“Then Betty and the Prince will exchange places.”

“But why?”

“Betty was the only one they couldn’t see, and she will be the only reason for them to come back. She must be Betty.”

“Then what about the Prince?”

“Did your men leave a horse for you?”

“Yes.”

“How long will it take you to reach it?”

“Under an hour.”

“Then you’re going to be the guard. I’ve caught up with my wife, and I’ve sent you back home. You’ll point the soldiers in our direction, think of something slightly suspicious to tell them about my arrival, if you can, but make sure they’re interested in us, not yourself. Once they’re past, you can safely leave the road, find your horse, and rejoin your men. They won’t follow you again.”

“Will you be safe?”

“Yes. You’re the only one in danger. Can you speak Gaelic?”

“After nine months’ intimate acquaintance with Highlanders, I can speak it like a native.”

“Good. Cumberland’s soldiers can’t, so they won’t know if your accent is not exactly true. Make them have enough difficulty understanding you so they won’t question you extensively, but be sure they understand well enough to know to come after us.”

The Prince smiled. “If you had been on my side, we might not have lost today.”

“If I had been on your side, you would never have left France,” Gavin replied brutally. “You have cost Scotland more than you can know.”

“I will do my best not to increase the price of her allegiance,” promised the prince, as he alighted from the carriage. Minutes later, clothed in the shabby clothes Betty had worn, and his face smeared with enough grime to make him seem the peasant he claimed to be, the prince headed back down the road.

“Are you certain he will be all right?” Sara asked, as the coach resumed its journey. “He has no way to protect himself now.”

“He has his wits and half the people of Scotland on his side,” Gavin replied. “He would do well enough with either, but with both, Cumberland will never catch him, even if it’s months before he can find a way to get to France.”

They had nearly reached the inn where they were to meet Ian, when the soldiers overtook them a second time. The men were tired and obviously out of temper.

“What are you doing here?” the soldier in charge demanded, when he saw Gavin seated next to his wife.

“What does it look like I’m doing?” demanded Gavin. “My wife and I are returning home.”

“You weren’t here before.”

“You will notice my horse tied to the rear of the coach,” Gavin said patiently. “I left after the battle and caught up with my wife and her maid.”

“As to that maid, I’d be obliged if she would step down, so we could have a look at her.”

“Betty? Surely you don’t suspect
her
of helping the princer?”

“As to that, I can’t say exactly, but he’s somewhere along these roads.”

“And you haven’t been able to find him,” Gavin finished for them.