Captive Surrender (10 page)

She shook her head at
Eloisa and closed the sitting room door. If the man on the horse
had been of fair character and an upstanding citizen like Rufus,
she knew that secretly, she would have had that same dreamy look on
her face. As it was, the only man who had captured her interest in
all of her life, and made her feel like a female rather than a
housekeeper, was the unnamed stranger on horseback who was
undoubtedly as disreputable as he was handsome. She sighed and
shook her head.

“
Come on,
Robbie, let’s go.”

“
What’s wrong
with her?”

“
Got too cold
this afternoon, probably,” Prudence murmured and smiled ruefully at
Robbie’s youthful ignorance as she followed him out of the
door.

She hated to go down to
the beach in the dark, especially with Levant having shown so much
interest in the place but, given that Rufus had remained with them
for most of the afternoon, it had been impossible to go out and
collect the drift wood and debris they needed to keep the fires
alight.

“
I hate
this,” Robbie muttered. Ever since he had been accosted at
Dinnington the other night, he hated being out in the dark. He even
went so far as to close his shutters before it got dark so that he
didn’t know just how black it was outside. He edged closer to
Prudence and squeaked when her hand landed on his
shoulder.

“
Settle down,
it is only me,” Prudence sighed. She could understand his
nervousness. She didn’t like being outside now either, especially
after Rufus’ warning. It made her feel far too vulnerable, and she
didn’t like it one bit. “Let’s not go too far, we only need enough
to last us overnight. We can come back in the morning when it is
light and get whatever else we need.”

She sighed as her feet
sank into the soft sand and peered through the darkness for the
dark strips of wood that had been washed ashore. Most of it at the
top of the beach had been there for an age and was dry enough to
burn on the fire, even though it had rained for the most part of
the day. After several moments of wandering along she spied several
items and moved toward them. Robbie was further down the beach,
closer to the shoreline. They had about an hour before the tide
came in, but it was more than enough time to get what they needed
without risking drowning.

Thumps and clumps were
the only sounds that broke the silence as both she and Robbie began
to gather driftwood and drop it in a pile at the base of the path
that led toward the house. They first filled the basket and then
created a small pile beside it. Once it was big enough, they would
both then make several trips to carry everything up to the
house.

“
Aahhh!” The
suddenness of Robbie’ scream made her jump.

Prudence spun around, her
eyes wide with fear and gasped at the sight of the tall figure
bearing down on her brother.

“
Get away
from me,” Robbie pleaded. He couldn’t see much in the gloom but was
very aware of the tall, dark shadow suddenly looming menacingly
toward him out of the darkness. His stomach lurched and, although
he was aware of the man rushing toward him, he struggled to tear
his gaze away from the blank, empty eyes of the dead man at his
feet.

“
Come here,
lad,” Stephen growled. He had to stop the young land from screaming
so much. He had been watching Robbie collect wood, but was too late
to stop him from stumbling over the body. Now, it was too late to
stop him screaming and send him on his way.

“
No! Get away
from me!” Robbie stumbled backward and, in his desperation to
escape, fell over his own feet. His bottom landed in the sea with a
splash but he was oblivious to everything except for the blind
panic that swamped him.

“
Prudence!”
he screamed at the top of his lungs. His frantic gaze flew this way
and that as he tried to see his sister, but couldn’t. For all
intents and purposes, he was the only person on the beach, apart
from the dead man, and the stranger who had threatened him the
other night.

Desperation clawed at
him. Robbie clambered onto all fours and began to scramble away
only to yelp when a large fist grabbed hold of the back of his
shirt and stopped him from running for home.

“
Get off me!
Get away from me!” he cried desperately.

“
Settle down
now, I am not going to hurt you.” Stephen cursed fluidly when one
particularly efficient foot caught his shin with rather too much
directness, but daren’t let go just yet.

Unable to see Prudence,
and panicked at the sight of the dead man, Robbie began to scream
at the top of his lungs.

Prudence felt sick. She
knew immediately who that tall shadowy figure was. She couldn’t
make out who lay at his feet, but they had nothing to do with
Robbie. Her gaze flew up and down the beach but she couldn’t see
Levant, or anyone else. The house was too far away to get someone
from home to come and help her. Even if she did get home, what
could they do that she couldn’t? She couldn’t go and fetch Rufus,
there wasn’t time. There were very few options open to her, so she
sent a silent prayer of forgiveness heavenward as she picked out
the thickest piece of driftwood she could see in her bucket and
swung it hard at the man’s head.

Stephen sensed movement
to his right and turned around. He only just managed to catch sight
of the woman his soul seemed to know and recognise before pain
exploded in his head and the world went black.

Her makeshift club was
heavier than she had thought it was, and was difficult to control
as she swung it at him in a wild arch that nearly dragged her off
her feet. She winced at the sickening sound the wood made as, with
more luck than judgement, it struck the back of his head. As soon
as the man slid silently to the ground, she threw the driftwood
onto the sand beside him and turned to Robbie.

“
Are you
alright? Did he hurt you?” She caught her brother’s bony shoulders
in her hands and shook him until he tore his gaze away from the
lump at his feet and turned to look at her.

He silently pointed to
the mound beside him. Prudence sidled around the body of the
handsome stranger, and edged closer to what had captured Robbie’s
attention with such determination that the young boy didn’t seem
able to move.

“
What is
it?”

“
I don’t
know, but it is dead,” Robbie whispered solemnly. “It is a man, but
I don’t know who he is.”

“
A man?”
Prudence’s stomach dropped to her toes and she felt a wave of acute
disappointment sweep through her that was so strong that she
immediately wanted to cry with the sadness of it all. She quickly
blanked it out, and fought the wave of sickness that threatened.
Instead she sucked in a deep breath, and peered through the gloom
to get a better look. “Who is it?” She had no idea why she was
whispering, there was nobody else on the beach to hear
them.

“
I don’t
know.” Robbie clutched at her hand tightly and refused to let
go.

Prudence had to
practically drag him with her as she edged forward to get a better
look at the face of the man who had been washed ashore.

“
Oh, merciful
heavens,” Prudence gasped. She stared in horror down at the
familiar face of Mr Simpson, a local farmer who had owned a large
area of land on the other side of Dinnington Hall. “It is Mr
Simpson.”

“
The
Mr Simpson?” Robbie gulped
incredulously.

“
How many Mr
Simpson’s do you know?” Prudence demanded sarcastically. She glared
at the man she had knocked out and wasn’t sure whether she felt
sorry for him or not.

“
What did you
do to him?” her brother asked as he peered over her shoulder and
nodded toward the unconscious stranger a few feet away.

“
I hit him
with some driftwood, but I think I may have done it a bit too
hard.”

“
We can’t
leave him here,” Robbie sighed. “The tide will be in soon. He is
going to drown.”

“
What about
him?” Prudence demanded, pointing to Mr Simpson’s body. “We cannot
get both of them out of here, there isn’t time.” She was already
aware that the sea had started to creep ever closer and wondered if
they even had a full hour before the sea swallowed the sand where
they stood, and the men lay. They could just about drag one man off
the beach but couldn’t manage both of them.

While Levant’s man was
tall and muscular, he was undoubtedly twice the weight of Prudence
and Robbie combined. Mr Simpson was smaller in stature, but was
heavier, and he was dead already.

“
We need to
take him,” Robbie muttered and pointed to the handsome stranger.
“Mr Simpson is already dead; look at him.”

“
I know that,
Robbie, but if we leave him here, he is going to be swept out to
sea and then Rufus will never be able to find out how he
died.”

“
He drowned,
Prudence,” Robbie declared flatly. “Look at him.”

Although Prudence had to
admit he had a point, she couldn’t ignore the fact that the
handsome stranger, the same man who had been watching the house,
was on the beach, in the dark, with a dead man. She kept this
thought to herself and waved Robbie toward Mr Simpson. There was
nothing to say that Mr Simpson had died where he lay; the handsome
man may have been disturbed leaving the body on the
beach.

“
We don’t
have time to get him off the beach as well, so we will just have to
drag him to the dry sand and hope that the tide doesn’t get that
far. By the time we get to Rufus’ house, the tide will have come in
anyway, so there is little we can do except pray for a miracle.
Grab a hold of his arm.”

“
I am not
touching him,” Robbie protested. “He is dead,” he wailed, as though
Prudence didn’t realise.

Prudence sighed and knew
that her brother could argue over something until the cows came
home. His folded arms were enough to warn her that she wouldn’t be
able to move him on this and she sighed as she tried to keep hold
of her patience.

“
Fine, then
run back to the house and get Maggie and Eloisa; Georgiana and
Madeline too, if they are still up and about.” When Robbie didn’t
immediately move, she shoved him roughly in the direction of the
path that led toward home and hurriedly picked up the piece of
driftwood she had used as her weapon. She closed her mind to the
fact that, for the time being at least, she was alone, on the
beach, in the dark, with a dead body and an unconscious thug, and
stared blankly out to see while she waited for help.

The minutes Robbie was
gone ticked by as slowly as hours on a clock. She wondered if he
had forgotten what he had gone home for and shivered as a
particularly cool breeze swept over her already chilled flesh. She
couldn’t bring herself to consider what they were about to
do.

Eventually though, her
conscience demanded that she turn her attention to the handsome man
she had almost killed. Was he dead? Had she hit him too hard? She
had never hit anybody over the head before. How hard was one
supposed to hit someone without causing them permanent injury? Her
stomach lurched at the thought that she might actually have taken
his life, and guilt almost brought her to her knees. Panic began to
build until she just had to know. She had to find out if she had
taken the man’s life, and Rufus would have to come and arrest her
in the morning rather than Levant.

“
Hello?” She
called softly, and clutched the piece of wood like a talisman as
she edged closer. “Can you hear me?”

The man didn’t
respond.

“
Are you
awake?” She didn’t know what she should do. A part of her wanted to
stay away; to go back to the house and leave them both there, but
she just had to know if she had killed the man, preferably before
everyone else arrived on the beach.

“
Hello?”
Prudence bent down and pushed at the man’s shoulder. It rocked
gently but he didn’t move. “Oh God, please don’t tell me you are
dead.”

She nudged him harder and
harder for several moments before she began to pat him down. She
wasn’t sure what she was looking for, and was fairly certain that
whatever injuries he had sustained were not on his relatively broad
and well defined back. It took her several moments before she
realised what she was doing. She immediately stopped prodding him
and sat back to study his head and face for any sign of blood. From
memory, his hair was jet black, which made it impossible to see any
sign of blood in the thick tresses. She began to tentatively run
her fingers through his hair to feel his scalp in search of a
wound, and jumped back as though scalded when he groaned at the
persistent probing of her fingers over a small mound of swollen
flesh. She swallowed and winced at the wet, sticky patch just below
the crown of his head. The sight of his blood on her fingers,
combined with the knowledge that she had inflicted the injury made
her stomach lurch warningly. For one brief moment, she wondered if
she would be sick right there and then, but swallowed and pushed to
her feet only to jump when her foot was suddenly soaked by the
grasping tide.

“
We have to
get you out of here,” she muttered. She bent down and grabbed one
heavily muscled arm with two hands to try to drag him away from the
threat of the ocean only to scream when his arm was suddenly
snatched out of her fingers. The sight of the heavily muscled limb
across her waist was immediately replaced by the stars in the night
sky as she was lifted clear off her feet and swung around. She
landed on her back in the sand with a dull thud that wasn’t
painful, but took the wind out of her chest. She barely had time to
draw a breath before her view of the stars was suddenly blocked out
by the face of the handsome stranger, who glowered down at her with
a dark frown on his face.