Wolf Who Loved Me (21 page)

“Man never did know how to lose graciously.”

“I’d waited much too long,” Wes began hesitantly.

“We’ve already established that.” Gray picked at a loose string on his trousers.

“And I ended up knocking Chilcombe in the nose. He went down like a stone.”

“Soft chin, that man,” Gray said with a whimsical sigh.

“I had to hide the body.”

“Of course, you did. Where’d you put him?”

“Hythe’s stables.”

Gray nodded as though he would have done the same thing.

“There was a storm brewing,” Wes continued, “and no one was about, or so I thought. I didn’t smell her rosewater until it was too late.”

“Lady Madeline caught you hiding Chilcombe’s inert body?”

Wes winced as he continued. “Then she saw me change under the full moon. I couldn’t stop it. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And so was I.”

Gray shot to his feet. “You let Lady Madeline see your wolf?” he cried.

“Would you shut up?” Wes hissed at him.

“I can’t believe you did something so stupid.” Gray shook his head. “Dash is going to rip your tail off when we get home.” He thought it over a minute. “So that’s why you took off for Gretna? How on earth did you convince Lady Madeline to marry you?”

“I didn’t give her a choice,” Wes grumbled.

“Oh, dear God,” Gray said, his eyes open wide as he listened for the rest of the story.

“I left a note for her father that said we were madly in love. And that I was taking her away to marry her.”

“So, she had no choice but to marry you.” Gray rubbed his brow as though to stave off a headache. “But that still doesn’t explain why Lucy and Dovenby were with you.”

Wes waved him away. “They’re inconsequential. We found them on the road. Dovenby worked his way into the carriage. And here we are.”

“But now two of you are missing.”

“Dovenby?” Wes asked. Surely the earl wouldn’t be so stupid as to take Wes’ wife. What purpose would that serve? “He wouldn’t.”

“Dovenby has more than one score to settle with you. Starting back with that very first cricket match at Eton.”

“If he has taken her, I’ll kill him.”

“What if she went willingly? Perhaps her night in your arms wasn’t as good for her as it was for you.”

“It was good for her,” Wes said with pride.

“How do you know?”

“Shut up, Gray,” Wes growled. He rubbed at his forehead the same way his brother had done. His wife and Dovenby were both missing. But Dovenby had no coach. “The coach,” Wes croaked.

“You mean Dash’s coach? He’s more than a bit miffed about that. He’s like a pup with a thorn in its paw.”

But Wes was already on his way down the corridor, headed for the stables. “Go find the innkeeper and make some inquiries,” he called over his shoulder. He didn’t even wait to hear his brother’s response. Gray might irritate him to no end, but he’d do what Wes asked.

Wes sprinted for the stables. He inquired politely about Renshaw, but no one had any idea of where the driver was. Suddenly, a shriek came from the privy. Wes ran in that direction. He stopped short when he found Renshaw trussed up better than a Christmas goose, bound with rope and stuffed in the corner of the small closet. “Oh, dear God,” Wes breathed, as he bent to loosen the man’s bindings.

One curse after another flew from the driver’s mouth as Wes took the rag from between his teeth. For the first time in his life, Wes feared bodily harm from the man. He ducked as Renshaw threw a punch at him. “You and your kind,” the driver growled. “You’re nothing but trouble.”

“What happened?” Wes asked, trying to maintain a semblance of patience.

As the driver began to relay the events of that morning, Gray strode into his line of sight. “Renshaw, nice to see you,” he said in greeting.

“Not another one of you,” the man grumbled. Then more curses flew from his lips. Even Wes winced at the ferocity of them.

“The innkeeper hadn’t seen Dovenby, but his wife did. Said he was in quite a hurry to leave this morning,” Gray informed him. “She said he was traveling with a blond lass.”

Maddie
. Wes’ heart constricted. Why would she leave with the blackguard? “Did he have her bound and gagged?” That might make sense.

Gray shrugged. “She didn’t mention anything like that. I feel certain she would have, had it been the case.”

“I hate all of you,” Renshaw grumbled.

“I did catch a scent out by the road.”

“All I can smell is orange,” Wes said, rubbing his nose and willing the scent away to no avail.

“Unnatural is all I can say,” Renshaw continued beneath his breath.

Gray and Wes both looked at him and said in unison, “Would you shut up?”

The man kicked at a stone in anger, but he didn’t say another word.

“The orange scent goes south. But it goes north as well, along with a very slight rosewater scent like Lady Madeline normally wears,” Gray said.

Wes growled beneath his breath.

“You can’t blame a man for noticing,” Gray rushed to explain. “The orange and rosewater scent goes north.”

“Why on earth would he take her north?”

Gray shrugged.

Wes had no idea either, but he planned to find out. And when he caught Dovenby on his northward dash to wherever, he’d kill him.

Off in the distance, thunder rumbled overhead. Wes ground his teeth together. “We need to hurry before her scent is washed away.”

Maddie shivered and pulled the travel blanket tighter around her shoulders. She curled against the side of the coach as rain pelted the conveyance from all sides. Lord Dovenby lightly snored on the opposite bench, and Maddie wished she could open the door and leap from the conveyance to freedom. But that would be foolish. She could hardly escape a full-grown werewolf in the rain with a broken leg, which she’d most assuredly receive from such a fall. Besides, she was certain he would awake as soon as she threw open the door, making the attempt a poorly chosen one.

No, she’d just have to patiently wait for the coach to stop to change horses. Of course, stopping wouldn’t secure her freedom. She could bolt, but he’d catch her in just a step or two. She could quietly make an escape, but she already smelled like a sack of rotten oranges. A normal man would be able to track her scent. For a man like Dovenby, it wouldn’t even be a challenge.

Maddie glanced around the carriage, wishing she had something to cosh him over the head with. But nothing caught her eye. Then she considered her blanket. She could smother him with the travel blanket… but he’d wake before she finished the job and he was much stronger than she was. Then she’d be in even worse trouble.

She sighed out of frustration. There had to be something she could do.

“Did you know,” Dovenby began, nearly making Maddie leap out of her skin, “you sigh more often than most women. Quite distracting.”

Had he only been pretending to sleep? Maddie glared at the Lycan. “I am certain
most
abducted women sigh just as often as I do.”

He chuckled. “It wasn’t meant as an insult, Madeline. Just an observation.” Dovenby blinked open his eyes, sat up straight, and glanced out the window. “Ah, there we are.”

What exactly did that mean? Maddie scrambled to look out her rain-splattered window and saw a small inn in the distance. “Time to change horses?” she asked hopefully.

The earl smirked. “Don’t get any ideas, my dear. Running off would just make me angry. And I promise you don’t want to do that.”

How did he know what she had planned? Had she given something away with all of her sighing? Maddie feigned what she hoped was her most innocent look. “I’d just like to use the necessary, my lord. Or is that not allowed?”

“I’m not certain why you perceive me to be such a beast, Madeline.”

“Perhaps because you’re holding me against my will. Or perhaps because you
are
a beast.”

“You asked me to remove you from Hadley. I did so.”

“I asked you to take me to my father.”

“You’ll be safer with me.” He dismissed her comment with the wave of his hand. “Do you really need to use the necessary? It’s coming down pretty steady out there.”

No. She really didn’t need to, but Maddie nodded her head. “Most women do need to do so at some point, my lord.”

“Very well,” he said as the coach slowed to a stop. “I’ll wait outside the door then.”

Maddie kept from groaning. How would she ever escape him if he stood sentry outside the door? “Thank you,” she mumbled. “And I should like something to eat if possible.”

He smiled, reminding her of how handsome she’d thought him when they first met. She shook the thought away. Appearances were often deceiving. “Whatever you wish, my lady.”

“Whatever I wish?” she couldn’t help from asking.

“Well, mostly,” he clarified as he opened the carriage door, stepped into the downpour, and offered her his hand. “We won’t be heading to Kent, if that’s what you were going to ask me.”

Of course not. Maddie accepted his hand and allowed him to help her alight from the coach, wincing as the muddy ground threatened to swallow up her slippers. Dovenby had mentioned that mud disguised scents, hadn’t he? If she could escape him, she could roll herself in mud once more. It might be her only opportunity to free herself. Besides, her dress couldn’t possibly become any worse for wear than it already was.

Maddie glanced around the coaching yard, hoping to find someone who looked like a good Samaritan, but to no avail. Not with the rain pouring as it was. Even imbeciles knew to come in out of the rain.

Dovenby quickly guided her around the stables to a small privy, using his jacket above their heads to keep what little rain off them he could. “Here you are, my lady. Do be quick, will you?”

Just as Maddie had feared, there was no way to escape with him standing guard. So she stepped inside the small closet and made certain to rustle her skirts to keep him from being suspicious. After a moment, she knocked on the door and he let her out, shielding her once more with his jacket from the storm.

“Feeling better?” he asked.

“Much,” she lied.

“Good. Let’s see about some lunch, shall we?”

Maddie agreed with the nod of her head. Then the two of them bolted around the stables and finally into the safety of the taproom, which was fairly dark and devoid of anyone other than a tavern maid.

“My wife and I are drenched and quite famished,” Dovenby said to the woman behind the bar, and Maddie had to work to swallow her gasp at his audacity. How dare he? “Do you have something hearty, lass?”

“Meat pies baked this mornin’,” she replied.

“Wonderful. We’ll take two along with some ale.” Dovenby held out a chair for Maddie, and after she sat, he took a seat beside her.

“Wife?” Maddie hissed under her breath.

“I wouldn’t want to damage your reputation, my dear. Now smile and behave yourself.”

Behave
yourself?
Maddie was tired of behaving. She’d been behaving all of her life—well, except for when she jumped out that Yorkshire inn window and when she’d actually married Weston Hadley. And though that situation hadn’t ended like she’d hoped, she wasn’t ready to go back to behaving herself to appease the men around her. The Earl of Dovenby’s handsome looks would be most improved with meat pie dripping from his hair and eyelashes. What a pity she didn’t have her pie yet.

***

“We are not taking you with us,” Wes said for what seemed like the hundredth time that morning in the taproom.

Lucy Reed thrust out her lower lip in a very practiced pout. “But I have every right to go. There are a few things I’d like to say to the esteemed Earl of Dovenby.”

Gray dropped his hand on Lucy’s shoulder, a mischievous twinkle in his dark eyes. “I don’t see the harm, Wes.”

So much for brotherly loyalty. Wes managed not to snort. His twin only wanted to secure Lucy’s affections. “It is about to storm, Grayson. I cannot be slowed down. So if you are too busy to travel with me, perhaps you should say here with Lucy.”

Gray frowned. “Very well,” he grumbled and squeezed Lucy’s shoulder. “Wes is right, love. It could be dangerous, and I wouldn’t want to see you hurt or get rained on. Do you want to wait for me here? Or do you want me to put you on a mail coach back to London?”

“It’s so nice to be around a true gentleman, Mr. Hadley.”

“Tell that to his tutor,” Wes mumbled under his breath only loud enough for Gray to hear.

Gray spun Lucy toward him and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Wait for me here, Luce?”

She shook her head and her blond curls back and forth. “I really must be getting back to London. Visit me there?”

“It will be my honor.”

She grinned at Gray. “Promise me something.”

“Anything,” Gray vowed.

“Will you break his nose for me?”

Gray laughed. “What a bloodthirsty wench you are. I’ll be happy to break the fiend’s nose and blacken his eye all in your name, Miss Reed.”

She batted her eyelashes at him. “I always knew you were my favorite Hadley.”

Wes somehow managed not to roll his eyes. “We really should be off, Grayson.”

“Of course, of course.” His brother gestured to the exit. “After you, brother.”

As soon as Wes stepped outside, lightning flashed in the ominous grey sky. Damn it to hell, they had to hurry.

Thankfully, a sour-faced Renshaw held two mounts steady for the brothers Hadley. “If you don’t tell Lord Eynsford his coach was stolen from me, I’ll forgive your debt.”

Wes shook his head. Poor Renshaw really had endured an awful morning. “My lips are sealed, old man. But I’m still good for my debts. I don’t hold you responsible for Dovenby’s scheme.” Then he mounted a sturdy bay at the same moment Gray swung up onto a chestnut.

“Northward!” Gray declared and kicked his horse’s belly before bolting for the main road.

Wes followed suit, trusting his brother’s nose more than his own at the moment. Hugging his bay close, Wes barreled north as the grey sky darkened overhead. Dear God! They needed to find her before her scent disappeared completely.

Gray rode like the wind, as fast as his chestnut would carry him. The one thing they had on their side was speed. The coach was heavier and couldn’t travel nearly as fast as they could on horseback. But Dovenby did have quite a large head start.

But after a few miles, the sky opened up and a deluge of rain nearly washed the road out from beneath them. Gray headed for the closest tree line and Wes pulled up beside him.

Gray shook his head. “I can’t catch her scent. Can you?”

Wes’ heart sank. All he could smell were horses and the scent of a Scottish rainstorm. “When the rain lets up, we’ll keep heading north.” There wasn’t anything else they could do.

Gray sighed and looked sincerely sorry. “You know as well as I that the storm will wash away all trace of her.”

“She’s my wife, Grayson!” Wes growled, wanting to knock his brother from his horse to the sodden ground. “I can’t give up. I
love
her.”

“I know,” his twin replied as though the weight of the world rested on his shoulders. “You always have. I didn’t mean we should give up. Just that it’s going to be difficult.”

Wes scoffed. “We’re Hadleys. When have things not been difficult for us?”

“True enough,” Gray agreed. “True enough.”

***

Maddie shoveled the warm meat pie into her mouth. She was so ravenous that it nearly melted on her tongue. She probably looked like an uncivilized heathen who hadn’t eaten in weeks, but she couldn’t help herself.

“Would you like me to get you another?” Dovenby asked, amusement lacing his voice.

“Only if you’d like to wear it,” she returned haughtily and stiffened her back the way her grandmother always did when she was affronted.

The earl laughed. “You’ve truly become a Hadley, haven’t you?”

A pain squeezed Maddie’s heart.
Weston
. She shouldn’t have run off. She should have demanded that Wes return her to her father instead of trying to escape him. She was in a much worse situation than she would have been if she’d done things the right way. Now she was at the mercy of an unscrupulous werewolf. “Just what do you plan to do with me, my lord?”

He dabbed his mouth with his napkin and sat back in his chair. “I suppose I haven’t quite decided yet.”

Hardly helpful. “Well, where are we headed? Or is that a mystery to you as well? Shall we just travel the length of Scotland until an idea strikes you?”

“You do have a saucy tongue, Madeline.” He smiled wolfishly. “I like that.”

Maddie glared at him.

“But so conflicted,” he continued. “I can see it in your countenance. You’ve been raised to be a proper lady, genteel, subservient, obedient. A very interesting mix, my dear.”

“Where are you taking me, my lord?” she asked again.

Dovenby shrugged. “I’ve got a set of stables a few hours north of here.”

“Stables?”

“I dabble in breeding,” he explained. “There’s something about the Scottish air that makes the cattle stronger. I do quite well on the racing circuit with my horseflesh.”

“How wonderful for you,” she muttered.

“And for you. I’m certain there’s something you can change into at Strathwell. Something my sister left behind. Something belonging to one of the maids.” He grinned. “Or perhaps you’d just prefer to take a nice warm bath and then slide into bed instead.” The way he said the words made her certain he meant
his
bed.

The idea churned Maddie’s stomach, and bile rose up in her throat. What an awful thought. She couldn’t imagine any man touching her the way Weston had. She didn’t want any man to ever touch her the way Weston had. Blast him! When had she fallen in love with her perfidious, unfaithful husband? “I’m a married woman,” she reminded the earl.

“Who has left her husband.”

“That doesn’t change my circumstances, as you reminded me in Gretna.”

He agreed with a nod. “Do you know how many married women I’ve entertained?”

Maddie’s mouth fell open.

“A world of opportunities has opened up for you, Madeline.”

Opportunities? Most certainly a euphemism for whatever he had planned for her. “I am not a whore.”

“No, indeed. A lady born and bred.” His wolfish grin returned. “A true lady whose beauty can’t be disguised by mud, ruined dresses, or the harshness of travel. I bet you’ll be stunning in the morning. The sun transforming your locks to golden silk fanned against my pillow. Your soft skin bared for my touch. I think we’ll rub along quite well, Madeline.”

She picked up her tankard of ale and splashed it in his face. The meat pie truly would have looked better on him. “Take me back to my husband.”

Dovenby chuckled as he wiped the ale from his face with his napkin. “Hadley doesn’t deserve you.”

“Neither do you.”

He nodded in agreement. “And yet we find ourselves thrust together anyway. Fate, perhaps?”

Fate would never be so unkind to her. “Nefarious scheme,” she countered.

“Word play is so much more interesting with you than it ever was with Lucy.”

“I’m certain my instructors would be so proud,” she grumbled.

Dovenby rose from his spot, and the legs of his chair scraped the wooden floor. “Have you finished?”

Maddie glanced back at her plate. She only had a few bites left but still no solid plan for escape. Drat! Where had the time gone? “I thought you were going to order me another,” she replied, hedging for more time.

“And I believe you threatened to dump it on my head. Under the circumstances, I’d rather forgo that, if you don’t mind.”