My Fair Lily(84)

She was with Ashton in Maidstone, and held at Sparrow Hall.

Lord, help Lily if we’re wrong.

The rain stopped as they reached the crest of a hill. Sprawled out before them was the town of Maidstone. Though a vibrant market town, it appeared eerily quiet just now. A gray mist covered the roads leading in, and the menacing, red dawn cast a disquieting hue over the houses, as though their roofs and walls were tinged with blood. Ewan wasn’t superstitious by nature and refused to take it as a bad omen.

Any sailor knew that a red dawn breaking over the horizon meant more storms were on the way. While dangerous at sea, on land it was a nuisance. Nothing more. A cock crowed in the distance, signaling another problem. Damn. He’d hoped to reach Sparrow Hall under cover of darkness. “How are you holding up, Jasper?”

The loyal lump of a dog gave a weak woof in reply.

“Not far now,” he assured, looking down into his trusting chocolate eyes. Jasper was used to romping and chasing sheep over the Highlands cliffs and dales for hours at a time, but this trek was a bit too much even for his boundless stamina.

Homer drew ahead to take the lead. “I know the area well, m’lord. My wife’s family lives in these parts. Sparrow Hall is just beyond the next hill. A bleak place it is. I doubt any of its residents were ever happy there. Not surprised young Lord Mortimer,” he said, referring to Ashton, “turned out as he did. There was always a darkness to this house. M’wife always thought so.”

They rode over the hill and across a soggy meadow that ended at the edge of the woods. “We’d better leave our horses here, m’lord. Sparrow Hall is just on the other side of those trees. Unfortunately, they’ve cleared much of the grounds around the house, so any guards posted by the windows will see us once we reach the clearing.”

Ewan nodded. “We’ll have to create a diversion. Mr. Barrow, you and your runners must somehow distract them while George and I break into the house.”

“Aye, m’lord. Leave it to us.”

But as they approached, Ashton and his men suddenly ran out the front door as though the devil were on their tails. Ashton appeared furious, cursing at his men as he pointed in various directions. He shoved one of them toward the house. “What are they doing?” George whispered.

For the first time in what felt like a century, Ewan cracked a smile. “Searching for Lily. She’s outsmarted them all. She’s escaped.” And he meant to find her before Ashton got his hands on her again. He turned to Homer. “Start your diversion. Jasper and I are going to track her down.”

“With pleasure, m’lord. Don’t ye worry, we’ll round up these louts. Stay back, Dr. Farthingale. Wouldn’t want you hurt. Those men are armed and dangerous, so it’s best ye leave the dirty work to us.”

As Homer created his diversion, Ewan took off at a run through the woods, Jasper lumbering at his heels. He heard shouts and gunshots behind him, but stopped as soon as he was moderately clear of the action to withdraw a pair of Lily’s gloves from his breast pocket and hold them out to Jasper to sniff. “Find Lily.” He hoped the torrential rain hadn’t wiped away all trace of her.

Jasper let out a howl and began to lope straight toward the house. “Bollix,” Ewan muttered, realizing his dog had picked up an old scent. Fortunately, Ashton’s men were too busy fending off the Bow Street runners to pay the beast any heed. But where was Ashton? He’d slipped away.

Damn.

Now done sniffing the house, Jasper tore once again into the woods. Ewan raced after him, doing his best to keep up, following the sound of that large, lumbering body crashing through the underbrush whenever he lost sight of him. Jasper howled again. Ewan spotted him at the intersection of three small trails, spinning around as though chasing his own tail. Damn it. Jasper had lost her scent or might have caught it in too many directions.

Ewan reached for Lily’s gloves again, and was about to kneel beside him when he heard the cock of a pistol. In the next moment, he heard Lily cry out from behind him. A simple “No!” from her lips at the same moment a shot rang out. He felt a fiery sting at his shoulder. Ignoring the sudden explosion of pain throughout his body, he whirled toward Lily. She was alive!

Ashton had her in his grasp, and now that his pistol was useless, he’d thrown it aside and was about to draw a knife to her throat. Ewan lunged at him, knocking Ashton and Lily to the ground. It couldn’t be helped. The blackguard still held her. He managed to get between them, digging an elbow into Ashton’s wrist so that he yelped in pain and released Lily. She quickly rolled away. At the same time, Ewan grabbed Ashton’s other wrist and twisted it. “Drop the knife.”