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. A small smile teased the corners of her mouth. A viscount.He laughed, a hardy laugh, one that was filled as much with relief as happiness.He wanted to shout.Hewanted to carry her off.He wanted to know this joy for the rest of his life.He wanted the world to sharethe moment.Lifting her off the ground, he kissed her again, swirling her around and listening to the wondrous ring ofher laughter.He slowed and set her gently on her feet.He took a step back, but he still held, her hands.They stood there a little awkwardly, both of them so filled with the bliss of each other that they didn tsee Sir Hunt standing at the far window.They didn t see the pride in his face as he looked at his daughter.They didn t see the deep breath he took.They didn t see his shoulders begin to shake.They didn t see him cry.He was her hero.Oh, he didn t like to admit it, and he fought doing the honorable thing with almost every breath.But inthe end, it hadn t taken Letty long to persuade Richard to act the hero again.It had just taken a littlewhile.She and the men had pointedly discussed every option from tinkering to highway robbery?the latter asuggestion by Simon and Schoostor.It had been that final desperate offer of her mother s pearls that had broken Richard s resistance. Hell and blast! The Earl of Downe would provide  bloody positions for them,  dammit. He hadgroused that it was easier than having to testify at their trials. She gave him her most thankful smile.He only stared at her lips for the longest time, as if there weresomething wrong with them.After an uncomfortable few minutes, she began to wonder if she had bread and cheese crumbs on hermouth and ran her fingertips over them.His face took on the decidedly sick look of a man who had justbeen punched in the belly. Are you unwell?He didn t answer, just gave her that same foreign stare.He then seemed to realize what she d asked andlaughed that sardonic laugh of his. Yes.I do believe I m a sick man.She had walked over to stand above him.He said nothing. Thank you.He made some odd noise, then schooled his expression. What changed my mind, hellion, was the merethought of what could happen if the group of you put your heads together.Don t read any heroics into it.But try as he might to deny it, she knew differently. Well.thank you anyway.He grunted some response. Don t you suppose someone should untie Harry? Not concerned for your safety?She glanced at the sailor. Perhaps if I apologize.Richard shook his head. I ll take care of it.She smiled and started to speak.He held up a hand. Good God.Don t thank me again.I m not certain the unscrupulous side of my egocan take that much boundless gratitude in one hour.He went over and squatted down next to Harry.She turned back smiling, trying so very hard not to laugh aloud with glee.She had seen emotion in hiseyes.Yes, she had.And with every part of her being she hoped, she prayed, that deep down inside, Richardcared.Chapter 18 There was a full moon that Saturday night.But no one could see it.The fog was still too thick, and itseemed even more dense at the site of the old chapel ruins.Figures moved with stealth along the rise where the medieval chapel had once stood.The nearby seawas strangely quiet.No wind.No chattering calls of the puffins that roosted in the cliffs.No thunderingcrash of stormier waves.Just the muted crunch of bootheels on rock and dirt, the steps of Viscount Seymour, Sir Hunt, and fiveof his armed servants.One lone lantern served as Seymour s only means of light.It swung like a pendulum from his hand andcast an eerie, wavering amber glow on the rocky ground and moorstones.Seymour stopped to adjust the dueling pistol he d stuck in the waistband of his breeches.He eyed thearea.The rise grew steeper a few feet ahead, but a few feet ahead was all he could see.It seemed they d been climbing the rise forever, so slow was their progress.But he knew part of it wasnerves.He had no idea what awaited them.He only knew the instructions on the ransom note.He intended to follow them precisely for thewell-being of Downe and the girl.Without the support of the excise men, he and Hunt had discussed the possibilities of capturing thekidnappers, and both were loath to do so with only a few footmen, a butler, and a coachman.One of theyounger footmen volunteered to follow whoever picked up the ransom.They decided that would have todo.Seymour moved ahead and tapped Hunt on a shoulder. How much farther? I d wager it s only a few more feet.Never seen fog so thick.And true to his statement, they made the top of the rise a moment later.The group huddled around thelantern light, each man on guard.Hunt leaned closer and asked,  What time is it?Seymour checked his pocket watch. Ten. Two hours. Hunt turned and whispered,  You men surround the grounds.Find positions behind thewalls, near rocks, someplace where you can watch the drop site but still have some cover.The men faded like ciphers into the fog.Seymour lifted the lantern and tried to see past the uneven stone wall that was in front of him.It wasbarely two feet high.He shifted, holding the lantern higher, and moved slowly and carefully along one wall of the ruin.Hecould hear the soft crunch of Hunt s bootsteps following close behind him.They moved along the walluntil they came to a corner. From this vantage point there was a better angle of the ruins.The fog wandered slightly, giving randomglimpses of what lay beyond.He could make out the outline of the chapel walls.All but one hadcrumbled into a short pile of stones.Although deteriorated, the moorstone walls seemed to form part of what he assumed was a rectangle.Within, there was nothing but a dark and soggy-looking plane of dirt broken only by a time-scatteredstone or an occasional clump of heath grass. Do you see anything that looks like an altar? Hold the lantern a little higher. Hunt paused, then pointed. What s that over there?Seymour saw it.It was little more than a large stone block that stood in front of the only high wall leftstanding.Hunt stood behind him, the other dueling pistol in his hand.He seemed poised, on guard and ready foranything.Quietly he said,  I ll stay back here out of the light.They could be nearby now, watching us. I doubt they could see us.There are moments where I can t see three feet in front of me.Dirtiestbloody weather I ve ever seen. It does seem unusually thick.I can t recall seeing weather like this in the fifteen years since we movedhere.But then I ve never been out trouncing through the ruins in the middle of the worst of it, either.Seymour pulled the other pistol out and cautiously moved toward the altar.Again the fog faded in, thendrifted out.It almost seemed to move with each step, as if he stirred the air into doing so with histrespassing.He could see a few feet beyond the altar, and a little above.But mostly there was just white misty fogwith an occasional shadowed outline where remnants of some wall remained.He set the glowing lantern on the stone altar and looked around him.Nothing but his shadow.He pulledout the leather sack and set the ransom on the altar, then he slowly moved back through the fog to wherehe took his watch position behind one of the corner ruins.Hunt squatted down next to him. Did you notice anything?Seymour shook his head. Nor did I. Hunt peered over the wall. I suppose there s not much we can do now [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]