larger by the second.
“Not bad enough to kill me.”
“Lia,” Miles said. “Get Hunt to the carriage. I’ll see to Frannie and the babe.”
Hunter looked to where Frannie was huddled behind a tree with little George. The babe was crying with fright over the noisy chaos, but he was safe. He hadn’t been hurt.
Lia ducked beneath Hunter’s arm and he placed his arm across her shoulders. He hurt more with every step he took and feared he might lose consciousness before he reached the carriage. But when he finally reached the open door, the footman moved swiftly to help him inside.
“Please tell me you’re going to make it,” Lia begged when he was settled inside.
“Yes, thanks to you.”
The footman was dispatched to town with the dead kidnapper across his horse and his three injured cohorts in tow. The authorities would mete out justice. When Miles arrived with Frannie and George, Lia took the babe and had Frannie ride atop with the footman. Miles climbed inside to care for Hunter.
Lia gave the excuse that with Hunter injured and Miles caring for him, it would be too crowded for Frannie inside. But Hunter knew that wasn’t the reason. He knew Lia was so angry with Frannie that she didn’t want to be confined with her.
“That girl!” Lia fumed. “After everything we’ve done to keep Georgie safe she went and, and—”
Hunter took a slow, shallow breath and reached his hand to cover hers. “Lia. She didn’t know what else to do.”
“She could have told us!”
“No.” He shook his head. “She couldn’t.” He drew something from his pocket. “I found this in the stable. I didn’t tell you because, well, because it scared the bloody hell out of me.”
He unfolded a crumpled note and handed it to her. “Frannie must have dropped it.”
Lia shifted the babe a bit so she could read the blood-stained note.
You have the babe we want. Bring him to the old mill by six o’clock and you will be well paid. Fail to bring him and both you and the babe will die. Tell anyone and you’ll all die.
“She took him to that broken down mill? She just handed him over?”
Lia was incredulous. She’d had every reason to trust Frannie and what had the girl done? At the first hint of reward she handed him right over.
Beside her Hunter groaned and clutched his shoulder.
“No, Lia. She didn’t.”
“But—”
“She went the opposite direction. It must have been the so-called friend, the one she went to for money, who gave her away.”
He watched Lia sit back against the squabs as the full weight of the revelation chastised her. She’d been so very wrong. What else would a girl in Frannie’s position have done?
As the carriage rocked crazily along, the babe began to whimper. Lia raised him in her arms and tucked his face into her neck. Her soft clucking quieted him as they raced toward home.
But nothing could quiet Hunter’s escalating fears. They’d saved the child this time, but what would his father do next? He’d just declared himself. His lethal intent was no longer mere conjecture. The Marquess of Trentridge wouldn’t rest until the child was out of the picture.
Completely.
Chapter 11
The babe finally fell asleep and Lia had time to relive everything that had happened.
Frannie had taken George to the nursery to feed him and put him down for the night. Miles was keeping watch in case there were any more of Hunter’s father’s men around. Aunt Mildred had gone to bed after making sure there was enough food to feed everyone, and the doctor had come to take care of Hunter’s wounds. Now Lia sat at Hunter’s bedside, waiting for him to regain consciousness.
The knife wound to his arm was minor. The doctor had cleaned it, sewn the flesh together and bandaged it. But the lead ball that had drilled into his shoulder had caused more severe damage. The doctor was forced to work a long time before he was able to dig the ball out. Hunter had been in a great deal of pain throughout the ordeal.
Lia reached out to hold Hunter’s hand, then moved from her chair to the edge of the bed. She needed to be close to him.
This had been the most horrible day of her life. The terror she’d felt when she realized that George was missing caused her heart to want to stop beating. Then, when Hunter had been shot and she feared he might die, a part of her wanted to die, too. She’d suffered