Chapter 41

Chapter Forty-One

T he driver of the coach argued long and hard for Victoria's release, but in the end, he had little choice but to get back into his seat and continue the journey on to London. Robert pointed the pistol in the direction of anyone who tried to talk him out of kidnapping poor Mrs. Brown. As the rest of the passengers all climbed on board the mail coach, they wished her the best of luck. Some offered prayers, others just gave the masked highwayman filthy looks. Everyone promised to send a search party to look for her.

The Duke and Duchess of Saffron Walden were left standing side by side on the road watching as the mail coach disappeared into the night. Eventually the sound of the horses and the crack of the driver's whip dimmed to silence.

For a long time neither one spoke. Robert pulled his hat from his head and removed his face covering. He picked up his lantern. Victoria retrieved her scarf from her travel bag and wrapped it around her neck. She was still trying to find the right words to break the impasse when her husband finally spoke.

"If it's any consolation, I do feel bad about taking their money. I will make sure that we get a copy of the passenger list from the coaching company, and everyone is fully reimbursed."

"I find your remorse somewhat hard to believe. Or have you suddenly grown a conscience in the last five minutes," she huffed. "But if you do pay them all back, it will be at least double what you stole. And that includes me."

When his shuddering breath was his only reply, she turned on her heel and began walking back toward the nearby village. If she kept up a steady pace, she'd reach the coaching inn just before daylight.

Robert quickly caught up with her. He made a motion to take Victoria by the arm, but then appeared to think twice about it, and moved out of striking distance. She recalled giving him a sound slap the last time he'd attempted to take her arm. Her husband was many things, but he wasn't a fool. And he was wounded.

"Victoria, please."

She stopped walking. Going back to the village was pointless. She could wait and buy another coach ticket to London, but knowing Robert, he would simply kidnap her a second time. Eventually the authorities would send the local militia to deal with the problem of the masked highwayman. And that was a piece of trouble neither of them wanted.

"What do you want, Robert? What could I possibly give you that you couldn't just take from someone else at gun point?"

They had made their escape, but they were still prisoners of the web of lies he had created. Of what his stealing from the East India Company had cost them.

"You can at least give me some of your time. I need to explain what I have done, and why."

Standing in the middle of the road, miles from anywhere, wasn't the best place to be, especially not after her husband had just held up a royal mail coach and apparently kidnapped one of its passengers.

And to think I married him to avoid further scandals.

She was tired. Bone weary of trying to navigate her way through his half-truths. Of looking for the good in this marriage. Her husband was a villain, and no matter what else he said or did, there was nothing beyond that simple fact for her. For them.

The one thing of which she was certain was that they had to get out of here. "I assume you brought a horse with you. That you didn't run all the way from Tolley Manor to here."

"Yes, I have a horse. It's tethered a little way off the road. I couldn't risk anyone on the coach seeing it and trying to make off with my only means of escape."

Victoria snorted. "Oh, yes, you have to watch out for thieves around these parts. People will steal anything."

He went to take her travel bag from out of her hands, but she pulled away. "You are injured, you fool. Jasper told me the doctor came and removed the bullet, and you should be at home resting, not wandering the roads of England in the dark."

"I would be at home resting if you hadn't run away. I might well be the biggest fool in all of this, but you shot and killed a man last night. Forgive me if I am concerned about your welfare. Hate me all you want, but I am still your legally wedded husband. Your lord and master."

For the first time in his life, Robert Tolley had felt genuine fear. Not tonight, not with this foolish masquerade of kidnapping his own wife, but last night in the laneway. He would have sworn his heart had stopped beating as he beheld the terrifying sight of the agent for the East India holding Victoria at gun point. Then he'd been wounded, and as his body screamed in agony, Robert had watched as his wife raised her pistol and shot a man dead.

Even now he still felt nauseous at the thought of what she'd been forced to do in order to save his worthless life.

They moved off the road and began to make their way across a flat field. Robert opened the lantern and pinched the candle, forcing it to go out. They were left with only the pale moonlight by which to navigate their way. He couldn't risk even a small light, knowing there was a good chance that the mail coach driver would raise the alarm with the authorities at the next major town.

Robert let out a sigh of relief when he reached for her hand a second time and Victoria didn't pull away. He gave it a reassuring squeeze, but knew it was more for his own sake than hers.

"How far are we from Tolley Manor?" asked Victoria, her voice splitting the still night.

"We are a little ways past Bishops Stortford, so I would say probably fifteen or so miles as the crow flies. But we will need to stay off the road for as long as possible."

She slowed her steps and as she came to a halt, withdrew her hand from his. "I have to say this, otherwise my brain is going to explode. You really didn't think through the whole holding up the royal mail coach thing all that well, did you? I mean it was all rather dangerous and dramatic. Or is that your usual modus operandi?"

Robert pursed his lips, silently chiding himself for once having thought Lady Victoria Kembal was a light-minded chit. Since their marriage, she had proven time and time again just who had the brains in the family.

"You were gone. I was worried."

"You mean you panicked."

In the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night was not where he wanted to have this conversation. He'd much rather they talked once they got home. A place where he felt he had some control over the situation.

And where I can get some whisky and dull the pain in my shoulder.

"How about we agree to discuss this in a calm and rational manner once we return to Tolley Manor? I'm sure you would much rather we had a chat while you sat beside the fire and warmed yourself in comfort," he offered.

He caught her sharp intake of breath, followed by the words, "Patronizing bastard."

In the dark he could barely make out her face, but he was sure that her simmering rage actually made her body glow. It was going to be a long painful journey home from here.

"I am calm, and I am rational. And that's exactly what I was when I caught the coach earlier this evening. It made perfect sense for me to go to London and for you to stay here at the estate. I planned to lie low for a time, then when the East India finally caught up with you, I would don my widows weeds and graciously mourn your death in public."

Her voice cracked and broke as she choked on the last words. "Because that's what is going to happen, Robert. They have to know that you have been stealing from them, and they are going to keep coming for you until they get what they want. That agent. The man I killed. He knew who was responsible for the spice heists, and where you lived."

He pulled her to him, forcing down his pain. She tried to push him away, but Robert wasn't having any of it. Victoria was angry. She was upset. And it was all his damn fault.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I never meant any of this to happen," he said, holding her in his embrace. Victoria's body shuddered, and her sobs tore at his heart. Her life was being destroyed by him, by his burning need to get even with the East India Company.

When she finally drew out of his hold, she wiped her tears away with the heel of her hand. "It doesn't matter how sorry you are, Robert. We will go back to Tolley Manor tonight, and in a day or two, I will take our travel coach and head back to London. If anyone asks why I have returned, I will simply tell them that you are busy with the crops. It's the only solution."

She continued walking, and Robert was left with no other option than to follow his wife and curse himself for having put her in such danger.

Everything was a mess, and he still couldn't see a way out.