Lord Melvedere's Ghost Read online

  “You can open your eyes now,” Jamie suggested gently. “It is going to be very difficult if you can’t see where you are going.”

  Cecily’s eyes snapped open and she turned to stare at him as he moved alongside her on the main road out of town. “Jonathan is right, don’t make any sudden moves on his mouth and you will be fine. Sit still and let him do the work. Relax a little because he knows what he is doing. A word of warning though,” his voice dipped gently and he placed one gloved fingertip beneath her chin to tip her head upward to face forward. “Don’t look down. If you look down at the ground as it passes you are likely to fall off. Keep looking directly ahead because that is the part the horse struggles to see. Look for any potholes or anything that can trip him up and navigate around them, like this. See?” Jamie turned his horse this way and that and watched as Cecily copied him. Nodding in approval he turned to look at Jonathan who had twisted in his saddle, a look of silent warning on his face.

  All humour immediately left Jamie’s face and he turned cold and hard. Mentally running through his stock of weapons, he studied Jonathan carefully and caught the silent hand signal his colleague had given in warning.

  Danger was afoot.

  He tried to keep the concern from his face and remain as normal as possible, but he could sense Cecily watching him closely. Luckily Jonathan had given the signal so Cecily wouldn’t notice, but Jamie had seen and understood, and was aware that his colleague was warning him of something dangerous further along the road. Jamie glanced over at Cecily and shot her a winning, overly bright smile, feeling decidedly relieved when she blushed and averted her gaze. Once free of her scrutiny, he turned to study the area around them and consider their options.

  He immediately saw what Jonathan had noticed. At the farthest corner of the field to the right of them, the backside of a horse pocked out from behind the hedgerow. Although there was only one, and it could only be a horse standing grazing in a field, it was highly improbable given that cows were also in the field running beside the road. The area was almost too quiet, as though waiting for something to arrive – or happen. The gut instinct Jamie had relied upon throughout his many years with the Star Elite, was warning him that Jonathan was accurate in his assessment that they were facing danger. The horse belonged to someone, and it was more than conceivable that someone was lying in wait for them. To ignore it was putting all of their lives in danger.

  At a single glance, nobody would have noticed his fingers stiffen on the reins, his shoulders straighten slightly, and every muscle in his body tense in preparation to fight. His heart rate slowed; every sense was acutely tuned to any sound, any sight, any hint of anything unusual.

  “You appear to be a natural rider,” Jamie declared, studying Cecily’s comfortable posture and delicate hands on the reins. The horse was responding to her confidence and was obediently plodding along, his ears pricked forward alertly. It was as though the horse himself was aware of the danger that was lurking ahead and was waiting for his lady’s command. Jamie assessed her posture and the easy way she was sitting in the saddle. She should be able to handle a fast gallop if they needed to make a run for freedom. Satisfied that she stood a better than average chance of staying on board for the ride as long as it was over relatively smooth ground, he turned his attention back to the area around them.

  The small row of cottages lay to the left of them, backing on to open fields. Although the fields were not ploughed yet, they were rough and uneven. He didn’t want to risk the horses’ legs by attempting to run over such uneven terrain, and it would be a lot to expect of any lady rider, especially a novice like Cecily. Frowning around them, his eyes met and held Jonathan’s steady gaze.

  “What is it?” Cecily murmured, shivering at Jamie’s dark, forbidding expression. She had never seen this harder edge to him and wasn’t at all sure she was comfortable with it. The easy camaraderie, and affable, if persistent, charm was gone. In its place was a cold, forbidding man she hadn’t met before. It made her wonder if she and Portia had done the right thing by placing their trust in these strangers who claimed to be working for the government. After all, she didn’t exactly have any proof they are who they say they are. They could be anyone.

  A small voice warned her that she was being silly. Archie had fought for them, and had gone without sleep and food in order to keep them alive, and safe. If it hadn’t been for Archie’s quick thinking in the church, both she and Portia could very well be dead. As it was, Archie had asked them to trust him, and they had, but that didn’t mean the same applied to Jamie. Although he was a friend of Archie’s, how was Archie to know what Jamie had been up to while they had not been in contact?

  “Jamie?” She persisted when he continued to study the area around them, and showed no sign of answering her.

  Jamie snapped back to her, his face softening so quickly, in such stark contrast to his sinister expression of moments earlier, that Cecily began to wonder if she had just imagined the last few moments. Still, he had been looking for something – or someone.

  “We are being followed,” Jamie whispered quietly, studying her reaction closely for several long moments. He was pleased to note that her initial fear was quickly replaced with curiosity, followed by a frown of concern as she stared at him helplessly for several long moments.

  “What do we do?” She whispered, feeling cold shivers snake down her spine.

  Jonathan turned in his saddle and glanced back at them. “We go through the gap in the hedge further ahead.” He nodded to the narrow gap a few feet ahead of them. “Then gallop across it. We have to double back around the village and head up over those hills over there.” His head remained perfectly still, leaving his eyes to flicker furtively toward the rolling hills to the left of them. “Just hold on Cecily. Your horse will follow ours but you need to let him run.”

  “Run?” Cecily whispered weakly, staring in horror at first Jonathan, then Jamie.

  “You are a natural, don’t worry. We have to go around the village and double back to make sure we aren’t followed.” He sincerely prayed there weren’t any fences to jump or they were going to have a problem on their hands. “When we have gone into the hills, we can take a long route and double back so that we are heading in the right direction again.”

  “Where is that exactly?”

  “I -” Jamie glanced up as Jonathan sighed.

  “Look, as nice as it is for you to want to chat and all, I don’t think they are going to wait forever.” It wasn’t lost to either him, or Jamie, that they had ambled to a stop in the middle of the road. It gave the people further ahead, if they were there, a clear warning that things were not going to go according to plan. “Let’s go,” he snapped, glaring hard at Jamie.

  “Keep walking, Cecily,” Jamie murmured, nudging his own horse forward and dragging hers behind him. “Just follow my lead.”

  “But where are we going?” Cecily persisted, hating the subterfuge. Over the past few days she seemed to have spent most of her time walking through a thick fog of confusion, following orders without question and not really making any sense out of anything. “What is going on Jamie?”

  “I’ll explain later, sweetheart,” Jamie murmured, “right now, just follow what I do.” Although he tried to keep his words calm and soothing, he couldn’t withhold the biting impatience that made his husky voice sharp.

  Cecily wasn’t sure whether to argue, stubbornly object or meekly follow his lead. Matters were taken out of her hands when, in a sudden burst of speed, Jonathan kicked his horse hard and disappeared through the gap in the hedge. She didn’t need to see which way he went, the heavy thud of hoof beats were distinctive, and were heading rapidly across the grassed field. Within seconds, her horse increased its pace and enthusiastically gave chase.

  “Jamie!” She cried, unable to get the horse to stop. When she did pull on the reins, the huge beast swung its huge head this way and that, fighting for freedom, and winning against Cecily’s inexperienced hands. Th
ere was nothing she could do but gasp as the cruel fingers of bramble and hedge lashed against her face and arms. Grabbing wildly at the horse’s mane, she was left clinging on for dear life as the horse negotiated the rutted ditch in one clean jump before tearing after Jonathan’s horse as though there was a bag of food attached to its tail.

  She wanted to see if Jamie was behind, but daren’t break her horrified gaze from the sight of Jonathan now half way across the field. Her bottom pounded against the hard saddle as the relentless wind whipped against her cheeks, tearing her hair free of its pins until it billowed out behind her in a frenzied mass of disarray.

  “Stand up!” Jamie shouted, drawing alongside her.

  “What?” Cecily gasped, unable to turn her gaze away from the reassuring sight of Jonathan’s back. She saw him turn to look at her several times, a dark frown of concern on his face. Her shocked gaze watched in amazement as he released one hand and drew his gun while still riding at breakneck speed.

  “Get your bottom out of the saddle and stand up, it makes the ride smoother and easier on the horse,” Jamie ordered, his voice harsh. He could see the wild panic in her eyes and wanted to demand she listen to him. The field was huge but they were far too out in the open to risk slowing down. They were too easy to pick off for any discerning gunman, even at speed. There was little he could do but hope that there wasn’t a further ambush directly ahead. He cast a quick glance backward, swearing loudly as he caught sight of three riders gathering pace. Although they were several feet behind, their dogged determination and French swearing was enough to convince Jamie that his instincts were indeed right, they had been followed, and were facing an ambush.

  He didn’t flinch when Jonathan swerved to one side, doubled back, and fired a shot.

  Even through the wind, Cecily heard the single cry from behind them. Tears pooled in her eyes and she fought to control the rising well of panic that made her stomach begin to churn alarmingly. She had thought that the events within the church had been bad enough, but this was far worse. If Jonathan had a gun, then there was every possibility that the people giving chase had guns too. Should she do what Jonathan was doing and start to swerve around? She threw a beseeching glance at Jamie only to catch sight of him raising his gun and taking aim at something behind her. Her horse ran even faster at the loud retort from Jamie’s pistol.

  Cecily turned her attention forward, her eyes widening in alarm at the sight of the huge hedge looming before them. Her eyes ran along the length of the thick green mass, but she could see no gaps they could use to get through to the other side, even if she could get her horse to go there. She didn’t know what to do. Jonathan was busy shooting again, and Jamie was busy doing something else with something on his hip. Another shot sounded, but was that from Jamie, Jonathan, or the men giving them chase?

  She didn’t know much French, but was fairly certain that the language the men behind were using was French, or foreign at least. As far as she knew there were no other foreigners chasing them. That left them with the problem of the French guards, who clearly wanted to finish off what they hadn’t managed to successfully complete in the church. Why were they so determined to see her dead? What had she done? Who were they?

  She was nothing. She had nothing now. As far as she knew she had done nothing to anyone to warrant her life being thrown into such turmoil. How did the spy smugglers even know she was alive, let alone hate her enough to want her dead? She ruthlessly shoved the thought to one side and began to feel panic burn at the sight of the bramble now only a few feet away. The horse showed no sign of slowing down. Unless she was much mistaken, it was going even faster. She had no choice but to go with him.

  Despite Jamie’s warnings, she couldn’t prevent the quick glance down at the ground and suddenly wished she hadn’t as she caught sight of the dark grass rushing past with frightening speed. She wasn’t at all certain she had been travelling this fast in the carriage. The fact that there was no substance around her; nothing to break her fall, was horrifying. If she did come off now, the French wouldn’t need to kill her, she would be dead already.

  “Oh, God,” she whispered, casting a frantic glance at Jamie. “Jamie!” She screamed, just as the horse’s front hooves lifted off the ground.

  It seemed as though she was in mid-air forever. She daren’t open her eyes, but could hear every snort, every heavy breath of the horse beneath her. At some point she was certain that she had lost contact with the horse entirely. If she wasn’t still clutching the reins she would have felt sure that she and the horse had parted company. Squeezing her eyes tight, she became aware of the loud curses from Jamie and Jonathan and, from somewhere far behind her, loud shouts, curses and screams followed by more gunfire. Whatever was going on back there was of little importance though.

  For one brief, infinitesimal moment the world stopped. Her breath lodged in her throat. Her heart ceased to beat. She was held in life’s firm grip and her fate had yet to be decided. The heavy jarring as the horse landed with a thud made her cry aloud. Her bottom crashed into the saddle with bruising force at the same time that her face slammed into the horses’ neck. She felt the forward slide with horrifying detail and knew she was going to fall off and land in an undignified heap on the floor.

  To her amazement the horse stumbled, righted itself and began to gallop once more, leaving Cecily with little choice but to cling on for dear life. As they tore across the field, she slowly pushed herself upright, although had no control of the horse. At some point she had dropped the reins, but she daren’t let go of the horses’ mane to pick them back up.

  “Get her!” Jonathan shouted, reloading his pistol and pointing it in readiness at the hedgerow as he slowed to a steady canter.

  Jamie needed no further encouragement. Nudging his horse faster, he drew alongside Cecily’s horse and grabbed the dangling reins, murmuring soothing noises to the huge, wild-eyed beast as he slowed them down to a fast trot. Clearly the horse was lost in the grip of fear and began prancing and objecting to the restriction on his speed and movement. Sensing an ensuing fight, Jamie held tight, throwing one arm around Cecily’s weight.

  “Get on the back,” Jamie snapped, hating the abject fear written clearly on her face. Although he was relieved that she had made it over the fence in one piece, the ordeal wasn’t over yet. There was the chance that the horse would bolt again, and take Cecily with it. She wasn’t experienced at all and would be unable to handle the huge beast. Death would be the only route out. He had managed to get this far with her; he was certainly not going to bloody well lose her now.

  Gritting his teeth, he leaned over and grabbed her firmly around the waist, ignoring her squeal as the horse, sensing the restriction on the reins had vanished, lunged forward and began to charge across the uneven field once more.

  Behind them another gunshot broke the afternoon air, but it was of little consequence to Cecily at that moment. Hanging suspended in mid-air for several of the longest moments of her life, she found herself unceremoniously dumped on the saddle in front of Jamie in an undignified heap. The hard bridge of the saddle bit into her posterior, but there was little she wanted to do about it at that moment. The reassuring comfort of Jamie’s arms wrapped tightly around her, were a boon to her battered senses. For a few moments there was little she could do except lie still and hope she wasn’t sick all over him – them. She lay like a wet dish rag, limp and quivering, waiting for the wild motion to stop.

  “Are you alright?” Jamie snapped, hating the paleness of her cheeks. She was so pale he was certain she was going to expire on the spot. “Cecily?” He prompted when she didn’t answer him. He nudged his shoulder in an attempt to capture her attention. He hated to rouse her. The feel of her against him was simply wonderful, but he just had to make sure that she was alright and hadn’t done any damage. He had been watching her and was fairly certain that apart from a sore bottom in the morning and a fright, she had suffered no lasting ill-effects from jumping over a huge hedge whi
le being shot at. For that he could only thank the good Lord, but he desperately needed her to open her eyes and look at him – just once; just to be certain.

  “Cecily,” he snapped, dropping his head until they were practically nose to nose.

  Cecily opened her eyes, lost in a dream like state. The scent of him lingered, despite the fact that they were in the middle of an open field. How could that be? She should be able to smell nothing but open air and grass, and she could, but it was tinged with the decidedly masculine scent of soap and sandalwood; something that was intrinsically him.

  The sight of his beautiful grey eyes shooting shards of ice at her was as effective as a bucket of cold water. In an instant the soft fuzz of contentment vanished and was replaced with awkwardness that made her want to squirm in her seat. Only she was immediately acutely aware of just how close they were – down there. She was practically sitting on his lap. Colour flooded her cheeks, and she slowly eased upright until her back was rigid. She wished she could put some distance between their bodies but there was nothing she could do. Gulping, she carefully averted her gaze from the sight of the ground that was so very far below.

  “Everything all right?” Jonathan grinned as he drew alongside them.

  Jamie rolled his eyes. He was certain that the sight of Cecily high-tailing it over the hedge on an out-of-control horse would remain with him for the rest of his days. He was sure he had several more grey hairs than he had started out with that morning and didn’t know whether to kiss her or lambast her for being so – well, so female.

  “Fine, thank you,” Cecily replied primly, her back ram-rod straight.

  Jamie felt slightly deflated that the perfect opportunity had been lost. He wondered briefly if he should have given her what she had been asking for; what they both desperately needed. Although she hadn’t actually asked him to kiss her, he knew she wouldn’t have objected if he had, but he didn’t want her to seek his affection purely because she had been frightened and needed sanctuary. He wanted her to want him for himself.