“It will be uncomfortable, my lord,” Tom said, “with six of you in the one carriage.”
“A little, perhaps,” he said. “But at least the lads and I can look after the ladies better. It’s the ladies this chap wants to follow, I think. So, we’ll give him the ladies by sending the park drag to their usual lodgings in Bath.”
“What about after I arrive in Bath?” James asked.
“Jones is not so stupid as to follow too closely,” Heath said, “so by the time he reaches the house where the ladies usually stay, he’ll assume Giselle and her mother have disembarked already. That he has them where he wants them—in certain lodgings in Bath. And if you pull the drag away with the curtains open to show it’s entirely empty, he will believe the illusion. For a while, anyway. At least long enough for us to get home.”
“And the luggage, my lord?” James asked.
“It’s already loaded on the drag. We should leave it there until you reach Bath. The footman riding with you can hastily take it down and put it inside the coach before you pull away. That will support the illusion that the Bernard ladies have reached their destination. By the time our villain discovers that they are not inside, you will be long gone.”
The coachmen exchanged glances, probably a bit bewildered by Heath’s elaborate machinations. But she noticed that they did not question the necessity of them. Clearly, his servants trusted him, which told her something about his character in general.
“Giselle,” he went on, “if you’ll give James directions to your usual lodgings in Bath …”
“Certainly.” She explained them in great detail, and since Jameswas clearly already familiar with Bath, he knew the place she was talking about.
“One more thing, James,” Heath said. “You should let the footman out once you think you have lost Jones. I want him to see if he can learn where Jones is staying.”
He touched Giselle’s arm. “I’m going to go give more detailed directions to my footman and then speak to the ostler and see if he’s encountered Jones. If he has, he can distract the fellow while we climb into the carriage, so he doesn’t realize that we all embarked in the same one.”
“And if he has not encountered him?” Giselle asked.
“Then I’ll see who has. Someone has to have while we were here. And you should probably go inside and get your mother, so you can slip into the landau first.”
“Very well.”
As it turned out, Mrs. Freeman herself had seen Mr. Jones arrive on horseback and had sent him packing since he did not want to pay for food or lodgings. She told Giselle she thought he had gone up to where the inn road met the road to Bath.
“Excellent,” Heath said when he came inside and found out what Giselle had learned. “That makes everything easier.” He looked at his brothers. “All right, lads, we are embarking on a sort of adventure. Miss Bernard and her mother are being pursued by a scoundrel, so we’re going to give them the slip. James is driving the park drag to Bath so the scoundrel will follow him, and all of us are riding in the landau to Longmead.”
“Allof us?” Evan exclaimed. “We won’t fit.”
“Of course we’ll fit,” Heath said.
“It’ll be better if Evan and I ride up top with Tom,” Kit said.
Heath looked at him in surprise. “What an excellent idea, Kit. Are you fine with that, Evan?”
“I prefer that to being in a cramped carriage with Zack and his grousing,” Evan muttered.
Heath shot Zack a look. “Would you rather ride with Kit instead of Evan? Or stay in the landau?”
“I want to stay in the landau with you.” When Heath smiled,clearly touched, Zack then added, “Somebodyhas to look after Madame Bernard.”
She had to admit that the lad was sweet. He had been so kind to Maman while escorting her to the necessary.
“Great,” Heath said. “That’s what we’ll do then. Assuming that works for Tom, that is.”
Not only did it work for Tom, but he said he was glad of a chance to talk to the lads he had known since they were babes. He did not even mind being cramped on the perch.
As they headed out to the carriages, Giselle told Heath in a low voice, “I suspect that Jones is hoping we will lead him to Beasley and his family. I cannot think of any other reason he would be following me and Maman.”
Heath sighed. “He might be hoping for more than that. If he can prove that your papers truly are suspect and that Beasley did the forgeries, hecouldhave Beasley hanged for it. Then Sarah wouldn’t have a protector.”
“Merde!How awful.” Terror struck her anew. “Could they hang Maman and I, too?”
“No,” he said firmly. “The authorities would probably merely try to send you back.” When she tensed, he added, “I wouldn’t let them, mind you. I wouldn’t let them hang Beasley, either, but I definitely wouldn’t let them harm a hair on your head. I swear.”