“Very well,” Millie replied. “But I warn you. You’ll have to physically restrain me if you mean to keep me from that barn.”
Dixon sighed. “I suggest we all cover the barn. Then, we deal with whatever awaits in the house.” He began sketching the barn’s layout from what he’d been able to obtain by report and by external observation. When finished, he pointed out the doors. “The barn has two entrances. I will cover the main entrance, and Asquith can keep watch on the rear.” He turned to Asquith. “Signal me if you see anyone approach.” He glanced back at Millie “Go in—but come out as quickly as you possibly can, else I intend to join you.”
Millie nodded. She’d expected Dixon to offer even less.
“I understand they are not kept locked,” Dixon continued. “At least they were not kept locked before they brought in his lordship. If that has changed, there is a window that faces the woods. Do you think you can manage—”
“I can get in or out of any building,” Millie replied. She hadn’t earned the title Clandestine Escape Scholar by chance.
“Unusual lady,” Dixon remarked.
“You don’t know the half,” Asquith muttered.
“There are any number of ladies like me,” she replied curtly. “Only making a show of our talents is not in our best interests. Shall we go?”
A life was at stake. The life of the man she loved.
Chapter Sixteen
By the dimlight of a crescent moon, Millie and Asquith trailed Dixon down a pathway through a thick wood. She could see very little, but at least the clouds had thinned while they’d been discussing matters. She’d havesomelight to do whatever must be done.
When they reached the clearing, they went over their positions one more time.
Millie fixed her gaze on “the barn”—a ramshackle hut that looked as if it hadn’t been properly tended in years. If, as Dixon was certain, Neville could not be in the house, he had to be in there. She fancied she could feel his presence in the way her heart was slamming against her ribs. Her intention honed; every muscle tensed in readiness.
Dixon and Asquith took up their places, then she made her way to the barn’s rear door.
Unlocked, just as Dixon had predicted. Silently she slipped inside and made her way along the wall toward the dim light streaming from a window.
“Willard!”
A flood of cool relief went through Millie at the sound of her husband’s voice.
“I can’t stand another second of your rambling. I told you to either kill me or leave me alone.”
“Neville!” Millie gasped. “You didn’t!”
“Millie! For God’s sake! Getout. Now!”
“I amnotleaving without you.” She inched ever closer toward the sound of Neville’s voice. She couldn’t see him clearly. She couldn’t seeanythingclearly. “I swore to myself I would protect you with my life, and that’s what I intend to do.”
“You swore to protectme?” Neville sounded incredulous.
Men. She rounded a cart still piled high with hay. She spotted her husband huddled up against the wall. Even now, with his hands bound behind his back, Neville couldn’t imagine that he might need her protection.
“Don’t worry about me,” she changed the subject. “Asquith is watching one door. And Dixon, the—”
An odd rumbling interrupted her. She plastered herself against the wall at the same moment part of the floor lifted from the ground. The moonlight picked up Willard’s mop of light hair.
“Boys, me boys…” he chanted the same children’s rhyme Millie had heard him chant the day he’d “accidentally” met her in the square.
She placed a hand inside her pocket and wrapped her finger around the barrel of the flintlock she carried, wishing she had more than a single firearm. She’d one bullet.One. She could not misuse the advantage of surprise; she had to make that single ball count.
Willard emerged from the tunnel in the floor. Lamplight created a tableau in the darkness. Catching her first glimpse of Neville’s worn features, Millie bit her lip. Even haggard, she found him handsome.
He was dear to her—so very dear—why hadn’t she been able to tell him before?
“Come out, Asquith. I know you’re here. One of my lovelies spotted you making your way toward the barn. A rescue, she called out. Arescue.” He snorted. “As if there was some place where she could escape to where the rules of order do not apply.”