The Viscount Meets his Match: A Regency Romance Page 16

  The little girl studied Josephine for a moment and nodded. “I think so. Mind, it’s a bit away. I was almost late for supper.”

  “Then we’ll go now.” Josephine stood up and took the child’s hand. “And take something to eat with us. If someone else finds your brother, we will have a feast.”

  The girl’s face lit up. “Ah, and serves ’em right, eh?”

  “Exactly. What’s your name, lovey?”

  “Rose, miss.”

  “Then let’s tell Lady Foster, Rose, and we’ll go. Can you ride?”

  Rose shook her head and her lips trembled. Josephine gave her a swift hug. “No matter, because I can, and you can come up in front of me. I won’t let you fall. All right?”

  Rose nodded and smiled, somewhat shy but no longer looking as if she were about to burst into tears. It was progress of a sort.

  The two of them walked over to Lady Foster, who had been watching them with interest. Josephine relayed the news and her intentions.

  “Are you sure?” Janie Foster asked. “Can you do it? Does Rose know the way? There’s no men around to help.”

  Josephine smiled. “I’m sure, and Rose is fairly certain where we need to go. We’ll head towards the crag and then…then I don’t know yet. Rose will show me. So perhaps if you give me some rags, I’ll use them to mark the route.”

  Lady Foster nodded in a decisive manner. It was evident she did not subscribe to the idea that women were the weaker sex and needed to be protected from unpleasantness or actions. “Very well. Go with my blessing. Damn. Now who can I send to tell David?” She shrugged, a somewhat awkward gesture as her hands were covered in flour and dough. “No matter. Get whoever is in the stables to come and see me once you’ve got everything you need. Oh, and I’ll fob your parents off with something innocuous if they realize you’re not around.”

  “Ah, thank you.” She’d forgotten about them. “I doubt they will.” After all, why would they change their habits of a lifetime at that moment, when they had never seemed inclined to do so before? Lady Foster tutted and Josephine smiled. Her parents’ attitude rarely had the power to wound her anymore.

  Apart from my attitude toward marriage? Even that was no longer as clear-cut as it had been.

  Josephine waited while Rose executed a wobbly curtsey and ushered the little girl into the courtyard.

  Ten minutes later, she looked around the tack room and sighed. Why was everything so high up? She wasn’t tiny, but she would have a problem reaching even the lowest pegs. The youth who had been left behind when the men went to look for the lads stared at her. “You want what?” If she had asked for a diamond-encrusted coach, he couldn’t have sounded more surprised.

  “A saddle.”

  “A side-saddle, my lady?” The lad pushed his cloth cap back from his crown and scratched his head. “These are all men’s saddles. I’ll go and get one from the other side of the stables, shall I?”

  No, that wouldn’t do when she had Rose up in front of her. “A regular saddle on a fast but not overspirited horse would be best. Do you have such an animal? The filly I rode out on yesterday, perhaps? If she will take an ordinary saddle?”

  “Ruby? Ah, she’s here, but, my lady, I don’t want to be rude, but have you ridden astride before now?” The youth sounded worried. “It’s a bit different-like.”

  “Of course I have,” Josephine lied. There was, after all, a first time for everything, and it seemed this was one of them. “Now please make haste so Rose and I can get away.” She was convinced that every minute counted.

  Within a few moments, Ruby was saddled and Josephine led her to the mounting block. “Avert your eyes,” she said firmly to the youth. There was no need to advertise she preferred lace-trimmed petticoats even under an everyday, less than glamorous gown. “And when I say so, hand Rose up to me,” she instructed him. “She will sit in front and show me the way.”

  Skirts were a confounded nuisance. She mounted easily enough—she was reasonably agile—but even in a serviceable walking gown there was way too much material, in all the wrong places, to sit elegantly. Josephine arranged her skirts over her legs as best she could and decided that showing off her ankles was the least of her worries. “Now, Rose,” she said. “If you swing her up, I will catch her.”

  The youth turned around, looked anywhere but at Josephine’s legs and handed Rose up. Rose giggled as Josephine put her snugly in front of her. “Comfy?”

  “I think so.” Rose wriggled a little and Ruby shifted. Rose let out a yelp and Josephine held her firm and close.

  “That’s just Ruby making sure you sit just how you want to.”

  Rose drew a deep breath and patted the horse on her neck. “I’m right settled now, Ruby. You can move proper anytime.”

  “Then in that case it’s our turn to have an adventure,” Josephine said gaily. She prayed the worry that gave her butterflies in her stomach didn’t pass to Rose or the stable lad. “Why should the males have it all?”

  Rose laughed. “Me dad say’s tis way of t’world.”

  “Ha. Not here today, it isn’t. We won’t allow it. Now, which way? Towards the crag?”

  “Yes, that way for a bit then to the dragon and the castle thing.”

  Josephine turned the horse and spoke to the youth. “Make sure you inform Lady Foster and anyone else who arrives back what is happening. We are heading towards Wylane,” she told him. “To look for a dragon.”

  The lad blinked. “A dragon?”

  “Evidently. And a sort of a castle. And treasure.”

  “Boy John’s treasure,” Rose added. “In a castle.”

  “There you are, Boy John’s treasure, in a castle,” Josephine repeated for emphasis. “Once we get out of the bridleway, I’ll mark our route with rags. Lady Foster knows that, and will arrange for someone to send the news to his lordship. She asked for you to go to the kitchen once we were sorted. That’s us ready now, so we’ll go and do our part and let you do yours.”

  He touched his cap. “Aye, miss, er, m’lady. An’ what do you want me to do with the pup?”

  Gaia had arrived unseen, and wove her way around them with excited yips. Luckily, the horse was unfazed and ignored her. Rose giggled, for once the sort of carefree child Josephine hoped she would normally appear.

  “Look, she wants to come and help.”

  “Oh, lord.” Josephine thought fast. The last thing they needed was Gaia lost underground. “She might want to but it would be more of a hindrance than a help. She’s only a baby. Can you keep her for me?” she asked the youth. “We don’t want her to go missing as well.”

  He nodded. “I’ll do that. She’s a lovely pup. I’ll make sure she can’t follow you.”

  Josephine inclined her head to show her gratitude, smiled and gathered the reins. “My thanks. Hold on,” she said to Rose. “We won’t go too fast, and I need you to be my eyes and ears. You have to tell me which way and when.”

  “I can do that,” Rose said solemnly as she turned a little to look up at Josephine, her expression serious. “I know where to go.” She looked ahead again. “That way.”

  For the first few hundred yards, Josephine kept Ruby to a walk, to let Rose get used to the sway. Then Rose giggled again. “Can she go faster?”

  “She can, and she will. To the top.”

  “Ye…ssss.” Rose crowed the word and twisted her head to look back at Josephine. “I like you and I like Ruby as well.”

  “Ah, sweetheart.” Josephine gave in to temptation and kissed the top of young Rose’s head. “I like you too and so does Ruby. She’s being very well behaved for us.” Was this what it was like to have a child? This blind trust and a feeling you would protect someone with your life? That someone trusted you with their well-being.

  I could have this if I marry. She’d examine those emotions later. Would the unstinting love of a child be enough?

  Josephine clicked her tongue to ask the horse to move faster and they continued in a brisk walk until they rea
ched the top of the bridleway.

  “Which way, sweetheart?” She knew where David had taken them the previous day, but hadn’t he said the whole area was riddled with caves and potholes? It was going to be almost impossible to know where to look. She prayed that Rose did indeed have an idea where her brother and his friend might be.

  Rose looked back and forth and pointed. “That way, and we need to look for the dragon.” She was silent for a minute. “I dunno really if there is much of a castle, mind. Didn’t look like it to me. Just the dragon.”

  That dragon again. And now in the other direction to their ride the day before. A hazy memory of a jagged wall or rock filtered into Josephine’s brain, but for the life of her, she couldn’t remember if it was something she’d seen recently, or something she had been told about. “What does the dragon look like?” she asked Rose as she leaned over and tied a rag to a bush a few yards away from the bridleway, in the direction they were heading. “Would I know it?”

  “I dunno, but if you keep showing our way, someone might.”

  Hopefully, those rags would be enough to show any followers which direction to proceed in.

  “Then I will. Now, let’s find your dragon. Is it happy or sad?”

  “It’s just a dragon, all spiky and scary,” Rose said in the tone of a child pandering to a slightly unintelligent adult. “It goes down.”

  Not an awful lot of help. “Then you keep looking for it and tell me where to go.” Rose nodded and Josephine urged Ruby on. For several minutes they rode steadily nearer the base of the crag then Rose pointed to the right. “We need to go that way.”

  “Through the trees?” That was new territory to Josephine. “Are you sure?”

  Rose nodded. “Yes, acos I hid in the trees when Sam and Freddie went down the dragon.”

  “Down the dragon?” Josephine queried. Was this all a figment of Rose’s imagination?

  “Yes. You’ll see, miss. I heard ’em say if they went into the castle they’d get the treasure. Don’t forget to tie a rag to say we’ve gone that way, eh? ’Cos we want someone to help us if…” She sniffed. “Well, whatever. I bet they get a good hiding when we’s get ’em home, eh?” She sounded as if that wouldn’t be a bad thing. “Boys, eh?”

  “More than likely a scolding, no more.” Josephine hoped she could live up to the young girl’s faith in their ability to find the lads. “You are showing me the way, and you are a good girl, for reminding me of the rags,” Josephine praised her. “I’ll do one here and one at the edge of the trees. Must we go through them?”

  Rose scrunched up her face as she turned to look at Josephine. “Well, I s’pose we could go around ’em,” she said in a voice full of doubt. “But it’s a long way. The dragon ain’t so far.”

  “Then I’ll trust your judgment, sweetness.” After all, she couldn’t do much else.

  The trees grew close together, and Josephine hoped they didn’t run out of rags, or get lost themselves. However, Rose unerringly pointed where they needed to turn, and seemed confident they were going in the proper direction.

  Once or twice Josephine thought she saw footprints in the earth, but it was dry underfoot. Little daylight filtered through the thick canopy, but Josephine presumed that also meant not a lot of rain did either.

  Gradually, the trees thinned. Josephine looked at the few rags she had left and prayed there would be enough to show in which direction to proceed to those who hopefully followed. Her petticoat would have to be sacrificed otherwise, and she was rather fond of it.

  “There.” Rose pointed and waved her hand around so it was difficult for Josephine to make out where she indicated. “Over there. That’s where the dragon goes down.”

  Josephine squinted until she noticed something unusual. It looked like a long, ragged gouge out of the ground.

  “A gorge?” She hadn’t known there was one around. Why hadn’t David mentioned it the day before? But then, it was in the opposite direction from where they had visited together. This craggy outcrop they were heading toward, with the deep scoop in the ground to one side, must be several miles away from the places she had ridden past the previous day.

  “A what?” Rose asked, perplexed. “I dunno what that is.”

  “A hole in the ground,” Josephine explained. “Big and deep?”

  Rose nodded. “Yes, I told you, that’s where the dragon lives. He’s going into his home. But I can’t see a castle. Do you think we gone wrong? But I did foller ’em ’ere. I did.”

  “I’m sure you did, sweetness. Now, I wonder… Do you think the dragon knocked the castle down with his tail?” Josephine asked. “Swish, swish into bits?” Anything to lift the worried expression from her young companion’s face.

  It worked. Rose giggled. “Do you really think he’s a real live dragon?”

  “No, not really, and I can’t see a castle either, can you?”

  Rose shook her head. “But this is where I saw them, miss, I mean, my lady, honest it is. Then they weren’t there and I was worried so I ran home. When he came ’ome later he was sort of excited and secr…secret… You know, not sharing.”

  “I know, and miss will do. If you say my lady, I will look for my mama.”

  Rose chuckled again. “Is she very gray…gra…shush?”

  “She thinks so.” That was for certain. “Right, we better go and see if we can find those pesky boys, eh?”

  “Afore the dragon breathes fire in them?” Rose asked in a worried voice. She seemed to fail to remember their conversation of a few seconds earlier. “I wouldn’t like that, even if they can be right little rascals with the devil in ’em. It is me brother and his mate, after all.”

  She sounded so adult with that expression, Josephine bit back a grin. The situation was too serious to treat in a frivolous manner.

  “I thought we decided the dragon wasn’t real?” she said in a no-nonsense voice. “You know, boys and their silliness. Storybook tales.”

  Rose smiled. “Ah, I forgot. They are silly, aren’t they? I mean, they play with worms ’n’ things. Me mam says worms live where they are for a reason, not for boys. Well, then they must have mebbe found the treasure, do you think? And not come back?”

  Now Josephine was even more worried, but understood she couldn’t show it. “Why would they do that? Boys like their supper too much to do that. Hold on, let me dismount, help you down and tie Ruby up safely. Then we’ll see what to do next.” Dismounting wasn’t as easy as she’d hoped—those darned skirts and petticoats—but she managed, and after lifting Rose down and securing Ruby’s reins to a convenient tree, she took Rose’s hand. “Right, let’s see, shall we?”

  They reached the edge of the gorge.

  “Look, miss, see? I told you there were a dragon.” Rose pointed across the gorge. “It goes down.”

  Josephine looked in the direction Rose pointed and gulped. The gorge was deep, steep-sided, with scree, scrub and a few trees clinging to the rocky edges, and to her mind scary. However, Rose had been correct. To one side, a set of rocky outcrops did indeed look like the scales of a dragon. Josephine could easily see why it would appeal to two adventurous lads. But treasure? “What is the treasure, do you know?”

  Rose shook her head. “Nah, me brother said it was some boy called John’s but me dad did tell ’em ages ago it was a load of nonsense.”

  “Fair enough.” She wondered who on earth John could be. Maybe one of the older generation might know? “Now, Rose, what should we do next?”

  A faint shout for help told her.

  “That’s me brother, I reckon, miss,” Rose said in a worried voice. “Where is he?”

  “I don’t know, Rose, but it’s the ladies to the rescue.” If only David were here to help them. Josephine was out of her depth and knew it. All she could do was hope someone would come and find them, and soon.

  Chapter Ten

  Hot, perspiring, grimy and tired, David wiped sweat out of his eyes and sighed. “Where have we gone wrong? What other caves are
there?” A faint and persistent niggle told him they had missed or forgotten something vital.

  Will shrugged. “There aren’t.”

  “There has to be,” David persevered. “We must have overlooked somewhere.”

  “Only those with an opening too small for even them young devils to get through, or them so shallow we could see inside without going in,” Will said. Worry tinged his voice and his face was ashen with both weariness and concern. “There’s no more caves around here. Hell, Davy, we would have found ’em as kids if there were.” It was a sign of his anxiety that he had used the youthful nickname without thought. “We went everywhere.”

  David nodded. He accepted that was correct, but it was so damn frustrating to think they could be wrong. “We’ll have to hope Bert and the others have better news.”

  “Bert doesn’t,” that man said as he walked up to them, fatigue evident in his walk and demeanor. “Not a sniff. I’d even go so far as to swear no bugger been in or over those caves since we did.”

  “Could the rods have been a red herring?” David asked. He couldn’t think of any other reason for them drawing a blank. “To make people think they’re here and they’ve headed, say, to the lake or the river?” Or anywhere.

  He looked around, as, along with the rest of the men, grimy, scratched, thirsty and tired, he stood outside the last cave they could search easily and drank some of the water they’d taken with them. “Would they think to be so devious?”

  Will swallowed and wiped his mouth on his sleeve as he considered the question and eventually shook his head in a reluctant way. “Not enough time, and we’d’ve expected the river anyways.”

  Bert nodded. “He’s right.”

  “Then we have to have missed them somehow.” David ran his hand through his hair in vexation and wished he had something to hit to vent his sense of defeat “Dammit, though, where?”

  “David, look.” Bert pointed back toward the bridleway. They’d long passed formalities. “That looks like young Walker coming up the track. Do you think they’re back?”