Page 17 of Much Ado about a Widow

It would also give Lady Georgina too much time to devise a way to escape the ship.

Brack had related several of her exploits when she was a girl still in the schoolroom. The most vivid of these tales involved her attempt to visit a tenant farmer’s wife who’d taken ill. When her father had forbidden the visit, lest the girl fall ill as well, Lady Georgina had found a truly unorthodox way of getting to the home. She had disguised herself as a groom and ridden on the back of a carriage heading in the general vicinity of the tenant’s house. Once near enough she’d jumped off the moving carriage and walked the rest of the way to tend to the ailing woman.

Rob shook his head. The lady was as adventurous as any man of his acquaintance. Not a totally ladylike trait, but he for one wouldn’t hold that against her. If the lady hadn’t been so set against him, they might have had a lark of their own together.

Discovering himself grinning like a fool, Rob cleared his throat, put on a more sober countenance, and turned back toward the street he’d sent Cartwright down. Lady Georgina’s penchant for adventures might yet bring them to grief.

“My lord.”

Rob whirled around to find Chapman sprinting toward him. Puffing like a winded horse, the sailor slid to a halt in front of him, narrowly missing a stack of crates.

“I found it, my lord.” Chapman bent over, sucking in air by the lungful. “Three streets over, near the water, at The Ship’s Arms Tavern.”

“Excellent work, Chapman. There’ll be an extra crown in your wages this quarter.” Rob clapped the man on his back. “You are sure it’s the Marquess of Blackham’s carriage?”

“Yes, milord. Shiny black lacquer, gold trim, and a lion”—Chapman stood up, his arms raised, fingers splayed out like claws—“up on his hind legs, ready to fight.”

Chuckling at the man’s amateur theatrics, Rob nodded and scanned the street., “We’ll wait for the others to return, then we’re off to The Ship’s Arms.”

A few minutes and Barnes came into view.

“What ho, Barnes.” Rob motioned the men toward him.

“Didn’t find a thing, Captain.” Sounding disgusted, Barnes shifted uneasily on his feet.

“But Chapman has. Just along there, at The Ship’s Arms Tavern, lies our prize. We just have to wait for the others—”

“Captain!” Ayers and Cartwright popped around the corner together and jogged toward them. “Nothing down that way, Captain.” Ayers pointed back along the street they’d come from. “Cartwright and I met up at the ends of our streets. They came together at a point.”

“But no carriage on either street, Captain.” Cartwright’s lips were pursed, his brows lowered.

“Not to worry, Cartwright. Chapman found it at The Ship’s Arms Tavern.” He gazed at the excited faces surrounding him. “Are we ready then to take back her ladyship’s belongings?”

“Aye, Captain.” Barnes straightened and nodded, his gaze fully on Rob.

Ayers nodded too and grabbed a baling hook off a nearby bale of cotton. “Aye, Captain.”

“That we are, my lord. What would you have us do?” Chapman still gulped air, but his resolute face didn’t waver.

“Give me a moment.” Rob adjusted his hat, thinking furiously. “Let me see where it is. Chapman, you lead the way.” They all trotted briskly down the street. Rob had visited that particular tavern several times when he’d been in port. Unfortunately, now he needed a plan, preferably one that might actually work. How could he steal away Lady Georgina’s luggage without the kidnappers any the wiser? At least not until they’d set sail. It would do none of them any good if they were caught in the act and would be even worse if the kidnappers managed to follow them back to the ship—and Lady Georgina.

“There it is, Captain.” Chapman pointed to a serviceable establishment across the street from them that teemed with custom.

“Wait.” Rob stopped short and backed them up, taking them instead into a noisome alleyway across from the inn that stank of manure and molasses. From this vantage point he could better assess the situation. Slowly he stuck his head around the corner of a clapboard building.

The shiny black carriage stood gleaming in the courtyard, its horses nowhere in sight. Why hadn’t it been moved to the stable area?

“Why has the carriage been left unattended, but the horses have been taken inside?”

“What do you mean, Captain?” Barnes cocked his head.

“If a carriage comes into an inn and the passengers are staying the night, the horses are put in the stable and the carriage is put back behind it, to make way for other rigs. However, this carriage”—Rob gestured to the Marquess of Blackham’s equipage—“is sitting right there, for all to see. Why?”

His men looked blankly at him.

“Because it’s being used as bait.” Rob lowered his voice, though, by the surprised expressions, the others hadn’t thought of that. “Whoever kidnapped Lady Georgina is hoping she’ll send someone for her trunks, or even better, she’ll try to take them herself. So they’ve made it look easy. I assure you, it won’t be. We won’t be able to retrieve the carriage itself.” Not that he’d ever entertained that notion. “But the trunks are right there, just calling for someone to snatch them.” One sat in a compartment beneath the rear of the conveyance; the other was strapped to the rear where a groom usually rode. Though both trunks were small, there was no way to determine how heavy they were. Rob and his men would have to make the best of it.

“It’s going to take some doing to get those trunks away, Captain. Might even run into some trouble.” Ayers ran his hand along the hook, as though itching to use it.