Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
To any outside observer, it would have appeared as if Greer and Penny were two friends having a grand day at the seaside.
They walked along the shore, keeping to the beach itself as much as they could, but walking through the meadows bordering the ocean and climbing rocky crags when they needed to.
They took some time to sit or lie in the sun, munching on the drastically limited supply of fruit and cheese they had in their cases, which was left over from their time at the village inn.
Penny even took off his shoes and stockings and waded in the surf at one point while Greer looked on, shaking his head.
Everything looked peaceful and innocent from the outside. None of the few people who crossed their paths throughout the day would have come close to imagining what the two of them had planned for that night.
None of them could see past Greer’s smiles and laughter as he watched Penny’s antics to sense the deep and disturbing sense of wrongness pulsing through Greer’s body and heart, like someone had connected him to an experiment with electricity and insisted on shocking him every few seconds.
He was mortified by his outburst after the barn.
Memories of his past had crept up on him before he had the presence of mind to fight them off.
As Bob clobbered him with his rake, Greer had actually heard his father’s voice calling him a disgusting menace and a perversion.
He’d only been a boy when his father had committed the final act of violence that had robbed him of his family forever, but even at that tender age, his father had sensed something about him.
And dozens of men since had called him a perversion and worse.
But breaking down in front of Penny? Again? It was more than Greer could manage without thinking himself to be everything his father and other men of authority had ever called him and more.
“Are you thinking about how we’ll make our escape?” Penny asked late in the day, as the two of them sat on the shore half a mile north of Trebarral Castle, staring out at the most beautiful sunset Greer had ever seen.
“Mmm hmm,” Greer lied, nodding and turning to his companion.
The warm hues of the summer sunset caught the copper tones in Penny’s hair, making him look like his head was on fire.
It turned his skin alabaster, despite the days of growth that had made Penny’s beard scraggly.
Penny’s green eyes blazed with emerald flames, telling Greer that he was excited about the daring deeds they were about to commit.
“Finding that boat was a lucky happenstance,” Penny pointed out, nodding down the shoreline to the boat that bobbed in the tide only a short distance from the castle’s walls.
It most likely belonged to someone in the castle, but when they’d examined it earlier, it didn’t look to have been used for a while.
Poking around the castle in the middle of the day had been a colossal risk, but there had been no way to get around Trebarral to study the coast and possible routes of escape.
A few of the castle’s servants had spotted them, but if they’d thought anything unusual about the two men who had visited the castle the day before cavorting by the seaside, they hadn’t said anything.
No one had come down to the beach to ask what they were doing or to chase them off.
One of the maids Penny had attempted to sell trinkets to had actually waved to them as she emptied a bucket of water over the edge of the slight cliff near the kitchen courtyard.
“Do you know how to row a boat?” Greer asked, arching one eyebrow at Penny.
Penny laughed. “Not at all. It cannot be as hard as all that.”
Greer smirked in return, shaking his head. “I’ve rowed a boat before,” he said. “That should be good enough.”
He wasn’t certain that it would be. Fleeing with a young nobleman over an uncertain tide in the middle of the night might be the end of them all, but they had no choice.
The peace of the seaside was a lie. Underhill was on his way to collect Lord Fabian at any moment. It might have already been too late.
A hundred thousand things could go wrong, but Greer and Penny had no choice but to charge ahead like madmen to fulfill Brutus and Titus’s mission. At least if they died in the process, he and Penny would die together.
If they were lucky.
Since they were out of food and there was no time to do anything else before diving into the rescue, they found a secluded spot on the beach where their cases would be safe for the time being and nestled into the sand like weary crabs to sleep a bit.
Greer was surprised that he was able to rest at all, what with the fear and danger that swirled around him.
Not just fear of the moment, but fear that had followed him all the way from his childhood in Ireland.
If he and Penny made it through the night, if they succeeded in their rescue and found their way home to London again, Greer made up his mind to make space in his life for Penny.
The man had certainly proved himself. Perhaps the time was right for him to give up his ideas of always working alone.
He was already the greatest housebreaker in England, but with Penny by his side, he might become the greatest housebreaker in all of Europe.
Or the two of them could leave their wicked ways behind and become landlords, living quietly and comfortably and helping others to do the same.
“Greer. Greer, wake up,” Penny’s warm voice whispered beside him.
Greer opened his eyes into near blackness, broken only by the light of a waxing moon dancing in the sky. He grunted and pushed himself to sit upright, rubbing the grogginess from his eyes.
“The castle has gone dark,” Penny said, pushing himself to stand and looking back down the shoreline to the shadowy outline. “It’s time.”
Greer swallowed his apprehension and stood. He would have loved a flask of water or a mug of beer just then. Going all day with very little food had been a terrible idea. Perhaps there would be something they could snatch from the castle.
“Do you think we’ll be home in time for tea?” he asked, fetching both of their cases from the rocks and handing Penny’s over to him.
“Only if we’re very lucky,” Penny laughed.
It wasn’t funny. Nothing they were doing was funny.
But Greer laughed all the same, and the two of them started their final journey down the shifting sands of the beach.
It appeared to be low tide and the waves weren’t particularly large, which would help them later, but Greer still carried far too much worry in his gut as they approached the castle.
“The windows are open again tonight,” Penny whispered once they were almost to the base of the castle, very close to where the boat they’d marked earlier for their escape was tied. “Should be as easy to break in tonight as it was last night.”
Greer nodded, moving to put his case in the boat as Penny did the same. It was a bold, risky move bordering on foolishness, but if everything else went to plan, they wouldn’t have to worry about collecting their things later.
“How do we slip past the tower guard?” Penny asked as they studied the castle from the beach.
Greer’s first instinct was to silence Penny, or to leave him behind. He’d brought up an important concern, though.
“We’ll have to give him a reason to investigate something away from the tower,” Greer said, rubbing his stubbly chin thoughtfully. “Maybe that cat will be wandering around again tonight.”
“We can make a noise pretending to be the cat,” Penny said, brightening.
Greer frowned at him. So help him, if Penny started mewling like a cat in the middle of the night, he would throttle the man, whether he loved him or not.
That quick thought of love sent anxious shivers through Greer’s gut that it was best if he ignored. They were so close to completing their mission. He couldn’t let his feelings for Penny distract him now, not like they had in Mayfair.
The only thing they could do was move forward.
Greer hated doing anything without a thorough plan, but he had no choice.
They climbed up the steep bank from the beach to the field around the castle using a narrow path with weathered boards inserted here and there like steps.
The castle was as sleepy now as it had been the night before, which was a sign that their break-in the night before had gone unquestioned. Luck was still on their side.
They walked around the castle until they found the same open window they’d used the night before.
The study on the other side had been empty the night before, and once they pulled themselves up and in, Greer was relieved to find that the entire castle was as empty and silent as it had been on their scouting mission.
“So far, so good,” Penny whispered as they stepped into the downstairs hall.
Greer whipped around to face him, pressing a fingertip to his lips. Just because they’d gotten in and out without issue once did not mean the same would happen a second time.
As soon as that thought flitted into Greer’s mind, it proved true.
“…supposed to have handled this long before now,” a low, angry male voice sounded from behind one of the doors on the first floor as they mounted the stairs. “He’s been in this unprotected spot too long.”
“And where do you propose to put him?” a second voice, undoubtedly Dalhurst’s argued in return as Greer and Penny moved closer. “You cannot hide a nobleman’s son indefinitely.”
“Deliver him to Underhill, then!” the other man shouted. “That’s what you were supposed to do a fortnight ago.”
“Underhill has been delayed on the Continent,” Dalhurst shouted back. “I cannot force the tides to become favorable.”