Chapter Eighteen
Eighteen
“Nicky! Thank God!” Gabe was so relieved he simply leaned over, lifted the boy out of the saddle, and wrapped him in a big hug. Nicky hugged him back.
“Are you all right?” Gabe demanded. “How did you get away? I can’t believe it!” He hugged the boy again. “Thank God.”
Nicky grinned up at him. “I escaped.”
“All by yourself?” He laughed and ruffled the boy’s hair. “How did you manage that? No, wait.” Gabe squinted into the darkness. “Is anyone following you?”
“Probably,” Nicky said. “It will depend on how long it takes Count Anton to discover which way I went.”
Gave laughed again at the frank triumph in the boy’s voice, and the relish with which he repeated the word “escaped.”
“Good lad! Come on then, let’s get back. Tell me on the way. The others are behind us.”
“Where’s Mama?”
“Following in the curricle with Harry.”
They turned and cantered back the way Gabe had just come. Trojan was tired, but gallant as ever.
When they met up with Rafe, Ethan, Luke, and Nash they all whooped with delight. They pelted Nicky with questions as they rode back to the inn, and Nicky happily answered them.
Gabe grinned, enjoying the boy’s triumph. The rock in his chest had eased considerably now that the boy was safe. He was just waiting for the moment when he could put Nicky back in his mother’s arms.
The way he felt, Count Anton could send an army after him. It would make no difference. Nicky was safe and they were going to keep him that way.
They found the inn and woke the landlord who, seeing the flash of gold coins, was only too happy to provide hospitality to a bunch of gentlemen.
He chivvied his wife out of bed to see to the provision of food, rousted out a sleepy stable boy to care for the horses, and hurried back in to see to the drinks.
Luke and Ethan kept watch on the road outside.
“So, Nicky,” Gabe said when they were inside. “Tell me again from the beginning and leave no detail out.” There were aspects of the story that hadn’t made sense to him, but he’d only got it in snatches. “The men who took you from your room, did they carry you over the rooftops?”
“No, they tied me up like a sack of potatoes, and they lowered me down in the back alley with ropes. I could see, but because of the gag, I couldn’t yell out or anything.”
Gabe nodded. “You were very brave. What happened next?”
“There was a carriage waiting, and they put me in that. It was dirty and smelled of onions. Then we went somewhere and the count came and he, he—” The little boy’s lip trembled, but he mastered himself and went on. “He had a bottle of something nasty and he made me drink from it.”
Gabriel swore under his breath.
“I thought it was poison, like he used on my puppy,” Nicky continued.
“And I fought, but there was nothing I could do. He forced it into my mouth, but I didn’t swallow it.
And then he lifted me into the curricle so I let it dribble down my front.
He never saw. But I must have swallowed some, because I don’t remember anything after that until I woke up and we were out in the country somewhere and my hands and feet weren’t tied anymore, but I was still wrapped in the quilt.
I felt sleepy and a bit sick, so I just lay on the seat and didn’t move, not even when we stopped and the count checked me. ”
“They stopped to change horses, and the count went inside, and that’s when I climbed out of the curricle. One of the soldiers saw me, but he only bowed and said how pleased he was I was free and coming home.”
“He what?”
Nicky shrugged. “He wanted me to go into the inn to eat something, but I told him I needed to make water first. Well, I did.”
“And he just let you go? By yourself?” Gabe exchanged glances with Nash and Rafe.
Nicky nodded. “Yes, and he went into the inn so I made water, and afterward I found the horses all saddled and waiting, so I untied them all. I kept one for me and set the others loose. I got on mine—it was a bit difficult without you to boost me, sir, but I managed and I rode at the other horses so that they ran off, and then I rode away.”
Gabe frowned. “The soldier knew who you were?”
Nicky nodded. “Yes, he called me Prince Nikolai. But he didn’t see me stealing the horse. I think he would have stopped me then.”
Gabe was puzzled. The soldier ought have stopped Nicky as soon as he saw he was free. It didn’t make sense. To go to all that trouble to kidnap the boy and then just let him walk away. It was crazy!
Nicky grinned. “Nobody expected me to be able to ride. I heard the count yelling and swearing and screaming at everyone.”
Gabe laughed at Nicky’s expression. Far from being cowed by his adventure, he was positively crowing at his victory. And why not? He’d rescued himself in the best possible way.
But it was a very strange story. And Gabe was determined to get to the bottom of it.
The sound of horses outside drew his attention. He heard Rafe whistle and tensed, with a different sort of tension.
“Brace yourself, Nicky,” he said, “Your mother is here.” A moment later a small whirlwind in a large fur cloak flew in the door.
“Nicky, oh Nicky!” Callie exclaimed and hugged her son convulsively. She checked him all over. “Are you all right, my darling? They didn’t hurt you?”
“No, Mama. I am perfectly splendid!”
She paused. “Perfectly splendid?” She stared at him, then shook her head. She gave a shaky laugh, wiped a tear away, and repeated, “Perfectly splendid?” She laughed again and hugged him. “How can you be perfectly splendid?”
“I am, Mama. I foiled Count Anton all by myself!”
“You did? But I thought—” She threw a puzzled glance at Gabe then turned back to her son and hugged him again. She drew him to a settee, saying, “Tell me all about it.”
She’d turned away from him. Gabe had expected it, but it didn’t make it any easier. He watched the joyful reunion between mother and son. She was like a bear or a wolf in defense of her cub. She would have killed for him.
He’d promised to protect her child and he’d failed. So she turned her back on him. Perhaps, if he’d rescued the boy in some heroic fashion…but Nicky had done it all by himself.
And Gabe couldn’t regret that—he was proud of the lad, as proud as if Nicky were his own son.
The boy had shown courage, initiative, and endurance.
He’d dealt with a thoroughly nasty situation with a marvelously cool head.
And he wasn’t an experienced rider. To tackle a long ride in the dark, alone and on an unknown horse, was a feat to celebrate.
Harry had come in behind her. He and Gabe watched Nicky telling his mother about his adventure, then exchanged glances.
Gabe couldn’t stand to see the pity in his brother’s eyes.
Harry knew how Gabe felt about her. There was a narrow balcony that ran the length of the inn, and Gabe took himself out onto it to watch for Count Anton. He wouldn’t be caught off guard again.
Count Anton would be desperate now, with witnesses to his perfidy. He had nothing left to lose. And desperate men did desperate things.
A shrill whistle from below came a few minutes later. He interrupted Nicky’s story. “They’re coming,” he said. He couldn’t quite look her in the eye. “Go out on the balcony, please. If there is a fight, I need you both to be out of harm’s way.”
She didn’t look very happy about it, but she nodded and moved outside, taking Nicky. She wrapped them both in the large fur cloak, just as Ethan, Luke, Rafe, and Nash arrived and took up a defensive stance.
A few minutes later Count Anton, accompanied by half a dozen men in uniform, stormed into the inn.
“Where is the prince?” Count Anton scanned the room.
“Safe,” Gabe told him.
The count sneered. “Give him up. He belongs to us. You are outnumbered.”
“I think not,” Gabe snarled. He’d lost almost everything he’d cared about tonight and this man was the cause of it.
The count glanced at the sword Gabe was wearing. “We shall see if you can fight like gentlemen.” He gave an order and the soldiers drew their swords. Gabe and the others did likewise.
“Stop this at once!” Callie stepped into the room. Nicky followed.
Instantly the soldiers bowed. “Princess Caroline,” their captain said. “You are safe.”
“Get back outside,” Gabe told her furiously. “Dammit, woman, will you learn to follow orders for once in your life!”
“Do not use that tone of voice with the princess, swine!” the captain of the soldiers roared.
“I will use any damned tone I like if it will keep her safe! Now for the last time, Callie, get out of here. This is going to get ugly!”
“I won’t have any more fighting,” she ordered. “I don’t want you hurt! I don’t want anyone hurt.” She looked at Count Anton. “Except him.”
She pulled out the pistol and pointed it at Count Anton.
With a roar of exasperation, Gabe snatched the pistol from her. “If anyone is going to kill that devil, it will be me,” he told her furiously. “Now get outside before one of these idiots hurts you.”
She gave him an angry look and stepped back, pushing Nicky behind her. But she still didn’t go outside. Gabe glared at her.
“Princess, did this thug hurt you?” the captain of the soldiers demanded.
She frowned at him. “Of course he didn’t. You are Captain Kordovski, are you not? I cannot believe that a captain of the Royal Zindarian Guard is involved in such filthy business as this.”
“What filthy business, Highness? We have come to rescue you.” The captain glared at Gabe.
Gabe glared back. “Will you stop bandying words with this bandit and get back outside!” he told her.
She ignored Gabe and gave the captain a puzzled look. “Rescue me from whom?”
The captain looked at Gabe and then back at Callie. “I thought—is that thug not the enemy who stole you away?” he said doubtfully and looked to the count as if for confirmation.
“Enough of this nonsense,” the count said and lunged at Gabe with his sword.