to my death in more battles than I can remember. Fortunately, I've always walked back again.'
'This is different.'
'I don't see why, Your Grace.'
'If your supposition is correct,' said Marlborough, 'this man has already made two failed attempts on your life. He's gone to enormous lengths to get close to you. Taking a hostage is his last desperate throw of the dice. You'd be willingly handing yourself over to your executioner.'
'I'm inclined to agree with His Grace,' said Cardonnel.
Daniel was resolved. 'Abigail must be rescued at all costs,' he said earnestly. 'She is an innocent victim. By rights, she should not even be here. As a British soldier, I can hardly plead innocence. I've killed many men in combat and I've worked behind enemy lines to gather intelligence. It's hardly surprising that someone wants to see me dead.'
'That doesn't mean you have to sacrifice yourself, Daniel.'
'Adam is right,' said Marlborough. 'You're too valuable to lose.'
'It's kind of you to say so, Your Grace,' said Daniel, 'but let me ask you this. Do you wish to write to Sir Nicholas Piper to explain that you could not rescue his younger daughter because you preferred to save the life of one of your captains?'
'No, I would not.'
'Then I must follow my instructions.'
After further consideration, Marlborough gave a reluctant nod. 'Whom will you take with you?'
'Sergeant Welbeck. We'll take a spare horse with us so that Abigail will be able to ride back here to the camp. I see that as a hopeful sign.'
'Well, I can't say that I do,' said Marlborough.
'If this man means to kill me,' he reasoned, 'he could do so on the spot and allow Abigail to return here on my horse. But his letter stressed that we bring a mount for her.'
'There is a glimmer of hope in that, I suppose,' said Cardonnel. 'What struck me about this man is that he has an educated hand. His letter is crisp, well-written and explicit.'
'Oh, there's no question about his intelligence, sir,' said Daniel. 'It was reading this letter that persuaded me that Henry — Sergeant Welbeck, that is — may be right. It must have come from the fellow who posed as Will Curtis. The sergeant told me he had too many airs and graces to serve as a private. We're up against a clever man.'
'He's clever and merciless.'
'He's also very calculating. He kidnapped someone whom he knew was a friend of mine. Look at the way he's planned to exchange us,' he continued, waving the letter. 'I have to ride across a plain so that he can see me from miles away and check if I obeyed his orders. That's why I can only take one man with me.'
'There's our answer,' said Marlborough. 'While you ride towards him, I sent troops around to the rear.'
'We can't be certain where he is, Your Grace. At the far end of that plain is a series of hills. He could be hiding on any of them and, from an elevated position like that, he could pick out any flanking movement with a telescope.'
'Captain Rawson is correct,' said Cardonnel. 'This man has no intention of being surrounded. At the first sign of trickery on our part, he'll vanish altogether — and he'll probably cut Miss Piper's throat before he does so.'
'I have to go,' said Daniel.
'It's against my better judgement,' Marlborough told him.
'I'll speak to Sergeant Welbeck.'
'Is he willing to accompany you?'
'Yes, Your Grace — there's no better man for the task.'
'I hesitate to give the mission my blessing.'
'With or without it,' said Daniel, 'I still mean to go.'
'How do you know you can trust this fellow?' asked Cardonnel. 'There's the frightening possibility that Miss Piper is already dead. Her name is simply being used to lure you out of the camp.'
'Then that's an even better reason to go. If anyone has harmed her in any way,' said Daniel, thrusting out his jaw, 'I want to meet him. He'll answer to me.'
Edward Marston
Soldier of Fortune
Concealed behind a boulder, Charles Catto surveyed the plain through his telescope. There was nobody in sight. Frederic Seurel took the telescope from him and applied an eye to it. After a minute, he handed the instrument back.
'He's not coming,' he declared.
'He must come — there's too much at stake.'
'Why should he care about one silly little English girl when he can charm his way into the bed of a general's wife? Captain Rawson can pick and choose his women at will. He won't bother about losing one of them.'
'Yes, he will,' said Catto. 'Miss Piper is special to him.'
'She's special to me as well,' said Seurel, glancing over his shoulder at Abigail. 'Don't forget your promise, Charles. You told me that, if Captain Rawson fails to appear, I could have my way with her before I choked the life out of that lovely body of hers.'
'It won't come to that, Frederic.'
'It must. It's agony being so close to such beauty yet forbidden to touch it or taste it. I only have to look at her to want her. Don't you have that same fire in your loins? Don't you have that urge to-'
'Be quiet,' snapped Catto, cutting him off. 'Miss Piper is not some tavern wench for you to tumble in the hay. She's a lady of quality and she'll bring in a far greater prize.'
'Captain Rawson won't bother about her.'
'I'll wager anything that he will.'
'How can you be so sure?'
'Because I exploited his weak spot — I appealed to his honour.'
Seurel was contemptuous. 'Honour!' he said with a sneer. 'What use is that? I never cared about honour when I was a soldier. The only thing I wanted to do was to make people suffer before I killed them.'
'Captain Rawson has higher ideals than you.'
'When it comes to women, he has the same ideals as me!'
Abigail Piper heard his crude laughter and quivered. She was sitting some yard behind them. To prevent her escape, they had bound her hand and foot and put a gag in her mouth. She had never felt so utterly powerless. One man had treated her with a modicum of respect but the other merely ogled her. Unable to understand Seurel's speech, she found his fervent glances all too comprehensible. There would be no Emily to rescue her from a man's clutches this time. With her hands tied behind her back and her mouth covered, she had absolutely no means of defence.
She was in a quandary. Desperate to be rescued, she did not want her freedom to be at the expense of Daniel Rawson's capture. If he fell into their hands, Abigail feared for his life. Even before her abduction, she had started to regret her decision to flee from home in the cause of true love. As a result of her impetuosity, she and her maid had undergone all sorts of pain and mortification and she had finally reached the British camp only to discover that Daniel did not requite her love in the way she had imagined.
Abigail had not only embarrassed him, she had now put him in mortal danger. It made her writhe with guilt. At the same time, she was praying for release from her predicament and that could only be achieved by Daniel's arrival. Whatever happened, one of them was going to suffer dreadfully. The conviction that it was all her fault made Abigail quake with remorse. Tears dribbled freely down her face. She was stuck on the horns of a dilemma. Needing him to come to her aid, she wanted him to stay away for his own sake and the more she thought about it, the more she felt she deserved her fate. Closing her eyes, she prayed for strength to endure her ordeal.
Edward Marston
Soldier of Fortune
Daniel Rawson came out of the trees and started to ride across the plain. Henry Welbeck was beside him, eager to support his friend and taking care to shed no blame on the woman who, in his opinion, had actually created the fraught situation. For most of their journey, the sergeant had held his peace. Daniel, too, had been lost in
