‘It’s you, my little Fox, and I have been waiting a long time to catch up with you.’
‘You have gone mad. I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Oh, come now, Lady Eleanor. You can do better than that.’
‘For goodness’ sake, my lord, can you not see how ridiculous this is? I...? Le Renard? It’s laughable,’ she said evenly. ‘As for my necklace—your eyes must have been playing tricks on you. If, say, the sun obscured them or the mud you were face-down in obscured them.’
He smiled slowly. ‘Do you know, I do not believe I mentioned being face-down in mud?’
‘I—I speculated, my lord,’ she stammered, realising her mistake.
‘Whilst I am finding this quite entertaining, we need to keep moving.’ He signalled to the man he’d been travelling with to tend to the horses, tethered close by. ‘I’d rather avoid a full-scale confrontation with Tallany riders or that dolt of a husband of yours.’
‘Lord Hugh will have much to say about all this. So, if I were you I would let me go before any possibility of a “full-scale confrontation”, as you put it.’
‘Oh, I don’t think so. I have waited a long time for my plan to fall into place. I must say it was a surprise when your husband returned, much sooner than I expected, but with a little tweaking it has all worked out.’
‘What are you talking about?’
‘I suspected you would try to set that oaf of an outlaw free somehow—and where better to stage the hanging than Tallany Castle, where I would discover you as The Fox, helping the outlaw. And now, with Hugh de Villiers’s overzealous behaviour earlier, practically throwing me out of Tallany, he will once again take all the blame for this.’ He whispered in her ear. ‘And you are once again to be instrumental in your husband’s downfall. Do you really think he will help you when he finds out the truth about you?’
Eleanor’s gut twisted tightly. Balvoire was right, wasn’t he? She had caused Hugh pain with her duplicity—especially now that he knew everything about Le Renard. It would come as no surprise to her if he decided that she was far more trouble than she was worth and washed his hands of her.
But at least she had told him the truth about how she truly felt.
That she loved him...
What if she never saw him again?
‘Come, Lady Eleanor, do not make this more difficult than it needs to be.’
‘Where...where are you taking me?’
‘Oh, didn’t I say? I’m taking you back to my castle, where the real entertainment can start, my dear. I will gain a full confession out of you, and soon not only this piece of land but all the riches of Tallany will come to me.’
‘I will never yield to you.’
‘Oh, I hoped you’d say that,’ he said with another sneer. ‘I have means and ways. Let’s just say that, unlike Millais, I won’t leave marks on your exquisite body. Besides, I need to make you pay for that dirty trick you played on me during your little ambush. Whatever was in that disgusting sack gave me a particularly nasty itchy rash—I do hope I can return the favour.’
From somewhere deep inside, Eleanor had to find her courage—and quickly.
‘How dare you, Lord Balvoire?’ she said, hiding the panic that was threatening to overwhelm her. ‘You are mistaken, but your desperation for my land makes you believe that all your suppositions about my necklace are correct. I tell you they are not. It’s all nonsense, and you know it—or else you would not be abducting me in this extreme manner with just one of your hapless minions.’
‘Come, woman. I have no time for this!’ he snarled, baring his teeth and seizing her by the back of her neck, dragging her towards the horses. ‘You are a she-devil, my lady, and I hope you know what happens to them.’
His rancid breath was so close to her face that Eleanor gagged.
‘Wait, you don’t have to do this.’
Fighting her way out of this seemed impossible. Her head hurt, she felt far too weak, but she had to do something. She dragged her feet against the ground, but it was in vain. She was overpowered by his superior strength.
‘It would be so much easier if you were to accept your fate more readily, my lady.’
He yanked at her so aggressively that she collided into him, hard, making them both tumble backwards, close to the mossy edge that seemed to fall away to nothing. She heard the sound of gushing water, flowing from the stream some distance below, and steadied herself.
‘What are you trying to do? Kill us both, you stupid woman?’ he spat.
‘That’s preferable to what you have planned.’
She pushed herself free and tried to get away, but his arms came around her in a vice-like grip. One hand went to her throat, squeezing softly, and the other moved around her waist, holding her still.
‘Don’t try that again or I’ll hurl you off here myself!’ he muttered in her ear, squeezing her neck a little tighter.
Dear God, she was choking. She couldn’t breathe. The glorious hues of green in front of her on the horizon reminded her so much of Hugh’s eyes but they were fading to nothing...
Her body slumped as she bitterly accepted that all had been lost.
Suddenly she faintly heard something that broke through her desperate thoughts. It gave her hope, even though all hope had seemed lost. It was the distant sound of barking... But, no, she must be imagining things. And yet the hound’s barking had become louder and louder, and there was something else... The sound of a horse galloping towards them. Could it be?
Balvoire turned, having also heard the din, and just as he did so an arrow flew past and lodged itself at the centre of his floppy drab hat.
‘Let her go,’ said a steely low voice that was
