Page 13 of The Lady’s Sweet Revenge (Safely in Scotland #3)

“M r. Albert, may I make known to you Lady Harlow Haverston,” Reese conducted the introductions while Harlow took her seat in the chair across from the stranger. She twisted her fingers, hoping it would stop her hands from shaking but guessed the twisting told the man she was nervous anyway.

“Lord Breckenridge wrote to us of a kidnapping and said you’d managed to escape Captain Merrick’s ship. I assure you we are doing everything in our power to see the man is brought to justice.”

“Justice?” she said aloud without meaning to. It had been a word she’d not given much thought to before her kidnapping. Now it occupied her thoughts a great deal.

“A long drop with a short rope, my lady.”

Harlow heard the breath suck through her lips and Reese scolded the man.

“My apologies. I’m not one to spend time with proper ladies. My speech is too bold.”

Of course, she knew criminals were hung as punishment for their crimes.

It had been the main ingredient in most of her brothers’ gruesome ghost stories when they’d been children.

Always ending with a man who was hung but walked among the living with the noose still tied around his neck, searching for his next victim.

“It is all right, Mr. Albert. It’s often one thing to know something, and quite another to speak of it. I assure you, I’m not too delicate for such topics.”

Reese pressed his lips together likely in an attempt to hide his smile. He must have known how she didn’t like for anyone to think her weak. Ignoring him, she focused on the man across from her who looked much too young to be an agent of the Crown.

His hair was a rather mousy shade of brown and his cheeks were bare of any hint of a beard, and full and round like a boy.

In contrast, this time in the afternoon, Reese had a glistening of blond hair along his jaw.

She wondered if it would be rough against her palm, and shook her head to dispel such improper thoughts.

Now was no time to think of such things.

Mr. Albert’s blue eyes held a bit of mischief, adding to his boyish looks, and they were focused intently on her now.

“Yes, my lady. Of course.” He seemed as worried as she was, though she supposed his worry was over making another misstep that would have Reese kicking him from his home. “Would you tell me what happened when you were taken?”

Harlow gave a quick nod and then looked at Reese as she collected her thoughts. He gave her an encouraging smile and then a wink. Strange how such a gesture could fortify her. While also making her knees tremble. It was good she was sitting.

“It was early morning. My uncle and I were riding together in Hyde Park. I don’t often stay to the regular paths.

I prefer to be alone, or as alone as one can be in London.

There’s a path I usually take that’s in a more secluded section of the park and that’s where I was heading.

But before I got to the trail, a number of men stepped out of the brush. So many.”

“Do you know how many?”

As Harlow recalled, it had felt like a dozen or more but she focused on the details of each one and was sure it was not as many as it first seemed.

“Nine.” She considered again and then nodded.

She was sure that was correct. “Two of the men grabbed onto Brook’s harness to stop him.

The man that pulled me down from my horse was tall, taller than Lord Breckenridge.

His head was shaved except for a single lock that came out of the top of his head.

He had markings on his face. A series of dots across his nose and cheeks.

And some lines on his forehead.” That man was the one whom she most remembered.

Mostly because he haunted her dreams some nights.

“Another wiry man stuffed a cloth in my mouth which cut off my screams.”

“Where was your uncle?” Albert asked.

“I’m not sure. I was hit in the head with something hard and lost consciousness.” That was a lie.

Harlow remembered hearing Uncle Edgar begging. “ Please, please don’t hurt— ” Later she realized it was likely an act. He was already aware of her fate and wouldn’t fear the men he worked with.

“Hmm…” Albert said with a worried look. “It’s almost as if they knew where you would be that morning and were waiting for you. It wasn’t a random kidnapping. I’d thought they were looking for someone of wealth, but it seems they wanted you specifically.”

“Her father is among the richest of the ton,” Reese said.

She knew it was common knowledge that the Ardmere dukedom was one of wealth.

But she hadn’t realized how familiar Reese was with this information.

She thought of all the men at the balls who’d sought her out for no other reason but the size of her dowry.

They didn’t care for her, they didn’t care about her at all.

“Yes,” Mr. Albert continued. “They may have been watching you for some time, waiting for the moment to strike.”

“Was a request for ransom received?” she asked.

The man shrugged. “I left London straightaway. Other agents will handle the matter of the ransom letter when it arrives. Since we know you’re safe, there’ll be no reason to pay it.”

Harlow nodded, knowing they had told her father to withhold payment in the letter she’d sent to her brother.

“When did you wake up?” the man asked.

“Shortly before dawn the next morning.” From there she told Mr. Albert every detail of what had happened in her escape. Well except for the part where she lost her accounts all over Reese’s boots. She didn’t think that was a relevant detail anyway.

“I hope you don’t mind my saying, you are a courageous woman, Lady Harlow. It is a great honor to know you.”

“I only did what anyone would do in order to survive.”

“You would be surprised. I’ve seen many a person simply freeze up, unable to think of anything to free themselves. You not only came up with a brave plan, but carried it out to perfection. I’d say none of our best agents could have done it better.”

She felt her cheeks warm under the man’s praise, but she nodded her thanks for his kind words.

She didn’t think the plan was so perfect when she’d had to jump overboard.

And she surely hadn’t felt brave when she’d simply given up when she couldn’t swim any longer.

But she had survived and that was the most important part.

“We are going to track him down. You’ll not need to worry about him anymore. I promise you that. In addition to smuggling, the man has been selling secrets to the French. He’s a traitor to the Crown and will be hunted to the ends of the Earth.”

Harlow was glad the man would be dealt with. Perhaps once she knew he was no longer out there somewhere, she might be able to sleep without nightmares. She’d never seen the captain, but her mind conjured up the most hideous faces. Grotesque creatures always reaching for her out of the shadows.

“Ye are welcome to stay the night. Have a meal,” Reese offered.

“I thank you, my lord, but I must keep moving toward Inverness.”

Reese nodded and went to the door to summon Mrs. Garrison. “Please bring some provisions that Mr. Albert can take with him.”

“Right away, m’lord.”

As they waited, Harlow’s curiosity got the best of her.

“How is my uncle?” she asked the agent.

The man smiled sympathetically. “He is well, my lady. He managed to escape the men. He said they tried to take him as well, but he pulled a knife and was able to get free. He deeply regrets not being able to save you.”

Harlow forced her lips into a smile.

“I’m certain he tried his best,” she said, while inside, the cold darkness of hate crept deeper into her soul. Edgar Polk would pay for his treachery.

*

Harlow was quiet as they ate supper together. Reese imagined she had a lot on her mind with the information they’d received from their guest. Reese had wanted it to be an enjoyable day since she was mobile once again, but the visit from Albert had cast a shadow.

“I’m sorry if the agent upset ye today. You did a fine job providing details to help in the search of the men who hurt you,” he praised her with the truth.

Often a person was able to push the worst parts of life away. As if locking them inside their own chest. But when they were called on to retell the details, the chest is unlocked and the demons of their memories are released to cause pain all over again.

“It’s normal to have memories you don’t want to think about swirling about in your mind after you stirred them up today.”

“It is like any other wound, I imagine. It began to heal over, but talking about it tears them open again to bleed and hurt.”

“Aye. It is just so.”

“There is one thing it did help me with.”

“Oh?” he asked.

“I think I know how I want to deal with my uncle.”

He started in surprise. Harlow had vowed to get her revenge on the man who’d betrayed her, but she hadn’t as yet settled on the details. He assumed they would lure the man here so she could face him and tell him how disappointed she was with him.

Reese didn’t know Edgar Polk, but if he was a hardened man, her words would be unlikely to touch him. Men focused on such things as money are often left with no soul.

As the meal was cleared, he asked her to tell him of her plans.

“You may think it is a bit dramatic, but I want the man shaking in fear for his life. I’m not so terrifying, but I can be, with your help.”

They remained at the table as they went through the details. At first, he was skeptical of how it might work, but soon he had sent for paper and ink so they might make a list of things they would need to carry out her plot.

He had to admit it was creative.

“It seems having five older brothers has come to your aid with devising a diabolical plan.”

She nodded with a smile that didn’t linger.

“I hope you don’t think me foolish,” she said after a moment of silence. “Going through all of this just to get back at him for what he did to me. It might seem childish.”

“Nay. Not at all. I can think of many a person I’d like to line up for the same fate as your uncle.”

She shook her head. “Not with the theatrical plan, but for my desire for vengeance.”

He shrugged. “You were wronged by someone you trusted. Your uncle took something important from ye, it is understandable you would want to take it back.”

“But that is just it. I will never get it back. When I’m finished with this ruse, I’ll still be left with nothing but memories of a man who wasn’t who I thought he was.

Even if it goes according to plan and Edgar is kneeling at my feet, sobbing in fear and begging for forgiveness, what comes after?

When he is taken away to face his fate, I will be left to face my own.

Will I still be bound up in all this hatred?

Will I be able to forgive him, or will I be destined to go mad with an unquenchable thirst for vengeance? ”

“I have not known you long, but I think if he truly asks for forgiveness, if he sincerely regrets what happened, it will soothe the pain in your heart enough that you can move on.”

“And if he doesn’t regret it?”

Reese tapped the paper in front of him with their plans drawn out.

“He will. After this, I don’t see how he could not.”