Never Less Than a Lady Read Free Page A

“Mind you behave, or I’ll cut your throat. No one will blame me if I have to kill a murderess.”
    A horrified gasp sounded from the door of the kitchen as Jenny appeared, drawn by the voices. Crockett cursed and spun toward her, raising the knife.
    “No!” Julia grabbed his wrist. “For the love of God, don’t hurt her! Jenny can do you no harm.”
    “She might raise the alarm after I take you,” he growled.
    Molly wobbled into sight, her round face scrunched with worry as she grabbed her mother’s skirt. Jenny scooped up the child and backed into the kitchen, her eyes terrified.
    “Get her!” Crockett snapped.
    The younger of the other two men moved after Jenny and took her arm so she could retreat no further. “Killing a mother and her babe would raise a hue and cry for sure,” the man said. “I can tie the lass so she won’t be able to escape till tomorrow. We’ll be far away before anyone notices anything wrong.”
    After an agonizingly long pause, Crockett said grudgingly, “Very well, tie the chit up. We’ll leave as soon as you’re done.”
    Voice not quite steady, Julia said, “Since I’m not coming back, I’d like to write a note saying I leave the cottage and its contents to Jenny.”
    “Ever the lady bountiful,” he said brusquely. “Be quick about it.”
    After she scrawled the two sentences that were her last will and testament, Crockett scanned the paper to see if she’d said anything about her fate. Satisfied, he dropped it on her worktable. “Get your shawl. There’s a long journey ahead.”
    She did as he ordered, collecting her warm, shabby shawl and bonnet. Was there anything else she should take?
    Dead women needed nothing. Ignoring Crockett, she went to the Windsor chair Jenny was tied to and gave the girl a hug. “I leave you my cottage and everything else.” She bent and kissed Molly, who hid behind her mother’s skirts. “You’re a good midwife, Jenny. Don’t worry about me. I…I’ve had more good years than I expected.”
    “What is all this about?” her friend whispered, tears on her cheeks.
    “Justice,” Crockett snapped.
    “The less you know, the better. Good-bye, my dear.” Julia wrapped her shawl around her shoulders and turned to the door.
    Crockett raised several coils of chain. “Now, to make sure you can’t run off, your ladyship.” He snapped a manacle around her left wrist and jerked her toward him like a leashed animal.
    The chain came near to breaking her. She would drop to her knees and beg for her life if she thought it would do any good. But Crockett would laugh at her weakness. Since death was inevitable, she’d face it with her head high and her dignity intact.
    She had nothing else left.
    Julia walked outside, chain clanking. A plain closed carriage waited, a driver on the box. Four villainous men to one undersized midwife. There would be no escape.
    Crockett opened the door and pointed her to the corner seat on the far side from the door. Then he sat next to her, the chain firmly in his grasp. When Crockett and his minions were in place, the carriage set off.
    Numbly she gazed out the window as they drove through Hartley. When the village fell behind them, she closed her eyes and suppressed her tears. She’d been happy here at the far edge of the world.
    But it hadn’t been far enough.

Chapter 3
    Randall was halfway through a plate of Mrs. Beckett’s chops when he heard pounding at the door of Hartley Manor. The sound was so frantic that he considered answering the door himself, but the chops were excellent.
    A few moments later, voices sounded from the front hall as the door was opened. Hearing the name “Mrs. Bancroft” yanked him from his chair and sent him striding to the front hall. Emma, the pretty maid who had invited him to stay earlier, looked shocked as she talked to a young woman with anxious eyes and bloody wrists. Something was very wrong. He snapped, “What has happened to Mrs. Bancroft?”
    “Three men came and