Caroline and the Captain: A Regency Novella by Maggi Andersen Page A

always scrupulously careful with his allotted tasks, but she’d failed to impress upon him the importance of being particularly thorough tonight, with Post not far away.  She left her bedchamber in her dressing gown carrying a candle, and slipped down the stairs to the study, where the window lock was stiff and not always properly closed.
    The window was locked, but as she closed the curtains, she thought she saw movement in the garden. Perhaps a trick of light. She must not start jumping at shadows.
    Hugo sat up in his bed when she entered. “Good dog.” Climbing beneath the covers, she blew out the candle and lay in the dark watching the bright moonlight peek through a gap in the curtains. The room was cast in menacing shadows. Annoyed with herself, she tried to sleep. It didn’t work.
    She threw back the bedclothes and left the bed. Padding across the carpet, she tugged the curtains closed. Hugo sat up and whined. She gave him a pat. “It’s all right boy.”
    A thud sounded somewhere below. Hadn’t Kettle gone to bed? It was very late for any servants to be about. Her chest tightened. Outside her bedchamber, the stairs creaked. Telling herself she was being ridiculous, she scurried back to bed and pulled the covers up to her chin.
    Minutes passed without a whisper of sound. She tried to still her pounding heart as she settled on her side and closed her eyes.
    She was suddenly wide awake as a scraping noise penetrated the darkness. A shiver rushed down her spine. The locked door rattled and banged as someone tried to force it open.
    Hugo barked and ran to the door.
    Leaping from the bed, Caroline looked around desperately to find something to barricade the door.  There was nothing. She snatched up a heavy silver candlestick as the door burst open, crashing against the wall. A man’s shape appeared partly obscured in the dark. “We meet again,” Post said. He grabbed her before she could turn and run. Caroline raised the candlestick, but Post knocked it out of her hands.
    Hugo showed his teeth, he leapt at Post, the fur on the back of his neck rising. “Shut the dog away or I’ll shoot him.” Post took a kick at Hugo, but the dog danced out of reach.
    Not wanting the dog hurt, she pulled Hugo to the dressing room and shut the door. As Hugo whined and scratched on the door, she tried to evade Post and run out into the corridor, but he was right behind her.
    “Still a tasty handful,” he said, as his arm encircled her throat. “I relive those tender moments with you, even after all this time.”
    Caroline struggled to breathe as Posts’ rancid body odor made her gag. She was back in that field with him grunting on top of her. Her legs threatened to give way, her heart beating so loud in her ears she could hardly hear his words.
    “I’m going to take my hand away. If you scream, I’ll shoot you and anyone who comes to help you.” The cold metal of a gun nudged the back of her head.
    She nodded, a dreadful rage masking her fear. This man had killed George and had ruined her life.
    He released her and she spun around with an angry gasp. Without taking his eyes off her, Post pulled the curtains open and moonlight flooded into the room. Still the same Post with greasy hair and a scrubby beard. His hard eyes were shadows in his thin face.
    “How dare you come here, after what you’ve done?”
    “And what is that?”
    “As if you didn’t know. You are a monster. Why did you kill George?” She almost spat out the words.
    “He deserved to die. He put the law on me.”
    She stared at him with loathing. “You stole from him!”
    “When the newspaper said he sold the family jewels, I felt sure they’d be a cache of money here.”
    “How did you know he would come there?” she asked wanting to keep him talking.
    “When I worked here I knew his daily habits. He jumped that wall every day, so all I had to do was wait for him in the trees,” Post said in a boastful voice. “It was easy to surprise him. I