Lies and Misdemeanours by Rebecca King Page A

sure whether to laugh or cry; be immensely proud of her fortitude, or stunned at her daring.
    “She has to be alright,” Charlie growled to nobody in particular as he paused at the brow of one particularly large hill, and looked back at the town. The place looked busy even from this distance.
    A steady procession of people was streaming down the busy road that led out of town. Now that the entertainment had vanished, there seemed to be no point in lingering, and it appeared that the majority of people had decided to make their way home.
    “I hope that lot aren’t looking for us,” Barnaby whispered as he studied the carriages that wove their way around the people.
    “I hope that Hetty is in that lot,” Charlie replied fervently. “She has to be leaving town.”
    “Mabel grew up in Derby. She volunteered to help guide Hetty out,” Joshua replied confidently.
    “We have to go the long route to Afferley, but most of it is through countryside. We will avoid the villages,” Barnaby added and threw a warning look at Charlie. “There is a lot to update you on.”
    “You may have been fooled by Cedric Meldrew and his men, but at least you had Simon and his family to work for you. If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t have known about today,” Joshua informed him.
    “I know. I am incredibly grateful to you all but cannot help but wonder what we should do now,” Charlie declared flatly. “Star Elite or not, you could hang for this if you get caught,” Charlie sighed as they cantered steadily across the fields. “Meldrew is nothing if not swift. If he gets his hands on us again, everyone will be hung so swiftly that Sir Hugo won’t even have the chance to saddle his horse before we are at the end of the hangman’s noose, and that includes Hetty.”
    “Sir Hugo knows about Meldrew, Charlie. He received Hetty’s letter and immediately sent a rider out to find us. We rounded up the men and came straight here, but didn’t arrive until last night. Sir Hugo has stayed in London to round up more men and notify the upper echelons in authority. He promised he would be a day behind us. Even with any unforeseen delays, he should be with us the day after tomorrow,” Joshua reasoned. “All we have to do is keep everyone out of Meldrew’s clutches until then.”
    “We will have a shoot-out with anyone who bloody well tries to take any of us,” Marcus said as he patted his gun. He took a moment to dig into his saddle bag and tugged out another gun, which he passed to Charlie. “In case of emergencies.”
    “That’s all very well and good,” Charlie argued as he took it off him with a nod. “But Hetty isn’t out of Meldrew’s clutches. Nor is Mabel for that matter. Both of them are still in that bloody town. Her red hair is beautiful, but it is like a bloody beacon. Meldrew will look out for her because she is not too hard to miss, is she? Not only that but she is my wife, and Simon’s sister.”
    Barnaby sighed and thought of the red-headed beauty who had looked petrified yet so determined, and could understand Charlie’s determination to get her back. If he was in Charlie’s situation, he too would fret and panic until he got a woman like that back into his arms.
    “Why in the hell did you let her do it?” Charlie demanded from nobody in particular. “You know that she is distinctive. She wasn’t even in disguise.”
    “She said that you would see her in the crowd. She was supposed to give you assurance,” Joshua warned.
    “She did make sure I saw her, but if I noticed her, then so could Meldrew,” Charlie reasoned.
    “Hetty volunteered for it. We argued with her but, in the end, she made it clear that she wasn’t going to stay behind at the house and fret. Nor could we move her to a safe house against her wishes. We needed everyone in town to help get you and Simon out. She couldn’t exactly stay at the mill by herself, now could she?” Barnaby reasoned.
    “She was quite argumentative,” Joshua