The Elusive Bride Read Online Free Page B

The Elusive Bride
Book: The Elusive Bride Read Online Free
Author: Stephanie Laurens
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already consulted others back in England, so we knew what we had to do.”
    He saw her shut her lips on an eager prompt, but she’d guessed at least part of it. “We have to get that letter—the original—to the Duke of Wolverstone in England. Ferrar, of course, will do everything in his considerable power to stop us. Our instructions from Wolverstone—he’s the key planner in this—were to make four copies, and each bring one home, all traveling by widely different routes.”
    “To make it harder for the Cobra to stop you.”
    He nodded. “With James gone, there are four of us, now all on our way back to England. Only one of us has the original, but the Cobra doesn’t know which one, so he has to try to intercept each of us.”
    Head tilting, she studied him. “Are you…” She paused, eyes on his, then went on, “I suspect you’re carrying one of the copies—a decoy, as it were.”
    He was glad there was no one else in the room. He frowned. “How…?”
    Her lips curved briefly. “On the wharf, you and your men wanted to chase the cultists—if you’d been carrying the original, you wouldn’t have risked engaging directly. You would defend, not attack—you’d do all you could not to draw attention to your party.”
    He humphed. “Yes, well, from here on, we’ll be running. My orders are explicit—I’m to do all I can to distract the cultists between here and the Channel, do all I can to make them chase me, to make the Cobra throw as many of his forces in Europe into dealing with me.”
    “Without making it obvious you’re carrying a copy and not the original.” She nodded, then looked frowningly at him. “You’re not carrying the letter on you, are you?”
    “No.” He couldn’t see any reason not to tell her. “It’s inone of those wooden scroll holders the Indians use to ferry documents.”
    “Ah—I see.” She studied him a moment more. “Arnia’s carrying it.”
    He stared at her. “It can’t be that obvious.”
    She lifted one shoulder. “That’s who I’d leave it with—she’s from a warrior tribe and quite dangerous, I imagine, yet to the cultists she’ll be all but invisible. They’ll never think of her.”
    He grunted, partly mollified. “Watson mentioned you’d decided to return home by the overland route—that you hoped to see the pyramids and other sights along the way.”
    She shrugged again. “It seemed sensible to see more of the world while I can, and as I was already in Bombay…”
    “Be that as it may, now that the cult have sighted you, and clearly would be happy to do you harm, it would be wiser, for safety’s sake, to combine our parties, at least until we reach Alexandria.” He paused, then went on, “I don’t believe Ferrar knew of our endeavor before we left Bombay, but he must have learned soon after, and has moved quickly to get cultists ahead of us—I believe they were waiting, watching the docks. They were already here.”
    “Which means they might be ahead of us, potentially all the way home?”
    He nodded. “If I were Ferrar, in the position he’s now in, that’s what I’d do, and he has men to spare. Which, of course, is the principal aim of my mission—reducing his forces.”
    She nodded, her gaze abstracted. When she ventured nothing more, he prompted, “So, do you agree that it’s best to go onward together? To combine our parties in the interests of safety?”
    Hers, especially.
    To his relief, she smiled. “Yes, of course. I see no reason why we shouldn’t proceed together. I have my maid with me, and in the circumstances, my parents would approve.”
    “Excellent.” He felt like a weight was slipping from hisshoulders, yet he’d just taken on all responsibility for her safety. For her life. With the cultists at large, that wasn’t putting it too highly.
    She continued to smile at him. “Besides, I became involved in this through helping poor Captain MacFarlane, and in light of his sacrifice I feel compelled to do

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