The Mysterious Lord Marlowe Read Online Free

throbbing.
    When the door of the shed started to open, Jane’s heart jerked with fright. If Blake had found her, he might kill her.
    Her breath caught as she saw George enter. He pushed the door almost closed behind him, putting a finger to his lips.
    ‘Keep quiet. There’s nothing I can do for the moment, but I’ll come back later and help you. Wait for me.’
    Jane opened her mouth to protest, but at a warning frown from him said nothing. Her chest felt tight and she could scarcely breathe as he went out again.
    ‘Anything in there?’
    The voice was so close. Harsh and angry, she was sure it must be Blake and her heart hammered in her breast. If he came in and found her…but she could hear George answering him.
    ‘Just some old sacks. I told you she would be long gone by now. Why would she hang around here?’
    ‘The lot of you are damned fools. Why didn’t you tie her up or at least make sure she was in a room she couldn’t get out of?’
    ‘She must have climbed into the tree,’ a third voice said on a whining note. ‘You’ve got to admire a girl like that, Captain. It took a lot of pluck. Besides, what harm can she do? She doesn’t know who we are or what is going on.’
    ‘She hadn’t better or I shall know who to blame,’ the harsh voice muttered. ‘I suppose she’s gone now and there’s not much we can do about it. She saw my eyes, but if she doesn’t know my name it is a chance in a million that she can identify me.’
    ‘How could she know who you are?’ George said. ‘We should go back to the house. I have things to do. I only agreed to help with this because I thought the Fanshawe girl willing, Blake. Though it leaves a bad taste in my mouth, I’ve fulfilled my part of the deal. I want what you owe me and an end to this whole rotten business.’
    ‘You’ll get what I promised when I’m good and ready—which will be when I get what I want.’
    ‘That isn’t what we agreed…’
    Jane heard the angry note in George’s voice as the men moved away. He had told her his motive was not money, so what did Blake have that was so important to George that he would help abduct an innocent young woman to get his hands on it?
    He had told her to trust him, but what kind of a man was he?
    Shivering, Jane hugged herself and wonderedif she should try to get away on her own once the men had gone. She wasn’t sure she would be wise to trust George—yet he had discovered her hiding place and kept it secret.
    Jane walked to the door of the shed and stopped. If anything, her ankle felt worse than just after she had sprained it. It seemed as if she didn’t really have a choice. She would just have to wait and hope that George kept his word.
    * * *
    Night had fallen and Jane was beginning to turn cold when she heard something outside the hut. Then the door opened and a dark shadow entered. Her heart caught as she held her breath and waited for him to speak.
    ‘Are you there, Jane Blair?’
    ‘George?’ Her breath expelled in relief as she hobbled towards him. ‘I was beginning to think you had forgotten me.’
    ‘It took a while to get rid of the others and circle back,’ George said. ‘I didn’t want to arouse their suspicions. Blake is a nasty devil when his temper is up. I shouldn’t be surprised if what they say of him is true.’
    ‘What do they say?’
    ‘That he…well, he is supposed to have been thrown out of the army for causing the deathof ten French prisoners during the campaign on the Spanish Peninsula in a particularly nasty manner. He is a bully and a cheat, I know that much, but I’ve never been certain of the rest.’
    ‘What does he owe you? What hold has he over you?’
    Jane looked up at him. They had moved outside the hut and the moon had just sailed out from behind the clouds. For a moment she glimpsed an odd expression in his eyes, but in another moment it had gone.
    ‘It isn’t my secret. I can’t tell you,’ he said. ‘I know it must be hard for you to trust