When the chapter opens, Heather is lying on on a bed in an inn in Knebworth. Which is apparently a real town name. She assesses her situation so we can learn what it is. The kidnappers in general look very believable as well as smart. Oh, and Fletcher has a forged letter from Heather's “father” telling them to bring his daughter home. So, a piece of paper and a man's voice against a woman's means that she can be kidnapped. Just so we're all on the same page about this.
Anyway, back in
the present, the lady kidnapper, Martha, is in the room with Heather,
in a different bed. Martha helped Heather out of her dress to sleep
in. Then Martha locked the door, put the key in her pocket, spread
all of the clothes out on her bed, and lay down on them. Of course,
it was at this point that Heather realized that she was in a thin
slip and even thinner stockings, so if she did manage to escape,
she'd be pretty much naked.
That sounds like
a good entrance line for a guy. There's a noise at the window and a
man-shaped shadow. Heather wraps a blanket around herself before
going over to it. Oh, hello Tim. Nice to see you at the window.
Or, it is for Heather. Once she sees him there, her panic vanishes.
Martha snores when she sleeps, and she snores through this whole
exchange. I don't think she's really asleep, but that's just me.
Anyway, Tim asks
the intelligent questions that we've already answered, and then tries
to get Heather out of there. He's always trying to get her to leave
places. Rude. She mentions that she's pretty much naked under the
blanket she's wrapped around her and Tim's interest definitely peaks.
See what I did there? Anyway, Heather also argues that she won't
leave her sisters and cousins under this same threat until she
figures out what it is. Once she figures that out, she'll escape and
if Tim is around, he can help her with that. She had tried to send
him back with a message to her family, but he already took care of
that. Then Heather realizes that Tim might want to just haul her out
of there, but she, again, threatens to scream, so Tim leaves her be.
He'll keep following her to help when she does decide to escape. Oh,
and they'll have to meet every night before then. You know, to plot
and stuff. Tim even says he'll hire a maid once she escapes so their
return journey won't be a scandal.
Agreed, Heather
closes the window and heads to bed. I'm glad we get the narration
that Tim doesn't look at her when she takes off the blanket to get
into her bed. Otherwise I would have wondered. Then he climbs down
the wall and heads off to the inn where he's gotten a room for the
night, thinking about what he'll have to change to be more
inconspicuous. Oh, he also thinks about how he realizes that family
is super important because, as nearly as I can tell, he was adopted
into his. Heather, meanwhile, is very glad to see that he climbed
down the wall unhurt. She totally doesn't like him, not at all, but
it's good that he's around.
Yeah, that's it.
This chapter was 9 pages long.
Chapter Three
The next day,
Martha gives Heather the round dress they bought for her and Heather
manages to snag her scarf from the maid as well. I'm not sure what a
round dress is, but I'm assuming it's more of an everyday dress, as
opposed to the party dress Heather had been wearing. Anyway, they
get on the road again and Heather hopes that Tim gets up early enough
to follow them. She also decides to behave like she's not going to
try anything. Because that will make it easier to try something
later. Oh, she also gets a chance to grab a horse and ride South
back to London, but she doesn't take it for the reasons she told Tim.
Also, a woman alone on horseback wasn't really a good idea.
So, as the miles
slip away in the carriage, Heather asks them questions. They won't
tell her where they're taking her, but she knows it's further north.
They have a contact who helps line up these jobs for them and they
met the guy who's paying them for this in a bar in Glasgow. I
learned a word here. Apparently, the term for someone from Glasgow
is Glaswegian, which is kind of awesome. Anyway, Heather wonders if
they're making a run for the border with her, but they won't tell her
that much. Oh, also they won't double cross their employer for
double the money because, firstly it's bad for their rep, and
secondly they're kind of in awe of their employer. Heather figures
it's because he's super buff or something. Seems legit.
Eventually, they
stop for lunch in Stretton. While Martha and Heather go inside, the
guys stay outside and stare at the road. Heather asks Martha about
this and she replies that they're making sure no one followed them.
Heather is concerned, but eventually the guys come inside and report
that no one is following them. Hah. So, a little while later, Tim
walks in and sits at the booth just behind the male kidnappers. So,
Heather does a whiny, scared girl act implying that something in the
North terrifies her and gets them to say where they're stopping for
the night. Which she repeats. Twice.
In the yard
outside, Heather sees Tim in not his normal clothes and she also sees
him leave. Hey, as long as they stop where Fletcher said they would,
he may as well get there first. Heather's group leaves a bit later
and she reflects on how her nemesis has turned into her savior, a
thought that makes her want to laugh.
Then we switch
to Tim's POV. He raced ahead of Heather's group and he trades horses
at Newark-on-Trent. While they're getting the horses ready for him,
he goes to a tailor and gets two more disguises made. Thinking
ahead. Good idea. So he's gets to the bar/inn in the town where
Heather is stopping for the night early. There's a wooden partition
so he can't see anyone in the foyer and they can't see him, but he
can hear them, for example when Heather and her captors get there.
Heather manages to convince them to let her take a brief walk with
Martha. She's supposed to be kept in good shape, and that involves
stretching her legs. Tim enjoys her wit now that he's not on the
receiving end of it.
While Heather is
on her walk, she thinks of how she's going to convince Tim that she
doesn't need to leave yet. She knows that whatever her opinion, if
he thinks she's in danger, he will get her out of there, which is
kind of comforting. Anyway, she marshals her arguments while she and
Martha walk and, on the way back to the inn, she sees Tim, but just
for a second. When she looks away, he pulls a Batman and disappears.
So, plot point,
the doors at this inn don't have locks. Heather convinced them to
give her a cloak, to keep her warm at night, so when she slips out of
her room, she wraps that around herself and ties it in place with her
scarf. It leaves her ankles and calves exposed, but she's not super
worried about that since she has stockings on. And it's not like she
has a choice anyway. So, while she's slipping through the hallway,
she collides with someone, who crushes her to him and smothers her
cry before she can make it. Then he curses and she realizes it's
Tim. Oh. Well then. That makes her super relived, which makes her
tense up all over again. The two of them argue a little, there's a
little sexual tension, then Tim ushers her to his room. It's the
only place they can have privacy for a conversation. ...or other
things.
Once they make
it to his room, where he left a lamp burning dimly, he sees what
she's wearing and stops himself from cursing again. The only place
to sit is on the bed. So, Tim pulls back the coverlet, directs her
to sit down, and throws the coverlet over her once she's sat. Thank
God he covered up her ankles and calves. They were so distracting.
I'm glad that Ms. Laurens has Tim criticizing himself in the next
paragraph. He's seen lots of women nekked, so it doesn't make sense
that some legs would bother him. Unless, you know, they're
Heather's.
He sits on the
bed, with plenty of space between them, and asks what she's learned.
Heather tells him. Oh, the employer gave a false name, McKinsey, so
that's how I'll refer to him for now. Because I really have no idea
who the guy in the prologue was besides the son of a revenge-filled
jerk. Anyway, Tim still wants her to leave and she still won't.
They're under orders not to harm her, so she'll probably be fine.
Oh, Heather also says that when she escapes, she can always hide
behind Tim. “God knows you're large enough.” Thank you?
Anyway, Tim is
super concerned about her safety, but he can't argue with her logic
and he isn't going to carry her off by force. ...from her kidnappers.
He'd be trying to kidnap the girl they've rightfully stolen.
Anyway, he says they can do this “letting Heather be kidnapped”
thing for another day, but he asks her to promise to run away as soon
as she learns what she needs to. She agrees to give him a sign so
they can meet and talk as soon as she learns what she needs to. He
notices the difference but decides not to push it.
Then she gets
out of his bed and starts walking to the door. The book mentions
that Tim keeps his gaze on her face as he stops her to check that the
hallway is clear. Wow. The power of a pair of ankles and a bit of
calf. Anyway, he walks her back to her room, makes sure that Martha
isn't awakened by Heather's reappearance, and heads back to his room.
He slips out of his clothes and slides into bed...which smells
overwhelmingly like Heather. He wants her really badly, by the way.
I'm not sure why he doesn't just masturbate, but maybe that's not a
thing they did back then. Or this is a romance novel and it's no fun
to decrease the tension. Anyway, to distract himself, Tim thinks
about how he'll try to blend in and deal with Heather on a logical
level. The chapter ends on him thinking that this is no ordinary
kidnapping.
So,
these two have been crossing verbal swords for forever and Heather,
at least, seems to think it's going to be very difficult for her to
marry. Since Tim is also unmarried, I assume he has a similar
opinion. Is anyone else nerdy enough to see the parallel with Much
Ado about Nothing? It's not a
very large parallel, really, but it amuses me anyway.
