Ransom for the Maid’s Heart (Preview)

Chapter One

Lucy eased her back from chopping vegetables in the enormous kitchen. The place was incredibly busy as the Langleys were holding a society ball that evening.

“These are ready,” she called out to the head cook, Bella.

“Thanks, Lucy. Put them into this pot please.” Lucy carried the chopped vegetables in three trips, and stirred the pot when she had them all transferred.

“Oh, there you are, Lucy. I need you to sort my clothes for tonight.” Emma Langley came into the kitchen and everyone in there took notice. Her shrill voice called out again and had gone up a notch toward screaming.

Bella, the cook, drew herself up to her most imposing height and size.

“Lucy is working in here today. Your father says that all the household have to help. Anyone in here is working. If you wish to stay, then you can collect the trash and carry it outside.”

There was the hint of a snigger from the other side of the room, but Lucy stayed with the pot and stirred it.

“Lucy, you work for me,” Emma’s voice went up to her demanding screech. Bella took a step toward her. 

“Lucy is whisking cream. If you want to complain, see your father. He will not be amused. Now leave us to get on with this work.” The cook pointed to the cream and the whisk, and Lucy went to start the task. Everyone was busy, and no one looked at Emma. She flounced out of the door, and those in the kitchen were allowed a little ripple of laughter.

Lucy was glad that they were spared the tantrum that often happened and was happy to work in the kitchen. Later, she went back to Emma’s room and started to lay out the dress.

“At last,” Emma said. 

“This dress is beautiful.” Lucy observed.

“Well, I always buy the best,” Emma snapped back. “Find the shoes that match it.”

Lucy found the shoes and helped Emma into the dress and fastened the buttons. The shoes were buttoned in place and Emma looked in the mirror.

“Tie up my hair and fasten it in a crown on my head,” she instructed and sat on a chair. Lucy did as she was asked and fastened it in place with hatpins topped with pearls. It had the effect of being a hair dotted with pearls. Emma twirled in front of the mirror.

“Your father wants us all downstairs in uniform. I have to go.” Emma did not reply, and Lucy raced to her attic room and changed into a clean uniform, then hurried back to the kitchen.

Mr. Langley, who owned the mansion, gave the staff a pep talk and said they all looked very smart. He went away and the cook, the head butler and the staff that had more important jobs started to give out trays of drinks and platters of food. It was all well thought out and Lucy headed along the marble corridor to where she could see guests congregating.

From a side door, Emma suddenly appeared and bumped into her maid.

“Oops,” she said as Lucy staggered and the pieces of food slid off the silver platter and onto the floor.

“Oh,” Lucy cried and tried to steady herself, but Emma grabbed her hair that was tied back and pulled so hard that the maid fell to the floor on her knees and cried out loud. Emma disappeared through the side door as other servants rushed to pick up the mess. Then Lucy felt two strong arms lift her and ask if she was alright.

“Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir. I must have tripped.”

The man looked at her.

“I saw what happened. You were attacked.” His ruffled good looks showed concern about her and made her want to cry, but she shook her head.

The manservant who had supervised the cleaning up of the floor came over.

“Thank you, Mr. Maddox. We will take her to the kitchen and find a drink for her.”

“She had a nasty fall. Take care of her.”

“Thank you,” Lucy murmured, but when she walked, the servant had to lend her an arm. Wyatt Maddox walked back to his friends. 

“She hurt herself there,” he remarked.

“We were talking about her,” Jim said.

“What about?” Wyatt asked.

“The one who pulled the hair is Emma,” another guest added. “She has disappeared now that there is a problem.”

There were folks around to see what the commotion was all about, and the household suddenly brought trays of drinks and food to hand around to the guests. They distracted the company with music, and the host talked to the people and drew them into the main room.

“See you later, girls,” Jim said as they were moved along with everyone else into the room with the music. Wyatt was very quiet and wondered what this Emma was really like. Maybe it had been an isolated incident, and he would find her pleasant. He was reasoning with himself, but the sight of the woman pulling the servant girl to the ground persisted in his head. His father came over and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Been looking for you, son.”

“I met Jim and stopped to talk,” Wyatt replied. He was going to say more but held his tongue for the time being. He was saved from more conversation by his very good friend, Katarina. She was an old friend, and his Pa knew her well because her family had made them very welcome into the society.

“How are your folks, Katarina?” Erik Maddox asked. “Are they here?” She shook her head.

“Ma cannot stand the Langleys. She said that she felt unwell, but I came because my fiancé was going to be here.”

“When is the wedding?” Wyatt asked.

“In a month. Come and dance with me for old times’ sake,” she said. Wyatt smiled and offered her an arm. “Now we can talk. Tell me why you are looking so sad.”

The two of them danced slowly on the edge of the other dancers.

“I am supposed to meet and marry this Emma Langley. This family is  wealthy, and Pa thinks that it will draw us into their society.”

“That is dreadful, Wyatt. What will you do?”

“I am not sure. I just saw her almost attack one of the servants, cause all that trouble, then disappear. I haven’t met her yet.”

“I know her, and I would not like to see you hurt. Maybe your Pa will see sense when he gets to know her.”

“Pa is desperate that we are not known as those Maddoxes who struck gold and were lucky to be wealthy.”

“And you would still be happier working at the different mines that you now own,” Katarina said with a smile. 

“I would. I like to see what is happening at the mines, and the men work better if the boss is helping them. This society party is not for me.” He paused. “And you as well,” he added and treated Katarina to one of his very rare smiles. He knew she was a good friend and would always tell him the truth. 

“He is like you, Wyatt, and my parents were wise enough to let me choose who I would marry. If I wasn’t engaged, I would offer to give you a marriage of convenience, but I love Maurice.”

“Thanks for thinking about me. I will find a way around the situation, but it doesn’t look as if it will be easy.”

“You have my address with Maurice, and if you need help, let us know.”

“Thanks, Katarina.” They arrived back beside Wyatt’s father. They had a brief conversation, and Katarina saw a friend wave to her and went away.

“You need to meet Emma, or it will look really bad,” his pa told him, and they moved away to where the owner of the property, Emma’s father, was talking to a group of men. The owner of the grand house broke away from the men that he was talking to and held out a hand to Wyatt’s father first, then to Wyatt.

“Good day, Sir,” Wyatt said. He knew how to behave himself and say the right things although he was uncomfortable.

“Good to meet you, Wyatt. It is time for you and Emma to meet. I know it is difficult to face life with someone that you don’t know. Emma has to take a journey in a few days, and I wondered if you would go along to make sure she was okay. It would give you time to get to know each other and enjoy a few days away. What do you feel about that?”

“As you say, it might be a good way for us to talk and do things together. I can look after myself, and it should be a safe journey.”

“Come and meet her.” Mr. Langley said and Erik Maddox with his son followed him. Emma was talking to her mother, and they stopped as the three men came toward them. Introductions were made, and Emma Langley held out a hand to Wyatt. She gave him a smile and almost a curtsey. She looked like the essence of a high-class society young lady. Her mother smiled and did the same.

“I am pleased to meet you at last, Wyatt,” Emma said.

“Likewise,” he replied and felt her hand in his. It was cold and did not really clasp his hand at all. She held out three fingers for him to shake. It was a very quick handshake but, in that instant, Wyatt Maddox knew that he did not like this girl at all. He did not recoil away from her, but played the game that his father wanted him to play.

“I understand that you are traveling soon. Your father has asked me to go along as protection for you. Do you think that would be a good idea?” She thought for a second and treated him to a beaming smile.

“I would love that, thank you,” she replied. “We leave from here on the twenty-fourth and stay at a hotel until I choose some things that I need for my own cottage. The hotel has a lovely spa where you can take the waters for your health. Pa is very generous, and my cottage is behind this house, and gives me a place to call my own.” Emma was playing the game for all she was worth in front of her father who obviously gave her whatever she wanted.

“I will be here early in the morning of that date, and we can take the journey together,” Wyatt said. 

“Eat, drink, and enjoy the party. You young folk can dance. That is not good for my old bones these days.” Her father said before he went away to meet more from the top of society.

 Wyatt’s mother came over.

“Emma this is my mother.”

“Pleased to meet you, my dear,” Mrs. Maddox said. “I do like the dress that you’re  wearing. It is a beautiful shade of apricot. Was it made for you?”

“No, it was brought all the way from Paris.”

“Lovely to meet you at last,” Mrs. Maddox added and looked at her husband. “I think my husband owes me a dance,” she said and drew her husband onto the floor.

“Would you care to dance?” Wyatt asked, and Emma gracefully accepted. They stepped out onto the dance floor. Wyatt saw Katarina watching with a sympathetic look on her face. He wished that she had been available, but she wasn’t. Emma spoke to him. Her voice had an edge of nastiness which he caught immediately. She, too, was looking at Katarina.

“Is that Katarina, your friend?”

“She is, and was just telling me that she has her wedding planned in  four weeks’ time.”

“I don’t like her,” Emma said. “We will not invite her to the wedding.” He made no comment.

Wyatt was a good dancer and concentrated on that. The music paused for a break in the dancing.

“I will go and help Mama,” Emma said. “We will have to meet again. Thank you for the dance. You dance really well.”

Wyatt did enjoy dancing, but the expensive suit and gold watch chain were not his usual choice of clothing. He thought ahead to the trip with Emma Langley and decided he would wear his normal clothes and see how she reacted.

 

Chapter Two

Three days after the ball, Emma was supervising the packing of her clothes for the journey. Lucy, the servant girl who had been pulled to the floor at the ball, was putting what she needed into a large trunk with wooden bands around it. Her knees were still hurting from the drop onto the floor at the party where Ema had pulled her hair. She was still angry about that and would have loved to pull Emma’s hair in return, but she had this job and had to support herself.

“For heaven’s sake, we will never finish at this rate. Can you put those things in quickly so the men can take them downstairs?” Lucy would have liked to argue but she held her tongue.

“They will be all wrinkled when you need them if I don’t pack them properly,” Lucy told her in a quiet voice.

“Okay. You finish and I will go for a lemonade.” Emma went away, and Lucy leaned back and tried to ease the pain that stooping over the trunk had brought. She struggled to her feet and went around the room to collect items that Emma would expect to be at the hotel when she wanted them. The trunk and three carpet bags were fastened, and Lucy went down to the servants’ area to find two footmen to carry them downstairs.

“I will go and change while you do that,” she said to them. “I have to be ready to go when the carriage is packed.” She ran up to the attic to her room. It was tiny, and the roof sloped down on one side, but there was a small window, and she looked outside. The carriage was drawn up.

“Goodness. I will have to hurry,” she said out loud, pushed her working clothes into a bag, and put on her one good traveling dress, boots and a cloak. The money that she had saved from her wages she put into a money belt, checked that she had left nothing, and grabbed the bag.

“Oh Lord,” she muttered as she saw that the two men had left the trunk and bags in the portico. Lucy looked around, and there was no help to be seen. She knew how vile Emma could be if she saw a chance to complain about the servants. Her own bag, she put in the carriage and went back to drag the enormous trunk to be put in the back. She went back for the bags. They were easy, then she started to lift the trunk onto the back of the carriage. It was heavy, and she had one end lifted onto the step of the carriage, but that was as far as it would go.

Then there was the sound of a horse coming along. Lucy kept on struggling with the wooden bound trunk, then two arms reached over her and lifted it. Even then it was heavy, but it was where it should be at the back. She fastened the straps to keep it in place and wiped a hand across her forehead.

“Thank you,” she said, and was breathless. She saw the man who had been concerned when she fell. His hair was ruffled again, and he was smartly dressed for riding, but he looked much more relaxed. Although his leather jacket was well used, she could recognize an expensive coat when she saw it.

“Do they always expect a woman to lift heavy things?” he asked, and she frowned.

“They carried them downstairs for me, and I just thought I should try toload them.” Wyatt almost smiled at her, but his serious expression remained in place. It crossed Lucy’s mind that she, too, was always solemn and serious, and this handsome man had the same look about him. 

“Are you traveling in the carriage with Emma?” he asked. She nodded, and Emma came down the steps with the carriage driver. Her mother was hovering at the top of the steps. Emma was dressed for traveling with a warm, full-length coat but the extra fur collar and cuffs were over the top and made her look older than she was. Lucy helped her into the carriage.

“Enjoy yourselves,” her mother called, and Emma waved to her.  She turned to Wyatt.

“Has Lucy been annoying you?” she asked when she was sitting on the seat. Wyatt shook his head.

“I was annoyed that she was left to lift that enormous trunk by herself. That was not her fault. I lifted it in for her.” Emma looked annoyed at that point and Lucy wondered if one of her tantrums was about to erupt, but Emma calmed down. Her mother was still watching.

“This is my fiancé, Wyatt Maddox. Wyatt will ride alongside the carriage and help protect us.” Wyatt stepped forward and offered her his hand to help her into the carriage. He did the same for Lucy and did not miss the fact that Emma let a look of annoyance cross her face. He said nothing and told the driver that they were ready. He mounted his gelding and rode beside the carriage as it left through the impressive gates of the Langley estate.

They passed the buildings of the town and came to more open countryside. Emma looked through the windows of the carriage and spoke to Lucy.

 “My fiancé and I are to get to know each other.”

“I will try not to be in the way,” Lucy replied. 

“I don’t mind,” Emma replied. “My pa chose him. His family struck lucky and found gold. They were poor before that and now want to be part of the upper classes.”

“He seems helpful. He lifted the trunk for me.”

“I think that he will be useful in that sort of way,” Emma dismissed the man with that remark and looked in her bag for a book to read. Lucy was shocked by the attitude but had learned in the Langley household how to never look surprised or upset. She glanced out of the window and saw a good-looking man with dark brown hair tied neatly back. He was looking around and seemed to be taking his protection duties seriously.

It occurred to her that he might be rich, but marrying Emma should not happen to anyone. She closed her eyes and leaned back as the carriage went on its way. She supposed that some rich folks were pleasant but hadn’t met any yet.

Suddenly, she was jerked back to reality as a gunshot sounded, and men’s voices called out. She looked out and saw a man on horseback who had stopped the carriage and was standing in front of it. His rifle was pointed at Wyatt. There was a feeling of real fear and panic rising in her throat. Lucy gasped as men appeared at both sides of the carriage, and the two girls were pulled out of the seats and roughly handled while being pressed against the side of the carriage. Emma was pulled around to the side that Lucy and Wyatt were both being held at gunpoint. 

“Throw that gun to the ground and come down from the horse.” The older bandit in front of the carriage was pointing a rifle at Wyatt. “You as well,” the robber shouted at the driver. The two men did as they were told as it was foolish to do anything else. The driver had been shot in the arm and held onto it as he clambered to the ground.  

The driver stood next to the wheel of the carriage. He held onto it and said nothing as the older bandit walked past him and looked at the girls. Lucy shrank back against the door and said nothing, but Emma started to shout as she always did when she was annoyed. Lucy wanted to tell her to be quiet, but she knew that would not work. She stayed quiet. 

“We are looking for Emma Langley,” the older bandit said. He was very rough looking, none too clean and spoke very roughly, but it was clear that he knew what he was doing. The gun in his hand was not for show as he had demonstrated by shooting the driver to stop the carriage.

“That’s her. That’s her. She is Emma Langley,” the real Emma screamed and one of the men slapped her across the face. The screaming stopped instantly, and Lucy opened her mouth to say that she was not Emma Langley. The older man who was in charge of the robbers, took Emma at her word. 

“Put him out of action,” the one in charge said and pointed at Wyatt. “We will take him with us.” Lucy saw him held by the two men. His hands were tied behind his back, and he was thrown over his horse and tied there. Lucy wondered if they would shoot the driver and herself when they took Emma. 

“I am not Emma,” Lucy shouted. Emma screamed again that she was Emma Langley. Lucy was pulled away and lifted onto a horse. One of the men climbed into the saddle behind her and held her tight. It was no use wasting breath shouting because nobody was going to help her. It was terrifying, and her heart was thumping like a crazy drum. These bandits were used to pushing people around, and she wondered if they would just kill her when they realized that she was not worth anything.

The older man never got down from his horse and he turned it around.

“Let’s go.” The three bandits with Wyatt’s horse on a leading rein set off into the trees and out of sight. It had all taken a very few minutes but felt like eternity. Lucy could hear Emma screaming to the driver to drive them back home. 

“Now now,” were the last words that Lucy heard as they rode further away across the country and toward an unknown fate. She had one arm of the robber around her waist and could feel his breath on the back of her neck. Sitting on the horse she was not uncomfortable apart from being held in place by a rough bandit who had not washed for a long time.

She looked at the figure of Wyatt thrown across his horse and knew that he must be feeling worse. The journey seemed to go on forever, but eventually they stopped in a circle of stones that they seemed to have used before. There was good cover and the remains of other campfires in a circle of rocks. The rider behind her slid to the ground and pulled her down. He leered into her face, and she flinched away. Then he tied her hands in front of her.

“Sit with your back against that wall,” he told her and gave her a push to emphasize the point. She stumbled and slid down the rock face to sit on the ground. Wyatt was cut loose, and he slid to the ground.

“Over there, beside her,” the older man instructed and like Lucy, he stumbled but managed to sit beside her. She could hear him gasping for breath. 

One of the bandits lit a fire and brewed coffee. He poured two tin cups and brought them over.

“Mr. Maddox will need his hands in front of him,” Lucy tried to sound as normal as possible. She was certainly not going to scream like Emma Langley.

“Mmm,” the man said and pushed Wyatt forward to cut the rope with a knife. His arms must have been numb from being pulled back and jolted on the horse. He rubbed them.

“Sit still and you can have hands free to eat and drink,” the bandit said. Wyatt nodded and his breath seemed more natural again.

“Jon,” the older man called. “Give them this to eat.”

“Okay, Harlan,” Jon replied and went to get bread and cheese for the two prisoners.

“Are you okay?” Lucy asked. Wyatt nodded.

“Sorry I could not save us,” he said. 

Harlan came over, and he seemed to be in charge.

“We want money for Emma Langley. If you behave, you will not be hurt. We are only interested in the ransom.”

“I keep trying to tell you that I’m not Emma. I am her maid, Lucy. She said I was her to get away.”

“That would figure as these rich upper-class idiots don’t know how to behave.” Then he looked thoughtful. “But you might be making that up.”

“Some of us still do a day’s work for the money we make,” Wyatt put in. Harlan shifted his attention to what might make more money. “Lucy here is right. Emma treats her dreadfully and telling a lie to save herself is just what she would do.”

Lucy looked at Wyatt and felt the stirring of a respect for him.