Reaching up, she struggled with the window latch. Perhaps she should have realized he’d appear. He had been watching her walk to her parents’ carriage. He must have seen her seized and bundled into Fletcher’s coach. Finally forcing the latch free, she eased up the sash, glancing over her shoulder at the lump that was Martha as the wood scraped and slid.

Martha’s snoring continued unabated, rhythm undisturbed.

Breckenridge had seen the glance. “Is there someone there?”

The question reached her as the barest whisper. She nodded and leaned on the sill so her head was level with his. “Yes. A large and strong maid, but she’s sound asleep. Those are her snores you can hear.”

He listened, then nodded. “All right.” Then he frowned. “Where did you get her-the maid?”

“My captors-Fletcher and Cobbins-are working for some man who has employed them to bring me to him, but said employer has instructed them to provide me with every comfort along the way. Hence Martha. She was in the carriage when they grabbed me.”

No matter what else one might say and think about him, Breckenridge most assuredly was neither stupid nor slow.

“Your abductors have provided you with a maid.”

She nodded. “To see to my needs and lend me countenance. Fletcher, the thin, wiry one-he seems to be the leader-actually said so while introducing me and Martha to the innkeeper. They’re calling me Miss Wallace.”

Breckenridge hesitated, then asked, “Is there some reason you haven’t told the innkeeper your real name and demanded his assistance in escaping Fletcher and company?”

She smiled tightly. “Indeed there is.” She told him of Fletcher’s story, the tale of her guardian, Sir Humphrey, her supposed flight to the wicked streets of London, and the letter of authority Fletcher had, presumably, forged.

When she finished, Breckenridge remained silent for some time.

Heather peered over the sill, confirming that he was indeed clinging to a lead downpipe, one booted foot wedged on a support. Given his size and undoubted weight, gaining that position, let alone maintaining it, had to be counted an impressive feat.