Page 83 of A Remarkable Rogue

His bottom lip quivered. “But Captain Reed is coming.”

“Yes, he is, and we need to help him help us. We’re going to be his soldiers, all right? I’m going to be the general, and you’re going to be a captain, too, just like him, so you’re going to follow my orders.”

Bright blue eyes searched her face. “Does Captain Reed follow your orders?”

She grimaced inwardly at that.Never. Heneverfollows my orders. “Always,” she lied. “A good soldier always does exactly as he’s told, andyouare a good soldier.”

He nodded and gave her a small salute the way Nate had taught him.

“Here are your orders, Captain Robert.” She leaned over to whisper into his ear. “You are going to slowly count to one hundred, just like you did for me in the nursery last night. When you reach one hundred, I want you to very slowly ease off this bench and walk toward that corner over there by the door. Then, wait right there. No matter what happens, stay there. All right?”

He nodded.

“Then when I yell ‘Run,’ you run for the door as fast as you can, right outside, and into the woods. Keep running like the wind until you can’t see the cottage anymore. Then keep running until you see a person or a house, and ask for help. Tell them who you are, and ask them to take you back to Oakwood to Mr. Beasley and Mrs. Larkin, understand?”

He nodded.

“Repeat your orders, Captain.”

He leaned to whisper into her ear just as she’d done with him, and his hand reached to hold hers for reassurance. He recited, “I count to one hundred. Then I walk over there.”

When he began to point toward the corner, she caught his hand and patted it to hide the gesture.

“And when you say ‘Run, Robbie!’” he continued, “I run out the door as fast and as far as I can. Like the wind.”

“That’s exactly right. Then you keep running until you find someone to help you and ask them to take you home,” she insisted. “Youkeep running.” Her eyes stung at what might happen to her when she stayed behind to stop the kidnapper, and she blinked rapidly. “No matter what you see or hear, you donotstop. Understand?”

He nodded, but his young face pinched in concern. “Where will you and Miss Jenner be?”

“Miss Jenner’s staying here.” Her throat tightened as her gaze darted to the governess. “But you and I have to leave. When you run, I’m going to run in the other direction just as fast as I can.”

“Like the wind?”

“Like the wind,” she choked out. “And I’ll be waiting at home for you to finish your mission because you are my soldier.”

“I thought Captain Reed was your soldier.”

Her chest clenched with a blinding pain. Was Nate truly hers? Would she ever see him again? “He’ll be waiting at home for you, too,” she deflected and blinked back the stinging tears. She placed a kiss on his forehead and closed her eyes, imprinting on her mind this moment with him, which might prove to be her last. “Now count to one hundred. Slowly.”

Then she released him to sit back on the bench, closed her eyes, and pretended to nap.

She heard him pronounce each number as he counted softly beneath his breath, and his legs began to swing with anticipation as he fidgeted on the bench beside her, each number coming faster as he neared one hundred.

On the count of one hundred, he slipped off the bench as she’d instructed and slowly slid along the wall toward the corner where she’d ordered him to wait.

“You!” the kidnapper bellowed. “What the hell are you doing over there?”

Sydney shot to her feet as if startled from sleep. “What is it? What’s the matter?”

“Keep that boy on the bench with you,” he ordered.

Blinking in confusion, as if she didn’t know what was happening, Sydney glanced at Robbie. His bottom lip trembled with the first sign that he was about to break into tears.Good.Her chest tore at how frightened he was, but his fear made her plan believable. Right now, that was all that mattered.

“He probably has to relieve himself,” she snapped back and moved across the cottage to Robbie, passing by the old hearth. “You’ve kept us tied up in here all day. He’s a little boy. What do you expect?”

The man shoved back from the table and threw in his cards. Fury contorted his face as he rounded on her. “Get back on the bench, or I’ll tie an’ gag both o’ you!”

Her chin jutted up as she knelt down beside Robbie. “He has to visit the necessary,” she argued in her best icy-cold governess’s voice.