A Regency Virgin's Undoing. Christine Merrill
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And though it would seem like a forfeit, only she would know that she had been rewarded twice.
But now that she needed it most, her nerve failed her. ‘My father will pay you double whatever you intended to receive from this escapade. What else could I possibly mean?’
He shook his head in amazement. ‘I cannot imagine. Double the pay it is, then. And enough money to replace what was stolen from me?’
‘Of course.’
‘Then for you, I shall turn highwayman, my Lady Dru.’
His anger with her must have dissipated, for the way he’d shortened her name had none of the frustrated affection that she felt when someone called her Silly. This made her feel odd. She tingled, almost as though he had reached out and touched her cheek to show her that they were friends again, and she needn’t worry.
He stared down the road. The sun was near to dipping behind the horizon; with each moment, it became more difficult to make out details of their surroundings. But from just behind the last hill she could hear the sound of horses, and the jingling of harnesses growing louder as they drew near.
Mr Hendricks removed his spectacles and tucked them into the pocket of his coat.
‘Do you not need them to see what you are about to do?’ she asked.
He shook his head. ‘Sometimes it is better not to see. It will be easier to do something as foolish as we are doing tonight without a clear view of it.’ Then he reached behind him to the bag that was strapped to the back of his saddle and removed a pair of pistols and two black neckcloths. He tossed a cloth to her, and then carefully handed her one of the guns. ‘Pull the cravat up and over your face,’ he cautioned. ‘Stay well out of the way, up on this hill with the setting sun to your back. You will seem much more intimidating if they do not have a clear view of you. And keep the pistol pointed up and over the heads of the drivers.’
‘It is not loaded.’ She said, trying not to sound relieved, for he had not troubled with ball and powder for her gun as he had with his own.
‘But they do not need to know that and I do not mean you to shoot. Just hold it as if it is properly ready. They will have no idea, unless you do something that might cause them to fire at you and do not respond.’ Then he looked at her seriously. ‘And if they do, if there is any trouble at all, then you will turn and ride away, do you understand?’
‘But that will leave you here alone.’ At last, she saw the truth of the risk she had forced him to take. The empty gun trembled in her hand.
His face was dark, as threatening as one would expect from someone desperate enough to rob a coach. But it was with concern for her, not anger. ‘If there is gunplay, it is no place for a lady to be, much less a lady disguised that might be treated with as little care as one might treat another man. If there is a problem, you will leave me to my fate.’
‘I am your employer and I ordered you to this.’ If he was hurt, it would be her fault. The thought almost choked her with anxiety.
‘You have not answered me,’ he said firmly. ‘I brook no discussion of this, nor will I waste time listening to any suggestions you might give me. Swear that you will do as I say, or I will not proceed. And hurry, for there is not much time.’ Without his glasses, there was no mildness in him at all. And the way he was staring at her made her feel small, easily managed.
It made her wish that there would be cause for him to look at her like that again. Perhaps in a situation where she had not put his life in jeopardy. For if he did, she would respond to any command he might give. She stifled a sigh and said, ‘As you wish.’
‘Very good. The coach is almost here and we have no more time to argue.’ He pointed to a spot well up the hill from the road. ‘Wait for me there. The height will appear to give you a good shooting position and will make retaliation difficult. You will be perfectly safe, as long as you do what I say.’
He pulled his own dark scarf over his face, and she masked herself as well. There was nothing attractive about highway robbery. Or, at least, there should not have been. But the way he sat atop his horse, and the sight of him with nothing but those strange amber eyes visible above the scarf, was quite dashing.
It was incongruous with the look of quiet competence that she had come to expect when seeing Mr Hendricks. The man before her now was the very devil on horseback. His thighs were muscular, the dark coat stretched over broad shoulders and a shock of blond hair crept out from beneath the low brim of his hat. And, once again, her body tingled in the unexpected way it had when she had first sat upon the horse with him. He had been so strong, when he’d helped her easily in and out of the saddle. Now she wondered how those strong hands would feel if they lingered on her body.
They waited in silence, as the carriage approached. Suddenly, it was too late to lay a hand on his arm, or call out a warning to stay him. He was thundering down the road into the path of it, causing the driver to pull up and the horses to shy.
‘Stand and deliver!’ Mr Hendricks’s voice echoed off the surrounding hills, and his horse reared as he fired a single shot into the air. But he kept his seat as though there were nothing in it, waving the driver and groom to the ground with his pistol.
And she would do everything she could to help him, even if it meant doing nothing at all. She kept her horse still and the pistol steady, held high so that the coachmen below her could see it.
They got down from their seats and made no effort to defend the family they served. Having met the inhabitants of the carriage, Dru could guess why. There was little to recommend Char that would give one the desire to risk life and limb.
Mr Hendricks was down from his horse in a trice, waving the coachmen to the side of the road and directing them to lie upon their bellies and out of the way, gesturing up at her to show them it would go harsh with them should they try anything. When he was sure that they would do as directed, he strode up to the carriage and opened the door.
Charlotte gave a ladylike shriek from inside. ‘My jewels!’
Hendricks gave a slight bow and a tip of his hat, then said in a plummy voice, ‘I would not, for all the world, threaten your lovely person, nor steal the baubles from your beautiful throat.’ Under his mask, she was sure he was smiling. ‘I seek the money in your purse and mean to take only as much as I need.’ He held open the door, then held out his hand for her reticule.
And the foolish girl leaned so far forwards, trying to get a good look at the man in the road, that she tumbled out into his arms.
From Dru’s position, it was the most contrived thing she had ever seen in her life. Char’s shameless behaviour very nearly made her forget the two men she was supposed to be watching. But when she looked back at them, they showed no signs of rising and seemed more interested in a flask they were passing back and forth between them, than in regaining the pistols resting on the seat of the carriage.
Mr Hendricks caught Charlotte easily before she hit the ground. Then he said, in a voice deeper than usual, ‘You needn’t fear, my lady. Your person and your jewels are perfectly safe. Though indeed, now that I see you, they are hardly necessary to enhance your beauty.’
Dru’s eyes narrowed. For while she had no wish to see Mr Hendricks shoot Char, Priss’s friend was doing it much too brown. The girl reached to open the reticule, pretended to fumble, dropping her purse in the dust of the road. Then she began to sag.
Hendricks rescued the money and tightened his grip on the girl fainting in his arms. Dru could remember how nice those arms felt when they had been around her body. But he’d never had cause to hold her as tightly as this. And he never would, if the only way to accomplish it was to fake a swoon.
Charlotte gave a weak laugh. ‘I fear I am close to overcome.’ She put her hands upon his bicep, so she could feel the muscle there. ‘You are very strong.’ She tipped her head back in an obvious invitation. ‘And I am quite defenceless.’
‘Are you, now?’ She could tell, even from this distance, that Hendricks was responding