As he waited for her to respond, William felt the coach slowing down, eventually coming to a stop. He glanced out the window.
“Why did we stop?” Georgie asked.
“There is a cart blocking the road,” he said, reaching for the handle.
“Can’t we go around it?”
“There doesn’t appear to be room to do so,” William replied. “Let me go speak to the driver.”
William had just opened the door when four men on horseback appeared, racing towards them from the woodlands that sat back from the road, guns drawn. He closed the door and reached under his bench. He pulled out a metal box and opened the lid, revealing a pistol.
“What’s happening?” Georgie asked nervously.
“Highwaymen,” he said.
They heard pistols discharging, and William knew this was going to be a battle for their lives, not the peaceful exchange of a purse Georgie had experienced as a child. As he went to aim his pistol out the open window, he recognized one of the riders as Lord Wakefield.
“Blazes,” he muttered under his breath. “It’s worse than I thought.”
“How is that possible?”
“Your brother is the one leading the charge,” he informed her.
Lord Wakefield reined in his horse and pointed his pistol at the coach, a smug look on his face. “Toss your pistol out the window,” he ordered. “You are surrounded, and your servants are dead. There is no one to help you.”
A glance through the opposite window confirmed this. William turned his attention towards Georgie. “It will be all right.”
“How?” she whispered, her breath quickening.
“You must trust me.”
She placed her hand on his sleeve and swallowed. “Always.”
“Your pistol, Grenton!” Wakefield shouted, his attitude blasé despite the seriousness of the situation.
William reached through the window and dropped the pistol to the ground.
“Now get out of the coach,” Lord Wakefield directed. “Do so slowly, and bring my sister along with you.”
William wanted to tell Georgie that it would be all right, but his words caught at the back of his throat. He didn’t want to lie to her, but he didn’t want her to be scared either.
As he wondered what he could say to her, she pressed her lips against his. She leaned back slightly, her warm breath on his lips, and said, “I didn’t want to regret having never kissed you.”
“We will get through this,” he promised.
William could tell that Georgie didn’t believe him, but she remained quiet. He opened the door and stepped out, then reached back in to assist her out, shielding her with his body.
Lord Wakefield huffed. “There she is,” he declared. “Do you know what great lengths I’ve had to go to get you back?”
Georgie stepped up next to William, their shoulders brushing together. “I care not.”
“You should, because all these deaths are on you,” Lord Wakefield said, waving his pistol in the air. “If you had just done your duty and married Lord Ransdale, none of this would have happened.”
“I don’t want to marry Lord Ransdale.”
“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice in the matter. He wanted you for his bride, and I was more than happy to give you to him.”
“Why would you arrange a marriage for me?” Georgie asked. “Father would never have done such a thing.”
