Page 63 of To Hunt the Hunter

She giggled as he set her down again and shook her head before giving Flash Jack a furious glare.

“Don’t be silly, but why didn’t you shoot this man?” She pointed at the fellow who held his hands up in a gesture of surrender.

“Ah, now don’t be like that, missy. Old Flash Jack wouldna done you no ’arm. I don’t hold wiv hurtin’ lasses.”

“But you would have killed my uncle,” Phoebe said, scowling at him ferociously.

The villain just shrugged and gave a mournful shake of his head. “Ah, that were business, little princess. Nothin’ personal, but now your uncle has done me the honour of giving me employment, so we’re all fair and square, ain’t we, lord?”

“Indeed,” Lucian said gravely, though there was a glimmer of mischief in his eyes that Matilda had not seen before.

It reminded her suddenly of the boy in the portrait Mrs Frant had shown her on her first visit to Dern.

“I have been looking for just such a fellow as Jack for some time, and it so happens he is desirous of retiring from life on the er… high toby.”

Matilda stared at Lucian in patent disbelief. He looked smug, and rather pleased with himself at having not only met a notorious highwayman but taken him into his employ.

“Ah, well,” the big brute said sadly. “What wiv poor old George Lyon going to the nubbing cheat last month, and me getting no younger…. ’Tis too perilous for little reward, not like in the good old days. Reckon the time of the highwayman ’as gone the way of all good things. I’m in no hurry to climb the three trees wiv a ladder, and I have a fancy to roost in a proper pad at night, so it’s about time I did an honest day’s work for a change.”

Matilda stared between the rather terrifying ruffian and Lucian with bewilderment. Phoebe took her hand.

“One of his friends, George Lyon, was hanged in April for holding up the Liverpool mail coach,” she explained kindly. “Flash Jack says he’d rather not hang, and he’s tired of sleeping in rough places, so he’ll work for uncle instead.”

Lucian sighed and shook his head as he stared at his niece. “I have a dreadful feeling I’ve taken being honest with you way too far, you young scapegrace. I also forbid you—again— to mimic the grooms, nor read the papers when I’m not looking.”

“Oh, but, Uncle,” Phoebe said in delight, eyeing Flash Jack with fascination now. “He’s a real life highwayman. Isn’t it marvellous?”

From the glittering look in Lucian’s eyes, Matilda rather believed he did think it was marvellous.

Flash Jack seemed to swell visibly in the light of Phoebe’s admiration.

“Ah, well, little lady. Not no longer. Now, old Jackie will keep you and his lordship, and the pretty lady here, out of trouble,” he said, casting a rather warm and approving glance upon Matilda.

“Indeed,” Lucian replied, drawing Matilda closer to him and turning to see that the horses had been put back in harness. “And now we must be on our way. I’m afraid we shan’t make Market Harborough before dark if we don’t make haste.”

Matilda allowed him to hustle them back to the carriage and forced herself to still her tongue long enough for them to get moving.

“One of Jack’s men will take John Coachman back to Stony Stratford to fetch Mrs Frant and Pippin. So we’ll meet up with them in Northampton before heading onto Market Harborough.” Lucian said with perfect calm, as though he made deals with highwaymen as a matter of course.

Perhaps he did, for all she knew.

Matilda stared at him. “Lucian Barrington, if you don’t explain yourself this instant, I shall hit you. How the devil do you know that fellow isn’t just biding his time, waiting to murder you?”

“Because I saved Galloping Johnson from the scragging post,” he said with perfect gravity. “There is honour among thieves, love.”

And then he burst out laughing.

Matilda stared him with mingled astonishment and outrage. “I don’t see that there is anything the least bit funny about it,” she protested, folding her arms. “That awful man was sent here to kill you!”

“Oh, but it was nothing personal,” Lucian replied with just a slight twitch of his lips.

Matilda threw up her hands.

“Uncle,” Phoebe said, a little frown tugging at her smooth brow. “Where and when was Mr Flash going to meet with Great-Uncle Theodore to collect his money?”

“What a clever girl you are,” Lucian said, regarding his niece with a combination of approval and deep apprehension. “I fear for your future husband, I truly do. The poor devil will never have a moment’s peace. I know I haven’t.”

Phoebe preened as Matilda looked between the two of them.