Page 5 of Much Ado about a Widow

Though fear shone out of her eyes, the maid nodded, gripped her reticule, and set her jaw.

The carriage had not even come to a complete halt when Georgie pushed open the door, flew down the steps, and landed miraculously on her feet. “Help! Help!” She dropped Lulu to the ground, then straightened and turned this way and that. Where was the other carriage? The road in front of the horses was smooth and clear.

Clara jumped down beside her, and Lulu began to bark.

Action was better than no action. Darting toward the front of the carriage, Georgie pelted down the road, her shoes slipping now and then on the rocky surface, until a rider cut her off, coming so close she had to stop and windmill her arms to avoid being run down. She stumbled backward and bumped into Clara, whose feet skidded out from underneath her, landing her in a mound of dead grass.

Still off-balance, Georgie swayed, trying to stay on her feet until she lost the battle and sat down hard, right next to Clara. Lulu strained at her leash, barking shrilly at the enormous bay horse that loomed over their heads.

The odd-looking stranger grinned down at them. “Thought we’d let you get away that easy, my lady?”

Struggling to stand, Georgie found her annoyance overcame her fear. “I think you have made a terrible mistake, Mr. Whoever-you-are.” Fuming, she slapped at the dirt that streaked her pelisse. “I am Lady Georgina Kirkpatrick, daughter of the Marquess of Blackham, and I assure you my father will have you drawn and quartered when he hears of this outrage.” She picked up Lulu and stared defiantly at the man. “I demand you take us back to The Running Horse.”

“Right high-and-mighty, aren’t you?” The kidnapper with the flattened nose chuckled as another outrider rode up beside him. “Is the new team ready, Tanner?”

“Aye. Just coming up now.” The new ruffian leered down at her. “It’ll only take a few minutes to change ’em. Of course, it wouldn’t take much longer if we had a mind to occupy ourselves with these two for a bit.”

A sickening lurch in her stomach almost made Georgie cast up her accounts there and then. The deserted clearing where they’d stopped held nothing and no one but them and the kidnappers. She clutched Lulu tighter. No one was coming to help them. She and Clara were completely at the mercy of these dastardly men. Swallowing hard, she blinked back tears and drew herself up to her full five foot two. What could she do if the men decided to attack them? She must think clearly and come up with a plan.

“Are you truly daft, Tanner?” The odd-looking man shot a menacing look at his companion. “The master would skin us alive and dump us in the Thames if we laid a finger on her or her maid. Go see to the team before I shoot you just for being ignorant.”

Gravelly voice muttering things Georgie was just as happy she couldn’t hear, Tanner turned his horse and jogged toward the tree line where a team of four horses was emerging from the forest.

Georgie’s mouth dropped open. “Where did they come from?”

“My master’s laid his plans well, don’t you think?” The man she now thought of as Odd Fellow chuckled. “He’s had this whole scheme planned for days, including stashing a team in an abandoned barn half a mile from here. He said if we didn’t have to go to an inn to change horses, you wouldn’t have a chance to escape.”

Incensed, Georgie straightened and looked Odd Fellow in the eyes. “And just who is this master planner you work for? I demand to know who he is.”

A loud laugh filled the clearing. “You are a spitfire, aren’t you, my lady? The master warned us of that.” The man’s gaze grew cold. “He gave instructions that I tell you nothing, so nothing is what you’ll get out of me.” He glanced toward the approaching team and quickly dismounted. “Best move out of the road now.” Drawing a pistol, he motioned her and Clara onto the brown grass on the opposite side of the woods.

With a glance at her maid, whose eyes looked ready to start from their sockets, Georgie strode onto the crackling grass, thinking furiously. There must be some way to escape. “While you change the team my maid and I will need to use the necessary. We usually do at the inn when we stop. Come, Clara.” She nodded toward a series of thick bushes not five yards away. If they could make it to those and duck behind them, perhaps they could evade the men long enough to get away.

“Very well, my lady. You can go.” Odd Fellow nodded, then seized Clara by the arm. She shrieked, and he pressed the pistol to her head. “But if you don’t return, I put a ball in her head.”

Narrowing her eyes, Georgie wanted very badly to open her mouth and berate the man as he deserved. However, one look at Clara’s face—tears trickling down her cheeks, eyes filled with terror—made Georgie bite her tongue and say nothing. No need to antagonize him and make him hurt poor Clara.

Odd Fellow nodded toward the bushes. “Get on with it, then.”

“Come, Lulu.” Georgie started for the makeshift necessary.

“Leave the dog here.” Odd Fellow didn’t move his pistol, but nodded toward Lulu, who growled deep in her throat. “If you run I’ll shoot it too.”

Georgie stopped, clenching her fists. This man would pay dearly for his treatment of them. Without a word, she passed the leash to Clara, who seized it as though it were a lifeline, then stalked toward the bushes, thinking furiously. She’d been in difficult circumstances before and gotten out of them, although never quite as horrible as this. Still she was confident that she could thwart this elusive “master” and escape his men. It was merely a question of when she could make her move.

Chapter Three

When several minutes had passed and no inspiration had presented itself, Georgie reluctantly made her way from behind the bushes. Clara stood stock-still, her eyes straining to see the pistol pressed to her temple. Lulu barked a short yip and darted to Georgie, pulling her leash from Clara’s nerveless fingers.

“You’d better go now, Clara.” Georgie indicated the bushes. “No telling when we’ll have the chance again.” She turned a furious gaze on Odd Fellow. “Put that silly pistol away. Stop terrorizing my maid, or I’ll make certain your master hears of it.”

The man sneered, but uncocked the pistol and pushed Clara forward. “What makes you think the master cares what I do to your maid?”

Sobbing, Clara picked up her skirts and fled behind the bushes.

“He may not care about that, but he obviously cares about me if he’s going to such lengths to kidnap me.” She scowled at the man until he looked away from her. “He may be perturbed to find that I was upset by your mistreatment of me and my servant. If he wants me to cooperate with him, I might do so if he agreed to dismiss you.”

The ruffian scarcely seemed to hear her, his attention fixed on the rustling behind them in the bushes.