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He could see shadowy trees and bushes trailing beside the unkempt road. He had a great deal to think about, but leading the list was the minx of a woman child and her name was as bright as her smile. Star. How had he caved in to his basest needs and taken her? If he wasn’t so in love, he would be a cur…a cad…a…but he did love her and before long she would be his, and his alone.
He sighed. His, she was his, and damn, bloody damn, no one would rest her away from him. She was his and he was…dash it all to hell, he was hers. This is what the Lady Babs had meant when she told him one day he would fall in love and he would know it.
It was as though he had always been looking for Star. It was as though a secret thread reached out of her heart and found his and weaved a net around it just before he was thoroughly reeled in.
The problem was Jules.
Jules thought he wanted her and now, there was nothing, not even his honor, or his loyalty that would allow Jules to have her. Star was meant for one man, and he was that one man.
He had wanted to see her this evening, but business had kept him in Hastings longer than he had anticipated. He didn’t complete his business with his bank until well into the evening. There had been nothing for it but to have dinner and then proceed home, taking a road that was not the main road, but he remembered that it was a shortcut to Stamford Manor.
Suddenly Websly sounding worried called out, “Bless me, Sir Edward…there is a tree blocking the road! Oi don’t loike the looks of it…no Oi don’t.”
“What are you thinking, my man?” Sir Edward had already pulled out his horse pistol and put it ever ready in his lap.
“Has the taste of wickedness, it does,” Websly said in grim tones. “Oi’ve got m’gun handy.”
Sir Edward reached into his satchel and pulled out another smaller gun and stuck it into his belt. It would be hidden by his cloak. A third gun went into his boot. He had a great deal of experience on the road and knew just how to thwart an attack as did Websly.
“Can you get around the tree?”
“Aye, with some effort…but Oi’ll have to get down and lead them careful not to ditch em on the side of the road.”
“Aye, slow down then man and I’ll get out as well,” Sir Edward said. “That’s it, just enough for me to get out for I mean to get a lay of the land.”
Sir Edward’s eyes roamed the area and then he saw the form of a horse and rider quietly make its way out of the woods. Hurriedly he hid behind the trees alongside the opposite side and smiled to himself. He would not be expected. The high toby would think he was inside the coach and he knew Websly would wait for just the right moment to pull out his own gun.
A harsh voice muffled by the wool scarf covering the toby’s face called out, “Whoa there, aye then, Oi’ll be thanking ye to pull up, now.”
Sir Edward’s driver pulled his team to a complete stop and said nothing, his gun hidden beneath his blanket.
Two more masked riders emerged from the woods. Each took up a stand at the doors of the coach, while another rider appeared and took up position at the back of the vehicle.
“Now then, whot is it Oi should be saying to the flash cove in there? Aye, right, Oi knows. Eh, Oi say, guv, yer money or yer life…and quick about it, before Oi take both.”
The toby’s men chortled with laughter. No sound was emitted from within the coach. The toby’s voice sounded angry when next he spoke, “Be ye deaf, covey? Come on then, out wit ye, or are ye quaking in yer boots so much ye have lost yer tongue
?”
The man at the back shouted out, “He must be shaking with fear…just grab him and drag him to the ground.”
“Aye, mayhap that will be the way of it.” The man in charge pulled open the carriage door and before he had a good look said, “Shake yer shambles and get yerself out here where we might have a look at ye, covey!”
Sir Edward heard and watched all of this. It would be a tricky business. He would have to be quick and quiet, but it called for immediate action, for it was now or never.
Before the high toby leader realized there wasn’t anyone in the dark carriage, Edward moved in on foot and caught the toby unaware.
Sir Edward had him off his startled horse in a thrice and as the toby struggled and tried to recoup his breath, Edward held a pistol to his head and demanded, “On the ground, face on the ground.”
The toby did what he was told for he knew when a man would as happily kill him as not.
“He is a dead man if any of you lift a finger to stop me. Understood?” Sir Edward said grimly.
Websly had his gun out then and pointed it at the man on his right, “Aye then, two of ye will be dead…two and then we’ll make certain we find the rest if ye try and run off.” He looked at the man on his left and made his horses move backward ever so slightly so that the chubby rider would not have a clear shot. “Aye, Oi wouldn’t get one of me own men shot, would ye?”
The chubby toby called to the rest of the men, “Stand down lads…let’s not be rash, any of us.”
“Farley…whot do ye want us to do?” called the man at the boot.
