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She heard his intake of breath and knew all at once that he had surmised who they were. He was a stranger to them, but they were no longer strangers to him.
Ned rubbed his chin and said ruefully, “Don’t worry, caught me in the bone-box, but nothing broken. I’m hipped but quite all right.”
She glared at the tall muscular stranger and kicked him in the shins once more. He grunted and frowned at her, saying under his breath, “Do that once more and you will, I do promise you, regret it.”
He then held her tightly in his grip and turned to tell his driver, “I’ve got these two devils in hand. You may return to the Manor and advise the viscount that I shall come along much later. Nothing to worry about.”
“But…Yer Grace, ye ‘aven’t a horse…” the driver began to object.
Mandy turned and eyed her brother silently. Yer Grace?
“Oh, but I have two to choose from. Now go along. This is not an open discussion,” the duke returned.
“Aye then, Yer Grace, as ye wish,” said the driver but then added, “M’gun, Yer Grace?”
“I’ll see to it later. Off with you now.”
The coach rumbled forward although the driver looked disturbed about doing so without his passenger, but his passenger seemed to have a mind of his own.
The duke rounded on the young woman he held captive and glared at the young man rubbing his chin, for a moment as he collected his thoughts.
Mandy shook free of his hold and ran to Ned to touch him and inquire if he was all right and without waiting for an answer turned around and admonished, “You are a wretched, odious brute. We didn’t take anything from you and wanted no more than to proceed on our way. We obviously thought you were someone else…”
“Obviously? Not to me, my dear. Now tell me, and you may drop the thieves’ cant and speak in the Queen’s English, please, why I should allow either of you to proceed on your way?” He gave her a bit of a sneer and shook his head, “No, what you two need is less freedom, not more.”
“Why you…you…” Mandy made an attempt to gather all the insults she could and fling them at his head.
‘Tch tch, ill mannered creature,” the duke stuck in softly. “It would appear that my previous laxness with regards to your supervision has borne very unfortunate fruit.”
“I have no notion what the deuce you are talking about,” said Mandy but saw that her brother was frowning as he stared at the stranger.
Ned said, “Look here, you have no right to keep us. We haven’t taken anything from you. We were just on a lark.”
“You took time from me,” answered the duke. “You accosted my driver on a public road and aimed a gun at his head, not to mention mine.”
“It wasn’t loaded,” Mandy snapped. Who was this arrogant duke? He was a duke. That much she had concluded when the driver had called him Yer Grace.
“Ah, but the poor fellow didn’t know that, did he? Reckless and thoughtless, and for what? A lark you say?” snapped the duke in a scathing voice.
Mandy bit her lip. He was absolutely right. “You play an odd game, sir. But we are not mice and I assure you, will not scurry about waiting on your intentions,” Mandy blustered even though her brother shot her a warning glance.
“What I should like to know is who the devil are you?” Ned asked worriedly.
The duke grinned. “That particular question plagues you, I see. Who were you expecting?”
“Confound it!” Mandy’s hands unconsciously went to her hips. “Who else, but the owner of the conveyance you were using—the Viscount Skippendon. And you must realize that. Just a bit of sport between friends. We had no way of knowing you were
in Skip’s coach.” Mandy wagged a finger, “And he, I assure you, would not have minded in the least. Now, if you will stand out of our way, we shall not trouble you further.”
He barred her path and their eyes met in battle. Mandy felt a flush of heat skittle through her body. Even in the dim light, something in his eyes made her tremble and the trembling she experienced she knew was not born of fear.
He chuckled and said softly, looking at her as though no one else existed but the two of them and his blue eyes held hers, “You may have noticed, Miss Sherborne, that I dismissed my conveyance.”
Mandy frowned and managed to look away from him to her brother. He gave her a rueful glance and shrugged his shoulders. She looked back at the controlling mountain of a man before her and waited.
“You may—both of you relax.” He said looking toward her brother. “I am not going to do either of you harm. Indeed, I came to your heathenish dales for the express purpose of extricating you from the difficulties you have managed to plunge yourselves into.”
“Who…who are you?” Mandy gasped and clasped her hands, for in spite of his assurances she was worried.
