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Chewing her upper lip, she watched this jerk turn to the younger lanky man still on his horse, with a grin that made him look as insincere as she was sure he was. He actually chuckled and demanded, “Come, Jacob, we’ll allow the driver to move over and enjoy my company. Tell the silly fellow what good company I am.”
The man he called Jacob looked relieved, “If you are bent on this, give me your reins; I’ll put your horse up at the boot.”
Exerilla wondered if they had seen her. She continued to watch from the window without putting herself forward.
She heard the younger man say to the blue-eyed one, “That was close. Zounds, Hunter,” he continued, “you knew just how to handle Jerry.”
“Did I? Perhaps that is because there isn’t much there to handle.” the blue-eyed hunk answered, Exerilla considered him thoughtfully as she sighed. Apparently the stagecoach ride would no longer go comfortably down the road.
She continued to watch as best she could as the man called Jerry climbed up to the driver’s seat and ignored the coachman’s protests, and said to the blue-eyed hunk, “Well then, Hunter, do you mean to ride, or keep the lady within pleasurably amused?”
She closed her eyes. They had seen her; the man called Hunter rode up to her window and looked inside.
She couldn’t explain what happened next, but as their eyes met she felt an explosion of heat race through her veins and take on speed as it rushed to her brain and sucked out all the oxygen. Her brain turned into a mass of porridge. All thoughts were suspended as it experienced a ‘duh’ moment.
She felt as though she was falling into a well of never ending blue and she just wanted to keep on falling. It was warm, all-encompassing and full with promise, and she wanted to explore. She was bombarded by tiny little electric pinpricks, but they didn’t hurt, they simply made her feel alive.
Did he feel it? Was this all in her mind? It was as though everything she was, her magic, her spirit, her chemistry had met and mingled with his. But that was silly. He wasn’t magic. She had scanned him, no magic.
She decided that he couldn’t have felt what she did. He had broken free, apparently without effort and while she was still riveted in place.
He was gone, out of sight and she gave herself a shake. What the heck is wrong with you, Xie girl?
Suddenly the carriage door swung wide open, startling her into a gasp. The blue-eyed stranger easily, nimbly made his way inside and planted himself beside her.
She wanted to speak. She told herself to say something, anything, but all she could do was sit there like a dummy and stare. She felt a fool and told herself she must look like one as well.
Exerilla opened her mouth and put up a finger. Okay, that’s a start, she told herself, but that was all she could manage, as her voice was still lost in her throat. She tried taking in all the facts and the facts appeared to be that he was in his late twenties, or early thirties, though he had a worldly ‘feel’ about him that gave him an ‘older façade’. Fact two, he took off his top hat and dropped it negligently on the opposite seat, allowing his black waves of hair to fall about his handsome face. Fact three, he appeared to be an aristocrat, a very well dressed and very masculine aristocrat, what she had heard someone say recently was ‘plump in the pocket?
? or in her vernacular, just plain rich.
All of these facts got jumbled up in her brain when he smiled at her.
Something in her was already stumped. Thought patterns went zap and left her nerve endings gasping for life. Nothing was left of the inner material of her mind. During this assault in her head, she felt an absurd smile take over her face and was sure she looked like a complete idiot.
His blue eyes twinkled and he said, “A hearty good morning to ye, lass.”
His burr traveled through her almost empty brain and made mush with what was left.
“I don’t mean to intrude on ye, lass, but I did want to reassure ye and promise ye that we mean ye no harm.” He paused as though assimilating the fact that she was probably in shock before saying gently, “I thought ye wouldn’t mind a bit of company while m’friend has a go with the reins?”
“A go with the reins?” she asked. She knew what this meant, but like the imbecile she was sure she must appear, she asked, “What, what do you mean, have a go with the reins?”
“Aye, I know, ye probably have never heard of such a thing. I must admit though, I have heard of a lad or two taking over a stagecoach for a lark. I did not think Swit…well, never mind. Ye’ll be quite safe.”
“But…but…why?” she asked suddenly finding her voice. “Why is he doing this? Why are you letting him do this?” She bolstered herself and although she had heard a squeak in her voice, she ignored it and attempted to regain the strong young woman she knew herself to be. However, the fact that she could feel her cheeks burning like a naïve teenager that did not help her situation. She was blushing and that was all she could think about. What was he going to think of her?
“Right it is and right ye are,” he answered seemingly unaware of her red cheeks, “but, short of putting a bullet in his heart, there is no stopping him at this moment,” he said with a shake of his handsome head. He smiled reassuring at her and she eyed him doubtfully.
“But what does he want with this coach? It doesn’t make sense,” Exerilla frowned.
“Aye, no sense at all, lass, but Jerry has it in his head to drive the coach, and means to do so.”
“Can he…er…drive this coach. I think the job takes skill and…he seems to be driving it a bit faster than it should go. Reckless, I call it.” Exerilla put her hands on the seat to steady herself.
“Aye, so it is lass, so it is, but I promise ye I won’t let ye come to any harm,” he answered soothingly.
The body of the coach creaked and seemed to object as X heard wheels scraping stone as the pace of the cumbersome coach took on speed. The vehicle had obviously never been designed to take the road at much more than a slow trot.
