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“Maybe it does, and maybe it doesn’t,” Billy said enigmatically and eyed each of his friends.
“But, Billy,” Al said on a groan.
“Listen to me, lads, something big is going on in these woods, somethin’ we best be having a look at. Since when do we run like cowards?”
“Aye, but, Billy, that isn’t why we are here.”
“We can poach anytime, anywhere, but tonight we are for somethin’ bigger … are ye not with me?”
They grumbled in different ways but all said they were with him.
“Then, this is the plan. We go back and see just what the reverend is doing this late at night. Right? We stay low, and we don’t get caught,” Billy told them with the self-assurance of natural command. He knew his friends would follow his lead. They always did.
“Aww, Billy,” Al tried one more time.
Billy put a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Al, ye got m’back?”
Called to order, Al stood up straight. “Oi do, Billy, as always, Oi do.”
A few moments later they were weaving their way through the dark woods when a gunshot rang out. They all stopped dead and looked at one another.
“Just as Oi thought,” Billy said. “Trouble.” He grinned and said, “Let’s lay low another moment or two before we go see just what kind of trouble it is, eh, lads?”
* * *
Serena and Freddy moved closer to one another, and with like minds, they each released the horses they had been leading away.
Serena rolled her eyes as the horses lingered beside them. Eustace waved his gun in their direction and told them to stand aside as he reached for one of the steeds.
One of the three horses snorted and suddenly swerved away, causing a bit of a commotion, and Serena managed to clap her hands and shout at the steeds, “Off … off with you!”
Eustace forgot himself as his temper evidently got the better of him. He dropped the lead line of his horse, hauled off with that free hand, and hit Serena hard across her face.
She reeled backwards with a cry and went down. This spooked the horses to further unrest, and one of them took off at a gallop. Another followed as the horse Eustace managed to recapture pulled on his lead.
Freddy started to lunge at the reverend. “You despicable scoundrel!”
“No, Freddy … no!” Serena shouted as she saw Eustace level his gun for his shot. She was up and rushing Eustace, and he turned, aimed his gun at her, and said in a deadly voice, “Don’t.”
A masculine voice full with authority and the promise of death said at Eustace’s back, “Precisely what I was about to say. Don’t. And, if I were you, no sudden moves.”
Serena almost started to cry. He had come. He was here. She didn’t have to think anymore. She didn’t have to worry that Freddy would be killed. He was here.
Lord Daniel Pendleton’s gun poked Eustace’s back, and Freddy was exclaiming in high glee that there was no one like his uncle, who was the best of all Corinthians.
His lordship said, “Freddy … pick up the gun Eustace has dropped, and then, let’s search his body for another.” Even as he kept his gun pointed at Eustace, he glanced at Serena, now on her feet and said, “Come to me, Serena …”
She did as he asked, and he looked down at her and said, “Are you hurt?”
She shook her head, for she was momentarily speechless and nearly overcome by emotion. He eyed her and said to the reverend, “Damn your soul to perdition. I should beat you into the earth. I should drain you of your blood and then pour it down your gullet till you choke on it.”
“But you won’t,” Eustace sneered.
“Won’t I?” his lordship said and handed his gun to Freddy. “Won’t I?” A moment later, he was doing just that.
Serena screamed and called his name. “Daniel … stop, Daniel …”
His lordship stopped and saw that Eustace was nearly unconscious on the earth. The reverend’s face was covered in blood, and even so, he wanted to keep on beating him. Serena had stopped him, and he put an arm around her, drew her in close, and told her, “He deserves to die for laying a hand on you. And you, what do you and Freddy mean going off like that? You shall never do so again, do you hear me? I shan’t have my wife roaming around the country chasing blackguards and scoundrels unless I am with her. Are we clear?”
