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It thumped, and she remembered the pistol inside. Cressy had given her the other pistol she possessed, a twin of the one Sedgwick had lifted. She reached for it, her fingers fumbling with the drawstring, as Mr. Pin’s henchman climbed in after her. This time the darkness worked in her favor, and she had the pistol in her hand before he knew what had happened.
He settled himself in the seat just as the conveyance jerked forward. Gabrielle fell on her side, but managed to keep her grip on the pistol. She pointed it at him.
“I’ll not see Mr. Pin tonight,” she managed, her breath coming hard and fast. “Stop the carriage.”
The man laughed at her. “Give me that thing.” He reached for it and Gabrielle jerked it away. Apparently, this man did not subscribe to Cressy’s theory of merely pointing the pistol at someone and intimidating them.
Gabrielle stood, hunched and balancing precariously in the moving carriage, and pointed the pistol at the man again. “I will shoot.”
“Go ahead.”
She shrugged, cocked the hammer, then pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened.
The man laughed harder. Gabrielle stared at the pistol. Where had she gone wrong? Did it even have gunpowder?
“Give me that!” the man said.
Gabrielle danced out of his reach and fell against the carriage door. Her hand landed near the handle, and she prayed it wasn’t locked. She prayed the street was congested and the carriage moved slowly. It certainly didn’t feel as though it was moving slowly.
In one move, she threw the pistol at the man’s head and turned the door handle. The pistol hit him dead in the center of his forehead, but she didn’t see more than that as she practically fell out of the speeding carriage. She held on to the door with one hand while her feet dangled. She had a moment to wish she were stronger before she lost her grip and slammed onto the street. Her whole body felt as though it had shattered, but she managed to roll out of the way of a carriage following Mr. Pin’s.
That coachman swore at her as she lay on the street panting. She wasn’t yet certain whether she was alive or dead, but when she heard the clatter of hooves and felt the ground rumble beneath her, she managed to rise to her feet and lurch onto the curb. She fell against the dark windows of a bookstore and crouched, panting and bleeding.
She closed her eyes.
Perhaps Paris wasn’t so very dangerous after all.
—
An hour later, she stumbled through her garden and pounded on the French doors of the parlor overlooking the shrubs and flowers. She’d been too afraid to go to the front door again and had entered through the back gate.
She pounded again, noting her shredded knuckles left blood on the glass. Finally, she heard footsteps. A footman carrying a candle entered the parlor, gaped at her, and turned around.
“Wait!” she cried. “It’s me! Lady McCullough.”
He paused, turned, studied her, then shrieked.
She looked that bad, did she?
The footman raced to the door and unlatched it just as Cressy entered the parlor. Gabrielle stepped through the French doors and all but fell into Cressy’s ample arms.
“What happened?”
Gabrielle didn’t answer. She buried her face in Cressy’s dress and inhaled the smell of cinnamon and cloves. She closed her eyes and thought,home.
When she opened them again, she was lying in bed and Cressy and Diana were standing over her, the looks on their faces anxious. Sunlight pierced the drawn drapes in spears, defying the gloomy ambience.
“I’m fine,” Gabrielle said before the barrage of questions could begin.
“You most decidedly arenot fine!” Cressy countered. “You have a cut on your chin, a bruise on your cheek, a scraped arm, a gash on your leg, and it’s a wonder nothing is broken!”
“I have a headache as well,” Gabrielle added.
Diana laughed, but Cressy only frowned. “The doctor was here a few minutes ago. His orders are that you stay in bed for three days and drink this.” She pushed a cup containing a foul-smelling broth toward Gabrielle. She tried to rise, and Diana assisted her, propping pillows up behind her. Gabrielle smelled the broth then eased it away.
“I’m not drinking that, and I can’t stay in bed.” She tried again to rise, but Cressy pushed her back. Gabrielle suppressed a groan of pain. It seemed every bone and muscle in her body ached.
