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Ox.
It had to be.
Ash cocked the hammer of his pistol. He had a score to settle too.
Lizzie shifted next to her.
“Don’t move,” Lily whispered. “Stay perfectly still.”
“I’m trying,” Lizzie answered, gasping with fear.
Lily closed her eyes. They were bound to be caught. She’d seen Arabella pull out a tiny gun from her reticule and hold it in her right hand. In her left was a knife.
Lily had a few choices, the first was to run. Find another hiding spot on her own and leave the entire group behind. She’d survive. She always did. But with each day that passed, maybe each hour, that became harder to do. She wanted to be with her sister more and more. Honestly, she wanted to be with Ash. Even if he couldn’t be hers and she could never be his, just being close to him… She was discovering herself again.
Her second choice was to remain hidden and hope Ox didn’t find them.
And her third…her third choice was to expose herself and then hope Arabella killed him.
She swallowed down a lump of fear. “I’m going to stand,” she whispered. “He’s already injured thanks to Ash. The moment you have a shot…” she whispered, giving Arabella a meaningful stare.
Arabella gave a tight nod. “I’ll take it.”
Drawing in a fortifying breath, she slowly lifted herself off the forest floor and crept out of the brush she’d been hiding in.
Circling around, she saw Ox standing between a clump of trees, scanning the woods. His shirt was blood-stained his right arm in a sling.
Bending down, she picked up a rock, rolling it in her hand.
He still hadn’t seen her, and once she did this, there would be no undoing it. Lily could still run.
But that would mean leaving the other women. Leaving Ash. She drew in another fortifying breath. If she couldn’t be brave for herself, perhaps she could do it for them. That thought helped as she cocked her arm.
He caught sight of her the moment she released the rock, the palm-sized stone whizzing through the air. For a moment, triumph coursed through her. The rock nailed him directly in the forehead and she watched him stumble back.
But then…shaking off the pain, he charged at her. She froze, her brain ceasing to work as Ox crashed closer, his face twisted in anger, his teeth gritted as he let out a growling yell.
And then she squeezed her eyes shut, needing to block out the impending doom.
The crack of a pistol filled her ears, her eyes flying open again just in time to watch Ox fall to the ground.
For a moment, she was certain Arabella had succeeded, but then her gaze focused on the point just behind where Ox had stood.
Ash stood, both pistols raised.
She cried out in relief, knowing that once again, he’d saved her life.
He strode toward her, eating the ground up between them, until he reached her, grabbing her around the waist and hauling her against his chest. “What are you doing out in the open?”
“It was a trap.”
“I could have shot him myself,” Arabella said, appearing as well. “Speaking of, I’m going to see if my husband needs help now that you’re here to keep Lizzie and Lily safe.”
Lily winced. Hadn’t she also been part of keeping the women safe? Did Arabella think of her as another person who needed to be protected? Lily wanted to have the strength to care for herself and perhaps others too.
But no one saw her as that person. Likely because she wasn’t. Would the entire group be better off with fewer women to protect?
She slid her hands down Ash’s arms. “If those men had tried to kidnap Arabella instead of me like they planned back in London, do you think they’d have been successful? Or would Arabella have stopped the plot before it had even begun?”
