Her attacker’s gasp of rage, as the woman’s heel connected with his chin, brought Jed to his senses. What kind of rescuer was he, to be leering at the poor woman’s backside? What would his mother say, especially when it was she who had taught him to offer help to those in need?
At that moment, the man cried out again in exasperation. “I say, Lloyd, can you hear me? What is the hold up?”
Self-directed amusement colored Jed’s voice as he spoke. “I’m afraid that won’t be possible. Lloyd is…well… resting.”
The man swung around, and his expression was astonished when he saw Jed. “What have you done with Lloyd?” The look in his light gray gaze changed from anxiety to haughtiness as he took in the sea captain’s attire. His expression said quite plainly that Jed’s snug black pants, white open-necked shirt and black overcoat proclaimed him to be other than a gentleman. Which Jed understood would certainly mark him an inferior in this fool’s opinion. He was dressed in a tight-fitting cutaway coat, brown trousers and a multihued brocade vest.
The dapper fellow frowned again as his eyes came to rest on the pistol in Jed’s hand. “Now see here, my good man. Just be on your way, and I will forget that you interfered in something that was not your concern.” His scowl deepened. “That is, if you have not been so foolish as to kill my friend.”
Jed merely smiled. This man was in for quite a surprise if he thought he could intimidate Jed with his superior manner. “I do not know, nor do I care, if your friend lives. And forgive me—” he glanced down at the pistol “—if I point out that, although I’m sure you believe you are being quite magnanimous in regards to myself, you are really in no position to do so.”
The blond man looked down his narrow nose, even as he renewed his grip on the woman, who had ceased to struggle when Jed spoke. She jerked away in response, and he spoke to Jed with irritation as he tried to draw her closer to him. “How dare you! Obviously no one has taught you how to treat your betters. I am a member of the English peerage, sir!”
Jed simply shrugged, raising the pistol and bringing the attacker’s attention fully to himself. “I think now that you will release this lady.”
With obvious reluctance, the man loosened his hold on her. Immediately she rolled away, pressing her back against the opposite door of the coach even as she raised her head to look at them.
As her face became visible beneath the rim of her slightly askew beribboned blue bonnet, time seemed to halt. Jed found himself forgetting for one heart-stopping moment that he was holding a pistol on a member of the British peerage in a strange coach in the middle of the night. He could think of nothing besides the strange, brave beauty of the woman before him.
Because it wasn’t just that she was beautiful that gave him pause. Though there was no denying that she was, with her aquiline features and haughty expression. It was the pure defiance in her gray eyes, the look of outrage and regal condemnation she turned upon the man who had dared accost her. Not even a hint of fear was evidenced in those heavily lashed eyes.
She spoke with open contempt, drawing Jed’s gaze to her mouth. And in its lushness he glimpsed an unexpected hint of womanly softness that stirred him more than he would have imagined possible. He forced himself to concentrate on her words. “What can have possibly come over you, Reginald Cox? Did you really believe you would succeed in abducting me?”
Jed settled back to watch as Cox shrugged, nodding to him. “I would have done quite well, if it had not been for this brave lothario here, interfering in things.” His face took on a petulant expression as he went on. “Though really, Victoria, must you refer to what I was trying to do as abducting you?”
“And what then would you prefer I call it?” She barely glanced toward Jed as the other indicated him, rising with surprising grace, considering the circumstances. She perched, ladylike, on the seat and righted her bonnet with unruffled aplomb, and he began to wonder at the sheer depth of her bravado. Did the woman have no understanding of what had nearly happened to her?
It was when she brushed the dark curls away from her face, even as she continued to eye Reginald Cox with disdain, that Jed noted a barely perceptible trembling in her slender, white-gloved fingers. Sympathy stabbed at his chest. Obviously she was more shaken by what had happened than she would have them know. Obviously she was acting out of true bravery, rather than because of a foolish sense of invulnerability, as some did. He felt a growing admiration that surprised him, since he would not have expected to feel that way about anyone of her class.
Surprise at his own reaction kept Jed silent as Cox shrugged again and said, “I did mean to make an honest woman of you, Victoria. I had nothing less than marriage in mind, and would still continue toward that end, if you would only come to your senses.”
The beauty’s arched brows rose with haughty contempt. “I wonder that you would not take my repeated refusals as reply enough to convince you to leave me be.”
Reginald pursed pouty lips. “Dash it, “Victoria, that was what drove me to compel you. I am at my wits’ end to have you.”
Neither Cox nor the lady took note of the fact that Jed leaned toward the other man. “To have me,” she sputtered. “More like to have my wealth and property.”
Her remark served to cause the man to flush with embarrassment, but it did not stop him from trying to convince her she was wrong. He reached toward her. “Victoria, you must know how I feel….”
He was halted by Jed’s firm grip on his shoulder. The sea captain could now feel the undivided attention of both centered wholly on him. He focused on the man. “That will be enough Mr…. Cox.”
Clearly, Reginald Cox was not going to give up on this easily. He made a move to pull away from the hold on his shoulder, but Jed’s grip held firm. Cox’s frustration was apparent even when he raised his nose and tried for a superior expression as he lifted his gaze to Jed’s. “Unhand me, you madman. This is really none of your concern. Be on your way, and I will forget that you intruded where you were not wanted.”
Jed made no effort to hold back the mocking smile that curved his lips. “How very good of you, but again I must decline to accept your generous offer.” His expression and voice then hardened as his grip became what must be painfully tight. “Get out of the carriage.”
Cox paled, as if finally understanding that he was completely in Jed’s power. Slowly, and with clear reluctance, he followed the larger man without another word.
Victoria Thorn found herself blinking in surprise as she realized that the two men had exited the carriage. She sat back on the seat with a groan of self-derision. What in heaven’s name had come over her?
She could not have said. All she did know was that she had not had a coherent thought since first looking into the face of her rescuer. Surely, she thought, pressing her hands to her heated cheeks, her odd sense of disorientation was nothing more than a strange reaction to nearly being kidnapped, then just as suddenly finding herself safe once more.
Again she envisioned those heavily lashed sea-green eyes, that mobile mouth, which had been thinned with dangerous intent as the man spoke to Reginald Cox. He had radiated a kind of hard strength that had nothing to do with the gun in his hand. Here was a man who knew how to attain what he desired, who knew how to command respect because of what was inside him. If he had no weapon at all, Reginald would still have been forced to heed him. It was equally obvious that he was a man of honor or he would not have come to her aid.
She did not want to think that her awareness had anything to do with the fact that he was incredibly handsome, a valiant liberator who had come dressed all in black except for his flowing white shirt, as a