Chapter Two
For the first hundred yards or so, their escort remained behind the carriage, his clear grey eyes carefully scrutinising the terrain, both to the front and to the rear. Gradually, though, as the little party approached the more populated areas, the horseman drew closer and closer until, eventually, he was abreast of the gig. Then, after riding alongside in silence for some minutes, he spoke.
‘Your brother is recovering from his shock, I trust?’ he asked pleasantly.
‘He appears to be doing very nicely, thank you, sir,’ replied Jessica, without turning her head. Keeping her eyes firmly on the road ahead, she was pondering the man’s remark. How was it that he knew her name and how could he have known that Nicholas was her brother? That this man—whoever he might be—seemed to be in possession of so much information about their circumstances concerned and puzzled her greatly.
But then, as the silence between them continued at length, Jessica’s conscience began to smite her as, somewhat belatedly, it occurred to her that she had made no attempt to offer the man her gratitude for his timely intervention.
‘I fear that we are greatly in your debt, sir,’ she began primly, only to be interrupted by his smothered laugh. Swinging her head sideways, she glared at him. ‘Have I said something to amuse you, sir?’
‘Not at all, ma’am,’ he returned promptly. ‘I am glad that I was able to be of some service!’
Although his face was not turned in her direction, it was not difficult to see that it was creased in a wide grin. In the midst of her outrage, she was astonished to find herself thinking what a devilishly handsome creature he was when he smiled. Biting her lip in exasperation, she racked her brains to find a less stilted way of expressing her gratitude.
‘I simply cannot imagine why those men should have chosen to waylay us,’ she eventually managed. ‘I should not have thought that this shabby carriage was the sort of vehicle that would lend itself to a hold-up!’
‘It possibly had more to do with the way in which you were flashing your blunt, back at the Rose and Crown,’ he offered.
‘Flashing my…!’ For a moment, Jessica was lost for words, but then, as a most disturbing thought entered her head, she found herself filled with a desperate need to vanquish her sudden suspicions.
‘I take it, then,’ she said carefully, ‘that your arrival back there was not just some lucky coincidence?’
‘Hardly!’ was his astonishing reply. ‘I was right behind you from the moment you left the inn!’
Her heart sank. ‘W-why was that?’ she asked, unable to prevent the tremble in her voice.
‘Because of those two fellows,’ he replied casually. ‘I was aware that they had been watching you for some little while in the inn’s stable yard and then, when I saw them make off through the back woods, it seemed pretty clear to me what they were about.’
A flicker of relief ran through her, but then, ‘But why did you not see fit to warn us about them?’ she demanded indignantly.
There was a moment’s silence. ‘I rather got the impression that you were not the sort of young lady who would take kindly to a piece of friendly advice from a total stranger,’ he replied at last.
Now thoroughly affronted, Jessica snapped, ‘What utter nonsense! If you knew that a felony was about to be committed, it was your duty to inform us!’
‘Well, it is not exactly true to say that I knew they were up to no good,’ he retorted, his hackles rising. ‘Their furtive behaviour merely led me to believe they might well be—which is why I followed your carriage!’
‘And then waited until they had attacked us!’ was her withering retort.
Taking a deep breath, the man gave a brief nod. ‘That was an unfortunate error on my part,’ he admitted stiffly. ‘I had not expected violence—their kind is, usually, only in it for the pickings. They like to terrify their victims into a quick surrender of their valuables and then make off, as fast as they can. Insofar as I have been led to believe, they tend to pick upon travellers who do not look as though they are able to take care of themselves—such as your brother and yourself. I doubt that they were prepared for retaliation.’
Just as she herself had supposed at the time, thought Jessica ruefully. If only Nicky had kept quiet! But then, another thought flashed into her mind.
‘You were perfectly content to see us robbed, then?’ she flung at him.
His face darkened. ‘If you will go round flourishing bundles of notes under people’s noses,’ he replied calmly, ‘you can hardly complain when the inevitable occurs!’
Hurriedly recalling her efforts to persuade the gig’s owner to part with his carriage, Jessica’s cheeks reddened. Although she was bound to admit that there might be some slight glimmer of truth in what the man was saying, she was not at all happy to have received such a thorough set-down from him. With the exception of her half-brother, Matt, the majority of men with whom she came into contact were usually so dazzled by her fairy-tale beauty that they were more inclined to grovel at her feet than find any fault with her behaviour.
Having arrived in the capital some six weeks earlier, it had taken her no time at all to become the year’s Toast of the Town. Under the aegis of Lady Sydenham—her cousin Imogen’s godmother—she had been given entrée to all of the best houses, and now no fashionable gathering was considered complete if the lovely Miss Beresford was not in attendance—especially since her magnetic presence practically guaranteed that a good many of the available men-about-town would gladly forfeit a night at the gaming tables and put in an appearance, merely on the off-chance of a smile and a kind word from the beauty!
At first, having spent the previous year and a half desperately craving a Season in the capital, Jessica had revelled in all the attention that the ton saw fit to bestow upon her. However, the feverish excitement that she had felt at the onset was beginning to subside, only to be replaced by a kind of uninterested apathy. A great many of the most prestigious assemblies to which she had been invited had proved to be boring in the extreme and, even though she had already received at least a half a dozen proposals of marriage, she had been singularly unimpressed with every one of her intending suitors.
Gentlemen about town, it seemed to her, were very much of a muchness. They drank far too much, indulged in inexplicable sports like cock-fighting and bare-knuckle boxing and, when they weren’t off to the fencing salons or the race-course, they spent a good deal of their time in smoky gambling rooms or other questionable dens of iniquity. And, even when they did deign to turn up to some function or other, the obsequious insincerity with which they fawned over every single one of the affluent and unattached females present—regardless of their looks—seemed to suggest to Jessica that the majority of these coxcombs were merely seeking to palm themselves off on to some unsuspecting heiress, with an eye to lining their own pockets!
The failed abduction of the previous year had taught her an invaluable lesson regarding the wily behaviour of the predatory male and, thanks to her own valiant endeavours to model her conduct on that of her more decorous cousin Imogen, Jessica was now far less likely to be moved by mere sycophantic flattery.
Nevertheless, having had her radiant loveliness constantly remarked upon for practically the whole of her nineteen years—and despite all of her recent efforts to curb any repetition of the vulgar displays of vanity that had been all too common until Matt’s arrival—it was hardly surprising that she should feel just a little piqued that their rescuer who, despite having spoken so few words to her throughout the entire journey, had managed to succeed in giving her the distinct impression that he was totally impervious to her appearance. In point of fact, his very indifference was making Jessica feel quite self-conscious—a most unusual state of affairs for the highly sought-after Miss Beresford!
Still deeply offended by the stranger’s criticisms, it