The wound was right at the junction of his legs, on the left inner thigh. “You’re very fortunate,” Caroline whispered. “The shot has gone straight through. If I can just tear the material a little, perhaps—”
“You’ll ruin them!” The man seemed outraged over Caroline’s suggestion and she leaned back to look up at him.
“My boots! Will you look at my boots!”
He appeared, in Caroline’s estimation, to be bordering on hysteria. “It will be all right,” she insisted in a quiet voice. “May I please tear your breeches just a bit?”
The gentleman took a deep breath, rolled his eyes heavenward, and gave a curt nod. “If you must,” he stated with resignation.
Caroline nodded and quickly pulled a small dagger from its hiding place above her ankle.
The gentleman watched her and found his first smile. “Do you always travel so well prepared, madam?”
“Where we have just traveled from, it’s a fact that one must take every precaution,” Caroline explained.
It was extremely difficult to edge the tip of her blade beneath the tight breeches. The material seemed to be truly molded to the man’s skin, and Caroline had the vague thought that it must be terribly uncomfortable for the man to sit at all. She worked diligently until she was finally able to tear the material at the junction of the man’s legs and then split the fabric wide, until all of the pink flesh was exposed.
The gentleman, catching the unusual accent of the beautiful woman kneeling before him, recognized the colonial pitch in her husky voice. “Ah, you’re from the Colonies! A barbaric place I’m told.” He gasped when Caroline began to probe around the edges of the injury and then continued, “No wonder you carry an arsenal with you.”
Caroline looked up at the stranger, surprise registering in her voice when she replied, “It is true, I am from the Colonies, but that isn’t why I carry weapons, sir. No, no,” she added with a vigorous shake of her head. “I’ve just come from London.”
“London?” The stranger assumed his confused look once again.
“Indeed. We’ve heard stories of the mischief that takes place there. Why, the tales of countless murders and robberies have reached even Boston. It’s a den of decadence and corruption, is it not? My cousin and I promised that we would take every care. A good thing, too, considering this treachery on the very day of our arrival.”
“Ha! I’ve heard the same stories about the Colonies,” the gentleman responded with a snort. “London is far more civilized, my dear misguided woman!” The gentleman’s tone sounded very condescending in Caroline’s opinion. Oddly enough, she wasn’t put off by it.
“You defend your home, and I suppose that is honorable of you,” Caroline replied with a sigh. She returned her attention to his leg before he could think of a suitable reply and added, “Would you please remove your neckcloth?”
“I beg your pardon?” the stranger replied. He was biting on his lower lip between each carefully enunciated word, and Caroline assumed that the pain had intensified.
“I need something to stop the flow of blood,” Caroline explained.
“If anyone hears of this, I will be humiliated beyond … to be shot in such a delicate place, to have a lady see my condition, and then, to use my cravat … My God, it is all too much, too much!”
“Don’t concern yourself over your cravat,” Caroline soothed in a voice she used when comforting small children. “I’ll use a portion of my petticoat.”
The gentleman still held a rather crazed look in his eyes and continued to protect his precious neckcloth from her grasp. Caroline forced herself to maintain a sympathetic expression. “And I promise that I’ll not tell anyone about this most unfortunate incident. Why, I don’t even know your name! There, see how simple it all is? For now I shall call you … Mr. George, after your king. Is that acceptable?”
The wild look in the man’s eyes intensified and Caroline gathered that it wasn’t acceptable at all. She puzzled over it a moment and then decided that she understood this new irritation. “Of course, since your king is indisposed, perhaps another name will better suit. Is Smith all right? How about Harold Smith?”
The man nodded and let out a long sigh.
“Good,” Caroline stated. She patted his kneecap and quickly climbed out of the carriage, then bent and began to tear a strip from the bottom of her petticoat.
The sound of horse and rider making a fast approach startled Caroline. She froze, realizing that the pounding noise was coming from the north, the opposite direction from Benjamin and their hired carriage. Was one of the bandits returning? “Hand me my pistol, Mr. Smith,” she demanded as she quickly replaced the dagger in its hiding place and threw the strip of petticoat through the open window.
“But it’s empty,” the man protested in a loud voice filled with panic.
Caroline felt the same panic try to grab hold of her. She fought the urge to pick up her skirts and run for help. She couldn’t give in to such a cowardly thought, however, for it would mean leaving the injured gentleman alone, without protection. “The pistol may be empty, but only you and I need know that,” Caroline insisted with false bravery. She accepted the weapon through the window, took a deep, calming breath, and said a silent prayer that Benjamin had also heard the approach of this new threat. Lord, but she wished her hands would quit shaking!
From around the curve, horse and rider finally came into view. Caroline focused on the animal, a gigantic black beast at least three hands taller than her own Arabians. She had the wild thought that she was about to be trampled to death and felt the earth tremble beneath her. She held her pistol steady, though she did back up a space, and dangerous though it was, she had to close her eyes against the dirt flying up into her face when the rider forced his mount to stop.
Caroline brushed one hand against her eyes and then opened them. She looked past the magnificent beast and saw a gleaming pistol pointed directly at her. Both the snorting animal and the pistol proved too intimidating and Caroline quickly turned her attention to the rider.
That was a mistake. The huge man staring down at her was far more intimidating looking than either the horse or the weapon. The tawny brown hair falling against his forehead didn’t soften the man’s hard, chiseled features. His jaw was rigid and clearly defined, as was his nose, and his eyes, a golden brown that didn’t give the least hint of gentleness or understanding, now tried to pierce through her, undermine her good intentions. His scowl was hot enough to burn.
She wouldn’t allow it, she told herself. She stared back at the arrogant man, trying not to blink as she held his gaze.
Jered Marcus Benton, the fourth Duke of Bradford, couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He calmed his stallion while he stared at the lovely vision before him, the blue-eyed beauty who held a pistol aimed right at his heart. The entire situation was difficult to take in.
“What has happened here?” he demanded with such force that his stallion began to prance in reaction. He was quick to get the animal under control, using his powerful thighs as leverage. “Quiet, Reliance,” he stated in a harsh growl. Yet he seemed to contradict his firm command by stroking the side of the horse’s neck. The unconscious show of affection was at great odds with the brutal expression on his face.
He wouldn’t break the hold of his gaze, and Caroline found herself wishing that it had been one of the robbers returning after all. She worried that this stranger would quickly see through her bluff.
Where was Benjamin? Caroline thought a little frantically. Surely he had heard the approach. Why, the ground still trembled, didn’t it? Or was it her legs that trembled?
Lord, she had to get hold of herself!
“Tell me what happened here,” the stranger demanded again. The harshness in his voice washed over Caroline but she still didn’t move. Nor did she answer, afraid that her fear would be apparent in her voice, giving him the advantage. She tightened her grip on the pistol and tried to slow her racing heart.
Bradf
ord chanced a quick look around. His favorite carriage, loaned to his friend for a fortnight, stood at the edge of the roadway with several hideous bullet holes in his crest. He caught a movement inside the vehicle and recognized his friend’s mop of blond hair. Bradford all but sighed with relief. His friend was safe.
He knew, instinctively, that the woman standing proudly before him wasn’t responsible for the damage. He saw her tremble slightly and seized the opportunity.
“Drop your weapon!” It wasn’t a request. The Duke of Bradford rarely, if ever, requested anything. He commanded. And under usual circumstances, he always received what he wanted.
Bradford was forced to decide that this didn’t qualify as a usual circumstance when the chit continued to stare up at him, ignoring his order altogether.
Caroline concentrated on trying not to tremble as she studied the man looming above her like an angry cloud. Power surrounded the scowling man like a winter cloak, and Caroline found herself frightened by the intensity of her reaction to him. He was, after all, only a man. She shook her head and fought to clear her thoughts. The stranger looked arrogant and pompous and, from the apparel he wore, was obviously very wealthy. His waistcoat was a rich burgundy color, styled in the identical manner as Mr. Smith’s forest-green jacket. His golden buckskins were just as fashionable, and as tightly fitted from the way his muscles bulged through the material. The Hessians shone with polish and attention, and the cynical-looking man even wore the same type of neckcloth.
Caroline remembered the injured man’s worry that one of his acquaintances would hear of his awkward situation and remembered too her promise to tell no one. The stranger glaring at her definitely looked the type to spread stories, in Caroline’s opinion. Best to send him on his way.
“Madam, do you suffer a hearing impairment? I told you to drop your pistol.” He hadn’t meant to yell but he felt captive, both by her weapon pointed at him and, he admitted to himself, by her eyes, daring him. They were the most unusual color.
“You drop your pistol,” Caroline finally replied. She was pleased that her voice didn’t tremble overmuch and thought that she sounded almost as angry as he did. It was a small victory, but a victory all the same.
Caroline’s back was to the carriage and she therefore didn’t see the injured gentleman wave a greeting to the stranger trying to frighten her to death.
Bradford acknowledged the wave with a curt nod. His eyebrow arched in a silent question to his friend and his gaze suddenly lost its cynical look. It was as if a filled chalkboard had suddenly been erased, and Caroline found herself wishing his intimidating aura of power would also disappear as quickly.
She wasn’t given more time to consider her adversary’s change in disposition. “It appears that we have a standoff,” the man stated in a deep, rich voice. “Should we shoot each other?”
She wasn’t amused. She saw the corners of his hard mouth turn up a bit and felt her spine stiffen in reaction. How dare he assume such a bored and amused attitude when she was so frightened.
“You’ll drop your weapon,” Caroline insisted in a soft voice. “I won’t shoot you.”
Bradford ignored her order and her promise and continued to study her with lazy appreciation as he patted his stallion’s neck. It was obvious that he valued the animal, and Caroline suddenly realized she possessed a new weapon.
He, of course, would never give in. He would bend to no woman! Bradford had seen his opponent tremble a moment before and knew that it was just a matter of time before she crumbled completely. He reluctantly admired her courage, a quality he had never encountered in a female before, but considered that, brave or not, she was still a woman, and therefore inferior. All females were basically the same; they all …
“I won’t shoot you, but I will shoot your horse.”
Her ploy worked. The man almost fell off his stallion. “You wouldn’t dare!” he bellowed in pure outrage.
Caroline’s answer to his denial was to drop her arm so that her empty pistol was aimed directly at the proud beast’s head. “Right between the eyes,” she promised.
“Bradford!” The voice, calling from inside the carriage, put a halt to the duke’s overwhelming desire to leap from his horse and throttle the woman before him.
“Mr. Smith? Do you know this man?” Caroline called out. She never took her gaze off the angry stranger now dismounting and watched with great satisfaction as he replaced his pistol in the waistband of his breeches. A wave of relief overtook her. He hadn’t been too difficult to convince after all. If this Englishman was a typical example of the fashionable ton, then Caroline considered that her cousins just might be right. Perhaps they were all pansies.
Bradford turned to Caroline, interrupting her thoughts. “No gentleman would ever threaten—”
He realized, even as he made the rash comment, how totally absurd it was.
“I’ve never claimed to be much of a gentleman,” Caroline returned when she realized he wasn’t going to finish his sentence.
Mr. Smith poked his head out the window and let out a small groan when the quick movement caused him pain. “Her pistol’s empty, man. Don’t get all apoplectic! Your horse is safe.” There was a snicker of amusement in his voice and Caroline couldn’t help but smile.
Bradford found himself temporarily sidetracked by the woman’s beautiful smile, the mischievous sparkle that radiated in her eyes.
“You were certainly easy to convince,” Caroline noted. She immediately wished that she had kept her thoughts to herself, for the man was now advancing upon her at an alarming pace. And he wasn’t smiling. He obviously suffered from lack of humor, she considered, as she backed up a space.
His scowl removed any possibility of attractiveness. That, and his size. He was much too tall and too broad for her liking. Why, he was almost as huge as Benjamin, who, Caroline was relieved to note, was quietly stalking up on the stranger behind his back.
“Would you have shot my horse if your pistol was loaded?” The stranger had developed a rather severe twitch in his right cheek, and Caroline, lowering her pistol, decided that it was best to answer.
“Of course not. He’s much too beautiful to destroy. You, on the other hand …”
Bradford heard the crunch of gravel behind him and turned. He came eye to eye with Benjamin. The two men regarded each other for long seconds and Caroline realized he wasn’t at all cowed by her friend’s presence. He seemed only curious, a notable difference from Mr. Smith’s reaction.
“Would you hand me the medicine, Benjamin? Don’t worry about that one,” she added with a motion of her head in the arrogant man’s direction. “He appears to be a friend of Mr. Smith’s.”
“Mr. Smith?” Bradford asked, turning a puzzled look at the man smiling at him through the carriage window.
“Today he is Harold Smith,” Caroline went on to explain. “He doesn’t wish me to know his real name, as he is in a rather embarrassing position. I suggested calling him George, after your king, but he took immediate offense so we settled on Harold.”
Charity chose that moment to come bounding around the corner of the lane, her full pink skirt held well above her shapely ankles as she ran. Caroline welcomed the interruption, as the frowning Bradford was staring at her in a most disconcerting way. Did all the English look so confused all the time?
“Caroline! The groom refuses to come out of the bushes,” Charity rushed out when she could gain her breath. She came to an abrupt stop next to Benjamin and favored him with a quick smile before she looked at Bradford and then past him, to the man staring at her from the carriage window. “Has the danger passed? The groom has promised to return to his post if I will only return and tell him that all is well. He sent me to find out,” she explained. “Caroline, we really should turn right around and return to London. I know I’m the one who insisted on traveling to your father’s country home, but I see the foolishness of my suggestion now. Cousin, you were right! We’ll settle in your father’s townhouse and send a
message to him.”
Charity, chattering away, appeared to Bradford to be a walking whirlwind. His attention kept turning from one woman to the other and he found it difficult to believe that the two were actually related. They looked, and acted, nothing alike. Charity was petite, around five feet two inches tall in Bradford’s estimation, with golden curls that couldn’t keep still, and hazel eyes that sparkled with mischief. Caroline was a good three or four inches taller than her cousin, with black hair and thick dark lashes that framed the most stunning clear blue eyes. Both were slender. Charity was pretty; her cousin quite beautiful.
The differences didn’t stop with their appearance. The little blonde appeared to be flighty, and her gaze lacked both concentration and substance. She hadn’t been able to look him right in the eye, and he decided that she bordered on being timid.
Caroline gave the appearance of total confidence, her gaze direct. She could, and almost did, stare him to his knees. The two cousins were opposites, Bradford acknowledged, charming and intriguing opposites.
“Mr. Smith, this is Charity,” Caroline stated with an affectionate smile directed at her cousin. She deliberately ignored Bradford and justified her slight because the man continued to frown.
Charity hurried over to the window of the carriage, stood on tiptoes, and tried to look inside. “Benjamin told me that you were injured! You poor man! Are you feeling better now?” She smiled and waited for an answer as the injured gentleman frantically tried to cover himself. “I’m Caroline’s cousin but we have been raised as sisters for as long as I can remember and we are very close in age. I am just six months older.” This explanation having been given, Charity turned back to smile at Caroline, displaying twin dimples in the process. “Where is their groom? Do you think he’s also hiding in the bushes? Someone really ought to look around, I do suppose.”
“Yes,” Caroline answered. “That’s a splendid idea. Why don’t you and Benjamin try to find him while I finish tending to Mr. Smith’s leg?”
“Oh, where are my manners? We should all introduce ourselves, although this is a most unusual circumstance, and it is difficult to know just how one is to proceed.”