She didn’t apologize for the misstep, she instead gave him a coy look. “You’re reneging on our bet not to mention kissing, but would you really want to risk a no?”
“Does that mean . . . ?”
She grinned. “You’ll just have to find out.”
“Tease! You’re just looking for a reason to punch me again.”
“Now that might be true—especially if you aren’t taking this lesson seriously.”
“I’ll concede—for now.”
She got the hang of it pretty quickly when he made it so easy to follow his lead, but she pretended not to and stepped on his feet a few more times. She simply didn’t want the dance lesson to end. And she definitely got his point about the close contact being frowned upon by the old guard, not that their bodies touched, but being even a foot apart from Monty when he was holding her hand and had his other hand on her waist was quite titillating. How the devil could one man excite her so much when he wasn’t even trying?
And then Charley insisted on taking a twirl with Layla, while Kathleen took over for her at the piano. Emily got a turn and was giggling at Charley’s blandishments. The mood in the room had turned quite festive. Even Kathleen seemed to be having fun. Vanessa was happy dancing with Monty and seeing her sisters and mother so gay, but she still felt a bittersweet pang. The evening would have been perfect if her father were there.
Chapter Twenty-six
MONTGOMERY TRIED TO KEEP his thoughts from wandering hither and yon as he finished shaving, otherwise he’d end up slicing his throat. He was already dressed, had intended to go downstairs for breakfast with the Blackburn family, but then he’d thought about the end of next week, when the ladies would no longer be in residence, and he was struck with annoyance and something that might be melancholy.
Bloody hell. Charley’s distress was contagious. And yet he did wonder what the devil he was going to do with himself when the lovely distractions marched out the door and he was left wondering what could possibly have induced Vanessa to agree to marry a man she hadn’t met? The amazing wench who’d trotted across England in britches wouldn’t have done that. She’d bloody well stand up for what she wanted. Not having an answer to that was going to drive him crazy. And would he even know if she ended up turning Rathban down in the end? Not stuck in the country he wouldn’t.
He supposed he could stay foxed for the duration. He had initially thought that this particular favor for George was going to be a boring task and he’d been prepared to suffer through it—until Vanessa had arrived to liven it up considerably. But she’d very quickly become his focus and too much of a distraction. He couldn’t seem to help himself, even after finding out that she was a lady.
That he couldn’t get her out of his head wasn’t helping a’tall. Logically, the women’s departure was going to nip these unwanted feelings in the bud. He hoped. But what if it didn’t? Ridiculously, he was already missing her when she hadn’t even left yet!
Annoyed with himself, he went downstairs to see if anyone was left in the dining room. Charley must be, because Arlo, looking somewhat bored, was standing at attention outside the door in case he was needed. But then Montgomery paused when he heard the twins squealing in delight inside the room and one of them exclaiming, “A king in our house!”
He stepped into the doorway, noted that only the twins and Charley were in the room, caught the boy’s eye, and directed him out of the room but didn’t wait for compliance. He was already halfway to the front door when Charley complained, “Do wait up.”
“We’re going for a ride. If you don’t know how, too bad, we’re going anyway.”
“Is there a reason we’re going outdoors?”
“I might yell.”
“Oh,” Charley said, apparently guessing why. “Very well, but I have a good reason.”
Montgomery didn’t pause to hear it and his stride was long. He was angry, at Charley, at himself, at Vanessa for getting herself engaged to a rotter like Rathban. It was a bit much, and he didn’t want to take it all out on Charley, so he ignored the boy until they were mounted, along with Arlo, who had insisted on accompanying them and had ridden out of view of anyone in the house, then reined in under a stately oak.
Charley had kept up with him, did indeed know how to ride, sat on the horse almost in a military fashion, which was a bit odd, though who knew what sort of teachers the lad had had growing up.
Montgomery didn’t mince words, said with sharp censure, “Explain to me why you have utterly disregarded everything I warned you about?”
Charley wasn’t cowed, was instead a little loud in his explanation. “They intend to abandon us tomorrow!”
“What happened to next week?”
“A letter was delivered this morning. I was there when the countess made the announcement that it changes their schedule. That won’t do! These ladies are delightful. And I am in love with Vanessa. She cannot be removed from my entourage. I won’t allow it.”
“Boy, wake up. You’re too young to be in love. You are a target, so having women anywhere around you, other than in that house, puts them in danger as well. And you don’t have a bloody entourage, you have me.”
Charley sighed. “I had hoped they would remain here if they knew who I really am.”
Montgomery snorted. “Nothing will keep newly turned eighteen-year-old ladies of the ton from their first Season in London.”
“Vanessa missed hers.”
So she did, and Montgomery wished he knew why, but the lady was as secretive as he was about certain things. He narrowed his eyes on Charley. “You will tell the sisters you were joking and you will make them believe it.”
Feigned or not, Charley sighed again with unmistakable sadness. “I really am the last surviving king of Feldland, you know. I don’t know why you don’t want to believe it.”
“I’ll tell you why. Because it would scare the hell out of me if I thought for even a moment that I was the only hope for a country I’ve never even heard of, of keeping their monarch alive long enough to get back on the throne. You trying to scare me, boy?”
“Of course not. But I have every confidence in you. And if I must lie to the Blackburn ladies about who I really am, then we shall instead go to London when the ladies do to experience the Season, as they call it.”
“No.”
A full measure of haughtiness reared back up when Charley huffed, “Need I mention I outrank you?”
“Need I remind you we came to Cheshire to hide. You won’t be safe in London.”
“Yes, I will, if I wear a disguise.”
“Who the deuce gave you that idea?”
“Arlo has nagged me from the beginning that I ought to change my appearance.”
“Don’t say I did the same. I don’t nag.”
“You did want me dressed in rags on the way here,” Charley reminded.
“The devil I did. Putting on a cloak and removing your jewels was all I requested—and men in rags don’t hobnob with ladies.”
“But a simpler disguise would be possible, wouldn’t it? To allow us to move about in your society without being found out? No one would be looking for us in such circles.”
To hide in plain sight would indeed be possible. At least for the boy, but not for him when he had cuckolds looking for him in those circles. Yet damned if he wasn’t struck by a moment of temptation anyway, until he realized it was because he abhorred the idea of Nessi’s going off on her own to meet the cur she’d been promised to. But trotting the boy back into danger wasn’t the deal he’d made with George.
So again he said, “No.”
But he’d waited a moment too long in the second denial, which prompted Charley’s guess, “You were thinking about it. Don’t deny it. You must think more quickly. Their departure is imminent.”
He gave the boy a nasty look, but Arlo interrupted the argument. “Look yonder.” He was pointing to the south.
Montgomery turned to see a menacing group of mounted strangers approaching
them. He didn’t for a moment think that they might be locals returning home. And he hadn’t brought his pistols, hadn’t been wearing them inside the house and hadn’t planned on the ride. Bloody hell.
“Do we return to the house?” Charley asked.
“No, we’re not leading them there. We ride fast for Dawton town, where they won’t dare attack.”
Which is what they started to do, but the men behind them had superior horses and were gaining on them. And then a shot was fired, which changed Montgomery’s mind. They were easy targets out in the open like this.
“Follow!” he yelled, and directed Charley and Arlo to a small copse of trees for cover.
He was furious at himself by then for not having a single weapon on him. He would have to yank the chasers off their horses and see if he could confiscate a few weapons to deal with the rest. But their pursuers reached them too quickly. No sooner did they get to the trees and dismount to take cover than the rebels were upon them.
Charley hurled a dagger at one man that struck true. Montgomery was a little incredulous, seeing that. What did Feldlanders teach their children? He grabbed the man’s pistol as he fell to the ground. Another shot was fired, and he panicked until he saw Charley and Arlo running behind a tree. Then Monty fired the confiscated pistol and snarled when he found it empty. He flipped it over in his hand and bludgeoned another attacker with it as the man was dismounting. He took his fists to the next one, and out of the corner of his eye saw Charley doing the same to another rebel, which infuriated him. Why hadn’t he remained behind the tree? With the boy not staying out of firing range, Montgomery was forced to get between him and the assailants.
But no more shots were fired in such close quarters and having to deal with the three men in front of him, he didn’t immediately notice when another man grabbed Arlo from his cover and rode off with him. Charley noticed and immediately jumped on his horse to give chase. Montgomery growled, cracked the pistol against another head, then leapt toward his horse to go after Charley. He glanced back to see if the last two assailants were going to do likewise, only to see they’d mounted and were riding off in the opposite direction. To get more reinforcements? And the mount he and Charley were chasing was still faster than the nags they were riding. They weren’t catching up to the abductor.
Chapter Twenty-seven
VANESSA WAS STILL A little dazed after her mother took her into her study to give her the good news—good news in Kathleen’s opinion. Vanessa wasn’t so sure. Albert Rathban had finally answered Kathleen’s missive. He had concurred that the engagement could move forward and to that end, he was hosting a ball at his own residence in London so the affianced couple could meet. They had barely a week to arrive in time for it, which meant they had to depart in the morning.
Vanessa met that news with aplomb, though that certainly wasn’t how she felt. It was one thing to accept this engagement to a man she didn’t know, quite another for it to be this imminent. She would be giving up so much, her dreams of the perfect marriage that would include a signed contract, her independence, the freedoms she had become accustomed to. And she knew in her heart that her father would never approve—if he knew. He would never ask her to make this sacrifice for him, though Kathleen had no such qualms. But she had to do this! She couldn’t bear the thought of William living out the rest of his life alone and away from everyone he loved. But if there were still some other way to attain the same goal, she would pursue it with alacrity.
Bemoaning her limited options, she changed back into her trousers and hooded cloak and went for a long hard ride on Snow to work off her frustration. She wasn’t ready to leave Monty this quickly, she wasn’t ready to meet the man she had agreed she must marry this quickly, either.
She’d circled around the property to head south when she saw the rider galloping in her direction with someone tossed over his saddle, legs dangling. And it appeared two others were following—or chasing the rider, and one had bright golden hair. Charley? But when she heard Monty yelling in the distance, she squinted and could make out his large frame on one of the horses and realized in alarm what was happening.
The rider, trying to keep an eye on his pursuers behind him rather than what was in front of him, noticed her almost too late and tried to veer away. Vanessa didn’t, and she was riding fast enough that she needed only to steer Snow in his direction then abruptly to the side for a collision to occur, Snow’s shoulder slamming against the smaller mount. The other horse stumbled, losing its balance. Snow reared up to avoid the horse’s flailing legs. Arlo pushed himself off the animal before it crashed to the ground. It all happened so quickly. Vanessa saw Arlo sprawled in the grass, but at least a few feet away from the fallen horse. The rider wasn’t as lucky with one of his legs trapped beneath his horse.
Charley arrived almost immediately, jumped off his mount, and ran over to Arlo.
“Is he all right?” Vanessa asked, dismounting from Snow.
“Yes, just somewhat stunned,” Charley said, helping Arlo to his feet. Then he beamed at Vanessa. “That was incredible, what magnificent bravery!”
“Indeed,” Arlo agreed, rubbing his arm. “Many thanks, Lady Vanessa.”
Monty dismounted next to her and scolded, “What is it about those clothes that makes you take such risks?”
She couldn’t be daunted after such success and grinned. “It was Snow’s idea. He deserves all the credit. I told you he has the strength and spirit of a warhorse.” Monty gave her an admonishing look but before he could do more, she asked, “What happened? How did your enemies find you and why was one of them riding away with Arlo?”
“Those rebels are relentless!” Charley fumed. “Seven of them attacked us. Monty and I were fighting them off and when they couldn’t apprehend me, one of them snatched my servant as a hostage and rode off.”
“No more heroics, boy!” Monty walked over to the fallen horse. Vanessa joined him and together they helped the horse back to its feet. She saw the rider was unconscious no doubt due to the pain of his crushed leg. Monty hoisted the man over the now skittish mount before asking Charley, “All of those shots missed, correct? Or do I need to find a doctor when I take this fellow to town?”
“We’re fine, but I think your horse got nicked, so you probably shouldn’t ride him. And we’ll go with you to town.”
“No, you won’t. The townsfolk can’t get a gander at those golden locks of yours. Our hiding place might be compromised but Dawton Manor is still the safest place for you right now. I’ll escort you back there. I need a few more horses to transport the miscreants we left behind to the constable.”
“You can ride with me,” Vanessa offered as she remounted her giant horse. “Snow could carry all of us if he had to.”
He nodded and tied off the reins of the two other horses to her saddle, then mounted Snow, sitting behind her, while Charley and Arlo started off ahead of them, talking loudly, perhaps arguing, she couldn’t tell which, they were so far ahead of her. Monty put his hands on her hips since she wasn’t giving up Snow’s reins for him to hold.
She was very cognizant of that touch and she couldn’t stop herself from leaning back against him.
“That could have gone much worse than it did, if you hadn’t come to the rescue.” He pulled her closer to him. “But we might have caught up to that abductor if your mother didn’t keep such a poorly stocked stable, not a thoroughbred in the lot.”
“I’m sure you would have.”
Monty laughed and tugged on her queued-back hair. “So brave, bold, and beautiful, yet self-effacing. Quite a tantalizing combination,” he added close to her ear. Then more sternly, “But never do anything like that again, Nessi. You could have been hurt. And I would hate for anything to happen to this lovely neck.”
Vanessa gasped when she felt his mouth on the side of her neck, kissing her, nibbling her there. Shivers of pure pleasure rippled through her, and she craned her neck to give him greater access. She’d never expected to experience thi
s kind of passion on a horse! And then Monty’s hands moved down from her hips to her upper thighs, and he began to stroke her there. Her breath caught in her throat, she was so startled by the heat suddenly flaring deep inside her.
“And now I am reminded that you’re not a lady today in these pants,” Monty murmured hotly in her ear.
She sucked in her breath as his hands started to slowly roam up and down her body, over her belly, over her breasts, then back down to her thighs. He was taking thrilling new liberties with her, and she let him because she knew they would be parting tomorrow. How could she pass up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a passionate encounter with a man she truly liked and was so wildly attracted to?
“I could turn around,” she suggested.
“God, wench, don’t tempt me further.”
“You’re tempting me!” she said, leaning forward and sitting up straight.
“How nice that we can argue over who is tempting whom. But seriously, my only excuse is that I don’t often have the pleasure of holding you in my arms. And it seemed a natural way of thanking you for all you did today. Now, back to the business of being a guardian,” Monty said with a sigh, lowering his hands and resting them lightly on her hips.
The manor was in sight now. Vanessa sighed, too, wishing she hadn’t started donning dresses as quickly as she had.
• • •
BACK AT THE HOUSE Charley went off to find the twins to tell them he’d been joking about his royal status while Montgomery fetched his pistols and some rope, then rode back to the scene of the battle. Four horses were still grazing there, but as he got closer, he saw that one of the assailants had regained consciousness and was kneeling by one of the others, trying to wake him. But the fellow must have heard him approaching and quickly abandoned his friends, riding off to the south. Montgomery didn’t even consider giving chase when it was yet another fast horse racing away and he was riding yet another nag. And four culprits apprehended still put a big dent in that little army.
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