Then the ambush came.
When the tree crashed in front of them, at first, stupidly, Charis thought the wind caused the accident.
Then she realized there was no wind in this hidden hollow.
“Damn it.” His powerful shoulders bunching, Gideon struggled to control the rearing, squealing pony. The tree had missed the animal by inches. “Whoa there! Settle down!”
Charis clung trembling to the rocking gig as the maddened horse bucked and fought. Gideon fought to enforce obedience. Finally, recognizing the hand of authority, the pony stood quivering between the shafts with its head lowered.
Gideon cast her an urgent glance. “Jump, Charis, and run!”
But it was too late. Charis hardly drew breath before a roughly dressed man appeared from the underbrush. He snatched the halter with cruel force, wrenching the skittish pony’s head up.
“Sir Gideon, what a pleasure.” The oily self-satisfied voice oozed down Charis’s spine and held her paralyzed on the seat. A terrifyingly familiar voice.
Across the pony’s heaving back, she met Felix’s gelid gray regard. Her every muscle tensed. Choking fear set like stone in her belly. Dear Lord, they were trapped.
Felix looked so pleased with himself, rage boiled up to drown her fear. With just such an expression, he’d watched Hubert beat her black-and-blue. She invested every ounce of the contempt she felt into her glare. “Felix. Still a sneaking little worm, I see.”
Her stepbrother’s hands clenched on the halter, so the frightened pony whinnied and tossed its head in protest. “Shut up, you little bitch!”
“And eloquent as ever. I’m impressed.” Her voice lowered into irony. “I find myself less impressed with your appearance. Have you given up bathing for Lent?”
“Stay quiet, for God’s sake,” Gideon hissed, dragging her to his side with one strong arm. With his other hand he reached into the pocket of his greatcoat, she guessed for his pistol. “What in Hades are you about, Farrell?”
He didn’t shift his attention from Felix, and his voice was sharp and lordly, as it had been when he spoke to the brothers at Penrhyn. Charis pressed closer, her brief defiance fading beneath growing awareness of their terrible danger.
“I wouldn’t do anything too impulsive, if I were you, Trevithick.” Felix drew himself up and made a dismissive gesture. “You’re expendable, and I’m sure you won’t wish to leave my sister undefended.”
He nodded to someone behind the gig, and Charis heard the unmistakable sound of a gun cocking. She didn’t need to see who it was. The two brothers rarely acted apart.
Her pulses raced, and sweat prickled her palms, but Gideon’s heartbeat remained steady and sure under her cheek. The unhurried, regular sound bolstered her courage. Even as he lifted his hand away from his pocket.
“Lady Charis is now my wife,” Gideon said calmly, his arm tightening around her in a silent promise of protection. But how could he keep her safe when the brothers had them at such disadvantage?
“The devil she is,” Hubert snarled, stamping into view and brandishing two large horse pistols.
The brothers’ fortunes had clearly worsened in recent weeks. They were unshaven, their clothing was creased and stained, and their linen was gray. The Farrells’ unkempt state hinted they’d been sleeping rough. With sudden spite, Charis hoped it had rained every night. She hoped it had snowed.
“We’ve ridden to Gretna and back. We know you haven’t married the slut,” Felix snapped, snatching one of the guns from Hubert and aiming it squarely at the pair in the gig.
Gideon didn’t flinch although she felt him subtly shift so his body shielded her from the pistol. Foolish, heroic man. The rusty taste of regret flooded her mouth as she remembered how angry she’d been with him all day.
“I have indeed wed this lady.” Gideon bit out the last word. His sangfroid stirred Charis’s admiration even as acid dread rushed through her veins. “In Jersey a fortnight ago. For confirmation, apply to the Reverend Thomas Briggs of St. Helier. Lady Charis’s person and fortune are now at my disposal.”
Stupid Hubert lowered his pistol. Felix cast him an irritated glance. “What the hell are you doing, man?”
“They’re married,” Hubert spluttered. “The game’s up.”
“For God’s sake, keep them in your sights!” Felix whipped around to face Gideon and Charis. The feral light in his eyes indicated this was his last desperate throw of the dice, and he intended to win. “It’s not as simple as that, Trevithick.”
“No?” Gideon still sounded nonchalant. “Any harm gets you no closer to the money—and garners you a hanging when the law catches up with you. Make no mistake. You and your brute of a brother are identified as likely culprits should mischief befall us.”
“You have it all wrong.” Felix’s smile took on a smug curve that sent a shiver down Charis’s backbone. “I mean everyone to walk away safe and sound, Hubert and I considerably richer and you, sadly, considerably poorer.”
Gideon’s soft laugh lifted the hairs on the back of Charis’s neck. He sounded utterly powerful. As if he hadn’t a care in the world, for all that they were held at gunpoint without hope of outside aid in this wild woodland. “I wouldn’t toss you a farthing after what you did to her, you bastard.”
Felix’s lip curled in scorn. “Brave words.” Without shifting his attention from the gig, Felix tilted his head toward Hubert. “Get the jade.”
Hubert stepped toward them, then hesitated as Gideon spoke with a cold savagery that made Charis’s heart skip a beat. “Touch her, and you’re dead.”
Felix’s face hardened. Most people considered him a handsome man, but for a moment, he looked uglier than a hobgoblin. Charis suppressed another shiver. “We’ll hold the chit until you transfer every penny of her fortune to me.”
Charis bit back a gasp, and her hands clenched in Gideon’s coat as if that would save her from being dragged away. She should have expected this. She knew from bitter experience that Felix hated to be bested. He’d never allow her money to slip through his fingers.
“Don’t worry.” Gideon looked down at her and his arm firmed around her shoulders. “I won’t let them take you.”
“Can’t we fight?” Charis’s voice shook with distress.
Regretfully, Gideon shook his head. “They’re armed. The risk of your getting hurt is too great.” He turned his unblinking gaze to Felix. “Take me instead.”
Gideon’s easy tone momentarily deceived Charis. Then, with disbelieving shock, she realized what he offered. On a strangled cry, she straightened and stared at him in horror.
You will not do this, my love. I won’t let you.
Felix gave an unimpressed grunt. “What purpose will that serve?”
“It keeps her out of your filthy paws.” Gideon’s tone dripped derision.
Felix sent him a hate-filled glare. “Sadly, because of your machinations, it’s your signature we require, not hers.”
“My man of business is at Penrhyn to advise her how to get the money. Charis can contact the trustees and the bank, organize the papers. Until then, I place myself at your disposal.”
Her belly twisted in denial, and her hands clawed at his coat as if she’d restrain him by main force if she must. “No, Gideon, this is unthinkable. You can’t.”
The broken protest faltered into silence. She couldn’t risk Felix and Hubert discovering his vulnerability. If they knew what Gideon risked by becoming their hostage, they’d torture him to insanity.
“You can’t,” she repeated in a shaking voice, wishing they were alone, wishing she’d never met him and put him in this danger. Better she’d married Desaye weeks ago. What she’d always feared had finally come to pass. Her dilemma threatened to destroy the man she loved.
Through glazed eyes, she saw Gideon register her terror and rise above it. His black gaze as it probed hers was certain, unafraid. “I’m not letting them within a yard of you, my darling.”
It was the same voice he’d us
ed when he’d stubbornly insisted they had no future together. Her instincts told her he was determined on this course, and nothing she said would shift him.
She had to do something. She had to stop him. He confronted his vilest nightmares for her, and she wasn’t worth it.
She swallowed the lump of furious emotion in her throat, only to have words fail her again as Gideon raised her gloved hand and brushed a fleeting kiss across her knuckles. Scalding tears prickled her eyes.
Felix and Hubert were ruthless, violent bullies. They’d work out their frustrations on their captive. Even without his affliction, Gideon faced pain and humiliation at their hands. With his affliction, the consequences could be catastrophic.
“No…”
Gideon’s jaw took on the familiar implacable line. “I swore these dogs would never touch you again.”
“Dear me, your gallantry touches my heart,” Felix said sarcastically as he moved closer in unmistakable threat. “But I do believe we’re better keeping the jade.”
“Completely unacceptable.” Gideon didn’t look at Felix, and he spoke as if he held the upper hand in this ugly scene.
Felix emitted a harsh laugh. “By God, you’re a cool one. What’s to stop us taking her?”
“I’ll stop you.”
“You forget who has the gun.” Even so Felix paused.
Gideon’s smile was superior as he turned to her stepbrother. “Kill either of us, you lose your chance at the money.”
“You’d still be dead,” Felix said grimly, raising the pistol.
Gideon shrugged off the jibe. “Frankly, I don’t know why you expect to get away with this. We’ll lay the facts before the law at the first opportunity.”
How could he sound so confident when he must know what was likely to happen? His reckless courage made Charis’s belly lurch with nausea.
“We’re not fool enough to wait around like sitting ducks. Hubert and I are for the Continent.”
“While you’re welcome to the slut,” Hubert said. “Even if you’d managed to keep her fortune, you’d soon find you made a poor bargain.”
Charis hardly noticed the insults. Her mind worked too frantically to find something to persuade Gideon against this perilous course. He’d sacrificed so much for her, but this went beyond what anyone could ask. It would be like facing Rangapindhi all over again.
Gideon didn’t look at the brothers but spoke directly to her. His voice rang deep and sincere. “My wife is more precious than rubies. If she came to me wearing only her shift, I’d still be rich beyond measure.”
He made the extraordinary declaration for her sake in case things went wrong. Charis’s heart twisted with overwhelming love.
Oh, dear God, whatever happens, let him live through this.
“I can’t leave you,” she said unsteadily. Blind fear dug icy talons into her. “Don’t make me.”
“I must.” He released her hand and his voice lowered. “Akash and Tulliver are at the house. They’ll know what to do.”
“Gideon…” His name was a ragged plea. She watched his expression close against her. His purpose was clearly unshakable.
Gideon faced Felix, his face set with disdain. “So you agree? I place myself in your charge, and Charis goes free?”
No, this must not be. In blind distress, she turned to Felix. “Take me.” She was mortified that her voice broke.
“Both so eager to sample our hospitality.” Felix’s laugh was cutting. “Make up your minds. One of you needs to get the money.”
Gideon sent her stepbrother a flinty look. It was as if she’d never made the offer to stay in his place. “I assume you have a mount for Lady Charis. Unless you intend to shift the tree.”
Gideon’s continued calmness astounded her even through her dread. He wasn’t shaking or sweating or pale. He looked like the invincible man who’d come to her rescue in Winchester.
Hubert’s piglike eyes darted between Gideon and Felix as he tracked the shifts of power. “She can have my nag.”
Gideon turned to her and gently cupped her face. His smile, like his touch, was poignantly tender. She searched his eyes for the fatalistic resignation she’d seen so often when he faced down his demons. All she read in the glowing black depths was strength, serenity, resolve.
And love, like a single star shining over a dark sea.
“Trust me, my darling,” he said softly. “If you love me, trust me.”
He knew he defeated her with that last demand. Gathering her ragged courage, she swallowed another furious protest and raised her chin.
Agreeing to what he asked was the hardest thing she’d ever done. Harder by far than defying Felix and Hubert or confronting the vile sailors in Portsmouth. Harder even than fighting Gideon for the chance to create a life together.
Fear coiled like an angry snake in her belly. For all Gideon’s bravery, she abandoned him to an ordeal that could break him. But she couldn’t let him down. Or succumb to pathetic, immature hysterics. She was the daughter of Hugh Davenport Weston. She was the wife of Gideon Trevithick. She wouldn’t shame either valiant hero by failing now.
“I’ll go,” she muttered reluctantly.
She closed her eyes in despair as Gideon pressed his lips to hers. The kiss was sweet, passionate, heartbreakingly brief.
As he slowly drew away, she looked into his eyes. The star was still there. More radiant than ever.
“I love you.” She could no longer hold back the words.
“I love you.” He spoke without reluctance or equivocation. She snatched the vow close and locked it in her heart, never to let it go. Surely if they loved each other, Felix and Hubert couldn’t defeat them.
Such hope rang false when she forsook her beloved to torture and imprisonment.
“Oh, for God’s sake, get a move on,” Felix said in a theatrically bored voice.
She ignored her stepbrother’s jeering. She clung to Gideon’s hand as she climbed down from the carriage. Her knees felt like custard as she reached the road.
Summoning all her courage, she released Gideon and braced her shoulders. Standing straight, she faced Felix. A scatter of cold raindrops hit her. The storm wasn’t far off. A crack of thunder made the pony start and neigh.
The gig creaked as Gideon jumped to the road behind her. He towered over her, and his gloved hand closed firm and possessive around her arm. “She leaves unharmed. Otherwise, we have no agreement.”
Felix gestured Hubert toward Gideon. “She’ll leave unharmed, all right. But only when we’ve got you trussed nice and tight.”
Charis waited for Gideon to object, but he merely said, “Let me give Lady Charis my coat. The weather’s about to break.”
Felix nodded briefly. “No tricks. I can hurt you without killing you.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Gideon said dryly.
He released Charis and quickly divested himself of his coat. As he dropped it over her shoulders, it swamped her. Immediate warmth surrounded her. And Gideon’s scent. Such an absurd thing to bolster her unsteady resolve.
Gideon brushed one gloved finger across her cheek and smiled. “It’s like old times.”
Her skin tingled under his touch. His words reminded her they shared a history of danger and survival. She wished she could draw comfort from the fact. “Be careful, Gideon,” she whispered, her throat thick with anxiety and love.
He stepped past her. Charis bit back a protest as Hubert grabbed Gideon’s hands and roughly wrenched them behind his back. Her husband stood stiffly, but he presented no resistance. Could the touch of Hubert’s hand spark an attack? Please, no.
How could Gideon bear this? He must know what the brothers had in store. His unflinching bravery threatened her fragile control. Her belly knotted with sick anguish. He gave himself over to torment for her sake. She felt like she pushed him back into the pit in Rangapindhi with her own hands.
When Gideon looked at her, he must have read her faltering purpose. “Put the coat on properly. You’ve go
t some tough riding ahead.” He sounded as if he sent her off on a morning’s canter. She remembered she owed it to him to reach Penrhyn and save him. No matter how she wanted to scream and cry against what happened now.
She stiffened her spine. Her gaze clung to his face as she memorized every beloved feature. His burning eyes, the proud blade of his nose, his passionate mouth, taut with controlled anger. Beneath his composure, she knew he was fuming. She wanted him to stay furious. The fierce emotion might keep his ghosts at bay.
“Good-bye, my love,” she said huskily.
He stared back. “Godspeed, Charis.”
“Come on.” Felix snapped, snatching her arm. His touch bruised, even through the thick woolen sleeve. “All hell’s about to break loose.”
“Let her go,” Gideon said in a low, dangerous tone.
For all that the brothers were armed and Gideon was bound, Felix’s hand automatically dropped away from her. Charis sent Gideon a grateful glance, then picked up her skirts and followed Felix.
There was nothing more she could do for Gideon here. Pray heaven, she could help him once she was free.
In spite of her urgency to reach Penrhyn, Charis took one last lingering look at her husband as she climbed the steep bank to bypass the fallen tree. Dwarfing Hubert, he stood tall and proud and undefeated. No trace of fear or weakness showed in his set features.
Stay safe, my love. Stay safe until I come for you.
She sent him a burning glance, a message to be strong, a promise to save him as he’d saved her so often. Then she dropped below the tree’s branches, and he disappeared from view.
Two horses were tethered in the underbrush. Neither with a sidesaddle. She hadn’t ridden astride since she was a girl at Marley Place. It would be difficult in skirts and on a mount she didn’t know. Especially in weather that intensified with every second.
The rain fell in sheets now. Felix was soaked through, and Charis shivered as freezing water trickled down her neck. Her bonnet was a useless, sodden mess. With shaking hands, she ripped at the ribbons and tugged it off.
“How will you know when the papers are ready?” she asked in a frigid voice. If Gideon could be strong, so could she.
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