Maddie pretended she had not heard the other man. “Is there anything we can do to make reparations? Perhaps we can give you something toward her dowry?”
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she remembered her reticule flying out of the carriage window. She glanced at Ashley, who was unusually quiet. Hopefully, her cousin, who claimed to be ready for an adventure at a moment’s notice, had thought to bring a few pounds with her.
The beefy man frowned at her offer of reparations. Obviously he was less than pleased at the prospect of returning with anything less than a groom.
Finally, he lowered the blunderbuss and released Mr. Dover. The poor scholar immediately fell to his knees and cowered.
“I suppose we can come to some sort of arrangement,” the beefy man said after perusing them. Most likely he was evaluating the quality of their clothes and carriage and tallying up their worth. “Ten pounds would be some help.”
Maddie blanched. “Ten pounds?” she squeaked.
“My daughter is worth it,” the man said with a nod.
Maddie stared at him, blew out a puff of air, then bit her lip. She gave a tentative smile.
“Of course she is, sir. One moment.”
She moved closer to Ashley, and Blackthorne followed. The three of them made a tight circle. “How much money do you have?” Maddie asked Ashley.
“A fiver. You?”
Maddie shook her head. “None. I lost my reticule—”
“Don’t worry about it,” Blackthorne interrupted. “I have a better plan.”
Maddie whipped around to face him. “I already know your plan, and I don’t agree. If we don’t have enough money, perhaps we can give him something else of value. I have these earrings.”
But Blackthorne wasn’t watching her. He was staring at the coach as though it were new and he’d never seen it before. Then he moved away from her, saying, “Hold onto your earrings. In fact, hold onto everything!”
There was a howl from the front of the coach and the horses reared up. Maddie and Ashley jumped back, out of the horses’ way for fear of being trampled. But Blackthorne—fool that he was—raced toward the animals.
Maddie had a moment to glance at the men from the village. She prayed they didn’t startle easily and accidentally shoot Mr. Dover, but they were staring at the commotion in surprise. The big beefy one was moving toward his horse. The other two frowned in confusion.
Wondering at their bewilderment, Maddie looked back and blinked in disbelief. Lord Nicholas was on one of the bays, racing toward the armed men. He was howling at the top of his lungs, trying desperately to control the spooked animal.
Behind him, Blackthorne was mounting another carriage horse and turning his animal to charge as well.
“Are they armed?” Ashley asked as the men rode by in a blur of dust and horseflesh.
“I don’t think so!” Maddie yelled over the noise. And then as the two groups of men converged, she shut her eyes.
The Martingale brothers were obviously about to die. They’d be shot dead in the middle of the road. She didn’t want to be pessimistic, but they were clearly doomed.
She squinched her eyes closed and tensed, waiting for the shots to ring out. The sound of the horses’ hooves grew farther away, and still she waited.
When Ashley put a hand on her arm, she jumped in surprise and opened her eyes. The road was deserted. Except for poor Mr. Dover, still huddled across the way, the men had disappeared.
“What happened?”
Ashley shook her head. “Those idiots from the village took off, and Lord Blackthorne and Lord Nicholas went after them.”
“But Blackthorne and Lord Nicholas aren’t armed.”
Ashley gave her a foreboding look. “I imagine that will become apparent soon enough.”
Mr. Dover had cocked his head at the sound of the girls’ voices. “Are—Are they gone?”
Ashley shook her head and muttered, “Where did you find him? I thought Sir Alphonse was a simpering fool.”
