He didn’t waste time arguing or yelling at the man. He simply grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and pulled him away from Charlotte.
“What…?” She tremored, tottering back on her heels as he parted the pair of them.
The man stumbled in Gerard’s grasp, his eyes going wide when he took in the sheer height and breadth of Gerard.
“In case ye dinnae understand the lass’ nay, here it is in a language ye will understand.” Gerard pulled back his hand and delivered a heavy punch, straight to the man’s nose.
Bone cracked as he fell to the floor.
“Oh!” Charlotte gasped, reaching out and pulling on the back of his cloak.
“My nose. My nose!” the man cried. “I’ve been attacked!” he started screaming at the tavern.
“Time to go, Charlotte,” Gerard reached back and took her hand. She shifted her grasp from his coat to his palm and he pulled her away as fast as he could, running down the street with her.
Her shorter legs could not run as quickly as his did, so he was forced to slow his pace just as they reached a bridge over the Thames. They came to a stop together, both panting as they glanced back behind them.
“What in the wee man above’s name are ye thinkin’?” Gerard hissed, turning to face her angrily. Something flinched in her pale expression, and she tried to pull her hand out of his grasp, but he did not let her.
“Charlotte, if he…” He didn’t finish the sentence, not wanting to think about what that man had wanted to do to her. “If ye were even seen outside a tavern at this time of night.”
“I had to be there,” she said hurriedly. “It was the only way.”
“What was?” Gerard glanced behind them as more sounds came up from the street behind them. “We havenae ran far enough it seems. Quick, me horse is this way.”
“Your horse—ah!” She yelped in surprise as he pulled her toward it.
The horse was tacked up with others beside the bridge, all eating from a trough of straw and oats.
Gerard pulled her toward it, then took hold of her waist and practically threw her onto the saddle.
“I can climb up myself!” she protested.
“Nay time.” He grabbed hold of the saddle, and without thinking, swung himself up in front of her.
“This is not appropriate,” she hissed in his ear.
“Neither is ye bein’ caught at the tavern, alone with a man. Do ye want yer name to be ruined?”
“Of course, not!”
“Then hold on tight,” he urged, glancing back, aware he could see shadows at the far end of the road now, as people from the tavern were getting nearer.
He flicked the reins, just as Charlotte gripped hard to his coat, and the horse shot off across the bridge. He urged the horse to gallop fast, bending forward, thinking at all times of Charlottebehind him and fearing she could be dislodged, though she never was.
He felt her tremble once, and wondered if she was not completely comfortable with horses, or if it was from the fear of what had happened. He didn’t ask, for there was no time to. He just kept on riding, all the way to her home.
Only when he reached her street did he slow the horse down, coming to a stop at the end of the road. Her hands didn’t loosen themselves from his coat. They just continued to tremble in the folds.
“Charlotte,” he whispered, making sure the horse was hidden in the darkness between two horses as he turned enough in the saddle to look at her. “Why were ye there? Ye. Of all people,ye –”
“That friend I was trying to help,” she cut in, quite breathless. “I had to get her away tonight. It was the only way to help her. I told you, in my letter—a friend needed my help. Please, do not ask me to say any more about it, for her sake. Just believe me that I did the right thing. I beg of you.”
Gerard asked no more. He simply squinted through the darkness, trying to decipher more of her pained expression. Her cheeks were now pink, as were her lips, for she had chewed them red raw.
He brushed a hand across his face, tiredly.
She wasnae makin’ an excuse then. Aye, she really did have to help a friend.
