“No need to alert them to our position or station,” he answered. “If they’ve been lying in wait, they no doubt already know that a member of the peerage may be passing this way.”
I only hope Barclay encountered no trouble earlier,Callum thought, his frown deepening at the thought that any harm might have come to the kindly valet. He was only briefly relieved to remember that the driver of the carriage was also quite skilled in fighting.
The rustling grew louder and more frantic as the three men watched, fairly holding their breath in anticipation. Callum heard the distinct sound of the hammer cocking back on the footmen’s guns, first one and then the other, as the agonizing wait grew longer. When the lower limbs finally parted and a sleek brown hare burst out, they chuckled softly at their fright.
“If only we’d been ready, we could have had a nice stew for supper, eh?” Callum asked, laughing as his footmen replaced their weapons in their holsters.
No sooner had he spoken than another sound in the hedge followed. This time, a young lady appeared, walking around the hedge and seeming to be out of sorts. Callum frowned at her disheveled appearance but couldn’t help but feel sorry for her.
“Madam, are you all right?” he asked, and she jumped at the sound of his voice. Turning to see the three of them, she clutched her torn shawl tighter below her chin, keeping it close.
“Good sir, I’m lost,” she said, her voice shaking with unshed tears. She pointed to a muddy patch above the hem of her skirt and clutched at a faint bruise on her forehead, and said, “I’m all out of sorts and don’t feel well. I fell from my horse, as you can see, and I know not how to get home. Can you tell me the way, perhaps?”
“Good heavens, she must have hit her head,” Callum said to his footmen. “Help her to sit down while we tend to her.”
The men climbed out of their saddles and took the girl by the hands, leading her to a large rock and gently guiding her until she sat. Callum dismounted and approached her.
“What is your name?” he asked, looking at the mark on her forehead and scrutinizing her face, wondering how severe her injury might be.
“You there, her name be not important!” a rough voice called from behind him. “All’s important is the contents of your pockets.”
Callum and his men turned quickly to see as many as six men emerging from behind them, weapons drawn, their faces twisted with disgust at such a fine man as he. He put up his hands slowly, showing them that he meant no harm.
“Come no further!” one of his footmen barked loudly, drawing his gun and pointing it at the group of them.
That was all the invitation the gang needed to attack. They surged forward, fighting nearly two on one against Callum and the guards. Fists swung and elbows were thrown, the sounds of bone connecting with bone ringing in Callum’s ears. At one point he was thrown down but managed to scramble out of the way before a cheaply booted foot could collide with the side of his head. The ruckus went on for some time, and his only thought was that there would be no one to help them this far from the village.
A new idea occurred to him. Callum rolled several paces away and pushed to his feet, running up behind the woman who still stood on the outskirts of the fray. He held the end of his gun to her head and pinned her close to his chest with his other arm, then shouted to the thieves.
“Stop at once, or she dies!”
Chapter 5
No one moved. No one spoke for the longest time. The picture before him seemed to freeze as though shrouded in ice, every character in some fairy story suddenly rendered immobile as if by a witch’s spell. His men and the thieves all stared in surprise as Callum continued his threat against the young lady’s life. Even Callum knew not what he intended to do, only knowing that she was the key to ending this assault.
“You there. All of you. Lie down on the ground!” he ordered.
It took several moments for them to listen and obey, each one looking at the others in his group to see if they would also comply. Eventually, all of them were down in the dirt, their arms splayed out to the sides, their weapons well out of their reach.
“Remove their weapons and pack them in our things,” Callum ordered his men. He rudely addressed the criminals once again. “As this wench appears to be one of your own—and appears to be something of value to at least one of you—she will accompany us. Surely you know that I have no means to call for guards as there is no one nearby. Therefore, once we are safely away from here, I will release her. And only then! If I chance to see any of you attempting to come after us, the last thing you will ever see is her death!”
Callum anticipated their outrage or protests but was surprised when there were none. They remained stoic and still, never uttering a sound. Instead, they only cast nervous glances at one another, the fear evident on their faces.
“Bind her hands,” Callum ordered one of his men. “And see that she has no weapon herself. I don’t wish to be stabbed in the back as we leave.”
“Unhand me! Don’t you dare touch me!” the woman screamed at the approaching footman, her filthy hair falling in front of her eyes.
“Place a cloth over her mouth as well, lest she bite me and I become infected with whatever madness she has succumbed to!” Callum hissed, struggling to keep hold of the woman who now fought him.
“My father will gut you alive and hang you by your own entrails!” she bellowed, and for a moment Callum was struck by visions of the ungodly demon who must have sired the woman.
“I’d be careful invoking threats of hanging, if I were you,” Callum shot back in a low voice. “As it stands, I’ll have no choice but to let you go when I am safely away from here. Do not tempt me to see justice prevail for you and your friends here.”
The threat seemed to take the fight out of her. The young woman went slack for a moment and put up no resistance when the guard bound her hands in front of her with a length of rope, then wound it around her torso to keep her arms cinched close. He looked almost apologetic when he reached to also bind her mouth with a clean, white cloth, averting his eyes from her shame-filled face and stepping behind her to tie the knot.
The guards together lifted the woman behind Callum’s saddle after he’d swung his leg over and taken his seat. They mounted their horses and waited as Callum issued one last word of warning to the men who still lay prone, urging them to use good sense and not attempt to follow.
The footmen dropped back a pace in order to keep a close watch over the woman as they rode. Callum noted she offered no squeal of fear when the horse started forward, and he briefly wondered if she was actually as unskilled in the saddle as her ruse made her seem to be.
