Thirty

As the chaise turned into the high road beyond the inn, Elisabeth leaned back in her seat, sighed wearily, and closed her eyes. This can’t be real, she thought to herself. She’d already tried the door handle on her side of the carriage, but it was somehow secured from the outside, so her plan of jumping out if she became desperate enough was thwarted. There was nothing to do but await an opportunity to call for help.

“Sleep if you can,” said Jarrett. “The ride may be a long one, and I fear rough and tiring. I regret the necessity of traveling in the darkness.”

Elisabeth naturally opened her eyes at these words. “Do we go straight to London?” she asked.

Jarrett nodded. “Don’t be afraid. The driver is very good; he will go slowly when he must. But I fear we’ll arrive at an unreasonable hour.” He smiled mockingly. “I wager no one will be about, even in the streets of London.”

Elisabeth couldn’t keep some of her disappointment from showing in her face, and Jarrett’s smile broadened. “I’m not an amateur at this, you see,” he added. “Won’t you agree to marry me, Elisabeth, and save us both a great deal of trouble?”

Elisabeth turned her head away disdainfully, but a sinking feeling began to invade her.

They drove slowly along the highway for some time. The sky remained overcast, and a rising mist further obscured the road. The driver had to be very careful to avoid ruts and patches of thick mud. As the evening was very cool, Jarrett closed and fastened the window on his side of the coach, further depressing Elisabeth’s spirits. Her window had been closed and swathed in curtains when she entered the coach, and now this last opening was sealed. She could see nothing of the landscape they passed, and thus had no idea of where they were.

After a time, Jarrett said, “I shall try to sleep. I advise you to do the same. This journey promises to be tedious.” He sat back, leaning his head on the squabs in the corner of the chaise and was soon asleep, or at least so it seemed to Elisabeth from the rhythms of his breathing.

She watched him and listened for what seemed to her quite half an hour. Finally, convinced that he was not feigning sleep, she leaned forward and cautiously reached toward the door handle next to him. She kept her eyes fixed on his face until her hand was just above the handle, then she looked down at it. In dismay, she saw that Jarrett’s hand was curled around the lever, holding it fast. She raised her eyes, expecting to see him regarding her with a mocking smile, but to all appearances, he still slept. She reached forward again, hesitated, then very gently sought to disengage his hand from the door handle. As she pulled his fingers free, he stirred. And even as she sat back quickly, wide-eyed, he woke.

He shook himself, stretched, and said, “You would do much better to sleep than to sit there fretting. The time will pass much more rapidly.” And resuming his former position, he returned to sleep himself.

Jarrett slept restlessly, and to Elisabeth’s surprise and chagrin, she started to feel rather drowsy. The movement of the coach and the growing lateness of the hour were combining to urge her to follow the man’s example. She jerked herself awake several times, but at last, it seemed sleep would overcome her. She nodded once again, leaned back into the corner of the chaise, and was just about to succumb when a sound banished all thought of sleep from her mind. A vehicle was coming up behind them!

Exerting a good deal of control, Elisabeth managed to avoid sitting bolt upright. She looked at Jarrett, saw that he was still sleeping peacefully, then gently leaned forward. She reached across him once again, but this time she concentrated on the catch of the carriage window, which he did not hold in his hand. Working very slowly and quietly, with many glances at his face, she managed to release it. She pulled the curtain out so that it would shelter him from any draft, then opened the window a crack at the top. Cautiously, she shifted herself to the opposite seat and put her eye to the small aperture thus provided. She could see the lamps of the vehicle behind them, but nothing else.

At that moment, the chaise lurched violently as the driver attempted to speed up and hit an unseen rut in the road. Elisabeth was thrown forward, and though she made a heroic effort to hold herself, her knees jostled Jarrett’s. This, combined with the movement of the coach, awakened him immediately. He shook his head, saw Elisabeth across from him, and glanced quickly at the open window. “Here,” he said roughly, “what are you up to now?”

When she said nothing, he heard the sounds of a carriage behind them. Instantly, his attention shifted to this potential source of danger. Grasping her arm and pulling her roughly back into her original seat, he turned and opened the window completely. “Who is that behind us?” he called to the driver.

“No telling, guv’nor,” was the reply. “Can’t see nothing but the glims. He’s moving fast, I will say that, for this dark road. He’ll find himself in the ditch if he ain’t careful.”

Jarrett peered back into the darkness. “When did they come up with us?” he said sharply.

“Only just now,” answered the driver. “Turned in from a side road ’bout five mile back. Has a team from the sound of it.”

The first piece of information appeared to reassure Jarrett, but at this last remark, he swore. “They’ll overtake us, then,” he muttered. “I should have bespoken a team.” He looked up toward the driver again. “Go as fast as you can,” he told him, “but if they wish to pass, let them by.” He closed the window again and leaned back uneasily. “You see what it is to be poor,” he said bitterly to Elisabeth. “I hired a pair instead of a team, trying to economize, and now I must fear every equipage on the road behind me.”

Elisabeth said nothing, but a small hope began to grow in her mind. Surely she could make some opportunity to cry for help when this vehicle came up with them, she thought. If necessary, she would shout from within the closed carriage.

Time seemed to pass very slowly, but in reality, the following carriage came up with them quickly. It had a clear advantage in cattle, and the driver traveled with a speed that suggested he knew the road well. Jarrett peered out once again as it neared. “Damn fool,” he murmured as he did so, “driving at this time of day in a curricle. Must be some town sprig out to show his mettle.” This reflection seemed to comfort him, and he pushed the window nearly closed again and sat back.

Before long, the other vehicle was directly behind them. They drove thus for a while, and Jarrett began to mutter, “why does he not pass,” just as the curricle pulled out to do so. Their own driver moved as far to the side of the road as possible in the dim light of the lamps, and the curricle pulled level with them.

Now, Elisabeth thought, was her only chance. The noise of the horses and wheels was loud, but if she shouted she might just be heard by these travelers. She took a deep breath and turned toward that side of the chaise. “Help,” she cried, “help me, please.”

Immediately, Jarrett was upon her, grasping her waist and putting a hand over her mouth. “That was very foolish,” he said between his teeth. “I’d thought you cleverer.”

Both of them listened intently to see whether her cry had been heard. It seemed not. The curricle pulled ahead of them gradually and continued along the road. Elisabeth had given up, and Jarrett’s grip on her was easing when the sound of a carriage being stopped abruptly came from ahead. Their own vehicle began to slow, and Jarrett shouted, “What are you doing, you fool?”

“Can’t help it,” came back the muffled answer. “We’ll hit ’em else.”

Jarrett pushed Elisabeth roughly to the floor of the coach and flung open the window once again. He peered out fiercely. Their driver was hauling desperately on the reins, trying to avoid colliding with the curricle, which was now pulled up across the road ahead of them. They approached so rapidly that at first it seemed they would crash, but at the last moment, their driver managed to stop the plunging horses.

Elisabeth had scrambled back into her seat amid the jostling, and now she cried again, “Help, help me,” as loudly as she could.

“Keep quiet,” said Jarrett, aiming a blow at her, which she dodged. “Turn,” he called up to the driver. “Back them and turn.”

“I’ll try, guv’nor,” replied the man, and he began to urge the pair backward.

At that moment, a voice came out of the darkness ahead. “Stop,” it said. “Get down and release Miss Elham immediately. I have three men with me. You are outnumbered.”

“Derek,” whispered Elisabeth. A wave of relief and joy spread through her.

Jarrett glanced at her sharply, then leaned further out the window. “Back them!” he insisted again.

“I’m tryin,” said the driver. The horses had indeed begun to move back from the curricle, and the man now started to turn them, a slow, awkward process.

The curricle also started to move. “Give over,” called Derek Wincannon, “you can’t get away now.”

In the dimness of the chaise, Jarrett bared his teeth. “Can we not?” he said to himself. He reached into the pocket on his side of the coach and brought out a large pistol. Before Elisabeth could do more than stare in horror, he had aimed and fired it at the other vehicle.

The sound of the shot galvanized her. “No,” she cried, and threw herself upon Jarrett’s arm. Cursing, he flung her back.

Elisabeth sought to catch hold of Jarrett’s arm again, but this time he did strike her, dazing her for a moment.

He fired once more as the chaise concluded its turn, and then they were galloping back the way they had come, paying no heed to ruts, mud, or darkness.

The curricle followed. Jarrett was busy reloading his pistol, and Wincannon soon began to close the distance between them. But then, Jarrett leaned out the window and started to fire again, one shot hitting a lantern and forcing their pursuer to drop back a little. Elisabeth sought to impede him in any way she could, but he hung so far out the window, she could not reach the pistol.

The chaise careened wildly about, hitting deep ruts, and the two passengers were thrown one way and then the other. Jarrett hung on to the window frame grimly, most of his shots wild, but Elisabeth was less well anchored, and she fell to the floor several times.

The curricle neared them again as Jarrett was forced to pause and reload his gun. The bouncing of the chaise made this difficult, and it took him some time. Just as he finished, the vehicle gave an extraordinary lurch, throwing them both down, and then began to slow. “What are you doing, man?” shouted Jarrett, scrambling up.

There was no answer at first, only more lurching and a diminished speed. Then, the driver’s voice drifted down to them, strained with his efforts. “One of the beasts stumbled. He’s gone dead lame. We’ve shot our bolt, guv.” The chaise came gradually to an unsteady stop, and Wincannon’s curricle pulled up directly behind them.

Jarrett swore fiercely. He looked around him, then seized Elisabeth’s arm, thrust open the carriage door, and pulled her out. Standing in the muddy road, he pulled her against him and held his pistol to her head. “Keep off,” he called into the darkness behind, “keep off or I’ll shoot her.”

Derek Wincannon appeared before them out of the gloom. “Let her go, Jarrett,” he said quietly. “Your game is over.”

“Not yet, I think,” answered Jarrett. “You dare not try to take me while I hold her thus. And don’t think I won’t carry through my threats. I have nothing to lose now, you see.”

Derek ignored him. “Are you hurt, Elisabeth?” he asked.

“No,” she responded carefully, very aware of the gun, “only shaken.”

“You don’t seem to understand,” said Jarrett. “I’ll kill her unless you stand off and allow us to continue our journey in peace.”

“It is you who don’t understand,” said Derek coldly. “It is over. Your chaise is surrounded by my men, and your driver is taken. You must give up,”

“Do you not believe I’ll fire?”

“I don’t believe you’re such a fool, no.”

Elisabeth’s eyes widened a bit, but she said nothing.

A tense silence began and stretched long in Elisabeth’s mind. The gun remained pressed to her temple. She could feel Jarrett’s nervousness in the taut trembling of his muscles. Derek watched them, a grim look growing about his mouth. When Elisabeth thought she would scream with anxiety and fear, a sound broke the tension. A single horse, hard-ridden from the sound of it, was approaching from the open fields on the left.

All of them looked toward the sound, startled. “Every idiot in the countryside is out tonight,” muttered Jarrett, and he tightened his grip on Elisabeth. The horse came on fast. As the hoofbeats came closer and closer the little group appeared transfixed by them, unable to move. Then, as Derek made a hasty gesture, the rider burst upon them from the darkness of the field.

“Stop, let them go,” cried a very disheveled and nearly hysterical Jane Taunton from the horse’s back. “I have a gun.”

“Jane!” exclaimed Elisabeth.

There were several moments of confusion. Jane couldn’t control her foam-flecked and overexcited mount, which plunged here and there about the road. Elisabeth saw a man materialize from the gloom beyond the chaise, catch the horse’s bridle, and pull Jane down. As Elisabeth watched, she was knocked to the ground as Derek Wincannon threw himself upon Jarrett. In a moment, he had wrested his pistol from him and was holding it aimed at his heart.

His man brought Jane to stand next to Jarrett, handing Wincannon her tiny gun as he did so, and another man brought the driver to join them. Derek handed the large gun to this man and turned to help Elisabeth to her feet. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I had to take the opportunity when it was offered.”

“Of course,” agreed Elisabeth warmly. “And very well done it was. I’m not hurt; I was merely catching my breath.”

But Derek’s arm did not leave her waist, and she didn’t move away from him. He continued to look at her as he said, “Take them to the nearest town in the chaise, Tom. I’ll drive the lady home in the curricle.”

“Her, too?” asked Tom, gesturing doubtfully toward Jane Taunton.

Derek looked up, seeming surprised to see Jane there. “Ah. I’m not…just what are you doing here, Miss Taunton?”

Jane appeared very weary and bitterly disappointed. She glanced toward Elisabeth, but the other girl looked at the ground. Though she wouldn’t betray her former friend, neither would she help her. “I…I came to…” began Jane.

“She came to further our scheme,” put in Jarrett. “She helped me plan the whole.”

Derek looked shocked. “Is that true?” he asked Jane.

She seemed to hesitate a moment, then her chin went up defiantly. “Yes,” she replied. “And you’ll be making a mistake if you have us imprisoned.”

Wincannon’s eyes had hardened at her affirmative. “I think not.”

Jane turned to Elisabeth. “We’ll make the duchess’s story known to the ton,” she said coolly.

Elisabeth gripped Derek’s arm. “I’d nearly forgotten,” she whispered miserably.

“What is it?” Wincannon looked down at her with concern.

Very quietly, Elisabeth explained to him what the duchess had told her and Jane’s eavesdropping. As Derek’s frown grew, self-satisfied smiles spread across the faces of Jane and Jarrett. “So you see,” finished Elisabeth in a whisper, “we cannot let them talk to anyone. We must let them go.”

“I doubt that many would credit their tale, coming from the prisons,” answered Derek. Elisabeth pulled at his sleeve. “But since it upsets you, we must make it impossible for them to spread it about.”

The smile faded from their captives’ faces. Jarrett especially whitened. “What will you do?” he asked.

Derek smiled. “Not have you shot out of hand, if that’s what you’re thinking. You may threaten such things, but I don’t promise what I will not perform.” He surveyed the two. “No, I shall do justice only. Do you know the penalty for what you’ve done?”

Jane looked blank, but Jarrett said, “Transportation,” with a grim shake of his head.

Derek nodded. “And oddly enough, it happens that a ship leaves the London docks tomorrow for the Pacific islands. I know this because two of my tenants are to be on it; they wished to try their fortunes in Australia, and I outfitted them. Tom here and his friends will escort you there and put you in their care. They’ll see that you make the entire voyage safely.” He turned to Elisabeth. “It’s a journey of three months out and as much back. I don’t think they’ll have the will, or the means, to return. And it will be kinder done in this way; they’ll arrive as settlers, not convicts.”

Elisabeth looked distressed. “Jane,” she said, “if only you would promise me, on your life and honor, not to speak of the duchess. I don’t wish to send you on such a voyage.”

Jane looked tempted. “You can’t trust her,” said Jarrett.

She looked at him venomously, shrugged, and shook her head. “Why not Australia?” she replied. “It can be no worse than London, after all, and I shall see the world, at least.”

Elisabeth bowed her head, and Derek gave his men an unobtrusive signal. As he led Elisabeth back to his curricle, the three kidnappers were put into the chaise. Derek handed her up, then returned to his men for a moment. When he came back, he said, “They will go slowly with the lame horse to a nearby village where they can get a fresh pair. They are trustworthy.”

“I suppose Jane will tell them about the duchess,” answered Elisabeth uncertainly.

“They will say nothing,” replied Derek as he climbed up beside her and took the reins. He pulled out of the way, so that the chaise could be turned and headed south. The two of them sat still to watch the large coach move slowly away, then Derek signaled his horses, and they started home.

There was a short silence. “There is a lap robe behind the seat if you are cold,” said Derek after a while.

“Thank you,” responded Elisabeth, looking around and reaching for it. “It is cold for the season, is it not?”

He laughed. “Can you talk of the weather after the day you’ve had? You are incredible, Elisabeth.”

The girl reddened slightly. “It’s easier to talk of commonplaces.”

He slowed the horses to a walk. “Very true,” he replied dryly. “However, we have put off a rather important subject for too long now. Don’t you agree?”

Elisabeth looked down. “I’m not sure…” she began.

“You are,” interrupted Derek.

She raised her eyes and gazed into his. The warmth and love she saw there dissolved all her hesitations. She smiled. “We have,” she agreed.

He stopped the curricle beside the road. “When shall the wedding be?” he asked her.

“Are you not taking a great deal for granted, sir?” answered Elisabeth, still smiling up at him. “You haven’t asked me if I will.”

“I had hoped I knew the answer. But I ask formally, then, if you desire it. Elisabeth, will you be my wife?”

“Very good,” she replied. “I think September.”

Holding the reins in one hand, he embraced her with his free arm. “August,” he suggested.

Elizabeth laughed. “Perhaps.” And then she could say no more for quite some time.

For more Jane Ashford check out
The Duke's Sons series

The Duke Knows Best

On sale December 2017