Page 63 of Her Wicked Highwayman
Diana blinked,rainwater still dripping into her eyes. Tyburn washere? How was that even possible? Half an hour ago, he’dsaved her life by throwing her onto the back of the very horse she’d stolen from him. Then he had resumed the fight against the armed men who had attacked when she and her footmen had stopped the coach. There was no way he could have gotten to her house so fast, no way he could have known she was one of the thieves who had been posing as him and his accomplices. So how was he here? The question thundered in her head almost as loud as her beating heart. That was swiftly followed by a wrench of pain in her heart. She’d thought she’d never see him again. They were but strangers in the night, and she’d fallen in love with Rafe Lennox, a good man, aperfectman, a man who gave her in the sunlight what Tyburn could only ever give her by moonlight.
Her insides fluttered with traitorous warmth at the sight of him, yet a deep sadness swiftly overtook her joy. Tonight must be the last time she would see him. There couldn’t be another night, not when she was in love with Rafe.
“Do ye realize what ye’ve done?” Tyburn roared as he charged across the room toward her.
Peele and Matthew threw themselves in front of her, fists raised.
“One more step, sir, and I’ll lay you flat,” Peele growled at Tyburn.
Diana tugged at Peele’s sleeve with her uninjured arm, but Peele ignored her, focused as he was on the intruder.
Tyburn stopped and his gaze went from Peele to Diana, a silent warning that she understood. She had better make her men move, or else he would.
“It’s all right, Peele, Matthew. Tyburn and I know each other.”
“Tyburn?” Matthew gasped. “NottheTyburn?” His suspicious gaze turned to one of admiration. “You’re really him, aren’t you? The true highwayman.”
“I am.” Rafe brushed Peele and Matthew aside so he could bend over Diana. “What the bloody hell have ye gone and done, lass? I came to warn ye about dangerous thieves on yer lands and find ye’reoneof them. Ye’re in over yer head more than ye realize.” He knelt on one knee and removed a long blade from his boot. Peele made a move toward him, but Rafe shot the man a look that stopped him cold.
“I willna hurt her.” Tyburn cut the stained shirt away and set the blade down so he could examine her wound. His knee brushed hers as he leaned in. The scent of rain still clung to him, reminding Diana of the night they’d first met. She suddenly didn’t care about her arm. She only cared that this would be the last time she’d ever see him, ever smell him, ever feel the magic of this man’s presence. His fingers explored her arm, and his gaze shifted from her wound to her face. She started to lean into him but caught herself.
“Thank Christ, lass. It only grazed ye.” He turned to Matthew. “Fetch hot water, brandy, and clean cloths we can cut into strips.”
Peele began to protest but then came to his senses and waved at Matthew. “Do what he says.”
Diana winced as Tyburn’s fingers carefully examined the skin around her wound. She took in the sight of his blue eyes as they studied her wound, and the way his lips looked so soft and kissable. It was a welcome distraction, and it even reminded her of how Rafe made her feel. It was a curse to long for two beautiful men who were so alike and yet so different.
“Ye canna send for a doctor. He’d ask too many questions. But I dinna think ye’ll need stitches, so long as ye keep the wound clean and well tended.” He spoke calmly, yet she saw the fear in the highwayman’s eyes. A fear for her, because hecaredfor her.
His gaze met hers as his lips thinned, and his anger returned. “What were ye thinking, lass? It wasna enough to rob me blind, ye had to go and rob the whole countryside as well? Ye could’ve been killed,” Tyburn hissed. “Did ye no ken what that would do to yer house, yer staff,to me?” Her heart leapt traitorously at the thought that somehow she’d won a place in this mysterious man’s heart.
Diana lifted her chin, her pride stung. “We’ve been quite successful in our efforts, until tonight. This would have been our third robbery.”
“Oh, I ken. I read the papers. Imagine my surprise when I read about robberies that I didna even remember committing.”
“It seemed a safer way to go about things.” She removed her blond wig and sighed as she set it on the table beside her. “I don’t know how those men were ready for us, but they were.” Her arm ached with an almost numbing pain now, and her entire body was weary.
“Oh, ye dinna ken how they were waiting for ye? Well, perhaps I can shed some light on that. Put yerself in Caddington’s mind. He was used to a certain degree of loss before, but suddenly his coaches are being robbedtwiceas much. How would ye think he would respond?”
Diana blinked. She’d hoped to hide her identity by using Tyburn’s, but now she saw that as far as the public was concerned, Tyburn had simply doubled his efforts and become more of a menace.
“It was inevitable, I suppose,” said Tyburn. “Caddington kens his coaches are a target now, lass. He was ready for anything tonight.”
Diana felt like a fool for not realizing that Caddington would take precautions after so many losses, but her mind had been so full of distractions, delightful ones... involving Rafe Lennox. Then she looked to Tyburn and felt the heat of shame for beingso glad at seeing him tonight, even when someone else held her heart.
In the last few days, she’d fallen hopelessly in love with Rafe. He’d opened himself to her, revealed every darkness inside him, and she hadn’t turned away, because he’d seen that same darkness inside her. They’d both offered themselves to each other without any conditions. That was love in its purest form. To know someone and have them know you, without secrets, and still want to stay.
That was why she could never be with Tyburn. He couldn’t know her the way Rafe did, and she could never truly know him. Yet his magnetic presence still stirred something inside her, and it felt like a betrayal to Rafe.
Diana was about to say something, though she wasn’t sure what, but the bedchamber door opened and Matthew returned. He gave the supplies to Peele and Tyburn, who worked together in silence to clean her wound.
The brandy poured over the open wound burned like the fires of hell, but Diana didn’t dare cry out. She clenched Tyburn’s arm, knowing she had to be hurting him. He had removed his gloves, and she was grateful for the warmth of his hand around hers as he gently took her fingers into his and let her squeeze there instead. Peele finished bandaging her arm a minute later.
“Here, drink this. ’Twill numb the pain.” Tyburn lifted the bottle to Diana’s lips. She took several long gulps, hissing at the burn at the back of her throat, but it worked quickly to make her feel less pain than she had minutes before.
“Is there anything else I can do?” Peele asked her. Diana saw the fatherly love for her in his eyes. Her own eyes filled with tears as she shook her head.
“You and Matthew should check on Luke. He was seeing to the horses. Then you all should go to bed.”
