Page 73 of A Scandalous Proposition
He glanced at Florentina. She observed the naked avarice in his expression and it made her quake with fear.
‘She didn’t know you when you helped her at that inn, I’m willing to wager, but she’s already reduced you to a simpering pup. Yeah.’ Reynolds grinned, providing Florentina with a sideways glimpse of his rotting teeth. ‘I know a gent wot’ll pay me a pretty penny for her but I have a mind to sample her favours for meself first, just by way of compensation for all the trouble she’s caused me, like.’
‘You have to get away first,’ Adam pointed out.
‘And who’s gonna stop me? You?’ Reynolds spat a mouthful of vile tobacco over Florentina’s shoulder. ‘I don’t think so.’
‘How far do you suppose you’ll get with half the county on your heels?’
‘Far enough that you’ll never be able to find me.’ He looked at his lackey, still being held by one of Madison’s men. ‘Let ’im go.’ At a motion from Adam, the man restraining him did as he was asked. ‘Right now, we’re gonna get to our horses and we’re gonna get out of here. And if I even think I hear anyone following us, I’ll cut her throat and laugh while I’m a-doing it.’
Florentina willed herself not to shiver at the resolution in Reynolds’s tone. She knew he meant what he said, and that he wouldn’t hesitate to kill her if she gave him the slightest trouble. But she was damned if she would reveal her fear in front of him.
‘You could take all four of them in exchange for Mrs Grantley.’ Adam inclined his head toward the remaining refugees.
‘I could take them anyway, and now that you mention it I think I will, to make up for some of our losses. Thanks for the suggestion.’
Florentina wanted to protest but knew it would be a waste of breath and made do with casting a censorious glance Adam’s way. She was angry with him for so callously offering to sacrifice four of her countrywomen, who’d already gone through so much, in exchange for her. She had thought him to have a greater moral conscience than that but had no time to dwell upon his inconsistent behaviour.
Reynolds’s man herded the terrified girls in the direction of the trees and Florentina was pushed after them. Reynolds kept a close hold on her and deliberately turned her towards Adam as they passed his position. It would be impossible for him to get a clear shot at her captor’s body. She looked directly at Adam, asking him a question with her eyes. When he smiled and nodded just once, relief flooded her. Her despondency lifted, replaced by remorse for having doubted him, however fleetingly. He had put the idea of taking the other four girls into Reynolds’s mind quite deliberately, presumably because he required their participation in order to rescue them all.
She inclined her head to show him she understood and allowed herself to be pushed beyond the trees, putting up only token resistance to Reynolds’s brutal handling. He released his hold on her throat as soon as he was a safe distance away from Adam and grabbed her wrist instead, pulling her along with a vicious grip that brought tears to her eyes.
*
Madison sighed. ‘What are we supposed to do now?’ he asked, watching Reynolds and his little band disappeared from view.
‘Go after them, of course,’ Adam said.
‘But what about Philippa?’
Adam scowled. He had forgotten all about Dennett. It was his fault that Reynolds had been able to escape and capture Florentina, and he was in no frame of mind to treat him with consideration. ‘She’s gone,’ he said, ‘and thanks to you, so is Mrs Grantley. But she, at least, I can rescue.’ He leaned over Dennett, tore the shirt away from his arm and tied it roughly over the bullet wound to stop it bleeding. ‘Now, you can sit here bemoaning the situation or do something to redeem yourself by helping us.’
‘I don’t want to say here alone,’ he said, sounding like a petulant child.
‘Then come with us. But for God’s sake keep quiet and do as you are told or we will leave you behind.’
‘Is it wise to go directly after them?’ Madison asked. ‘I don’t doubt for a moment that he will kill Mrs Grantley if he detects our presence.’
‘That’s why I suggested he take the other four girls.’ Adam skirted the path he assumed Reynolds would take. It was the only one wide enough for two men to keep control over five reluctant women at the dead of night. It led to the place where they’d left their carriage but would take longer to traverse than the route Adam proposed to follow through the trees.
‘Ah, I see.’ Madison nodded and indicated to his men to follow behind him and Adam.
‘Just a moment.’ Adam turned back. ‘I almost forgot.’
He jammed the barrel of his gun into the back of the man who’d fired the premature shot and caused the whole operation to fail. He disarmed him and ordered his colleague to firmly bind his hands.
‘What are you doing?’ Madison asked over the man’s muffled protests.
‘That early shot was no accident,’ Adam told him. ‘This man is a traitor, in the pay of Reynolds, and it was his job to warn him if we got too close.’
‘No, I didn’t, I swear?’
Madison kicked the man’s shins. He was now bound to a tree and looked terrified, as well he ought. ‘I will deal with you later, Briggs,’ he said.
Adam forged into the trees at a rapid pace, grateful the moon’s reemergence enabled him to see a foot or two in front of him. He ignored the branches that whipped against his face, barely felt the brambles that tangled ’round his feet and ripped at his clothing. He tripped over a log but righted himself without even pausing to assess the damage, resolutely determined to manage this rescue swiftly. If Reynolds reached the carriage before he did then his chances of doing so would be greatly reduced. He attempted to put the fact that Florentina was one of the captives firmly to the back of his mind. He agreed with Madison. Reynolds was easily capable of committing murder, and if he allowed himself to think of Florentina’s plight he wouldn’t be able to remain professionally detached.
‘Just as long as Briggs was the only one Reynolds managed to turn, we should be all right,’ he said to Madison. ‘I am relying on your men to take control of Reynolds’s carriage and that we can reach it before they do.’
