Page 65 of A Sense of Fate
Felsham was everything that Elroy most despised yet aspired to be. Debonair, popular, handsome, wealthy and entitled. He had been fencing champion at Oxford three years in succession, was an excellent rower, captained the college’s cricket eleven and rode the most spirited of horses—accomplishing all these feats with apparently effortless ease. He also ran through a swathe of obliging females without having to put any energy into attracting them. Elroy had hero-worshipped the man, but Felsham had barely known he was alive.
It was infuriating.
Melanie was right about one thing, he conceded, now that his blood had cooled. He had taken an almighty risk. He could bundle her off to the following day’s location and restore her to her father’s care, but how was he supposed to get her there? His horse was at the Stag’s mews and he had no way of restraining Melanie while he went to fetch it. Even if he could, a man riding with an unwilling female thrown over his horse’s back would hardly go unnoticed.
The moment the alarm was raised, the first place anyone would go for information would be the local tavern. His horse would be seen, his owner’s description circulated and he would have handed the advantage to Felsham on a silver platter.
Stupid, stupid!
Everything he had worked to achieve was on the brink of fruition, and he’d risked it all on a whim driven by a burning desire for revenge.
It wasn’t too late to save his own hide. He ought to leave her here and make a rapid getaway while he still could. He had allowed his pride and resentment to get the better of him. Elroy was a survivor and ordinarily put his own interests first—but now that he had Melanie, he couldn’t bring himself to give her back.
They would be found if they remained here, but he was fairly sure it would be Flora who came for her, and he knew that Latimer didn’t much care what happened to her, just so long as she was silenced. Elroy smacked his lips together, aroused by the prospect of being the one to do the silencing.
He settled down beside Melanie, willing to wait, and fingered the dagger that he always carried with him. Melanie had her eyes closed in intense concentration and Elroy was unable to decide whether she was terrified or simply praying. Probably a little of both. She came from a family who prayed for deliverance at the drop of a hat. Elroy curled his upper lip, thinking that she had never been more in need of divine intervention.
Archie’s heart plummeted when he saw Will galloping up his long driveway on Amethyst, Flora’s spirited gelding.
‘What the devil…’
Despite his infirmity, Archie was on the front steps, Pawson at his side, by the time Will reached them and dismounted breathlessly.
‘Miss Latimer sent me to fetch you. Her sister’s been abducted off the street in Lyneham.’
Pawson scowled. ‘I’ll fetch the curricle.’
‘Where is Miss Latimer now?’
‘Looking for her.’ Archie glowered. ‘I tried to stop her but she wouldn’t listen.’
Archie didn’t bother to ask any more questions or to chastise the man for leaving Flora unprotected. He was well aware that no one would have been able to stop her running headlong towards danger in order to protect a sister she already felt she had disappointed.
It seemed to take an age for Pawson to bring the curricle around, but it could only have been a few minutes before Archie was installed in it and Pawson set the team to a canter down the driveway. Archie grimaced against the jolting pain in his leg as the flimsy carriage lurched from side to side, and fingered the handle of the sword stick he had brought with him. He might not be able to walk unaided, but he could still brandish a pretty mean sword from a standing position.
‘You think it’s Conrad who’s taken her?’ Pawson asked, concentrating on his driving.
‘Who else?’
‘The man has some nerve, I’ll give him that. He can’t have known that Melanie would be in the village today, or that he’d get an opportunity to grab her. He must have acted impulsively.’
‘He probably intended to draw Flora to him, which is precisely what it’s done,’ Archie growled.
‘At least she sent for you.’
Archie was too worried to think rationally. ‘But she didn’t wait for me to arrive, did she?’
‘Neither girl will submit to him willingly, if that is what you suppose, guv’nor, and he can’t control ’em both.’
‘By threatening to harm Melanie, he will be assured of Flora’s submissiveness. She feels responsible for the girl and her conscience troubles her because she left her behind when she herself quit the family home.’
‘Don’t underestimate Flora. Besides, like I say, he hasn’t thought this through. But now that he has, I’ll wager he’s hoping you will show your face. It’s you he resents.’
‘He will get his wish,’ Archie said, grinding his jaw as Pawson slowed his team at the approach to the main street.
Will had ridden ahead and dismounted at an alleyway between the haberdashery and a grocery store. A small crowd of angry men surrounded him.
‘What’s happening?’ Archie asked, leaving the conveyance without a thought for the pain it caused him to move so fast.
