“You haven’t even spoken with my brother Charles yet. Nothing is permanent yet. And…I already know that I’m not expecting.”
He was in the clear. There was nothing tying him to her. She was releasing him from all obligations. But staring down into her soft eyes, he didn’t want to be released.
When he didn’t respond, she spoke quietly, “Should we find Phoebe and Roger?”
He didn’t really want to be deprived of her exclusive company just yet, but maybe it was a good idea to return home.
“Yes. Perhaps we should catch up with them.”
“Yes, well, we’ll have to find the two lovebirds first,” she mused, eyes glancing around the park. “I don’t believe they’d have gone far…”
“They’re gone? What? Where are they?” Dermont felt an uncanny premonition creep up his spine. Something was wrong. They should have been in sight. Panic flared within his blood.Something about Roger had not sat well with him, and now he didn’t know where his sister was, except that she was with him.
Frantic energy coursed through him as he stopped two men on horses riding toward them. “Did you happen to see a Kolbridge carriage pass you by?”
“Yes,” the two men looked at each other in confirmation, “it was heading that way.” They pointed in the same direction.
“I need your horse,” Dermont’s inexorable tone dropped like a stone to the ground. “Now!” He demanded.
“I’m going with you,” Honoria announced, brooking no argument, and he could see that she felt the same concern he did.
The men begrudgingly dismounted and before one of them could help Honoria onto her saddle, Dermont assisted her ensuring no one else touched her. It would be scandalous enough that she’d be riding astride through Hyde Park, but he didn’t have time to consider that.
“Hah!” He shouted, urging the horse into a canter.
Honoria wasn’t too far behind, but that’s where he wanted her because what awaited them ahead could only be danger.
Chapter 11
Dermont
“Hah!” Dermont’s roar thundered as loudly as the horses' hooves beneath him. A faint blur in the distance the carriage slowly grew clearer. Roger was either desperate for money, hoping for a ransom of some kind, or the man was simply unhinged. Either way, he was not getting away.
Gaining on the carriage, he could see Phoebe’s stiff body, ramrod straight beside Roger who was whipping the reins at the horses to go faster. If the man went any more berserk, the carriage was going to flip.
But Roger didn’t seem to notice, he only bellowed at the animals to go faster. At that moment, Roger glanced back, catching sight of Dermont, and terror flickered across his face. Then, without warning, the carriage hit a dip and lurched to the side. Roger, the neutral-faced, tight-lipped man from before was supplanted by a crazed individual with wild fire in his eyes.
In horror, Dermont watched as the lurch of the carriage led to a sway too powerful for the horses to balance and went down with a crash.
“Phoebe!” he screamed with rage and helplessness, watching his sister’s body fly to the ground only a few feet from Roger.
Unbelievably, the driver was not too injured to scramble toward her and lock his arm around her neck. A knife in his hand pressed against her neck. “Don’t come any closer!” he snapped. “I’ll kill her.”
Dermont had been so focused on Phoebe that he didn’t realize Honoria had ridden up beside him and had already dismounted. She was screaming at him, “No! Take me. Don’t touch her.”
Dermont’s heart leaped and then stalled in his chest. What was she doing? Offering herself up for his sister?
“No,” he growled at her, surprising everyone. “Stay back, Honoria.”
“This is all my fault,” she choked on the words, eyes rife with pain. “Let me make this right.”
“No,” his voice was hoarse. “Just…” But for the first time, he didn’t know what he wanted to say. Didn’t know how to instruct her and command the situation. More than anything, he wanted her to be safe.
But with hands high in defence, Honoria was already shuffling in small steps toward the madman. “Let her go, Roger. You can take me instead.”
The offer served to confuse the lunatic momentarily and then all hell broke loose.
“Go!” Phoebe shouted with a flapping and shove of her arms.