Chasing Eliza (16 page)

His own
self control could only be stretched so far, and he was only human.
If he caved in to the increasing awareness that shimmered between
them, he knew they wouldn’t leave the room until they had explored
every inch of the large expanse of bed beside them, preferably
without their clothes on. Shaking his head at the mental image of
rolling around with her completely naked, he stood and turned his
back so she didn’t see the hard evidence of his driving need for
her.

“
If you’re ready, let’s go.” He didn’t wait to see if she was
behind him and moved towards the door, holding it open
expectantly.

The hour
was still early as they entered the hallway of the small coaching
inn. Most of the occupants were still abed; the main tap room
completely empty apart from a solitary maid who was relaying the
hearth in preparation for the breakfast rush.

Edward
barely stepped outside when the sudden shifting of a shadow to the
side of him drew his attention. He barely had time to duck out of
the way before the sharp glint of a sword tip swept inches from his
nose.

“
Get back!” He snapped to Eliza, drawing his scabbard.
Immediately the fight was on and his attention as held by the parry
and thrust of his opponent. It had been a while since he had
entered into any prolonged sword fighting and at first cursed his
own lack of dexterity with the smaller scabbard as he clashed with
the man before him.

He was
vaguely aware of a small scuffle behind him and felt a jolt of
alarm as Eliza let out a small squeak. Everything within him
screamed at him to glance over his shoulder and check she was
alright, but he couldn’t take his attention of the man before him
and give him the advantage. Eliza needed him alive, not skewered on
the tip of his opponent’s sword.

Desperation clawed at him and with a hard volley and lunge of
his blade, he watched the man drop to the floor with a thud, blood
gushing from the wound in his chest.

Spinning
around he cursed fluidly at the sight of Eliza being carried toward
the entrance of the stable yard by a large bear of a man. He was
running towards them when he saw Eliza wrench one hand free and
issue the man a solid smack in his ear. It immediately unbalanced
him enough to allow her to wriggle and jerk free. Instinctively the
man tried to wrap his arms more securely about her only for her to
lunge backwards clear of his arms and land on the floor with a
heavy thud.

“
Get the horses.” Edward snapped, putting himself firmly
between the man and Eliza, his blade raised to strike.

As his
second battle of the morning began to ring out across the stable
yard, Edward waited and indeterminable age for Eliza to reappear
with the horses in tow. She had mounted her own and waited some
distance away with Edward’s horse. Her eyes wide with fear as she
watched the fierce battle several feet away.

“
Go! I’ll catch up.” Edward gasped, lunging and parrying with
surprising dexterity. He wished he had more shot for his pistol and
cursed his oversight.

“
No. I’m not leaving you.” Eliza argued, refusing to leave him
alone.

“
Oi! What’s going on with you? Get out of here.” The Innkeeper
came scurrying out of the tavern, a large broom in his hand.
Immediately he began to bash Edward’s assailant on the back of his
head. The big turn towards him with a snarl, giving Edward the
opportunity he needed.

“
Hey!” Edward shouted, lowering his scabbard. As the big man
turned, he didn’t see the large fist that landed squarely in the
middle of his face and fell to the ground with a thump.

Edward
glared at the innkeeper. “Call the magistrate. Make sure these men
are arrested for kidnap and attempted murder.” He ignored the
innkeeper’s startled gasps as he issued his direction in clipped
tones before stealing the sword lying unattended on the ground,
mounting and setting off after Eliza.

“
I told you to go.” He growled as they thundered away from the
village, fury and adrenaline hammering through him at the risks she
had faced.

“
I’m not leaving you.” She argued, her chin rose in
defiance.

She
squared her thin shoulders, prepared for battle as Edward grabbed
her horse’s bridle and drew her to a stop, nudging Guinness around
until he was standing alongside her.

Lost to
find a way to vent the anger without offending her with the coarse
language that threatened to break free, he did the next best thing
and tugged her head towards him for a hard and very thorough
kiss.

“
You ever do that again and I swear as God is my witness, it
won’t be just Scraggan you have to fear.” His eyes glinted in stern
warning; his hot breath swept gently over her cheeks as he captured
her gaze with his and held it in silent warning.

“
Keep close now and do as you I tell you.”

“
Yes boss.” Eliza replied sarcastically, bristling at his
arrogant tone of command.

“
Let’s get out of here, I don’t think they are alone.” He bit
out, studying the road behind them carefully. They usually hunted
in packs of three. There had only been two men in the stable yard,
so that mean there could be another lurking nearby ready for a
surprise attack. He eyed the various buildings lining the road and
studied them carefully for alleyways and places to hide.

“
They aren’t.” Eliza replied, pointing to the group of men
waiting further down the road. “There are at least three more at
the end of the road look.”

Edward
cursed as he counted them. There were four riders.

“
Then we’ll go this way.” Edward murmured, eyeing a patch of
green field at the end of a narrow alleyway between two buildings.
“We’ll cut across country and take a circuitous route to the one we
need. Are you alright?” He swept a firm gaze over her, searching
for any signs of injury from her earlier skirmish and near
kidnap.

“
I’m fine.” She murmured, following him nervously down the
enclosed space. Every nerve was stretched so taught she thought she
would shatter into a thousand tiny pieces at any moment and
wondered how Edward bore it. She was stuck in this situation
through no choice of her own. Edward had a choice and readily
accepted the challenges put before him without a qualm. She
realised then just how much of a sacrifice Edward was
making.

“
I need to find somewhere to stop off and buy some more shot.”
He shouted as they raced across the open field at the back of the
row of tiny houses. “Keep an eye out for a town we can cut
through.”

Chapter
Seven

As they
thundered down the country lanes, Edward tried to think of a way
out of the mess they were currently in. There were more of
Scraggan’s men in the area than he had thought. Although the two
men in the stable yard had been clumsy and inept with a sword, they
were brawlers and clearly prepared to fight to the death to carry
out their orders.

He
cursed their luck and Scraggan’s dogged determination. Clearly the
men they had passed yesterday had recognised Eliza and had followed
them, taking the opportunity to formulate a somewhat shambolic
attack. They appeared determined to carry out their orders to
capture Eliza but not kill her.

The
brief, horrific sight of Eliza being carried off by one of the
hoodlums was enough to send shivers down his spine and firm his
resolve to protect her, whatever the cost.

Edward
ventured a glance backwards and frowned. There wasn’t anybody
giving chase.

“
Wait.” Edward shouted to Eliza, motioning for her to slow
down.

“
What?” Eliza reined her horse in to ride beside
Edward.

“
Why aren’t they chasing?”

Eliza
frowned and studied the empty fields behind them. The small hairs
on the back of her neck began to stand on end as she considered the
rolling green lands basking in the hazy morning sunshine. Turning
in her saddle, she studied the area around them, scanning the
blanket of greens and trees for signs of life. They could be the
only people left in the country, the area was so quiet and
isolated.

“
We are heading straight toward Scraggan.” She murmured,
turning horrified eyes towards Edward.

“
Are you able to ride fast across country?” Edward studied the
rolling fields around them. To the far left was a large wooded
copse, clearly an ideal place for a gang of mercenaries. To the far
right was the edge of the Great North Road, clearly out of the
question now given their disguise was practically useless. Edward
nodded to the fields to the right of him, leading around the
outskirts of the village they had just left.

“
If we ride across country we may be able to outride that
lot.” He nodded back towards the village. “It will bring us a bit
further down the Great North Road where we may be able to join the
rest of the traffic. We can move faster in relative safety of
others. They won’t be able to formulate an attack without
attracting a lot of unwanted attention.” His gaze was hard as it
met hers. “If they do try to capture you again, scream and make
plenty of noise.”

“
Let’s go.” Eliza murmured, wheeling her horse around and
firmly putting aside all thoughts of the night Guinness had fallen
from beneath them on the uneven ground.

“
There they are.” Eliza gasped several moments later as they
drew to a stop at the top of a small rise to look around them.
Behind them three men on horseback were giving chase. Although they
still looked some way off, Eliza knew the distance could be
deceptive if they were on fast horses.

“
Here, take this.” Edward snapped, thrusting the scabbard -
handle first - towards her. Eliza clasped it warily, but any
objection she might have voiced was quashed as she glanced over his
shoulder. True enough, the men were now considerably
closer.

“
Run!” Edward ordered, kicking his horse into a gallop only to
hold the lunging horse back until Eliza galloped past him. Keeping
a little way behind her ensured he was able to keep her with him.
They couldn’t afford to lose the precious time if he had to turn
back because she became unseated.

All
Eliza could hear were the thundering hooves beating a relentless
tattoo with the wind thundering past her ears. The Great North Road
lay like a twisting and turning finish line in the distance before
them. The carriages already on the road looked like ants, they were
so far away.

“
We aren’t going to make it.” Edward shouted, glancing behind
him. He pointed ahead of them to the left towards two more riders,
moving to cut them off.

Instinctively they made to turn towards the right but that
pointed them back towards the wooded copse, and undoubtedly
Scraggan.

“
Can you jump?” Eliza shouted, glancing across at Edward in
time to catch his heavy frown.

“
It’s suicide.” Edward studied the moving traffic on the road
ahead and cursed roundly. If they did jump the fence before them,
they could crash into one of the moving curricles. It would mean
certain death for both themselves and their horses. If they didn’t
die, then they would have to go to the wooded copse and that would
inevitably give Scraggan the opportunity he had planned for. Eliza
was quite right in wanting to avoid the woods.

Cursing
fluidly beneath his breath he watched as Eliza began to slowly rein
her horse in, studying the curricles as she rode. Behind them the
heavy pounding of hooves grew louder as the riders giving chase
caught up. The other three riders farther back had veered towards
the trees, clearly intending to wait for their prey.

Sending
a prayer heavenwards, Eliza kicked her horse forwards and with a
lunge cleared the fence. She screamed when on clearing the fence,
she was immediately faced with the white eyes of a large horse
pulling a farmer’s cart. They were so close that Eliza could feel
the huge beast’s breath on her arm as she sped past. The horse
beneath her whinnied in alarm when it realised the other horse was
so close.

Faintly
she heard Edward’s curse and glanced back in time to see the cart
horse rear up in terror, tipping the cart and its high pile of
manure, along with the farmer into the middle of the road. The cart
horse squealed again as one of the men giving chase appeared over
the hedge, falling into the melee with a heavy thud. Immediately
the horse he was riding stumbled in the manure, tossing its rider
into the road and directly into the path of a curricle heading in
the opposite direction.

Eliza
gasped and turned her gaze away from the bloody scene of carnage
they left behind. Immediately guilt assailed her and she fought
tears at the devastation they had wrought so easily to a helpless
farmer and his horse.

Edward
reluctantly set aside his anger as concern for her grew. He had
heard her gasp when she watched the man being run over, and had
seen the distress clearly evident on her face. Immediately he
slowed his horse into a steady canter and took the opportunity of
the slower pace to study the area around them. There was nothing
but rolling hills and the well ridden Great North Road for miles
around. The men who had been chasing them were heading towards the
small wooded copse on the brow of the hill, clearly intending to
meet up with the rest of their gang.