One
Sussex, England
June 1668
KENDRA CHASEadored her brothers, except when she wanted to kill them.
“Jason is right,” Ford told her as they rattled down the road in a shabby public coach. “You’re twenty-three years old, and it’s high time you take a husband.”
Kendra slanted a glance at the plainly dressed stranger sharing the coach with them. “Not the Duke of Lechmere,” she said with an exasperated glare at her twin. “I won’t be ‘your graced’ for the rest of my life.”
Kendra’s oldest brother, Jason, tried unsuccessfully to stretch his long legs. “And what, pray tell,” he drawled in an annoyed tone, “would be wrong with that? I’ve never understood what you have against dukes.” Crammed onto the bench seat between Kendra and his wife, Caithren, he sighed. “I only wish to see you live a life of comfort. Would you prefer to travel this way all the time?”
As if to drive home her brother’s point, the springless vehicle lurched in and out of a rut, rattling Kendra’s teeth. She gritted them. Though Jason was careful with money, he was, after all, the Marquess of Cainewood, and they did own a rather luxurious carriage. But one of its wheels had broken on their way out of London, and they’d been forced to take public transport—or else risk missing an urgent appointment back home at Cainewood Castle.
An appointment to introduce Kendra to the latest “suitable” man her brothers planned to foist upon her.
“My comfort isn’t the issue here—”
“This is your last chance to make your own choice,” Jason interrupted her, gathering the cards from the hand of piquet they’d just played. “If you won’t marry Lechmere, you’ll have to select one of the other men who have offered for you. OrIwill do the selecting.”
“The other men.” Kendra tossed her head of dark red curls, not believing her brother’s ultimatum for a moment. The wretched day had put him in a bad mood, but he was generally the most reasonable man she knew. “Old but well-off, or widowed and settled with children, or young but just plainboring. Stable, wealthy men in the good graces of King Charles, every last one of them.”
Jason’s green eyes flashed. “Yes, perfectly acceptable, every last one of them.”
“As it should be,” Ford put in.
Mournfully shaking her head, Kendra sent Caithren an imploring glance. “They’ll never understand.”
Cait’s eyes filled with sympathy and a bit of shared exasperation. She laid a hand on her husband’s arm. “I’ve told you before, Kendra wishes to marry for love, not—”
“Stand and deliver!” a deep voice interrupted from outside.
With an unnerving suddenness, the coach ground to a halt. Stopped in mid-sentence, Cait’s mouth gaped, and Kendra’s stomach clenched in fear.
Ford leaned forward and pushed open the door. A man on horseback—a highwayman!—poked his head inside.
The most compelling head Kendra had ever seen.
“You?”Jason and Ford said together.
They knew this man?
Since Kendra hadn’t heard that either of her brothers had been hurt—or even robbed, come to think of it—most of her fear dissipated, and her heart lifted with excitement instead.
Nothing like this had ever happened to her!
Looking slightly disconcerted, the highwayman dismounted. “Aye, it’s me,” he said slowly. Beneath the mask that concealed the upper half of his face, a grin emerged. An engaging slash of perfect white.
Well, not precisely perfect. One of his front teeth had a small chip, but she found that tiny imperfection endearing. And he was dashing, not to mention forbidden. If any of her hopeful suitors had been like this man, she’d have married him in a trice.
She wanted to say something to make him notice her. But for the first time in her memory, her mouth refused to work.
His gaze swept the coach’s dim interior as though she weren’t even there. “You,” he said succinctly, motioning to the whey-faced businessman seated beside Ford. “Get out.”
“There be five of us in here, three of them men, likely with pistols,” the man said stiffly. From his haircut, plain clothes, and the short, boxy jacket beneath his cloak, Kendra knew he was a Puritan. “Perhaps thee had better think again.”
“Oh, it’s violence you threaten, aye?” The highwayman’s voice was deep and a little husky, with, curiously, the barest hint of an accent. “Perhapsyouhad better think again. My friends,” he drawled, gesturing toward the hill behind him, “would make certain you cease to exist within the minute. Get out. Now.”
