He grinned again. “I am not asking you to ride an inch,” he said. “I am telling you that you will be riding a few miles with me. Will you do as you are told, or shall I reach down and sling you across the horse in front of me? Such a mode of travel would be uncomfortable, I can assure you, mamselle.”
Kate was at a loss.
“I say,” Stoughton said. “This has gone far enough, fellow. Let the lady go. I have upward of twenty guineas in my possession. Take those.”
Thelma was sniveling. She had slid to the ground some time before.
The highwayman ignored them both beyond directing the pistol vaguely in their direction. His hand was still extended firmly toward Kate. She looked up at him, her chin very firmly in the air, and slapped her hand down into his. Very strong fingers closed immediately around hers. She lifted her skirts with her free hand and placed a slippered foot on his boot as it rested in the stirrup. It seemed that the very next moment she was seated before him on the horse, facing sideways, his arms around her like a vise, the pistol alarmingly close. It was still pointed down into the roadway.
“I shall be, ah, borrowing your sister for a time, Stoughton,” the highwayman said, his voice sounding deep in Kate’s ear. “You will be hearing from me. She will not be harmed.”
And with that he turned the horse’s head, and cantered down the roadway for a few yards before turning sharply to the left and making his way through the hedgeway and trees. Viscount Stoughton’s voice, mingled with shouts of protest from the coachman and footman, was quickly left behind.
“This is an outrage!” Kate said a trifle breathlessly as the pistol disappeared from view. She could not remember ever feeling such a blind terror in her life as she felt at that moment.
He laughed and she looked sideways into his face. Then she wished she had not done so. All that was visible beneath the mask was his mouth and jawline and his glittering eyes. She fought panic. She thought she was going to be sick. And it would serve him right, too, if she vomited all over him. His hair was as blond as hers, she thought irrelevantly.
“You are very brave,” he said. “I regret having to subject you to so much terror, my dear.”
“Terror?” she said with a brittle laugh. “I would disdain to fear such as you, sir.”
“Then you would be very foolish,” he said. “We are going to stop for just a moment. I regret that I have to frighten you still further, my brave mamselle. I am going to wrap this scarf around your eyes. You are in no real danger, I assure you, though I realize that you will not believe that. But you must sit very still once your eyes are bandaged. One’s sense of balance is impaired when one cannot see. I shall hold you safe against me. You must not squirm even if you find my proximity distasteful.”
Kate saw no possible escape from her situation—at the moment, anyway. She sat still and unprotesting as he removed her bonnet, secured it by the ribbons to his saddle, and tied behind her head the ends of the silk scarf with which he covered her eyes. Then he drew her close against an alarmingly broad and well-muscled chest and gave the horse the signal to start again.
“I shall see you hanged for this,” she muttered.
“So you said before,” he replied. “You should not repeat yourself. You have been quite original to this point. I confess I admire you greatly. Most females would have had the vapors long ago, like that scrawny maid of yours.”
Kate lost her battle against the muscles of her neck.
She was forced to rest her head against his shoulder. “Where are you taking me?” she asked.
“That is rather an unintelligent question, is it not, my dear?” he asked. “Would I have bandaged your eyes if I were willing for you to know your destination? The blindfold is only an extra precaution, of course. You are a stranger to these parts.”
“What do you want?” she asked.
“We will dispense with social chatter until we are indoors,” her captor said. “You will be quiet now.”
“I could scream,” she said. “That would attract some attention. I could scream and scream.”
He chuckled. “You are not accomplished in duplicity, mamselle,” he said. “You made a mistake in what you told me of your maid. Now you warn me that you are about to scream. Do you wish me to gag you too?”
“You have the scarf about my eyes,” she pointed out.
“And am unlikely to have another on my person?” he said. “You are quite right. Let me see, now. If you should decide to scream, you would find yourself effectively silenced almost before sound had escaped you. Thus.” His mouth was on hers suddenly, open, completely covering her shocked and indignant lips. It was removed almost instantly.
“Oh!” Words evaded Kate. She lifted her free arm and swung wildly in what she hoped was the direction of his face. Then she was screeching in earnest as she felt herself lurching forward. His strong arm tightened around her and set her to rights just when she was convinced that she was toppling to her death.
“Now perhaps you will heed my warning about sitting still,” the highwayman said, having the effrontery to sound amused. “And we will have no more talking or shrieking, my dear. If I am forced to kiss you like that again, I might well lose my sense of caution and end up swinging after all. And I should hate that.”
“Don’t ever touch me like that again!” Kate hissed, raising her hand once more and dragging the back of it ostentatiously across her lips. “Not ever. Do you understand me?”
“It was that good, was it?” he asked before lapsing into silence for the seemingly endless ride that lay ahead of them.
Finally they stopped and he swung himself to the ground, holding Kate safely in place while he did so. Then she found herself lifted down into his arms and carried a distance, until she realized they were indoors.
“Will you see to my horse?” she heard him ask some invisible person. She considered appealing for help to this presence but concluded that he must be able to see her blindfolded and imprisoned and would help of his own accord if he were not in league with this insolent villain who held her.
