Temple drew his small pistol from its holster. Another shot rang out and he fired back. It slowed the men on the diagonal approach to intercept ahead, Piper noticed, though no more than that.
“This is no defense against rifles,” he yelled. “Move. We’ve got to put distance between us.”
“Go, go,” Tam ground out.
“We can’t leave you behind,” Piper protested.
“I’ve got him.” Ian unsheathed a rifle from the holster on his saddle and waved an arm. “Get her out of here. I’ll try to hold them off.”
“My lady!” Temple shouted and slapped his reins on her horse’s rump.
With a low curse of her own, Piper dug in her heels as her horse bolted forward, grateful that she was astride rather than sidesaddle. Surrounded by farmland as they were, there was nowhere to hide. Nowhere to take cover. One of the men on their right lifted a pistol—not to the air this time.
Temple aimed and pulled the trigger. One of the men cried out. Behind her, shots sounded. A quick look showed Ian wheeling his horse around. He leapt to the ground to stand over his fallen brother, rifle to his shoulder to take aim at their pursuers. Temple fired again and again, felling another man ahead. Once more and a horse screamed, rearing to unseat its rider.
Five shots, Connor had said.
It wouldn’t be enough.
Two men blocked the road before them now. Five…no, four remained behind. Tam lay on the road, his back bloody. Ian had thrown his discharged rifle aside and drawn his brother’s. He raised it to his shoulder and fired at the four remaining gunmen as they bore down on him. Another fell, the three remaining shot at the twins as they thundered past. Ian dove on top of Tam to protect him and jerked as one of the bullets struck him.
The two men left to intercept them ahead gained position on the road, leaving Piper and Temple trapped from the front and rear.
There was nowhere left to run.
Temple fired his last shot and the men raised their guns…
“Stop! Stop!” Piper swerved close to the agent, forcing him to stop.
Temple swore at her in protest. They had taken out half of their attackers, but they were still outmanned. Outgunned. Ian and Tam were injured, and she had no idea how badly. She couldn’t risk any more bloodshed. She slid from her saddle as her protector leapt from his. He tried to put himself between her and the oncoming men. Piper struggled for a similar position, confident they wouldn’t hurt her to get to him.
“Lower your weapons,” she yelled at the five men as they approached. “Allow them to go unharmed, and I’ll go with you.”
“Piper,” Temple objected in her ear. She pressed back against his chest, moving and spinning with him as he tried to rotate back in front of her.
“You’ll be coming along either way,” one of the trio to the north ground out and spit on the road. He steadied his aim on her.
The uninjured of the pair remaining ahead of them, presumably the leader, spoke. “Hold, Millson. I’ll not have you harming the duke’s prize.” He removed his wide-brimmed hat with a broad, villainous smile that stretched his thick moustache. “This would have gone better for us all if you’d been more cooperative when we first met.”
Piper blinked in recognition. And confusion. “Mr. Wilkes?”
“For a woman in hiding, you have an astonishing number of men rising to your defense, Lady Phillipa.” Wilkes cocked his head to the side as if to see around her to Temple. “Who is this chuckaboo?”
Wilkes. She could hardly wrap her head around the realization that he’d duped her so thoroughly she’d dismissed her initial suspicion of him without a second thought. He’d played on her sympathies! Had he known who Granger was? Trailed the other investigator? Had he walked away from the King’s Head because he’d figured it all out? Followed her home?
He must have for Rutledge to have arrived at Dinton Grange soon after. At least that explained the duke’s certainty that she was there. Her hands fisted with the need to lash out at the injustice of it all.
Wilkes scanned her from head to toe with a smile. “Your disguises leave much to be desired. You’re not mannish enough to pull this one off.”
He reached out and snatched the hat from her head.
“Leave her be.” Temple used her distraction to finally gain the upper hand and shove her behind him.
Five guns rose and aimed at his chest. Ian limped forward a few steps and two of them spun around to level their weapons on him. Piper cried out in protest, and Wilkes held up a hand to forestall any shots. “How endearing, the way you defend one another.” He frowned at Temple and smoothed his mustache with one fingertip. “I should kill you in repayment for my injured men.”
“I’m sure there’s a dead one among them,” Temple snarled with provocative disdain. “Perhaps two or three.”
Wilkes only smiled and shrugged. “It’s business. I understand that. For example, I’m being paid to deliver one body. One living one, that is.”
