Involved in their own shots, no one else had seen it.The shouts of protest and alarm that followed in his wake were directed at him for running across the field of play, but Aylesbury ignored them, calling for help as he ran to help her escape the villainous caddy’s grasp.
But Fiona needed more than assistance.Real fear chilled him when she slumped like a ragdoll against the man, who, more prepared than he for that happenstance, smoothly flung her unconscious body over his shoulder and dashed further into the trees.
“Stop!”Aylesbury commanded, gaining ground on the man’s encumbered lurching.Thank God he hadn’t come out as unprepared as he had been the previous day, Aylesbury thought as he pulled a small pistol from his breast pocket.A lot of good it would do him, though.There was no chance of firing now with her slumped over the kidnapper’s shoulder and covering half of his back.Still, it didn’t hurt to make the threat.“Drop her, or I will shoot!”
He didn’t stop, so Aylesbury fired a broad warning that splintered the bark of a tree to the scoundrel’s right.Veering instinctively away from it, the kidnapper’s foot slid on the grass, and he was thrown off balance under Fiona’s unresisting weight.He fell to one knee, and she slipped from his shoulder.Hefting her up once more, he sought clumsily to recover his footing.
Having gained ground in the interval, Aylesbury slowed and steadied the gun on his target.“Leave her, or I swear I will not miss again.Whatever you are being paid cannot be worth your life.”
The grim promise in his voice caught the kidnapper’s attention, but it wasn’t panic that stared up at Aylesbury.It was self-satisfaction.“Ye won’t shoot me, gov.Don’ wanna risk hurtin’ the little lady now, do ye?”
“I could put a bullet in your head without splitting a hair on hers,” Aylesbury promised with unnerving matter-of-factness as he cocked the pistol.“I killed a man just yesterday for trying this very thing.I am giving you a chance to save your own life, but my patience is wearing quite thin.”
Getting back on his feet, the man had the audacity to grin impudently as he pulled out a knife.“How’s about I jus’ kill ’er right ’ere?”
“If you did, there would be no reward and a certain death,” Aylesbury warned him, but the man cavalierly patted Fiona’s derriere like one might burp a baby.Fury ran like ice through his veins, and he pulled the trigger.
The kidnapper howled with pained surprise, clenching his ear.He gaped at his bloody hand, then at Aylesbury.“Yer bloody loony, ye are.Ye could ’ave killed ’er!”
“I could have killed you.Now put.Her.Down.”
The kidnapper paused indecisively, obviously reluctant to lose his shield.“’Ow do I know ye won’t jus’ kill me if I do?”
“You don’t,” he growled, pacing slowly forward.“I will give you to the count of three.One.”The would-be kidnapper looked around, assessing his options.“Two.”With wide anxious eyes, he looked back at Aylesbury.“Thr– ”
Before Aylesbury could take the shot, the bloody scoundrel heaved Fiona off his shoulder and threw her bodily at him.Startled by the unexpected reaction, he instinctively reached out for her.Though he caught her around the shoulders, they both fell to the ground anyway.The kidnapper fled before Aylesbury could recover his weapon.He scanned the area to assure himself that the thug was truly gone before turning her in his arms.
“Fiona?”he said urgently, patting her cheek.“Come on, darling girl.Wake up.Wake up now.”
That she didn’t even stir worried Aylesbury.More than likely, the handkerchief had been doused in chloroform, but it might have been something else.Ether perhaps?No, she wouldn’t have succumbed so quickly to unconsciousness.
“Come now, Fiona.Up you go.”
She moaned but while her eyelids fluttered and her brow furrowed, she still didn’t wake.
“Oithere!What happened?”
Pulling his pistol once more, he turned and leveled the barrel at the man behind them.He was young, modestly dressed and appeared thoroughly confused.
“Who are you?”
“Peters, my lord.Please don’t shoot,” he said hurriedly, eyeing the pistol with open trepidation as he lifted his hands.“Glenrothes’ footman.Lady Fiona asked me to accompany her today.To protect her.”
“Fine lot of good you did,” Aylesbury grumbled, lowering the gun.“Where were you when this happened?”
“I’m still not even sure what happened, my lord,” Peters said anxiously.“One minute, she was there, and the next, she wasn’t.To be fair, my lord, Lady Fiona didn’t tell me exactly what I was to protect her from.”
“Of course, she didn’t.”
With a sigh, Aylesbury straightened Fiona’s skirts to cover her bare knees and smoothed back her hair.What was he to do with her?If she didn’t have more of a care for her safety, she was going to be the death of him.
“Peters, I want you to fetch Lord Glenrothes and have him come to the club.”
“No,” Fiona groaned hoarsely, blinking her eyes before squeezing them shut tightly.
“They have to be told,” he countered firmly.
“I know, I know,” she sighed.“But not like this.Please.”
