“I’ll be fine,” Susanna reiterated. She would hire a maid. Or perhaps Clara would be willing to help her in a pinch. The rumble of carriage wheels grabbed both of their attention as the coach arrived. Passengers scrambled down, emptying the coach, and disappeared into the inn behind her. Susanna waited patiently as the men unloaded bags and the hostlers rushed to change the horses. She turned to Jenni. “Don’t worry, and don’t tell Lord Hawksridge until you absolutely have to, just avoid him for as long as possible. Perhaps he will give up and go home.”
Hawksridge would not. She knew he wouldn’t go home. If he decided to follow her that was his choice. She only had to make it to Guilford and join with Maddox’s troupe and then she would be safe from that meddling, overbearing man. Susanna huffed. To think she had gone through all this trouble for him originally. To help him. Well, now she would do this for Diana and James Marlow. They deserved a second chance at love. It was going to be romantic and fabulous and all due to her.
“Miss, you traveling on the coach?” a gravelly voice cut into her thoughts.
She blinked at the grizzled driver of the stage. “Yes, yes I am.”
“This your trunk?”
“Yes.”
He gestured to one of the stable hands and her trunk was loaded onto the back quick as a wink.
“That’ll be five pence.”
Susanna opened her reticule and pulled out the coin she needed. Handing it to the man, she gave him her most dazzling smile. With his mane of salt-and-pepper hair and his tan weathered face he was exactly the kind of character she envisioned driving a stagecoach. What fun this was going to be. She turned and gave Jenni a swift hug. “Have a good journey home. Take care of your man.” Then she accepted the hand of the coachman and stepped into the empty coach.
Just as the door was about to be shut, she leaned over. “Are there not any more passengers?”
“Not for this leg. Enjoy the extra space, miss. We’ll most likely fill up once we reach Guilford.” He tipped his hat and shut the door.
Susanna leaned back. The coach all to herself. Her luck was turning around.
*
A a littleover an hour later Susanna had changed her tune as she stared out the window at the drizzle that painted the windows. The trip had been unbearably bumpy. She had been jostled around with such vigor that she was sure to be bruised from banging her elbow and knee against the wall next to her. The carriage hit another bump but this time the bump was accompanied by a loud cracking sound. Susanna was flung to the left side as the whole carriage tilted. Her head banged against the small window. She heard glass cracking.
Owww! Susanna pushed against the wall and scooted away from the window which now sported a spider web of cracks. She rubbed her temple. That was going to be a bump. Drat. What was happening?
Across from her the carriage door opened and the stubbled face of the coachman appeared. “Are you all right, miss?”
She nodded even though her temple throbbed like a bloody heartbeat.
“We cracked a wheel. It’ll need to be replaced. I’ll take one of the horses to the next town and get help. You stay put and don’t open this door to anyone.”
Susanna straightened as much as she could while sitting at an angle. “You are going to leave me here alone?”
The man grimaced. “Don’t have much choice. Have to go get help to fix the wheel.”
“I can ride with you. I’m an excellent rider.”
He shook his head vigorously. “No, miss I couldn’t let you do that. I don’t have a saddle for the horses. Gonna have to ride bareback. Stay put. I’ll be back in less than an hour.” At that he shut the door and disappeared.
Well, how do you like that? Susanna crossed her arms. She shoved her foot against the wall of the carriage in an attempt to scoot up and sit more comfortably. Even she knew being alone on the side of the road was ill advised. She glanced out at the stretch of barley fields that surrounded the carriage. A copse of trees at the far end of one of the fields glistened dark green and lush through the drizzle. Perhaps highwayman and ruffians didn’t care to go out into the rain? She leaned her aching head back against the squabs and contemplated her terrible awful luck the past few days.
She’d sat with her eyes closed for a half hour or so when the carriage shook side to side jostling her from her thoughts. A loud whinny came from outside accompanied by another shake of the carriage. Had the coachman left the team strapped to the carriage? Susanna scrambled across to the door and flung it open. The way the carriage was tilted to the left made the drop to the ground quite large. She hiked up her skirts with one hand and bracing one hand against the doorframe Susanna jumped, landing in the mud with a squish.
Thank goodness for sensible boots. She trudged around the side of the off-kilter carriage to the front where indeed the other three horses remained hitched to the carriage.Stupid, irresponsible man.She slowly approached on the bays. “Did that mean man leave us all stranded here on the side of the road?” she crooned. The horse immediately nuzzled her outstretched hand with a soft whinny. The other two turned their heads toward her as well. “Don’t worry ladies, I’ll get you sorted.”
With slow soothing strokes Susanna rubbed her hand down the lead horse’s neck and across its shoulder. She untied the line from the harness, sliding the leather through its loop. Then she unbuckled the traces from the left side. Giving the bay a rub on the top of its nose as she passed in front, she then walked around and unbuckled the traces from its right side. Finally, she unhooked the center shaft. Moving to the other side she unhooked the shaft for the one on the left. “There we go.” She untied the reins from the harness and lowered them back over the horse’s head. Clicking with her tongue she led the bay away from the team to a grassy section to graze.
As she climbed back up the shallow embankment to the other two horses, the drizzle turned to rain. Fat droplets hit her cheeks as she glared up at the gray clouds. “Blasted luck,” she muttered. She repeated the process of unhitching the second horse as quickly as possible and without any issue but as she tried to unhook the shaft from the last rear horse she found the clasp to be rusty. Susanna lay her forehead against the bay chestnut’s neck. Her temple ached like a bad tooth.
No matter, the horse needed to be unhitched. If the storm got any worse a frightened horse could hurt himself trying to bolt while still attached to the broken coach. Lifting her head, she pushed at the lever on the hook for some time before finally forcing it to open enough to slide the hook from the brass loop attached to the harness. Susanna let out a long sigh as she led the last of the team to the grassy field near the road.
The horses didn’t seem to mind the rain and calmly munched on the wet grass. She did not feel the same. Her dress was soaked and heavy as she trudged back to the carriage. Susanna glared at the broken wheel as she pushed wet strands of hair off her forehead. Her hair so carefully pinned up by Jenni this morning felt haphazardly off-kilter just like the damn stagecoach. She kicked childishly at one of the large wooden wheels. “Owww!” Susanna hopped around on one foot as her toes throbbed.
As though God were punishing her for acting so foolishly the rain turned into a proper downpour. Susanna attempted to lift her sodden skirts and climb back into the coach, but without the steps and a helping hand from the coachman it proved impossible. The rain pounded on the roof of the coach so loudly that she didn’t hear the rumble of horse hooves until the horse and rider were almost upon her. Dear Lord, this was it, the moment where she was set upon by highwaymen. She whirled around and gripped her skirts ready to make a run for it. But as the rider came to a stop in front of her the familiar stretch of broad shoulders in a perfectly tailored jacket made her groan. Susanna closed her eyes knowing that his face would be a mask of anger.
