“Madam?”
Perhaps she ought to let him rob her in exchange for getting her to the nearest fireplace so that she could warm herself. She flexed her toes in her silk boots. They, too, were icy and numb.
Thump, thump.
“The door is frozen shut. Stand back. I’m going to have to break it down to reach you.”
So that was why the man was beating on the carriage.
The warning spurred her to action. Addy held up a hand. “Wait. Don’t break down the d?—”
Her words were swallowed by the splintering crack as the carriage door thundered open.
“Door,” she finished lamely as she stared at the irate man who had just crashed into her carriage, broad shoulder first.
A frenzied burst of snow puffed around him, making him seem, for a brief moment, otherworldly. His hat had been knocked from his head, revealing thick, golden waves. His jaw was strong, leading to a cleft chin and lips that were as forbidding as they were inviting. His cheekbones were prominent blades, his forehead was high, and he possessed more beauty than she’d ever seen in a man. His form was large and strong, and he was tall beneath the snow-flecked greatcoat he wore.
He stole Addy’s breath. Or no, perhaps that was the cold bursting in from the outdoors, making it difficult to inflate her lungs, forcing her heart to beat fast and hard.
Pinning her with a glacial blue glare, he extended a hand. “Come.”
She eyed his hand as if it were a bear trap. “I don’t think so, sir.”
He regarded her, his demeanor brooding. “You have somewhere else to be in this maelstrom?”
“Yes,” she snapped back, nettled by his smug air. “That is why I’m in a carriage.”
A lone, golden eyebrow winged upward. “A carriage that is stuck in a snowbank. I doubt it’s capable of conveying you anywhere for the foreseeable future.”
Well, damn him for mentioning it.
He wasn’t wrong, of course. But she had no wish to feel as if she were easy prey for this strapping stranger who had come upon her.
“Have you passed anyone on the road?” she asked, thinking of Alfred, Aunt Pearl, and Dandy.
If anything ill had befallen them before they had reached Marchingham Hall…
No, she refused to think it.
“I daresay no one else is stupid enough to venture into a snowstorm at present,” he drawled.
His uncharitable response instantly drew her ire. “Are you insinuating I’m lacking in intelligence, sir?”
Her mind whirled. Perhaps that meant Alfred, Aunt Pearl, and Dandy had made it to Marchingham Hall. She hoped and prayed that was the case. They’d taken the horses at her insistence, leaving Addy with her trunks. Someone had to guard her belongings. She couldn’t simply abandon them to the road.
“I am not insinuating anything, madam,” the man said, his tone biting.
Of course it would be just Addy’s peculiar brand of fortune to find herself being robbed in the midst of a snowstorm by the most insolent, dreadful man she’d ever met. Still, she needed his help. Perhaps he could be persuaded to aid her without resorting to nefarious means.
“Take my earrings,” she said suddenly, reaching for them both with gloved hands. “They’re diamond and worth quite a bit. They’ll fetch you more than enough if you’re willing to take me somewhere safe and warm until this infernal storm passes.”
Unfortunately, her frozen fingers and the impractical kidskin rendered it impossible for her to remove either earring.
He watched her, his stare unnerving. “Get out of the carriage.”
His tone was icy and brusque.
“You needn’t be so rude, sir,” she chastised him.
