She’d wanted to become a Horseman. She’d begged Preston to let her and, finally, he’d agreed. She became one of them. She was The Dark Horseman, holding up carriages with them for months before Preston let her lead a hold up. It was a disaster. The Earl of Chester had been killed. She’d watched Sebastian kill him because the earl had pulled down her kerchief and saw her face, saw who she was.
“What is it?” Michael rose up on one elbow and wiped his thumb across a tear falling from her eye.
“I was thinking of my past.”
“You will miss it?”
She shook her head and rose up on her elbow to face him with more tears rolling down her face “No. I regret much of it. Save for being able to help Rosie and some others, I’m sorry for it. I have not been able to tell anyone my feelings, Michael. I was a fool. I—”
A loud rapping came on the door.
Michael hurried out of bed and reached for his jeans. “Yeah?” he answered through the door, pulling his pants up.
“Michael!” Rosie screamed on the other side. “We are being attacked!”
Upon hearing this, Michael flung open the door and Charlotte leaped out of bed, already halfway dressed.
He looked outside the door, then pulled Rosie inside. “Stay here! Both of you!” He grabbed for his pistol, loaded and ready to fire. One shot. He’d better make it good.
He hurried outside, barefoot and bare-chested. Someone’s hut was on fire. The people he’d had supper with tonight were running for their lives.
He had to get them to safety. He sprinted toward them. Someone shot at him. He ducked and ran serpentine the rest of the way. He found Robbie and Alice and raced to get to Rebecca. Her husband, James, was trying to fight against two figures. There was no sign of Rosie’s husband, Warren.
Michael had no more time to search for him. James needed his help. Michael didn’t think about how he would fight guys with swords, he just ran into the fray. His pistol was still good for smashing into the back of someone’s head. Which is what he did to the first one he came to. The second guy had a bit more time to prepare now and lifted his sword high when Michael turned on him. Michael shot him in the belly and then took his pistol and bullets. He did the same with his first victim.
He went to James and made sure he was all right.
“Our home!” James cried, keeping his focus on the flames.
“Hey!” Michael gave him a little shake. “Your wife is alive. Keep her safe!”
He left him and went in search of Warren. He heard a sound to his right and spun around, ready to kill.
When he saw Charlotte in the firelight, he scowled. “Go back to the house. They’re shooting!”
“I will not leave you out here!”
“Go! I won’t have you killed!”
Someone rushed by. A shadow. But it was difficult to see with smoke rising and only flames and moonlight by which to see. For one instant, the shadow came into view as clouds and smoke both passed by. The man slowed and looked at Charlotte. He wore a kerchief over his face, but Michael recognized him. It was the man who had escaped the mill. Why did his gaze settle on Charlotte as if he knew her? He hadn’t looked at her that way the first time they’d met. Unless they were hiding the fact that they knew each other.
Did she have anything to do with him escaping the mill? She had been late to supper. He wanted to clutch his belly. No. This was all just a trick of the light. The man hadn’t looked at her. She didn’t know him or aid him. He was behaving like a madman.
Still… “Go back to the house, Charlotte,” Michael said, keeping his eyes on the shadow as the man hurried away.
She went without another word. Michael didn’t go after the assailant but rushed to Rosie and Warren’s cottage. It was just starting to burn, a gift from the man who’d escaped.
Someone appeared beside him with a bucket of well water and threw it at the flames. Charlotte. He should have known she wouldn’t obey a command. Rosie and her friends appeared next, each doing what they could to keep Rosie’s house from burning down.
In the end, they saved part of her house. They couldn’t save Warren when they found him later burned near James’ house. He probably saw the strangers trying to start the fire. They caught him and killed him and let his body burn.
Charlotte refused to leave her friend’s side, and that meant Michael wasn’t leaving either. He did ride to Bromley that morning and hired a messenger to inform the duke that he had the bird. That it was safe.
If he sent men, good. But Michael wouldn’t force Charlotte to leave. The men could stay and fight if anyone returned.
And maybe help rebuild some huts into houses.
Chapter Twenty-One
