He nodded and tied off the reins of the two other horses to her saddle, then mounted Snow, sitting behind her, while Charley and Arlo started off ahead of them, talking loudly, perhaps arguing, she couldn’t tell which, they were so far ahead of her. Monty put his hands on her hips since she wasn’t giving up Snow’s reins for him to hold.
She was very cognizant of that touch and she couldn’t stop herself from leaning back against him.
“That could have gone much worse than it did, if you hadn’t come to the rescue.” He pulled her closer to him. “But we might have caught up to that abductor if your mother didn’t keep such a poorly stocked stable, not a thoroughbred in the lot.”
“I’m sure you would have.”
Monty laughed and tugged on her queued-back hair. “So brave, bold, and beautiful, yet self-effacing. Quite a tantalizing combination,” he added close to her ear. Then more sternly, “But never do anything like that again, Nessi. You could have been hurt. And I would hate for anything to happen to this lovely neck.”
Vanessa gasped when she felt his mouth on the side of her neck, kissing her, nibbling her there. Shivers of pure pleasure rippled through her, and she craned her neck to give him greater access. She’d never expected to experience this kind of passion on a horse! And then Monty’s hands moved down from her hips to her upper thighs, and he began to stroke her there. Her breath caught in her throat, she was so startled by the heat suddenly flaring deep inside her.
“And now I am reminded that you’re not a lady today in these pants,” Monty murmured hotly in her ear.
She sucked in her breath as his hands started to slowly roam up and down her body, over her belly, over her breasts, then back down to her thighs. He was taking thrilling new liberties with her, and she let him because she knew they would be parting tomorrow. How could she pass up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a passionate encounter with a man she truly liked and was so wildly attracted to?
“I could turn around,” she suggested.
“God, wench, don’t tempt me further.”
“You’re temptingme!” she said, leaning forward and sitting up straight.
“How nice that we can argue over who is tempting whom. But seriously, my only excuse is that I don’t often have the pleasure of holding you in my arms. And it seemed a natural way of thanking you for all you did today. Now, back to the business of being a guardian,” Monty said with a sigh, lowering his hands and resting them lightly on her hips.
The manor was in sight now. Vanessa sighed, too, wishing she hadn’t started donning dresses as quickly as she had.
BACK AT THE HOUSECharley went off to find the twins to tell them he’d been joking about his royal status while Montgomery fetched his pistols and some rope, then rode back to the scene of the battle. Four horses were still grazing there, but as he got closer, he saw that one of the assailants had regained consciousness and was kneeling by one of the others, trying to wake him. But the fellow must have heard him approaching and quickly abandoned his friends, riding off to the south. Montgomery didn’t even consider giving chase when it was yet another fast horse racing away and he was riding yet another nag. And four culprits apprehended still put a big dent in that little army.
The town spread out before him, but he’d found out the other day that it was bigger than he’d hoped, which had kept him there longer than he’d planned. He’d asked around discreetly if any strangers had been seen in town and had received only negative replies. After what had happened today, however, it was obvious that Cheshire wasn’t as safe as George had assured him it would be.
When he brought the four captured attackers to the constable, he warned the official that three more had gotten away and might be showing up in town today. But before Montgomery returned to Dawton Manor, he realized that the three men who escaped might already be in town, and now that they knew that their quarry was in the area, would be asking questions themselves, and where better to do that than in a tavern. So he rode to the southernmost tavern he’d noticed earlier and entered it, which those men would likely have done, too, if they’d just come from the Blackburn lands south of town. And it was a good guess. There did happen to be three men standing at the bar.
As he approached, he heard one of them say to the barkeep, “Golden locks? Fancy dresser?”
“Nay.”
“Any other lords living in town they might sneak in to visit?”
The questions were being asked by a man who spoke perfect English, not what Montgomery had been expecting.
“Aye, a guidly number,” the barkeep answered. “We’ve a quiet town the gentry fancy tae escape the crowds o’ wicked London.”
Montgomery knew that voice. He rolled his eyes when Donnan MacCabe turned around and set mugs of ale on the bar for the three men who then moved off to a table. He kept his face averted until he reached the bar.
“What the devil areyoudoing here?” he asked.
The Scot shrugged. “Conan and I thought it a guid idea, with ye staying in the same house with our wee lass, for one o’ us tae keep an eye on the town. And where better tae do that than in a tavern. And rather than drink this place dry, which I would surely have done, I got a job instead.”
“Did those three men ask anything else before I got here?” Montgomery queried.
“Nay, but it was surely funny listening tae the foreigners trying tae tell their hireling what tae ask aboot when they canna speak the English tongue themselves, least no’ more’n a few words o’ it.”
“Damn, when I heard English being spoken I’d hoped I’d gotten it wrong and they were just thieves.”
“Wishing for one trouble o’er another, I’m thinking ye have tae many and a guid thing the lass will be hieing off soon away from ye. Since they’ve hired a sassenach tae speak for them, I’m guessing these are the ones she said are after the wee laddie?”
“Yes.”
Donnan raised a brow. “Ye kin if they dinna find what they look for here, they’ll move off tae some other shire?”
