“No!” she screeched the word.
There was a loud thud against the coach.
The two of them froze in position at the foreign sound. It was followed by another thud, then cries of anger, from the coachman, the guards, and some guttural deeper voices.
The carriage was attempting to be brought to a sharp halt, but from the momentum of the movement, it carried forward and almost sideways, causing the two of them to nearly roll over against the coach seat. Laura tried to use it to throw him off her completely, but he held to her, meaning her move was ineffectual.
As horses halted and the cries continued beyond the doors, they fell still, just staring at one another and breathing.
Who stopped the horses?
Chapter Twenty-Four
Erskine rode the horse to the front of the carriage just as it came to an ungainly halt. From the force of placing his horse in front of the others, the four pulling the carriage had had no choice but to stop, pulling the coach almost sideways. For an awful minute, Erskine thought the carriage might rollover. It teetered on its wheels for a moment before landing back fully with an awful clatter against the ground.
Around him, there was gunfire as the guards on the carriage tried to keep them away, but these men were not as well trained as Erskine’s soldiers. It was easy to see Tam dodge a bullet and grab one of the guards that had been standing on the backplate of the carriage. He dragged him off and tore the pistol from his hand. The brief physical fight the guard could not match.
The two other guards were panicking, shooting blindly in no real direction. It took just one well-aimed shot from Camden that nicked one of the guard’s arms to make them stop shooting.
Erskine extended the flintlock pistol in his hand and stretched it out over the horses’ heads, aiming it at the coachman sat in the driver’s seat. The older man shook, with wide eyes on him.
“Down, now!” Erskine bellowed as he held the coachman at gunpoint. The coachman threw his hands up in the air in a surrendering position and scrambled down, just as Erskine jumped off his horse.
He quickly circled the horses, with the pistol still aimed at the coachman’s head.
“My Lord?” the coachman called, turning his head to the main body of the carriage.
“Keep quiet,” Erskine ordered as he placed the barrel of the gun at the man’s head. He whimpered, but he said no more. As they came to a stop at the side of the carriage, Erskine returned his attention to the others.
The other guards had been more of a problem. Erskine back to see Tam had one guard in a neck hold with the man on his knees. It appeared the guard had attempted to run from him out across the Scottish moors, but Tam had caught him easily and was dragging him back, practically carrying the man’s wait and drawing his boots across the ground.
Another two guards were being held at gunpoint by Camden and Aiden as they stepped down from their horses. One of the guards was noosing the small wound on his arm from Camden’s arm, moaning, but one bark from Aiden made the man shut up.
Erskine allowed himself a small smile as he looked between them all.
It worked. We have found Laura.
Taking the hill path had been a risky one, but after the fortune, they had just had, Erskine would be willing to take it again. They had gone slowly on their journey through the notorious path and passed in single file. Some of the horses had been particularly restless. Erskine’s own steed had kept snorting under his breath, clearly able to see the drop that was inches from the edge of its hooves. Aiden’s horse had been the worse, whinnying loudly and attempting at one point to rear back in protest, but Aiden was an excellent horseman, and he had quickly taken control of the animal. When they had reached the end of the path that afforded a view of the track ahead, Tam’s cry saying he could see the carriage had caused such excitement that they had galloped the rest of the way down the path, quickly forgetting the difficulty of the terrain they had just crossed.
The assault on Lord Moore’s carriage was fumbled and quick, but it did the job. Lord Moore’s men were subdued.
Now, for Lord Moore.
Erskine took hold of the scruff of the coachman’s coat and pushed him toward Aiden, who drove him toward the other guards they were holding at gunpoint. They stood together in a group of three, exchanging worried glances. Then Erskine leaped for the door to the carriage and flung it open.
In the name of the wee man!
“Laura!” he had cried in fear at the sight that greeted him.
Laura was on her back on the carriage floor, wearing a fine blue silk dress. Her head was nearest to him, looking up to spy him, with her brown hair wild around her ears. Above her was Lord Moore, who was now staring at him with those dark black eyes.
That position…tell me he is not…
“Let her go,” Erskine ordered and raised his pistol, aiming it straight at Lord Moore’s head.
“You’re interrupting, Highlander,” Lord Moore warned. “She is my betrothed. I can do what I like with her.” As if to emphasize her point, he flicked up a corner of her skirts. It made Laura flinch, and Erskine had to refrain himself from pulling the trigger, though he was sorely tempted too. At this close, the offshoot of a bullet going wrong was too risky, and he would not risk Laura’s life like that.
“Nae anymore,” he answered the Earl and clicked the pistol, readying it for use. “I said…” he paused, darkening his voice, “release her, or I will shoot.”
