How to Romance a Rake by Manda Collins

Author:Manda Collins [Collins, Manda]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, pdf
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2012-07-31T06:34:47+00:00

Eleven

Alec knew something was not right as soon as he stepped out of the carriage. For one thing it was too quiet on the road and there was no sign of his coachman or outriders. For another, an unfamiliar coach was stopped in the middle of the thruway, blocking the road.

“No sudden moves, guv,” a raspy voice said in his ear, just as he felt the muzzle of a pistol at the back of his neck. “Or I might lose my grip on this here gun.”

“Where is my coachman?” he asked, raising his hands to indicate that he had no intention of struggling. “And my outriders?”

“They’re all tied up snug on the other side of the carriage,” the voice said. “No need to worry about them. Or the little lady. She’s going right back to the hospital where she belongs.”

Hospital?

“I don’t understand you,” he said, his mind working to figure out a way to extricate himself and Juliet before the man behind him made good his threat.

“Oh, her mam told us all about it,” the man said, pushing him forward to the front of the carriage. “Takes a cold-blooded fellow to steal a girl away from them that’s got her best interests at heart just for the sake of a fortune. Not that I wouldn’t be tempted meself, o’course. A fortune would make things a bit easier, I can’t lie. But this gel’s not in her right mind and that’s why I agreed to help.”

“Wait,” Alec begged. “What do you mean ‘not in her right mind’?”

Obviously Turlington and Lady Shelby had concocted some sort of story to convince this man to help them kidnap Juliet.

“Lor’ don’t tell me you don’ know about ’er problems. You would know, wouldn’t ye, since ye stole her right out of the ’ospital where she was being kept.”

“My good man, you obviously haven’t had a chance to speak with the lady. If you had you would know that she’s quite capable of speaking on her own behalf. Come, let’s go and I’ll show you.”

He felt the man behind him pause, hoped that he’d made some inroads with him. But the pistol pressed harder into the back of his head.

“They said ye’d deny it,” the man holding him said.

Deciding that argument would not be the means by which he effected their escape, he threw back his elbow into the man’s midsection and ducked as the gun discharged in a cascade of powder. Catching the man’s shoulders behind him, he flipped him over his head and onto his back. The wind knocked out of him, his attacker lay stunned while Alec searched him for a weapon. He found only a knife, which he took from the protesting man. Unwinding his neck cloth, he used the knife to cut it in half and used each piece to bind the man’s hands and feet.

“When you learn the truth of the matter, you’ll be glad I stopped you before you harmed me,” he told the fellow. “It’s a hanging offense to murder a peer.

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