Lily
Staring out the window at the rolling greenery outside of
London, Lily heaved a sigh of relief. Across the barouche-landau, on the
opposite bench, her maid looked up at her with an inquisitive brow before deciding
Lily had not actually been trying to catch her attention and looked away again.
Thankfully, Chastity was used to Lily’s preference for quiet reflection over
constant chattering.
The lady’s maid had been a gift from the Duchess of
Frederick, Lily’s godmother, during the Season, but they had rubbed along well,
so Lily had asked if Chastity would extend her employment and accompany her to
the country. It was a special boon because Lily had left for Derbyshire several
days before her parents, permissible only because she had her lady’s maid to
travel with her as an erstwhile chaperone. As there was no need to spend the
night at an inn, she did not need a more formidable one.
Sighing happily again, Lily leaned back against her bench
seat, inwardly smiling when Chastity ignored her this time. Several years
older, Chastity’s sober demeanor was a good match for Lily’s quiet, bookish
ways.
If she never had to go to London for the Season again, she
would be perfectly happy. The only reason she had done so was her friend Evie
had asked her and her other two best friends. Josie had thrived on her first
foray into Society, and Mary had deftly dealt with her second Season, but Lily
had hated every moment.
Gentlemen, she had discovered, did not like a woman with
their own mind. At least, not the nincompoops she had been introduced to.
Several had been drawn in by her relationship with the Duke and Duchess of
Frederick, but they had not stayed after realizing Lily was the type to speak
her mind. Which was a relief, even if it was lowering. She had always imagined
marrying and having children, but if that was what London had to offer…
Unfortunately, the options in Derbyshire were not much
better. Perhaps she would become an aged bluestocking spinster, firmly on the
shelf, playing doting auntie to her friends’ children. After her first Season,
Lily found the prospect far more appealing than she would have countenanced at
the beginning.
Granted, she had not gone into the Season with high hopes,
knowing well she was not what many considered ‘sociable,’ but whatever hopes
she’d had were quickly crushed underfoot by the general attitudes of the ton.
Her very first week out in Society, she’d heard the incredibly handsome Lord
Broderick—with who she’d thought she’d had a very interesting
conversation—remark to one of his friends that the only way she would find a
husband would be to sew her mouth shut.
After that, to gauge the gentlemen’s reactions, Lily had
become even more outspoken about her views and opinions. Like Lord Broderick,
they were polite enough to her face, but she saw through their facades and
overheard some of their comments, enough to know those gentlemen were assuredly
not for her.
The carriage came to a sudden, jerking stop, tumbling the
occupants about. Chastity cried out, flinging her arms wide as she was thrown
forward, and Lily opened hers to catch her. They fell back against Lily’s
bench, shocked by the abrupt halt.
“Stand and deliver!”
What? A highwayman? Lily and Chastity exchanged
disbelieving looks before Lily quickly released her maid and knowing she was
being a perfect twit, leaned out the window to see a man on horseback, wearing
a long black cape and mask, pointing a gun at the carriage.
Botheration. This was
the last thing she needed today.
“I said, stand and
deliver!”
“We’ve already
stopped,” Lily called back waspishly. “What do you want delivered? And how?”
“Miss, get back in the
coach,” the driver ordered. Lily scowled. She was not out of the coach.
Not truly. “I will deal with this blaggard.”
“No-“ But her protest
was cut off and she watched in horror as her driver lifted his own arm, gun in
hand, only to jerk back against the seat. The sound of the highway man’s
gunshot seemed to echo across the fields and her entire body went numb with
shock. The driver slumped and fell down to the ground, startling the horses and
Lily was flung back painfully against the window’s edge, causing her to fall
back into the carriage as the horses lurched forward.
Her maid screamed, but
the movement was over almost as soon as it began, and through the ringing in
her ears, she could hear the highwayman shouting something.
He stopped the horses
from running away with us.
Is that good or bad?
They were not in a
runaway carriage, but that meant they were now at the mercy of the highwayman.
He killed the driver.
And Lily did not even
know the man’s name. Had not asked. A fact which she now felt wildly guilty
about. The man had meant to defend her, and perhaps he had gone about it
foolishly, but to pay with his life and she had not even known his name…
This is not a
constructive line of thought and you do not have time to dwell. You can find
out his name later. Right now you need to get you and Chastity out of this
alive.
The door to the
carriage was yanked open, and Chastity screamed again, quickly covering her
mouth with her hands as a gun was leveled at them. The highwayman was dressed
completely in black, his face mostly hidden by a black scarf wound around the
lower half of it and the hat pulled down atop his head, but she could still see
his cold, dark eyes as his gaze flickered back and forth between her and
Chastity.
Fear for her life, the
first time she had ever felt such a thing, paralyzed her.
*******
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