page42 (1/2)

Her parents e—and she hated to think the condition Aunt Millicent must be in Delilah could only hope her father was not yet in hot pursuit At least he had no clue to her direction Though at present she wouldn’t ht and taken home, she would mind very much what Papa would do The Devil was not short-tempered, but even his patience could be tried too far, and the result would be deadly If he found them, he’d be certain to kill Lord Berne first and ask questions after Then Papa would be hanged—and it would all be her fault

If she had beenabout the ossips said Then he would not have stolen it It was a stupid thing for him to do, and so clumsy Papa would have had a much cleverer scheme, untraceable to himself Still, she was to blame for the viscount’s foolhardiness She’d demanded heroics and Tony, romantic fool that he was, had performed them

Even Mr Langdon had tried, in his way, to be heroic Only he’d failed, poor man How embarrassed he must be She could picture him, his hair all rumpled and his cravat limp and wrinkled and his face flushedand she wanted to weep, because she would have given anything if, at this htened his cravat and covered his flushed face with kisses and told him she loved him anyway

This last reflection resulted in an urge to weep so violent that she had to focus all her energies upon resisting it Being so occupied, she did not at first co of the hoarse shout, “Stand and deliver!”

Not certain she had heard correctly, Delilah raised her head—to behold aa pistol at Lord Berne’s head

Delilah’s heart seemed to shoot up into her throat, but her brain instantly cleared Under cover of the rug which wrapped her, she drew her reticule closer and opened it Her hand had just cla out onceher start

“No, madam Throw it do—or your lover dies”

“For God’s sake, Delilah, do as he says,” Tony whispered

Delilah threw her reticule into the road in front of the robber’s horse

“Now you,” he said hoarsely to Lord Berne “Give the lady the reins and down into the road with you”

Tony scrae

“Off with your coat—and your waistcoat—and your boots And be quick about it”

Though Lord Berne proht, that his face was contorted with rage She could not think what to do She dared not whip up the horses The highwayht shoot Tony—not to mention her Her reticule was now far put of reach, and she could hardly expect to overco the et to it without attracting his attention

She wracked her brains for souide her But Papa would never have been so careless Gad, how could Lord Berne have been so foolish as to continue travelling after dark? Why was he not arht at the inn where they’d stopped earlier?

While Delilah was plaguing herself with If Onlys, her co

Keeping his pistol trained on the viscount, the robber diss and her reticule He tied his horse to the carriage, then climbed up onto the seat beside her

“Turn the carriage,” he growled, his pistol now aimed at her

“I can’t,” she lied “I don’t kno”

“Turn it!” the thief hissed

“Don’t argue with him, Delilah,” Tony pleaded “He’ll hurt you”

Muttering a ardless, Delilah turned the curricle With the pistol pointed at her, she could do nothing else but drive on as ordered, leaving Lord Berne behind in his silk-stockinged feet, in the dust

Considering her peril, Miss Deshtened out of her wits, but she was too furious to be afraid To be at the hter of Devil Desh At the first opportunity, she vowed inwardly, she’d drive the carriage into a ditch At worst, they’d both be killed At best, she ht make an escape In any case, she would not wait quietly to be raped by this low ruffian

Rape seemed inevitable Why else had he not left her behind with Lord Berne?

They were rapidly approaching a fork in the road The highway—which was odd, she thought This was the way she’d cos Hefor some out-of-the-way spot His hideaway, no doubt Some thieves’ den