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Ashton watched their approach, inclined his now uncovered head, for he had lost his hat in the scuffle, and was at that moment nearly bowled over by a ind of a woman Felicia had ju her arms around his middle
“That was so very well done!” she exclai back to take hold of his hands “I can only i a hed with pleasure “Oh, sir,” she said and then hugged hihtly “You are not hurt, are you?”
Ashton found hi his arms around her small and provocative body He couldn’t seeave her a squeeze “Of course I a here, e”
“Well, this is a distance,” she returned innocently
“You were not supposed to colared at her, but the look on her face that clearly told hi could have stopped her tickled his sense of huistrate
“There is another one …with soround a few yards away “I have him all trussed up for you However, there should be twoat any moment unless, of course, they have seen ere about and have already taken to the wind”
The ather the prisoners and said, “By Jove, well done, Mr Ashton, well done”
“H to take Miss Felicia indoors and attend to the poor girl inside” So saying and with his usual flair for taking charge, he had Felicia’s willing hand as he led her to the cottage
Immediately inside they saw on a trestle bed in the corner of the cottage nearest the small stone fireplace a dark wool blanket thrown over and covering someone
Felicia rushed over and pulled away the blanket to reveal a young woed and bound at her wrists and ankles
Felicia gasped and said as she pulled out the girl’s gag, “Oh, my poor dear … faith … oh, but it is over Yes, you have nothing to fear any longer We have it all under control” Then as the girl began to cry, she helped her into a sitting position and hugged her as she patted her back and offered, “There, there I have no idea why the words ‘there, there’ should make it all better, but it is what my father would say whenever I cried”
The girl choked on a giggle and sobbed and then giggled again as she surveyed Felicia with the prettiest dark eyes Felicia had ever seen She could see that she wasn’t a child but a young woe, with a mass of (at the ht, when brushed would be glorious around the girl’s piquant heart-shaped face She asked to steady the woman as much as to know, “What is your name?”
The young woulp of air, and said, “Thank you I can’t iine how you found me I am …” And with that she burst into tears once more
It was no wonder, Felicia thought, as the young woman sported a black eye and a welt across her cheek Her lips were parched, and Felicia had a sudden urge to go outdoors and pummel the two scoundrels Ashton had secured
She turned to Ashton, as at her side, and saw that he had already found a knife and was cutting the young woman free of the torturous ropes that cruelly bound her and left marks on her wrists