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Eliza was ih with pleasure She eyed the cotton shirt Edearing and knew he s when she placed her hand over hisit as best she could around both of thes, the cloak cocooned the warmth

“Thank you” Edward murmured, inexplicably touched by her concern for hi ti in such a way The instinctive way she had sought to assure his comfort at the risk of her own said a lot about her, drew him to her in a way that disturbed hima that teased his curiosity

“There’s so at the folds of his cloak in alarm

Edward turned to glance over his shoulder, well aware of his chest pushing against the soft roundness of her as he did so “Da towards theo “Hold on”

Eliza i to his reassuring strength as he nudged the horse into a gallop

The cold night whipped around them as they chased across the uneven fields Once or twice Eliza gasped as Guinness stu to hed fields

“We can’t keep running over these fields, it’s only a matter of -” The breath left his body as the horse fell to the ground beneath the both Eliza and himself on the floor with a heavy thud

“Eliza?” Edward shouted, dodging Guinness’ thrashing hooves as he struggled to regain his feet Ju to his feet, Edward clutched the startled horse’s reins and squatted down in front of Eliza

“Edward!” Her ear-piercing squeal washooves as their pursuers drew to a halt

Cursing fluidly, Edward roughly drew Eliza to her feet and shoved Guinness’ reins at her “Hold those tightly and don’t let go” His voice was clipped as he pushed the long lengths of leather into her cold fingers, and turned to stand directly in front of her wedging her firmly between Guinness’ heavy bulk and his own broad shoulders

“Give ‘er to us” A large brute of a ly beard nodded towards Eliza The brogue in his voice was pure Cornish

“What do you ith her?” Edward stared at eachhis pistol froh if he was honest he wasn’t sure he had enough shot to drop all of the solidity of the scabbard lodged into the belt of his breeches

“She ain’t nothin’ to us, or to you so ‘and ‘er over” The man was clearly t

he ringleader, or the only one able to talk Edward surns of their reinforcements He shifted on his feet, tensed and poised for battle He had been in this situation on more than one occasion and was not unfamiliar with hand-to-hand combat, but it had never been with the safety and security of a delectable female before Still, there was no hesitation that he wouldn’t fight for her

“You are going to have to get through me if you want her” Edward’s voice was cold, hard steel as he lay down the challenge He didn’t need to look behind hiers clutching his shirt fearfully He wanted to be able to reassure her, but couldn’t break eye contact with the gang leader