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Faintly she heard Edward’s curse and glanced back in ti the cart and its high pile ofwith the farain as one of theinto thestu its rider into the road and directly into the path of a curricle heading in the opposite direction

Eliza gasped and turned her gaze away frouilt assailed her and she fought tears at the devastation they had wrought so easily to a helpless farmer and his horse

Edward reluctantly set aside his anger as concern for her grew He had heard her gasp when she watched therun over, and had seen the distress clearly evident on her face Immediately he slowed his horse into a steady canter and took the opportunity of the slower pace to study the area around the hills and the well ridden Great North Road fortowards the s to

On the horizon he could see a saze, nodded in that direction “Let’s stop there We can find soht for a way to prevent her feeling weak and useless A quick glance behind assured hiht thean’s plans He could see the riders gathered in consternation on the brow of the hill, watching theh the assorted traffic

Edward eased his grip on the reins and slowed to a steady walk, giving his horse a hearty pat for his efforts

“Eliza, pull up for aher pale complexion carefully

Eliza drew her horse to a stop and turned to look at him expectantly

“Do you want to take a rest for a while?”

Eliza shook her head “We need towhile we have an advantage You don’t know if Scraggan has any other nasty surprises lurking”

“He is certainly deterside her for several roup so far?”

Eliza shook her head “The one who tried to carryCornish, but I haven’t seen the it was stupid question Of course he had seen the cutlass, he had been fighting it

Edward sh it looked wicked, unfortunately for the assailant, he wasn’t all that adept at handling it”

They rode in companionable if shaken silence for soave hiet them off the road, and Eliza a break for a while

“Unless I adon We need to get there to meet with Peter at the Hare and Hound” Edasn’t sure Peter had the tidon yet, even if he had been at Dominic’s to receive the missive He hoped so, because he desperately needed the shot for his pistol Peter had been asked to bring

“Do you think they will be there?”