Mary Jo Putney Read Online Free Page A

coach had turned onto the main road. Rob dismounted to study the tracks, but it was impossible to judge which direction the coach had turned.
    “What now?” Murphy asked.
    Rob stood, brushing grass from his knees and stepping back as a wagon loaded with barrels rumbled by. The road was heavily traveled and a dozen or more carriages and wagons were in sight. “My instincts say they went left. West.”
    “From what I hear, those instincts are pretty reliable,” Murphy remarked.
    “Generally.” In fact, Rob’s hunter instincts were close to infallible, which was why he was so good at his job. He had enough Scots in his ancestry that he suspected his talent might be a form of the second sight. “Time we split up. Since we have a good description of the carriage, it shouldn’t take too long to find which way it went. If it’s toward Bristol, I’ll keep after it. If I don’t find any trace of it, I’ll return to Ralston.”
    Murphy gazed to the west, his expression hard. “Sure you don’t want any help on this hunt?”
    “If I did, it would be you. But at this point, speed is more important than numbers.”
    Murphy nodded agreement. “I hope you have the lass home before dark.”
    “So do I.” Rob swung onto his horse. But he doubted that would happen.

Chapter 4
    D uring her calm, well-ordered life, Sarah had often longed for excitement. She hadn’t expected an adventure to be boring . Racing along a rutted road with two large kidnappers inside and two more outside proved to be a regrettable combination of fear and tedium.
    As she clutched a handhold to keep from being thrown around the carriage, she tried to engage the men in conversation in hopes of learning something useful. But the leader, Flannery, ignored her, and the other, O’Dwyer, studied her with a disturbing leer, as if mentally stripping her naked.
    She tried to block such thoughts by imagining her rescue. As soon as Murphy returned to the church with Adam and a wagon, the alarm would be raised. There were probably already men coming for her. Who would she like to be rescued by?
    Adam wouldn’t leave Mariah when she was in labor, but his friend Major Randall was staying at the abbey. Randall was tough and immensely capable, so perhaps he’d lead the rescuers. Sarah had fancied him a bit until it transpired that Randall had fallen in love with Lady Julia at first sight, and they were such a devoted couple she couldn’t wish it otherwise.
    Murphy would come with Randall. Another capable former soldier, he was quite attractive, but she couldn’t really daydream about a romantic rescue by a groom, be he ever so dashing.
    A pity Adam’s friend Rob Carmichael wasn’t available. Sarah hadn’t been introduced to the man, but she’d seen him at the wedding of Adam’s sister. Carmichael was a Bow Street Runner, which was a shockingly intriguing occupation for a graduate of the Westerfield Academy, a school for boys of good birth and bad behavior. She knew nothing about his family, but he’d been listed in a magazine article later as the Honorable Robert Carmichael, so he was the son of a lord. A suitable object for daydreaming.
    She hadn’t noticed him at first. He’d lurked in the back of the church and he had a talent for going unnoticed. But once he caught her eye, she saw that he was tautly handsome and radiated a quiet sense of danger. Danger in a good way—just what a girl wanted in a rescuer. He looked like a man who could take on four kidnappers and sweep Sarah away to safety. She wouldn’t even insist that he ride a white horse.
    A particularly deep rut jolted the carriage so badly that Sarah lost her grip and pitched into O’Dwyer, the leering man. He caught hold of her knee as if steadying her, but his fingers dug into her thigh before she jerked away. If she had a sword, she would cut his hand off.
    Pulling as far away as she could in the tight space, she stared out the window, fighting back tears. It was all very well to daydream