Page 65 of Bound to a Wicked Duke

“We will, Mr. Greeves. Thank you.”

“Is there anything that I can do?”

“Pray,” Cecil answered then he and Percy ran out of the door and leapt onto the back of the two nearest horses. They might have to explain why Cecil had taken a horse that was not his own, but they would come up with something upon their return.

They rode through London and out onto the main road leading north. They rode hard, not sparing the horses and hoping against hope that they could gain on Mowbray and Madeleine’s progress. When the horses were tired, they stopped at an inn to trade them for new ones. Percy paid the innkeeper well to tend to the horses for the hard work that they had done, but he and Cecil did not pause for rest.

They continued on, changing out horses as needed but without stopping. The ride to Gretna Green seemed interminable. All of Percy’s worst fears ran through his mind, over and over again. The thought of Mowbray’s hands on Madeleine’s body made him feel ill. His heart raced making it feel as if it might explode.I will not lose her now!

Madeleine and Mowbray rode through the night. Madeleine’s heart and thoughts were racing. She could not believe that she was speeding towards the very thing that she had spent so much time and energy trying to avoid and with the person that she had fought against the most. The carriage bumped along the road, jostling Madeleine from one side of the carriage seat to the other. Mowbray sat across from her, using his feet against the opposite side to brace himself.

“It might have been better to ride horses,” Madeleine remarked as she once again bounced off of the side of the carriage.

“I was not certain that a lady of your quality could withstand such a ride on horseback.” He took a drink from the flask thathe kept in his inside breast pocket. The carriage hit yet another bump, sending the brandy within splashing out onto his shirt and breeches.

Madeleine shot him a reproving look. “I am an accomplished rider.”

Herbert shrugged, brushing the brandy from his clothes. “I did not know of your abilities, and we needed to arrive at Gretna Green with all haste. Even if I had known, we did not have time to change out horses. We cannot stop for sleep or slow our progress. We must make haste. You can sleep in a carriage. You cannot sleep on horseback.”

Madeleine snorted in disagreement. “No one can sleep in this carriage. Not that I could have slept to begin with.” Everything within her being was telling her that this was going to be the greatest mistake of her life, but Laura Knight had not given her any other choice. “What kind of a person threatens to ruin another person and their entire family?” Madeleine had not intended to ask the question aloud, but it had slipped out.

“Lady Laura is not a kind person. I was given the distinct impression that if you did not follow through with marrying me, she meant you grave harm. I was not at all convinced that she would have stopped at simply ruining your reputation. There was something in her eyes that I found to be most unnerving.”

A chill ran down Madeleine’s spine, but she shook it off. “How so?” she asked, desiring clarification. “Should I fear for my family’s wellbeing past their reputations?”

Herbert shook his head in uncertainty, sighing. He rubbed his face, the stress of what they were doing lining his forehead with worry. “She had this look about her. It reminded me of looking into the eyes of a predator. It was not a look that I am accustomed to seeing in the eyes of a young lady of her breeding. As long as we do what she asks, all should be well, but I pray that we never encounter her again after this is over.”

Madeleine frowned. She thought back to all of the times that she and Laura had conversed. She had seemed like a perfectly normal young noble woman with the exception of her disappearing every time that they had spoken without bothering to say a proper farewell. It had been the only peculiarity that Madeleine had noticed, but they had not spent very much time together.

She shook her head in confusion. “I have done nothing to deserve her ire.”

Herbert raised an eyebrow in censure. “I believe it had more to do with the Duke of Greyhall than it did with you personally. She seemed to believe that there was a romantic understanding between them. You were simply in the way.”

“A romantic understanding between Percival Hardy and Laura Knight? That cannot be so.” Madeleine shook her head in denial. Percy had not seemed fond of Lady Laura at all the few times that they had spoken of her together.

Herbert shrugged. “She seemed to believe that she was to be the next Duchess of Greyhall.”

Madeleine frowned in disagreement. “That does not make any sense. The Duke was leaving England for the continent.”

Mowbray shrugged his shoulders again. “A honeymoon, perhaps,” he offered by means of explanation.

She shook her head emphatically. “I do not believe it.”

Herbert sighed. She was not sure if it was in exasperation with her or if he was simply too tired to deal with anything anymore. “The Duke of Greyhall used you badly, my dear. It is time that you accepted that and the situation as it is. If you had not allowed the Duke liberties with your person, you would not be in need of my aid now. You and your family would not be at risk had you simply refused his attentions upon your person.”

Madeleine wanted to slap him across the face for his seemingly smug tone, but his honest attempt to save her from ruin stayed her hand. “As I explained before, I did not allow the Duke of Greyhall to deflower me.”

Mowbray gave her a doubtful look. No matter how many times that she told him, he did not believe her. It did not make any difference to her situation whether he believed her. Whatever Laura had seen, whether it was Percy’s head or his hand up her dress, it was enough to ruin them all. Mowbray was her only salvation.

Another bump threw her so hard against the side of the carriage that it made her teeth rattle. A sickening cracking sound filled the air, and the carriage jerked harshly, then came to a completestop. It tottered for a moment then landed hard on the road. The lantern that had been providing them with some light sputtered out, plunging the carriage into complete darkness.

“Are you injured?” Mowbray asked. It was difficult to see anything inside the darkened carriage.

“No.” Madeleine was sore but not actually injured. “You?”

“I am fine,” he reassured her then poked his outside of the carriage window. “Driver,” Mowbray called up for an explanation. “What has happened?”

“The wheel is broken, My Lord,” the driver called back in answer.

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