Page 75 of A Scandalous Proposition
‘Nah, why would I wanna do that?’
Adam elevated his brows. ‘Why indeed.’ He shrugged. ‘What other response could I have expected from a so-called man who is nothing more than a bully and a coward.’
Adam’s attempt to provoke Reynolds failed miserably. The man simply smirked and returned his attention to Florentina, well aware he still had the upper hand.
‘Come on!’ He half-dragged her the rest of the way to the carriage. ‘You and me are going for a little ride.’
Adam ground his teeth in frustration. Reynolds was still holding his knife to Florentina’s throat, so Adam didn’t dare to strike out at him for fear that he might retaliate. Reason told him to let them go. Reynolds wouldn’t get far, alone with an unwilling captive inside the carriage whilst he himself was in occupation of the box seat. He shook his head, not wanting to risk it. Reynolds might have more of his people close at hand, and that could prove fatal for Florentina. And, almost as bad, he would probably force himself on her before Adam could intercede for a second time.
The wind whipped up again, bending the branches in the same manner that Adam ached to bend Reynolds’s miserable neck. Florentina stumbled as she was flung towards the carriage steps. Reynolds swore, bent to help her up, and Adam didn’t scruple to grasp this fleeting opportunity. He closed the distance between them and drew back his arm, ready to plant it in the middle of Reynolds’s face. But before he could do so the man doubled over, clutching his groin and howling with pain, a vicious hat pin protruding from his private parts.
Adam actually smiled when he finally had the satisfaction of delivering the blow that rendered Reynolds unconscious. Not only had Florentina thought to bring her hat pin with her but she’d remembered to deploy it in a more effective location too.
Adam threw off his borrowed garments and swung Florentina into his arms. ‘Are you hurt?’
‘No, not seriously.’ She rotated her neck experimentally. ‘Just a few bruises, I think.’
‘You remembered what I told you,’ he said, kissing her hair. ‘About the hat pin.’
‘Yes, but I couldn’t risk using it in the woods because the other girls were already so confused that they wouldn’t have known to run. Besides, there was the other man to think about.’ Her explanation came out in a breathless rush. ‘He would have recaptured at least some of us. I was relying upon you to be here at the carriage and that my opportunity would come then.’
He pulled her closer. ‘Your courage, you?’
‘Have a care,’ she said, nodding at Reynolds. ‘He’s stirring.’
Madison’s men stepped forward and this time they were taking no chances. They relieved Reynolds of his weapons and bound him tightly hand and foot, ignoring the stream of curses that fell from his lips. Madison instructed two of his men to drive Reynolds and his lackey back to his estate in one of his barouches. They would be incarcerated in the dungeons there until the following day, when they would be transported to Portsmouth gaol.
Adam squeezed Florentina’s hand but she pulled away from him, intent upon reassuring the Spanish girls as Lord Madison helped them into Reynolds’s carriage. Only when she was sure they were comfortable and understood they were finally being taken to safety did she permit Adam to lead her away.
‘But Philippa’s body, we can’t just leave her there,’ Dennett wailed.
‘Her body might never be found.’ Adam spoke gently. ‘But even if it is, it may not be recognizable due to the rocky nature of the shoreline around these parts.’ Dennett winced and Adam didn’t feel the need to elaborate. ‘Perhaps it would be better that way.’
‘Better for whom?’ Dennett’s voice had adopted a sullen whine. ‘Save you explaining what you were doing there at night with your fancy woman, I suppose.’
‘Mind your tongue, Dennett.’ Adam’s hand was tightly clutching Florentina’s. ‘I was thinking more along the lines that it might prevent you having to explain to my brother why you agreed to escort Philippa on such a ridiculous escapade in the first place.’
‘Well, I…of all the?’
‘Is it not enough that you introduced her to that dissolute King, allowed him to take her to Vauxhall Gardens without a chaperone and, worse, to one of his masquerades?’
‘She wanted to go. You know how persuasive she could be when she set her heart on something and I saw no harm in it.’
‘Then you’re a bigger fool than I took you for. But that still doesn’t explain why you agreed to follow us tonight.’
‘She was dead set on knowing what you were up to.’
‘Perhaps she was but you didn’t have to oblige her.’
Dennett shuffled his feet, only now appearing to appreciate just how foolhardy he’d been. ‘I did if I wanted her to pay my gaming debts.’
‘Ah, I see.’
And Adam rather supposed that he did. Dennett senior had finally run out of patience with his son and so he’d turned to his sister for help. And as always with Philippa, there was a price to be paid for her cooperation.
Adam led them to the other barouche and helped Florentina inside, then climbed into it with her to settle her comfortably in one corner, followed by a morose Dennett.
‘How did she know we would be here tonight?’ Florentina asked Dennett.
