The Highwayman's Bride Read Free Page A

dark blond hair plastered to his scalp.
    “There is no one,” she whispered, “though if the Redbreasts come around the corner we’ll have scant time to take cover.”
    “A risk we must take.”
    With nerves ricocheting in her belly, Tess flicked the reins and guided the horse forward, straining to hear any sound coming their way.
    Only silence returned, along with the call of the birds and the tread of her horse’s hooves on a land braced for winter.
    This was not how it was meant to be. In her books, freedom on the road offered romantic adventure, not fear, hunger, and desperation.
    Had she not learned that those stories were simply fantasies?
    Shame washed over her, grinding deep into the recesses of her mind. Shame and guilt and sadness. How different would her life have been if her parents had not died?
    If only…
    She shook her head and tried to eradicate the sadness, only to have her cap tilt askew and her hair tumble around her shoulders.
    A sharp breath expunged from her lungs as she snatched at the tattered tweed headpiece and waited for the man’s reaction.
    It was silent for a heartbeat. Then another, and another, and suddenly it dawned on her once more that he truly could not see.
    Relieved, she quickly gathered her hair up and tucked it beneath her cap once more. A moment later they rounded the bend and rode into the village.
    Everything seemed so normal. Children played. Dogs scampered about, rummaging in piles of rubbish, and thankfully no one took much notice of them as they made their way toward the village square.
    It was a typical country scene with stallholders lining one side of the marketplace, a stable opposite, and the ironmonger next to it.
    “Go to the inn. They’ll have a room,” her companion said.
    “A room? I do not have the funds for such luxuries. Besides, I need to leave and find a buyer for my…” A lump formed in her throat.
    “Trying to off-load your takings too soon is foolish.”
    So what was she to do? And how did one sell stolen property anyway?
    “A few days, a week, then it will quiet down and you’ll be able to find a buyer.”
    “That long!” Panic resurfaced. “I don’t have that long, not if I…” She clammed up. Better she keep her story to herself. She eyed the inn at the far end of the square and made for it. “I will ensure you are safe and are attended to and then I will leave.”
    Dismounting, she turned and reached for her passenger as he slid from the horse. His fingers clasped her forearm, warmth eliciting from their tips and burning her flesh. She yanked free and nervously tugged at her tunic as she tried to gather her wits.
    Her passenger stood tall, foreboding, his eyes hollow and unsighted. She noted, however, that his right hand rested on the hidden hilt of his pistol.
    “Wait here. I’ll go inside and see if there are rooms,” she stated.
    “No. Best we go together.”
    He rested his free hand on her shoulder and again heat raged a ragged path through her body, making her cheeks burn. Tess tugged her cap down over her eyes, wishing the sudden emotions careering through her would abate and her body not betray her so.
    With his hold on her, they walked side by side into the inn. The room silenced, all eyes turning to focus on the newcomers. The stench of unwashed bodies and ale forced Tess to inhale one long deep breath and try to hold it.
    “Do not look at any of them. Eyes straight ahead,” her passenger instructed. He nudged her forward.
    “Innkeeper?” she called out. “We need a room to rest up a while.”
    A redheaded man, his curls thinning and cheeks ruddy, stood behind a counter. He glanced up at them, nodding. He wiped his hands on an apron that had already seen many days, if not weeks, of grime. “And a doctor too, please,” she added.
    “Aye, it looks like ye taken a tumble.”
    “My wife and I were venturing to London when my horse was spooked and I hit my head.”
    Wife?
    A furious heat scalded her cheeks.
    He