Page 28 of Road Trip With a Rogue (Her Majesty’s Rebels #3)

Daisy surreptitiously wiped her eyes as two more grooms entered the stables and started speaking in low tones with the man Vaughan had asked to take the horses to Finch.

She’d spent long enough moping about in here.

It was time to go back inside and pray she didn’t encounter Letty again before they left.

She straightened her spine and turned, only to see the three men blocking the doorway.

“This the one?” the tallest of the three asked his friend.

“Aye. That other lady called ’im ‘Yer Grace,’ which makes ’im a duke. And I ’eard ’im say she were to be ’is duchess.”

Daisy took a step back as the back of her neck began to prickle. It was a sensation she’d experienced several times before, in places like Limehouse and Seven Dials, where danger lurked in every alley. There was something about the attitude of these three that made her distinctly uneasy.

She slid her hand into her pocket and palmed one of her knives as the second man took another step toward her. He sent her an insulting, appraising full-body glance and his top lip curled in a sneer.

“Duchess, eh? ‘Ain’t no accountin’ for taste. I like a woman with a bit more meat on the bone. You sure she ain’t just ’is fancy piece? Look at ’er. Why’s she dressed like a boy?”

The first man gave a snort. “Maybe ’e’s a molly? You know what these nobs are like. Bunch o’ perverts, the lot of ’em. Either way, ’e’ll pay a pretty penny to get ’er back.”

Daisy’s heart sank. She put her left hand in front of her, palm out, in a placating gesture. “Now, gentlemen, there’s clearly been a misunderstanding. I’m not his lordship’s woman. I only met him this morning. He let me sit up on the box when I was walking from Carlisle.”

The man Vaughan had paid spat into the straw. “She’s lyin’. They was just arguin’ about gettin’ married.”

Daisy glared at him. “If you were eavesdropping, then you presumably also heard me refuse him. I’m not his fianc é e. We’re not even friends. In fact, he kidnapped me. That’s why I’m here, in this godforsaken place.”

The second man scratched the stubble on his chin. “If ’e kidnapped ye, then ’e wants ye, don’t ’e? Man like ’im can get any woman ’e wants for the toss of a coin, so if ’e’s gone to all the bother of kidnappin’ ye, ’e must want ye somethin’ fierce.”

Daisy almost rolled her eyes at this skewed male logic.

“He didn’t mean to kidnap me. He thought I was someone else,” she lied desperately. “He’ll be glad to see the back of me, I swear.”

None of the three men seemed to be listening.

“Even if she’s just ’is piece o’ muslin, he’ll want ’er back.” The tall one said. “Nobs like ’im ’ave a code of honor.”

The near-toothless one nodded. “Aye. We’ll take ’er, and send ’im a ransom. A fine fellow like that’s goin’ to be mighty keen to get ’er back safe and sound.”

The three of them all nodded in agreement, and Daisy cursed beneath her breath as they began to approach.

A row of stalls hemmed her in to the left, a stone wall with just a few small windows to her right, but the narrow aisle also prevented the men from fanning out.

It was only wide enough for two of them abreast.

She pulled her first blade from her pocket and held it high, then dipped her left hand for the second, and the sight of her brandishing them made the trio pause.

“You’re making a big mistake,” she hissed. “I know how to use these.”

It was clear they didn’t believe her. They came closer, and she cursed inwardly at the need to hurt them.

“I warned you!”

She threw the first blade, and the toothless one let out a howl of pain as it plunged into the meaty part of his thigh.

He stumbled to the floor, but the other two were too close for her to throw the second one.

She slashed a wide arc around her as they rushed her, trying to keep them at bay.

She caught the tall one’s forearm, cutting through the cloth of his jacket and shirt to draw blood, and he leapt back with a curse, but the third man managed to grab her wrist and slammed it against the hard wooden panels of the stall.

Daisy let out a cry of pain. She didn’t drop the knife, but the horses reacted to the commotion. They reared and whinnied in agitation, tossing their heads, and the one in the nearest stall bucked and kicked the boards with a sound like thunder.

She tried to free her hand, but the man’s grip was too strong, and the two of them grappled in the restricted space.

Daisy tried to twist away, sweeping her leg behind his knee to try to topple him to the floor, but he used the weight of his body to slam her into the siding and she screamed as a bolt of pain streaked through her shoulder.

She twisted away, panting in agony, just as the tall one rejoined the fray, his face twisted in a rictus of fury.

“Little bitch cut me!” he panted, and the last thing Daisy saw was the knuckles of his closed fist coming toward her face.

And then everything went black.