Page 6 of Road Trip With a Rogue

He gestured back toward the carriage. “Get in.”

Clearly realizing she’d been outmaneuvered, at least for now, she tugged open the door and climbed up the step.

A primitive flash of satisfaction swept through him at having her in his clutches, but Lucien ignored it. Careful to keep one eye on the coach, in case she tried to slip out the opposite side door—as Finch had done to ambush her earlier—he helped drag the log out of the road, tied her horse to the back of the carriage, and slipped her pistolinto his jacket pocket from where he found it in the undergrowth.

Finch tied a tourniquet around the surviving brigand’s thigh; the man wouldn’t bleed to death before help arrived, but Lucien hoped he’d forever walk with a limp. It was the least the bastard deserved.

He glanced back over at the coach and shook his head. Daisy Hamilton was the last person he’d expected to encounter tonight, and a part of him was irritated with fate for shoving her into his path yet again.

A larger, less rational, part of him was disturbingly glad to have her back in his orbit. She’d always been a thorn in his side, but he must be a glutton for punishment because the prospect of being close to her, of sparring with her again, was one he was anticipating with an unholy amount of glee.

She was sitting inside, arms crossed defensively across her chest, when he stepped in and tossed the hat she’d lost in the melee onto her lap. She caught it, but didn’t thank him as he lowered himself onto the seat across from her.

Finch climbed up onto the box next to Geordie, and the carriage jolted as he urged the horses forward.

She did not look pleased to be alone with him in an enclosed space, and Lucien suppressed a dark smile. That made two of them. But for entirely different reasons.

He crossed his own arms, mirroring her pose, and stretched his legs out toward her so she was forced to draw her feet back to avoid contact.

“So, explain why you’re loitering in the woods at midnight,” he demanded. “A duke’s daughter shouldn’t need to resort to robbery. What’s this all about?”

Chapter Three

Daisy’s heart pounded against her breastbone as she stared at her unwelcome companion. A lamp set in the wall illuminated the interior, and the warm glow highlighted his dark features with disturbing clarity.

Her throat hurt from where his man had strangled her, but she could only have been unconscious for a few seconds. Vaughan probably hadn’t had time to find the knife she’d slipped into her boot. That was some small comfort. She hated feeling at a disadvantage, especially with him.

He was even more intimidating in such close proximity. His body seemed to take up most of the velvet seat, and her stomach somersaulted as his masculine scent enveloped her. It was dark and delicious, like a sandalwood-scented forest, and a sudden memory caught her like a punch to the chest: of him pressed against her, his fingers in her hair, his lips at her throat.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath through her mouth to banish the image.

When he moved, she flinched instinctively, raising her hand as if to parry a blow, and his brows lifted in amusement.

“So defensive.”

She scowled. He obviously didn’t see her as any kind of threat. “I can do that same chokehold, you know. Devlin taught it to me. It’s not all about superior size and weight. You just need to apply the right amount of pressure in exactly the right place.”

The corner of his lips quirked. “You think you could takemewith it?”

Her skin heated at the thought of putting her hands on him, of feeling his broad back pressed hard against her chest, but she shook her head.

“Only if I managed to catch you by surprise. You’re stronger and heavier. If you decide to overpower me, there’s not much I can do about it, without my knives. Although I’d hope to give you a black eye and a bloody nose for your trouble, at least. I have no qualms about fighting dirty.”

His dark eyes studied her, as if she were some bizarre oddity, and she fought not to squirm.

“I’m not going to attack you, Hamilton. I prefer more subtle ways to get what I want.”

That was hardly reassuring.

“So, why are you here?” he repeated.

Daisy sighed. There was no reason not to tell him, she supposed. “It’s a case I’m working on for King and Company. We’ve been hired to stop the elopement of a young lady and return her to the bosom of her family.” She frowned. “She was supposed to have been inthiscarriage. With a golden lion on the door.”

His chin dipped and he drummed his black-gloved fingers on his knee. “A case of mistaken identity, then. My ducal crest includes a golden lion.”

Daisy shrugged. “When we get to Barnet I’ll ask ifthey’ve already passed by. If not, I’ll wait for them and force them to return.”

“You’d ruin the happiness of two people desperately in love?” His tone was deeply cynical.