Page 100 of To Catch A Rogue

The clatter of another horse made him roll as Kincaid galloped toward him in pursuit of Ava. It leaped over the top of him, the broad expanse of its gray belly flashing past.

Charlie got the hell out of the middle of the street.

"Kincaid!" Gemma was staring desperately after him. She eyed the rest of them. "Stay together! We can't afford to separate!"

"But what about Ava?" Byrnes demanded.

Sweet, innocent Ava was the heart and soul of the Company of Rogues. And Kincaid adored her.

If that was Lark....

"We can't let him go alone," Charlie yelled at Gemma. "I'll watch his back."

"Charlie! Damn it! No!"

Charlie snatched the reins of one of the nervous carriage horses, slashing through them with his knife before Gemma could come after him. He unhitched it and leaped onto its back, turning it in a sharp circle as he eyed the streets where both Kincaid and Ava had vanished.

Lark grabbed his thigh. "Don't you dare!"

"I have to!" The bay gelding sidled away from her. "Rogues don't leave each other behind.Iwas the one who made him and Ava take the second carriage!"

Bending low, he snatched her onto her toes and stole a kiss from her mouth, just in case.

"I'll come back to you. I promise. Stay here with the others."

Then he turned the gelding after Kincaid and drove his heels into its flanks.

* * *

Charlie cantered through the streets,easing the horse back to a trot and then a walk. Snowflakes began to drift down like a kiss of cold from the sky, and he wasn't entirely certain where he was.

He'd lost Kincaid several streets back.

A sudden loud clatter caught his attention. Charlie wheeled the bay, staring down a narrow street. The horse Kincaid had been riding shot out of the alley, galloping past him, its chest foamed and bloody.

Charlie's stomach dropped.

Swinging off the bay, he set it loose, and it galloped after its companion. Then he shimmied up the iron fire escape attached to the side of a building and ghosted over the rooftops.

Fists struck flesh down in the alley, and someone grunted loudly.

Charlie caught a glimpse of six figures surrounding an enormous man.Found him. Kincaid lay around him with enormous haymakers, and though the men he was fighting had the numbers, he'd clearly been pushed over the edge by Ava's kidnapping. Two of them weren't getting back up again.

Charlie saw the glint of a knife and stepped off the rooftop. He landed with a squat behind the man with the knife, and drove the flat chop of his hand into the attacker’s neck.

The man grunted and whirled on him. Silver flashed as Charlie leaped back, then his own knives were in his hands, whirling dangerously as the fellow lunged for him. He stepped to the side of the lunge and drove his knife between the man's ribs. The other one cut sharply across a throat, spraying blood across the wall.

It wouldn't kill a blue blood, but it might put him down, and he had no time to finish the job. Two others attacked him, and then Charlie was fighting for his life.

"Volki!"one of the attackers yelled, and several newcomers sprinted around the corner.

Outnumbered.

Both he and Kincaid fell back.

"What are you doin' here," Kincaid rasped, one hand cupped against his ribs.

"Rescuing your dumb ass," Charlie panted. There had to be at least nine men arrayed against them. "Can you run?"