Read Online Damsel in Disguise by Susan Gee Heino - Free Book Online

and see if they couldn’t get the horses to drag the carriage along with them to the posting house. It had been Lindley’s idea to abandon it. He’d been the one to insist on carrying weapons, too, hadn’t he? Perhaps that was all just coincidence—Lindley didn’t really strike him as the adventurous sort, after all—or perhaps there was more to it.
    A ridiculous notion, though. Why on earth would Lindley have done anything to jeopardize his own safety? If he truly was in league with Fitzgelder, as Clemmons—er, Julia—suggested, he could have done much more to see to it that Rastmoor had been exactly where they wanted him.
    Then again, perhaps he had. That bullet in the posting house had not been merely imaginary. Lindley had suggested that private room, too. Damn, Rastmoor hated to suspect his friend, but things were just not adding up. Exactly what was Fitzgelder up to, and who did he have helping him? Julia and Lindley? Then how did Sophie figure in?
    Lord, it was enough to give a man a headache.
    “Are you all right, sir?” one of the women said, coming up to him.
    He’d been rubbing his forehead, but now wiped all trace of his emotions from his face. These women had been through enough tonight. There was no sense in causing them greater worry or concern.
    “I’m fine,” he said. “How about you?”
    The woman’s face was still swollen where the highwayman had struck her. She held a cloth to her lip to stop the blood, but it appeared she would recover well enough. Her eyes were worn, though.
    “We’re fine,” she said. “Thank you so much. I can’t even imagine what would have happened if you and your friend hadn’t come along when you did. However did you happen to be out here?”
    “We were coming up the road and heard the commotion,” he explained. “Our horses are tied in the woods.”
    She seemed surprised by this. “Really? And did you see . . . er, are you certain there is no one else around?”
    “I’m sure any others that may have been working with these two are long gone, ma’am. I believe you and your companion are safe.”
    This appeared to give her relief, and she sighed. “Thank you. Poor Mrs. Ashton is quite overcome, fearing for her child, and all.”
    “I can certainly understand. You both have had quite a difficult evening,” he said. “Where are you bound? Perhaps my friend and I might accompany you.”
    “Oh, but surely you don’t feel that’s entirely necessary, do you? I couldn’t bear to put you out of your way. You were headed south, no doubt, and we are on our way north.”
    “It’s really no trouble for . . . er, how did you know we were headed south?”
    His question seemed to confuse her. “I didn’t, I suppose,” she said with a frown then a wince at her swollen face. “I suppose since you had time to hide your horses I assumed you must have been coming ahead of us.”
    “I think perhaps we’ve all traveled enough for this day,” he said, deciding his brain could stand a rest if he was now starting to question the answers and motives of these innocent and abused women. “There is a posting house nearby. Would you care for an escort there?”
    “That would be lovely, sir,” she said with the best smile her battered face could muster.
    “I’ll go speak with your driver,” Rastmoor said. “We can take our uninvited guest there and inform the local magistrate what has occurred.”
    The woman’s face clouded. “Oh, yes, I suppose we will have to do that, won’t we?”
    I’m sure it will all be over soon,” Rastmoor assured her. “The situation is clear. The law will have no difficulty determining the charges.”
    Indeed, the local magistrate would likely thank them for ridding the world of one unsavory highwayman. The ladies would soon be back on their journey and Julia would probably not even need to reveal her true name. Rastmoor glanced over at her, still carrying herself in that dreadful impersonation of a man as she made small talk