The Wicked Widow Read online

  As she met his eyes, she felt that he could read her mind and was aware of what she was thinking.

  He was looking at her so penetratingly that she felt herself blush.

  She had no idea how attractive she looked as she did so.

  “I think it’s a spiffing idea to ride your charger,” Terry was saying, “because it’s much bigger than the one you gave me yesterday and I will feel like a General on him.”

  “Leading his troops,” the Earl joked.

  One of the grooms helped Terry into the saddle.

  Kyla watched with a little stab of her heart as Terry looked very small and vulnerable on such a large animal.

  She did not, of course, make any comment, she merely allowed a groom to help her onto the other horse.

  If the horse had been, as the Earl had indicated, one of his chargers, it would be very obedient and do everything that was required of him.

  He would also be quite unperturbed by anything unusual that might happen.

  The Earl was riding the black stallion that he had ridden yesterday and she wondered if he would be able to hold it if there was any firing.

  As she looked at the Earl, she thought that he was, without any exception at all, the most handsome man she had ever seen.

  Astride the black stallion he might have been a God come down from Mount Olympus to lead them into battle.

  The Earl was talking quite naturally to the grooms.

  He ordered a slight adjustment to Terry’s stirrups, which he thought looked a little too long.

  He appeared to be in no hurry and was completely at his ease.

  Kyla could feel the hardness of the pistol where it was concealed against her waist.

  She was thinking that if it had not been there, she would have then been deceived into believing that they were simply going for a casual ride in the paddock.

  Finally the Earl was satisfied that everything was ready and correct.

  He rode forward and joined Terry, who had gone a little way ahead of him.

  Kyla followed and they rode from the stable into the paddock.

  She thought by this time that it must be after nine o’clock.

  The highwaymen, led by Black Jack, would be waiting for them beside the flat land.

  She felt her heart begin to beat frantically and she wondered how the Earl could look so calm.

  Even Terry did not seem perturbed or agitated in any way.

  The Earl waited until they reached the paddock before he drew in his horse and said,

  “I want you both to listen to me.”

  They came as near to him as they could and he went on,

  “You will both have to be very brave. When the highwaymen do approach us, they will be confident that we have not the slightest idea that we are expecting them.”

  “I hope – you are – right,” Kyla murmured.

  “What I want you to do,” the Earl continued, “is to ride one on either side of me, Terry on my left and Kyla on my right.”

  He paused and then continued,

  “Hold your reins low in your left hand and in your right hand you will hold your pistol, keeping it out of sight until I tell you to shoot.”

  Kyla gave a little cry.

  “We are – to shoot?” she questioned.

  “When I tell you to,” the Earl answered. “And this is very important – you are to aim at the right arm of the Highwayman facing you.”

  He looked at Terry as he continued,

  “Your Nanny tells me that you are both good shots and it is extremely important that the highwaymen should not be killed but only maimed. Do you understand?”

  “I understand, my Lord,” Terry agreed, “and so I will aim for his right arm and nowhere else.”

  “Good!” the Earl approved. “And you, Kyla, will do just the same. Your man’s arm, of course, will be on the inside as he rides towards you. You must be careful to leave the one in the centre, who I think will be Black Jack, to me.”

  “I – understand,” Kyla stammered.

  “Very well,” the Earl said. “Now, if you are both ready, we will ride on just as if we are enjoying the early morning sunshine.”

  “You don’t think,” Terry suggested, “that they will kill me before you can stop them?”

  “I promise you there is no chance of that,” the Earl said, “so long as you do exactly as I tell you. Shoot the moment I give the order and not a moment before.”

  When he had finished speaking, he looked at Terry and added quietly,

  “I am very proud of you and of the way you are behaving as I know your father would be.”

  Kyla saw Terry straighten his shoulders and smile.

  She felt the tears come into her eyes because the Earl was being so kind and thoughtful.

  He did not speak to her again until they reached the trees at the far end of the paddock.

  Then, as they began to move through them onto the flat ground, the Earl gazed at Kyla and said,

  “You look very lovely. Are you still afraid?”

  “I would be – if I was not – with you,” Kyla replied without thinking.

  Then, as she saw the expression in the Earl’s eyes, she blushed and looked ahead.

  There was no one in sight.

  The sunshine made the flat ground, with trees on either side of it, seem very attractive.

  It was quite impossible to believe that anything terrible could happen there.

  “Chins up!” the Earl called out. “Here we go and God be with us!”

  He moved forward as he spoke and Kyla and Terry kept pace with him on their large horses.

  A minute later the highwaymen suddenly appeared as if from nowhere.

  They rode out onto the flat land from behind the trees on the right hand side.

  They then trotted slowly, keeping even with each other, towards the Earl.

  They appeared not to be carrying pistols with them.

  Kyla, however, suspected that they were holding them low on top of their saddles as they were doing themselves.

  As she glanced at the Earl, she could see the barrel of his pistol just showing at the side of his riding coat.

  The highwaymen were coming nearer and still nearer.

  Just as Kyla thought that they were about to raise their pistols, the Earl ordered sharply,

  “Shoot!”

  As he gave the order, he raised his own pistol and shot Black Jack in the arm, just below the shoulder.

  Black Jack gave a scream of pain and his pistol dropped from his hand.

  Kyla’s bullet caught the highwayman coming towards her a few inches above the elbow.

  He acted in just the same way as Black Jack. He tried to raise his arm and in doing so his pistol fell to the ground.

  Terry had aimed at the highwayman in front of him and the small bullet had pierced his arm.

  It might not have been completely effective, however, if at the moment that the Earl had called ‘shoot’ another gunshot had not rung out.

  It came from the trees on the left of the field.

  Then Charles Sinclair and Bill were riding swiftly towards them.

  Charles’s shot had been a long distance one.

  But he had managed to hit the highwayman’s arm well below the shoulder.

  In the same way as the others, the highwayman tried to raise his arm up and in doing so dropped his pistol as well.

  It was Black Jack who realised quicker than his two confederates the position they were in.

  He turned his horse towards the trees on the right.

  Guiding it with just one hand, while his injured arm hung useless, he rode straight for the trees.

  There was a low hedge just in front of them and he spurred his horse to leap over it.

  He was unaware that there was someone crouching behind the hedge, peeping through the ivy that covered the top of it.

  Having set up the diabolical trap for her stepchildren, Lady Shenley had been unable to resist leaving her carriage to wa
tch her dastardly plan come to fruition.

  She had crept through the undergrowth and crouched down behind the hedge, where she could see but would not be seen.

  Black Jack swept over the hedge.

  His horse had a glimpse of something where he was about to land and tried to avoid it and in doing so he stumbled and, kicking out to stop himself from falling over, struck Lady Shenley and knocked her onto her back.

  With his injured arm and the swerving motion of his horse, Black Jack was thrown.

  He fell heavily, swearing as he did so, on top of Lady Shenley, who was already severely injured, and crushed her beneath him.

  When Black Jack rode away, the highwayman who had been shot by Kyla followed him.

  His arm was agonisingly painful and he was unable to direct his horse at all skilfully.

  It jumped the hedge as Black Jack’s horse had done and landed on top of the two people on the ground.

  The highwayman then fell off.

  As he did so, Jenkins and the Earl’s Head Groom came up the field to the place where Lady Shenley had left her carriage.

  They dismounted and ran towards the two fallen men with ropes in their hands.

  Before they could realise what was happening or recover from their fall, the highwaymen found themselves bound hand and foot and incapable of moving.

  Terry had not moved as the two highwaymen had ridden off.

  He was keeping watch over the third, who was groaning in pain with the two bullets in his arm.

  He made no attempt to follow them, but said,

  “All right, ’tis a fair cop and I wants a doctor right now for me arm.”

  “You will be lucky if you don’t find a noose around your neck!” the Earl remarked.

  Charles had drawn up his horse beside him and he said to him,

  “Tie this man up. The grooms will be here soon to take him and the other two devils in front of the Magistrates. Incidentally, Charles, that was a damned good shot!”

  “That is what I thought myself,” Charles replied rather smugly.

  Bill, who was standing a little way back, did not speak.

  He bent forward to pat Samson’s neck as if to show that he was thankful that neither his horse nor he was injured.

  The Earl looked at him and rode to his side.

  “I just cannot tell you how grateful I am,” he said, “but I am short of a gardener at the moment and I also have an empty cottage.”

  Bill looked at him as if he could hardly believe what he was hearing.

  “D’you mean that, my Lord?” he asked in a hoarse voice.

  “I think you will find there is room for your horse in my stables,” the Earl said, “and he will certainly be at home among his equals.”

  Bill laughed as if he could not help it.

  “I knowed your Lordship would appreciate Samson.”

  “I do indeed and I also appreciate his owner. As it would be a huge mistake for anyone to know that you have been mixed up with this unpleasant gang, I suggest you ride back to The Castle and ask my Head Gardener to show you the cottage.”

  “I don’t know what to say,” Bill said in a broken tone.

  “You can say it all later,” the Earl said. “Go now. Some of my people will be arriving to collect this scum and take them to prison.”

  He glanced towards the hedge where he could see Jenkins and his Head Groom and he was sure that they were tying up Black Jack and the other highwaymen.

  He saw too that the horses that had fallen were now riderless amongst the trees.

  Charles had now finished tying up the third highwayman, who was lying on the ground, alternately groaning and swearing.

  When Charles straightened himself, the Earl suggested,

  “Look after Kyla and Terry for a moment while I go and see what is happening.”

  Without really thinking, Kyla dismounted and said to Charles in a low voice,

  “The man’s arm is bleeding very badly. Do you think I ought to do something about it?”

  “Certainly not,” Charles replied. “If you had been his victim, I can assure you he would have done nothing about you. Rollo has everything arranged and a wagon will soon be taking them to the nearest prison.”

  “The Earl was – wonderful,” Kyla said beneath her breath.

  It had all happened so quickly.

  She could hardly believe now that they had defeated the highwaymen without their firing a single shot.

  There had been no risk of either Terry or her being taken prisoner.

  The Earl came riding back from the hedge.

  She had heard him speaking to Jenkins and his Head Groom, but could not hear what he was saying.

  When he joined them, he dismounted and gave Charles the reins of his stallion.

  Then he moved close to Kyla and said in a low voice,

  “It is all over. There is no need for you to worry anymore. Your stepmother is dead.”

  Kyla stared at him wide-eyed.

  “When Black Jack jumped the hedge, she was hiding behind it. His horse knocked her over and kicked her and then Black Jack fell very heavily on top of her. Jenkins, who is very experienced in these matters, tells me that she is no longer breathing.”

  “I-I cannot – believe it!” Kyla murmured.

  For a moment she stared at the Earl wildly.

  Then she closed her eyes and felt as if the ground was rising up towards her.

  The Earl put his arms round her and held her for a moment.

  Then he turned to Charles,

  “I will take her back to The Castle. You look after everything for me now.”

  Charles smiled.

  “Very good, General! Anyway I congratulate you on a very successful battle.”

  The Earl did not answer.

  He merely pushed Kyla gently into Charles’s arms and mounted his stallion.

  When he had done so, Charles gently picked Kyla up and placed her on the front of the Earl’s saddle.

  The Earl held her close against him with his left arm.

  Turning his horse, he began to ride slowly and carefully back the way they had come.

  Kyla had not completely fainted and now she felt the impending darkness moving away.

  As Charles picked her up, her riding hat fell from her head and only when the Earl had moved away did he notice it lying on the ground.

  She put her head on the Earl’s shoulder.

  She was vividly aware of the closeness of his body and it was indefinably comforting.

  As if the Earl knew what she was feeling, he said,

  “It is all right. It is all over. You are now safe, my darling, and no one shall ever hurt you again.”

  For a moment Kyla was still and then she looked up at him.

  “What did you – call me?” she whispered.

  “I called you ‘my darling’,” the Earl said, “which you have been ever since that first moment I saw you and wondered why you were so frightened.”

  They had by now reached the trees at the end of the flat land and then the Earl drew his stallion to a standstill.

  “I love you!” he insisted. “I have loved you more and more every moment since I found you disguising yourself as a Governess.”

  “Y-you – love me!”

  There was a note of elation in her voice that was like the song of the birds.

  “I love you as I have never loved anyone before,” the Earl admitted.

  He bent his head and his lips found hers.

  It was a very gentle kiss because he was afraid of frightening her.

  But to Kyla it was as if he carried her into the warmth of the burning sun.

  “I love – you! I love – you!” she wanted to say to him.

  But it was impossible because the Earl was kissing her at first very gently and then more possessively.

  “You are mine,” he said as he raised his head. “Mine and I will never lose you. I was more frightened than I have ever been in my whole life that something would go
wrong.”

  “You – were absolutely wonderful,” Kyla murmured. “No one else could have – been so brilliant or planned – everything so cleverly.”

  “I did not plan your stepmother’s death,” the Earl said, “but I do think we can both thank God that she will no longer be able to threaten you.”

  “I did really think that, even if the highwaymen were unsuccessful, she would somehow contrive to get me back into her clutches.”

  “Because I had already thought of that,” the Earl said, “I intended to marry you tonight in my Private Chapel so that it would be impossible for her to ever take you away from me.”

  “But – she might have got hold of – Terry and now that she is – dead and we can be happy.”

  “Very happy,” the Earl agreed. “But I am still going to marry you, if not tonight, perhaps tomorrow or the next day.”

  Kyla gave a little cry.

  “Are you sure – completely sure – you wish to – marry me? You don’t – know me.”

  “I know all I want to know and I know what you make me feel,” the Earl replied. “And I think, unless I am mistaken, that you love me a little.”

  “I – did not – realise it was – love until just now” Kyla said, “but I do love you – I love you with all my heart and soul – it is the most delightful exquisite feeling that I have – ever known.”

  The Earl laughed.

  “That is exactly what I wanted you to tell me and now, as this is rather uncomfortable for you, I am taking you home.”

  Kyla made a little murmur.

  Because he understood, he said,

  “I know that ever since your father and mother died you have had no real home but The Castle is now yours as it is mine and we will make it a perfect place, not only for Terry but for our children as well.”

  Kyla put up her hand to touch his cheek.

  “How can – you say – such wonderful – marvellous things to me,” she asked. “Suppose I am only dreaming – and I shall wake up?”

  The Earl laughed again.

  “You are not dreaming, my lovely one. You are very much awake and starting a new life with me.”

  “That is exactly – what I want,” Kyla whispered.

  *

  When Charles and Terry came back to The Castle, it was nearly luncheontime.

  They found the Earl and Kyla in the drawing room.

  She had changed out of her riding habit into one of her simple muslin gowns.