I do wish they had chosen something cleaner.”

“Thoughtless of them.”

“Very. Something hit me over the head, and the next thing I knew I was in the carriage, and that stuff was being forced down my throat. And that,” she concluded, “was that.”

His voice, when he spoke, was tight. “What of your maid?”

“What of her?”

“Do you think she was harmed, too?”

“Daisy?” She frowned. “I do hope not. I don’t remember her screaming.”

“She may not have been. Has it occurred to you that she might be in league with them?”

“Oh, surely not! ”

“They knew where to find you.”

“But I walked there nearly every day,” she argued. “Anyone could have watched me, and know that. I doubt Daisy had a thing to do with it”

“Such things have happened.”

“Not to me.”

“Yes, ma’am. To you.”

“I do wish you wouldn’t call me ‘ma’am’ in that odious way. It makes me sound quite ancient”

“Very well, miss. Or would you prefer ‘my lady’?”

“Now you are laughing at me.”

“Devil a bit Would I do that?”

“Yes,” she stated, though she could not have said how she knew.

“So I might,” he said, and though she couldn’t see him, she thought she heard a smile in his voice.

“Is it your habit to do so, then?”

“It entirely depends on the lady.”

“I believe I’ve just been insulted.”

“Oh, not a bit of it,” he assured her, enjoying himself hugely in spite of the situation. He had not bantered with a woman in such a way since before he’d gone off to war. He’d never had a woman up behind him on a horse, either. It was a disconcertingly pleasant experience.

Ahead, the road came into sight, with shrubbery to either side where the land ended. He might have been more concerned about an ambush again, except for the small stream that turned the land marshy on either side. Samson’s hooves splashed as they forded the stream and turned onto the road, heading northeast. Soon he would leave Lady Serena in safety at the nearest house, and this particular adventure, so reminiscent of others in the Peninsula, would be over. The thought shouldn’t have been depressing, but it was.

A farmer, passing by on a hay wain, gave them a startled look as they turned onto the road, and then raised a hand to the brim of his cap. Charles nodded in reply as

they rode by. “I must look a sight,” Serena said wryly, after a few minutes. “I have worn this gown for so many days.”

“But still it looks lovely,” he said, rising to the occasion.

“Liar.” She spoke almost absently. “I wonder what they’ll think of me at this house. Do you know the people?”

He shook his head. “No. As I said, I’ve rarely been to this part of the world. I shouldn’t worry.” He turned down another lane; as he’d told her, he carried a map in his head, and he was persuaded that a substantial manor house was nearby. “They’ll understand, once you explain.”

“I’m not sure I would, and it happened to me.”

“It is odd.” Idly he glanced down at her hands. “You’ve marks on your wrists,” he said, and leaned closer. A raw, red line ran across her wrist.