Lord Melvedere's Ghost Read Online Free PDF Page B

had
thought that the events within the church had been bad enough, but
this was far worse. If Jonathan had a gun, then there was every
possibility that the people giving chase had guns too. Should she
do what Jonathan was doing and start to swerve around? She threw a
beseeching glance at Jamie only to catch sight of him raising his
gun and taking aim at something behind her. Her horse ran even
faster at the loud retort from Jamie’s pistol.
    Cecily
turned her attention forward, her eyes widening in alarm at the
sight of the huge hedge looming before them. Her eyes ran along the
length of the thick green mass, but she could see no gaps they
could use to get through to the other side, even if she could get
her horse to go there. She didn’t know what to do. Jonathan was
busy shooting again, and Jamie was busy doing something else with
something on his hip. Another shot sounded, but was that from
Jamie, Jonathan, or the men giving them chase?
    She
didn’t know much French, but was fairly certain that the language
the men behind were using was French, or foreign at least. As far
as she knew there were no other foreigners chasing them. That left
them with the problem of the French guards, who clearly wanted to
finish off what they hadn’t managed to successfully complete in the
church. Why were they so determined to see her dead? What had she
done? Who were they?
    She was
nothing. She had nothing now. As far as she knew she had done
nothing to anyone to warrant her life being thrown into such
turmoil. How did the spy smugglers even know she was alive, let
alone hate her enough to want her dead? She ruthlessly shoved the
thought to one side and began to feel panic burn at the sight of
the bramble now only a few feet away. The horse showed no sign of
slowing down. Unless she was much mistaken, it was going even
faster. She had no choice but to go with him.
    Despite
Jamie’s warnings, she couldn’t prevent the quick glance down at the
ground and suddenly wished she hadn’t as she caught sight of the
dark grass rushing past with frightening speed. She wasn’t at all
certain she had been travelling this fast in the carriage. The fact
that there was no substance around her; nothing to break her fall,
was horrifying. If she did come off now, the French wouldn’t need
to kill her, she would be dead already.
    “ Oh, God,” she whispered, casting a frantic glance at Jamie.
“Jamie!” She screamed, just as the horse’s front hooves lifted off
the ground.
    It
seemed as though she was in mid-air forever. She daren’t open her
eyes, but could hear every snort, every heavy breath of the horse
beneath her. At some point she was certain that she had lost
contact with the horse entirely. If she wasn’t still clutching the
reins she would have felt sure that she and the horse had parted
company. Squeezing her eyes tight, she became aware of the loud
curses from Jamie and Jonathan and, from somewhere far behind her,
loud shouts, curses and screams followed by more gunfire. Whatever
was going on back there was of little importance though.
    For one
brief, infinitesimal moment the world stopped. Her breath lodged in
her throat. Her heart ceased to beat. She was held in life’s firm
grip and her fate had yet to be decided. The heavy jarring as the
horse landed with a thud made her cry aloud. Her bottom crashed
into the saddle with bruising force at the same time that her face
slammed into the horses’ neck. She felt the forward slide with
horrifying detail and knew she was going to fall off and land in an
undignified heap on the floor.
    To her
amazement the horse stumbled, righted itself and began to gallop
once more, leaving Cecily with little choice but to cling on for
dear life. As they tore across the field, she slowly pushed herself
upright, although had no control of the horse. At some point she
had dropped the reins, but she daren’t let go of the horses’ mane
to pick them back up.
    “ Get her!” Jonathan shouted, reloading