Moon Dreams Read Online Free PDF Page A

allow him to pass. He dropped to the
ground, blocking the coach door.
    The highwayman pulled his tricorne over his brow and
gestured at Rory with his pistol. “Get the women down.” The kerchief masking
his jaw muffled his voice.
    With three loaded weapons aimed in his direction, Rory
didn’t see an immediate alternative. Keeping his eyes on the pistol, he opened
the door and held out his hand. “Best listen to the man with the gun,” he
suggested.
    The spinster screamed again, but she reluctantly obeyed Rory’s
whispered reassurances and took his hand to climb down. The fat one huffed and
complained and rolled out after her. The third one hesitated, and Rory had to
climb up on the step to urge her to hurry.
    “They’re likely half-bosky and ready to show their prowess
at the slightest disobedience, ma’am. Giving them our coins is better than
surrendering our lives.”
    Reluctantly, she took his rough hand and climbed down.
    “’And over the val’bles, ladies and gent.” The highwayman
swept off his hat for them to deposit their coins in, revealing a swarthy face
and filthy hair.
    “You bloomin’ hidget! We ain’t arfter the gold. Just get the
female and lets get outter ’ere.” The mounted horseman added a few succinct
curses as his companion began pocketing the coin purses he had taken.
    “Which uv the wenches you meanin’ to take?” the bold thief
demanded irritably. “They don’t none uv ’em look like quality to me.”
    Rory felt the slim woman beside him stiffen, and he rested a
reassuring hand on her shoulder while the highwaymen bickered among themselves
over the identity of the mysterious female they had been sent to abduct. Things
made a little more sense now.
    Shoving his slovenly hat from his brow, Rory spat at the
ground and contemplated the gunman. “Don’ know who ye be lookin’ for or why,
but just to get rid of ’er wicked tongue and bony knees, I’d give you this ’un,
exceptin’ that’s my bun she’s got in the oven, and I reckon I’ll keep what’s
mine.” He felt the girl’s angry twitch, and aggravatingly, he hugged her
shoulder. Be deviled if she didn’t feel good squeezed against his side.
    “That leaves ’em two.” Rory nodded helpfully toward his
other traveling companions. “If I was ye, I’d cast my lot on the young ’un. She’s
got a fine eye to ’er and a lady’s ways. She’ll be bringin’ you the best
billet, I reckon.”
    The spinster sputtered, apparently not knowing whether to
scream in outrage or preen. Rory smothered a chuckle as the would-be kidnapper
grabbed her skinny elbow. The girl beside him tried to jerk from his hold, but
he kept a firm grip on her hood so no one could see her face. One look at her creamy
complexion and sooty lashes, and even a man without a brain would know she was
the one they wanted.
    “Come on, miss, we ain’t got all day. We ain’t gonna ’urt
you none, just take you back where you belong. That’s all, miss.”
    Those words coupled with the spinster’s screams caused the
girl to step back against Rory, and he wrapped a protective arm around her
waist. He felt her shudder, but whether it was him or fear that caused it, he couldn’t
ascertain.
    With much ado and wails and shrieks of protest, the spinster
was carried off in the arms of the highwayman for the first and only adventure
of her dismal life. With the gunmen gone, the remaining passengers returned to
the coach to the tune of the driver’s curses.
    The fat woman stared at Rory suspiciously. Muttering under
her breath something vaguely resembling “What’s this world comin’ to?” she
removed a hunk of cheese from among her voluminous clothes and began to munch.
    Alyson sat on the edge of the seat, nervously clasping and
unclasping her hands, deliberately not looking at him. “What’s to become of
her?” she whispered.
    Rory smiled at the beauty of that musical lilt. Each piece
of this puzzle was better than the last. It almost made the journey