Medford shook his head. “When in the hell has that ever stopped a fool in love from proposing?”
Jordan blinked. Medford’s words echoed in his brain. A fool in love …
In love
.
Bloody hell, he was in love. That was this blasted feeling in the pit of his stomach. Love. Love and the sure knowledge that if he didn’t find her, didn’t stop her in time, he’d regret it for the rest of his days. And if she truly believed she was still in love with that damned Eggleston, he’d just have to kill the bloke.
Jordan tipped his hat to Medford but growled slightly under his breath. “God help you, Medford, when this happens to you. I cannot wait to watch you suffer.”
Medford’s laughter followed him out into the chilly night.
CHAPTER 51
When the coach pulled to a stop, Annie glanced around anxiously. They were still a good half hour away from Colton House. She leaned her head out the window but could see nothing in the darkness.
Seemingly oblivious, Arthur sat pouting on the seat across from her. When he didn’t seem inclined to ask the coachman why they were stopping, Annie decided to take things in hand. Not only did she need to return to Colton House to ensure Lily wasn’t worried about her, she also intended to kick Georgiana, the dowager Marchioness of Blakely, out of her brother-in-law’s home and declare herself to Jordan. Many things to do. The sooner she got started, the better.
She rapped upon the door that separated them from the coachman. “What’s happening? Why are we stopping?” she asked in a near frantic voice.
The coachman cleared his throat. “A man on horseback has flagged down the coach, miss.”
The air rushed from Annie’s lungs. A highwayman? Really? Now she’d be forced to dispatch a blasted highwayman before she could tell the man she truly loved that she truly loved him?
Perfect!
“Hand me your pistol,” she demanded of the coachman.
“I don’t have a pistol,” the coachman replied.
She turned around to face an oblivious Arthur. She shook his arm. “Arthur, a highwayman’s stopped the coach. Do you have a pistol?”
Arthur’s eyebrows shot up. “A pistol? What are you talking about?”
She rolled her eyes. “You know, a pistol? Meant for shooting someone who’s trying to steal your belongings and keep you from your journey.”
Arthur shook his head slowly but a look of stark terror sparked in his eyes. “No. I don’t carry a pistol.”
Annie tossed up her hands. “A coach with two men and no pistol? Ridiculous.”
Surely someone had had the good sense to hide a pistol in this coach. Arthur’s father, perhaps. Annie hopped off the seat and pulled up the cushion she’d been sitting on. Nothing. Drat.
“Move. Move,” she demanded, motioning for Arthur to get up. Shaking a bit, he slid to the opposite side of the coach so Annie could look under his seat.
She ripped the cushion away. A small silver pistol lay on its side wedged between the seat cushions. She breathed a sigh of relief. Thank heavens. Annie snatched up the weapon, ensured it was primed and loaded, pointed it out the window, and pulled back the hammer.
She could hear the stamp of the highwayman’s horse’s hooves not ten paces away. She swallowed hard and squared her shoulders. “Sir highwayman,” she shouted. “I regret to inform you that we have little money, no jewels, and I am a crack shot. Furthermore, you’re keeping me from something I desperately need to do at Colton House. If you don’t desist in your mischief and allow us to continue on our journey right away, I shall be forced to shoot you, which is something I have no wish to do. I am actually a very nice person. I have a fox for a pet and everything.”
A loud, hearty laugh met her ears. “Is the fox with you?”
The voice sounded strangely familiar, but it was deep and raspy, almost as if it were a trifle disguised. He needn’t have bothered. It’s not as if she’d know the identity of a highwayman, after all.
Her hand shook on the trigger. “Yes. And it’s a rabid fox. I shall let him loose on you if you don’t go away.”
Another laugh. “What is your business at Colton House? That which you desperately need to do?”
“I fail to see how it is any of your affair,” she answered.
The highwayman’s voice thundered through the chilly night sky. “I must insist you come out of the coach, my lady. My pistol is trained on your driver. I do not want to shoot him, but I will if I must.”
Annie cursed under her breath.
“Don’t go,” Arthur begged in a whisper, and Annie got the distinct impression that he was more concerned about being left alone than about her going out into the night to confront a highwayman.
“Don’t worry, I’m taking the pistol,” she whispered back. Though a shiver of doubt and fear hurried down her spine.
“Very well, I’m coming out. Don’t shoot,” she announced, kicking open the door to the coach and hopping out, the pistol still trained into the darkness.
“You are very beautiful, my lady,” the highwayman said once she stood facing him. He, however, was still cloaked in darkness.
Annie narrowed her eyes. “How can you tell? It’s dark as sin out here,” she replied. “Besides, flattery seems a bit much for someone threatening to shoot me, don’t you think? Let’s get on with it. What do you want, exactly? I’ve already told you, I have no jewels.”
“What is your business at Colton House?” the highwayman asked again.
Annie pursed her lips. “If you must know, I need to tell the man I love that I love him and no one is going to stop me.”
“Is that so?” The highwayman slid from his horse. She could hear his maneuverings in the darkness. “Hasn’t anyone ever told you that love was invented by poets and fools?”
A vague memory triggered in her brain.
“You don’t have a rabid fox with you, do you?” the highwayman asked.
She narrowed her eyes. “How do you know?”
“Because you bit your lip and glanced away, and those are your tells.”
He took a step forward then and a shaft of moonlight illuminated his face. Annie’s breath caught.
Jordan.
He had come for her. Come after her. She tossed her pistol aside, expelling her breath in a rush. She couldn’t stop her smile, nor the tears that flooded her eyes.
She shook her head. “So I’ve been told, my lord. But I never believed it.”
“So you plan to tell the man you love that you love him, eh?”
“Yes,” she managed through her tears. “And I demand that he tells me he loves me too.”
Jordan held out his arms and Annie rushed into them. He scooped her up and kissed her, swinging her around.
Annie wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him. “Oh, Jordan, I overheard you telling Charlie that you have no intention of marrying me,” Annie said. “But I love you, and I know you love me whether you’ll admit it or not.”
Jordan stopped then and stared her straight in the eye. “Love, what you overheard was me telling Charlie I had no intention of marrying
Georgiana
.”
Annie’s eyes went wide. “Oh. And what did you tell Georgiana on the terrace?”
“That she was far too late to win me back. Seems I’m hopelessly in love with an adorable brunette. I love you,” he whispered against her ear. “Very, very much.”
He set her gently back down on the ground and fell to one knee in the soft grass in front of her.
“Annie Andrews, will you marry me?”
CHAPTER 52
Jordan and Annie came galloping up to the front of Colton House on the chestnut stallion.
The front door of the manor house flew open and cracked against the side of the door frame. Devon came barreling out, Lily close on his heels. An entire group of guests and servants filed out behind them, including those notorious gossips Lord and Lady Cranberry, and Aunt Clarissa, who had arrived specifically for the ball tonight.
Devon raced up to the horse. “Where is that fool Eggleston? He’ll be lucky if I don’t snap his neck.”
“Eggleston’s on his way back to London,” Jordan replied, helping Annie down from the stallion with Devon’s assistance. “And you can rest assured he won’t bother Annie again.”
Lily came scurrying up, her hand at her throat. She hugged her sister. “Are you all right, Anne? I don’t know what made Mr. Eggleston think he was welcome here. The Marchioness of Blakely has left, thank heavens. I was busy or I would never have allowed either her or Mr. Eggleston through the door.” She pushed Annie to arm’s length and searched her face. “Oh, Anne, I can only imagine what you’ve been through. What nerve he had, coming into our home and abducting you.”
Annie hung her head. “He didn’t abduct me, Lily. I went with him.”
Jordan nodded. He swung himself off the horse and tossed the reins to a nearby groom. “And she came back by her own choice as well.”
Lily squeezed Annie’s hand. “Oh dear. I was so worried.”
Annie nodded. “I know and I’m sorry. I’ll never worry you again, Lily. I’ve acted like a child but that’s all over now.” She stepped over to Jordan and wrapped her arms around his waist.
Devon’s eyebrows shot up and he gave Jordan a menacing glare. “Ashbourne? What is the meaning of this? Tell me you didn’t do anything improper with Anne.”
Annie’s hands dropped. She looked away. Fear clutching her chest, she bit her lip.
Jordan pulled Annie back into his arms and hugged her close. Annie turned in Jordan’s arms and leaned up to kiss him. Jordan’s mouth came down to meet hers.
Devon leaped forward, pulled Annie out of Jordan’s arms, and pushed him into the dirt. Devon jumped on him, throwing punches that Jordan deflected as he struggled to shove his friend away.
The two men fought, delivering blows in the dusty gravel, while Annie pressed her hands to her cheeks. “This isn’t necessary,” she called out. But it was apparent neither man was listening.
“I’m afraid they’re just going to have to have it out,” Lily said, patting Annie’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, they’re quite equally matched. This isn’t the first time they’ve done this.”
Annie turned wide eyes to her sister, before glancing back anxiously to the fight.
Devon growled. “I demand you give up your stupid vow of not marrying, Ashbourne. Because you’re damn well going to marry Anne after kissing her like that in front of the entire houseful of guests.”
Devon hauled back his fist to deliver another punch.
“I have every intention of marrying her,” Jordan answered, smiling despite a split lip.
Devon’s fist remained suspended in midair. He looked twice. “What did you say?”
“I want to marry her, Devon,” Jordan replied.
Devon’s fist fell harmlessly to his side.
Jordan shoved Devon off him and scrambled to his feet. “I plan to marry her, but not because you said so. I’m marrying her because I love her and because I’ve already asked for the honor of her hand and she accepted.”
Devon stood there with a stunned expression on his face. “What are you talking about? Has the entire world gone mad?”
Lily clutched her chest. “Oh, thank heavens!”
Devon turned to stare at his wife. “Thank heavens? The entire world has gone mad.”
Lily shook her head, tears filling her eyes. “No. No. This is perfect. I’d been hoping for weeks this would happen. It’s the reason I chose Aunt Clarissa to be Annie’s chaperone. Aunt Clarissa is sweet, of course, but hardly an apt companion. I knew Annie would be a handful and Jordan would be forced to chase her around.”
At that moment, Aunt Clarissa toddled up with a half-empty bottle in her hand. “You’re welcome,” she said to Annie, winking at her, hiccupping, and then blending back into the crowd.
They all watched her go with looks of incredulity on their faces. Then Devon blinked and glanced back and forth between Jordan and Annie. “I can scarcely believe what I’m hearing. Any of it.”
“Believe it, old chap,” Jordan said, tugging his handkerchief from his coat pocket and pressing it to his bloody lip. With his other hand, he pulled Annie close and wrapped his arm around her.
Devon made another move toward him and Lily leaped forward, stopping her husband with a hand to his chest. “Think about it, Devon. We didn’t want her to marry that fool Eggleston, did we? How can you be angry? I love Jordan. You love Jordan. He saved your life once. If he and Anne marry, he will really, truly be your brother.”
Jordan gave Devon an innocent look and a shrug.
“I thought you didn’t want to marry?” Devon asked, his eyes narrowed on Jordan.
Jordan shrugged again. “You of all people should know that sometimes love can play havoc with the very best of intentions.”
Devon still eyed him suspiciously. “And you’ve never wanted any children. Anne wants a score of them.”
Jordan leaned his head back and laughed. “Changed my mind. Now I want a house full of them.” He looked at Annie and his face shone with love and wonder. “All with their mother’s shiny dark hair and beautiful brown eyes, of course.”
Lily sighed and put her hand over her heart.
A wide smile spread across Devon’s face. He shook his head. “By God, you’re right. You will really and truly be my brother now.”
The two men shook hands and slapped each other on the back while Annie and Lily let out matching sighs of relief.
Annie jumped into Jordan’s arms.
“Excellent. We must begin planning the wedding immediately, Anne,” Lily squealed. “It will be such fun.”
Annie let her arms fall away from Jordan’s neck and she turned around to face her sister. “Call me Annie, please. That’s always been my name and I realize what a fool I’ve been, trying to change it.”
The front door opened then and Frances came running out. She glanced around at the group of people on the drive. “Lady Catherine told me this would happen, but I must say I didn’t believe it.”
Annie crossed over the gravel to her friend. “Frances, there’s something I must tell you. Lord Ashbourne and I are to be married. Please tell me you’re all right with that.”
A slow smile spread across Frances’s face. Finally, she was grinning from ear to ear. “You are? Truly?” She glanced between the two of them and they both nodded.
Frances shrugged. “I suppose I shall be constantly distracted by how handsome your new husband is.” She sighed. “But I’m quite willing to attempt to accept it. Besides—” She winked. “I’ve seen Lord Ashbourne’s brother Charlie and he remains quite eligible, does he not?”