A heartbeat later she emerged into a narrow alleyway. At a glance she could see that there wasn’t a soul in sight, only a cluster of parked delivery vans.
‘Don’t even think about it, bitch!’
Edie spun round. The moment she opened her mouth to scream, her assailant slapped a hand over her mouth, grabbed a fistful of hair and yanked her towards him. Slamming into his chest, Edie tried to jerk free. Anticipating the move, he let go of her hair and clamped a hand round her wrists. Smiling maliciously, he yanked her arms above her head, pulling her onto her toes. With few options left to her, Edie tried to bite the hand that covered her mouth. Smile widening, her assailant mashed her lips against her teeth. Blood gushed into her mouth. Still grinning, he shoved her between two parked vans, ramming her against a stone wall. Completely out of sight.
Unable to use her hands, Edie tried to knee him, but discovered she couldn’t move her lower body, her assailant’s hips and thighs pressed hard against her own. She was completely immobilized against the wall.
‘I’ve got a little gift for you,’ the behemoth hissed as he crudely and repeatedly shoved himself against her pelvic bone. ‘Nice isn’t it?’
Edie stared into his face — seeing the heavy shadow of stubble, the flared nostrils, the thick lips — noticing everything and anything in a desperate attempt to block out what he was doing to her.
Still thrusting his hips, he licked her face, his tongue moving from her jaw to her temple. ‘Baby girl, I’m gonna split ya right in two.’
Like salt on a wound, old memories flashed in front of her eyes.
Terror turned to rage. This time she’d fight back. No way in hell would she let this animal rape her. Writhing, squirming, Edie did everything she could to free herself.
‘You want it bad, don’t you, bitch?’
Belatedly realizing that her struggles were exciting him, Edie went still.
Within seconds the dry humping ceased.
‘Fucking cock tease!’ Criss-crossed veins bulged on either side of his head. Ready to blow.
Able to feel that he’d gone soft, Edie contemptuously snorted against his hand. Her would-be rapist removed his palm from her mouth. Fist balled, he pulled back his arm.
Closing her eyes, Edie braced herself for what she figured would be a bone-crushing blow.
It never came.
Instead her assailant grunted loudly as he rolled away from her. Edie opened her eyes, surprised to see blood pouring down the side of his face, gushing from those criss-crossed vessels. She was even more surprised to see C?dmon standing a few feet away, a broken bottle gripped in his right hand. Lurching forward, she ran to his side.
The stand-off lasted only a few seconds. Then, like the coward he was, the bloodied behemoth scurried away down the alley, what looked like a gun protruding from his waistband.
Edie and C?dmon stood silent, watching him depart. When he reached the end of the alleyway, he vanished.
‘Did you see that? He had a gun! Why didn’t he use it?’
‘He may yet.’ C?dmon tossed aside the broken bottle. Edie could see that he was furious.
‘How did you find me?’
‘I simply followed the trail of destruction.’ As he spoke, C?dmon glanced up and down the alleyway, his eyes settling on a delivery man who had just emerged from the market.
‘The box of fish was an accident.’
‘Tell that to the fishmonger. Come on! We’re wasting time.’ Grabbing her by the elbow, he steered her towards a black van,
C?dmon reached for the handle on the back door.
‘Get in!’ he brusquely ordered. ‘Before he goes!’
Edie glanced inside, surprised to see a row of trussed fowls swinging from a metal rod.
‘You’re kidding, right? There’s no way I’m hitching a ride with a bunch of dead birds.’
‘Don’t make me put my boot to your arse.’
Having been manhandled enough for one day, Edie wordlessly climbed into the back of the van.
52
Positioning himself near the rear of the van, C?dmon wedged his foot against one of the double doors, ensuring they wouldn’t be locked inside the refrigerated vehicle. As the van moved off, the door bounced gently against the sole of his shoe.
‘How long do we have to stay cooped up in the chickenmobile?’ Edie grumped, head and shoulders hunched to avoid being sideswiped by the swinging fowl overhead. She held his wadded handkerchief to her mouth, blotting the blood from a cut lip.
‘We remain in the van as long as I deem it necessary. And the birds in question are geese.’ Bound for Christmas tables all across the shire.
He spared Edie a quick glance, still furious about her foolhardy sprint through the arcade, the woman having more blasted moves than the Bolshoi Ballet.
‘I figured he’d take you out first,’ Edie explained. ‘That’s why I pushed you into the street. To cause a diversion.’
And to ensure that the goon chased after her not him.
‘You’re quick on your feet, but that doesn’t mean that you made a wise decision,’ he chastised, not in a forgiving mood. Then, dreading what her answer might be, ‘Did he harm you in any way?’
‘I wouldn’t go so far as to say he violated my person, but he did take a few liberties.’
‘Bloody bastard!’
‘It was nothing. Trust me. Other than a cut lip, I’m fine.’
C?dmon stared into Edie Miller’s brown eyes, able to see the scared, vulnerable child she once had been. He fought the urge to pull her to him, worried that he might say something utterly asinine.
Evidently suffering from no such qualms, Edie crawled towards him, nearly losing her balance when the van made a sudden left turn. He grabbed the bottom of the door with his hand, preventing it from swinging wide open. Despite the anger, he stretched out his free arm, cradling her face in his hand.
‘It’s cold in here,’ she complained, nestling beside him.
C?dmon gently rubbed his thumb over her swollen lip. ‘Thank God you’re all right.’
‘What now?’
‘Taking any form of public transport is out of the question as MacFarlane’s men will undoubtedly be monitoring the coach and train stations. So we’ll remain in the van until we’ve safely departed Oxford. Hopefully, we’ll be able to find a sympathetic motorist willing to take us to London.’
‘Maybe we should notify the authorities.’
‘It’s not as though we can have the villain brought to book. And given your rampage in the market, should you contact the police, you’d probably end up an overnight guest of the Thames Valley Constabulary.’
‘So where does that leave us?’
‘Floundering about like two —’
‘Geese,’ she interjected, staring at the birds swinging overhead.
‘I was about to say two landed mackerel, but I suppose a pair of frightened geese would do.’
‘No. I’m talking about the first line of the fourth quatrain.’ Snatching the airline bag, she unzipped it, removing the folded sheet of paper with the translated quatrains. ‘Here it is,’ she said, underlining the line with her finger as she read aloud. ‘“The trusted goose sorely wept for all of them were dead.” Do you remember I told you that I once wrote a research paper on the Wife of Bath from Chaucer’s
