“Trouble, Raine!” Daniel roared. He pulled closer to the carriage. “Go as fast as you can!” he directed the driver.
He took the left, and Raine the right side of the carriage.
“Keep your head inside, we are being followed!” he bellowed to Abby, who was now framed in the window.
“What’s happening!”
“We’re being followed! Sit down!”
Her head disappeared. Looking behind him, he saw the men were closing in and fast. They would be caught in minutes. There were too many to stand and fight; he knew that, as did the earl. If he shot one, there would be eight more to take him down. But one thing he was sure of was that they would not get Abby. No matter what it took, he would not allow that to happen.
“We can’t outrun them!” Raine roared.
The first bullet whistled past Daniel’s head.
“Arm yourself!” Raine told his drivers.
“Stop or I will shoot you!” The words came from behind him. He waited for the bullet, but it did not come.
Two riders passed him to slow the carriage. He pulled his horse in beside Raine, they urged them to stand in front of the carriage doors. The drivers stood with guns also.
It was a standoff; however, they were outnumbered two to one.
The men formed a line a few feet from where they stood. Daniel trained his gun on who he believed was the leader of the group. All had their faces covered and weapons trained on them.
His heart pounded as fear ran through him. They would not take her from him, not now he’d just found her. Suddenly now he saw that was a possibility, nothing else mattered, only that he had to keep her safe.
“They don’t get her,” Raine said.
“No matter what it takes,” Daniel confirmed.
“Aye.”
“Where are the guns?” Abby said through the window.
“Stay still and quiet,” Raine said. “Not one word.”
He heard movement inside and could only guess that the two women were searching.
“You will not have her,” Daniel said with a calm he wasn’t feeling. “I will shoot you first.”
The lead rider moved forward a few feet, leaving the line.
“But there are more of us than you, Mr. Dillinger, so even if you take a few of us down, the others will be there to kill you all.”
The voice was female, which was his first surprise; the second was that she knew his name.
“And I repeat, you will not take her.”
“It’s me you want, not my sister,” Gabe said. “If that is the case, then here I am, come and get me.”
“No, Gabe!”
“Shut up, Abby,” Daniel said.
“There you have it wrong, Lord Raine. It is not your family that I am interested in, but his.” She nodded to Daniel.
“Pardon?” Raine sounded confused. “Have you not tried to harm my sister before today?”
“I have not. Your sister means nothing to me. He, however, has eluded me once, but there will not be a second time.”
Shock held Daniel silent as the woman pointed at him.
“Once?”
“My man tried to grab you one evening, but you fought him off.”
He thought back to the night he’d gone to the Duck and Goose. That had not been a random attack, but one of her men. This was nothing to do with Abby.
“What do you want with him?” Raine asked.
“I want revenge for the death of my father and uncle.”
“Who?” Daniel gritted out.
“John Blackheath was my father, and when your brother killed him, my mother withered and died also. He then killed my uncle.”
“You cannot be serious?” Daniel knew who she spoke of. Jacob Blackheath had tried to kill Oliver many years ago, and thankfully failed.
“Deadly,” the woman said.
“You are not honestly telling me you have carried this foolish revenge for that many years?” Daniel couldn’t believe it. “What is wrong with your family? First your uncle, and now you?”
“It is not foolish! My mother died brokenhearted because of your brother’s actions. She grieved for my father!”
“The Blackheath brothers were criminals.”
“I’m not sure antagonizing her is the best option now, Dillinger,” Raine muttered.
“My brother won that fight fairly; it was your father and uncle who cheated.”
“I swore to my mother before she died I would avenge their deaths!” The woman waved her gun around, clearly agitated.
“Lord save me,” Daniel muttered. “Another deathbed promise.”
“Shut up!” she shrieked.
“Care to inform me what the hell is going on, Dillinger?”
He shot Raine a look. “This woman’s father fought my brother in a bare knuckled fight. Oliver won, but John Blackheath died. His brother Jacob then tried to kill my brother and sister-in-law but failed. He too died, but in prison, where he rotted in hell until he drew his last breath, and it was the best outcome. The man was mad.”
“Your brother made him crazed!”
“I think not. I think it’s clear to everyone that it runs in your family.”
“Enough talk. You come with us now, and I let the others live.”
“No!” Daniel turned to find Abby had opened the door of the carriage on the other side. She and Dimity hurried around to where they stood.
“Stay inside!” Both Daniel and Lord Raine roared.
They were ignored, and Abby was soon at his side. Dismounting, he grabbed her.
“Abby, you have to get back in the carriage!” The earl dismounted also and reached for his sister.
“I will not, Gabe!” She shook off his hand. “I won’t let them hurt Daniel! She is not taking him from me!”
“How lovely. I had not realized that you and Lord Raine’s sister cared for each other,” Blackheath’s daughter mocked them. “It will be all the more rewarding to take you from her as you did my father.”
“Abby. I can’t let anything happen to you. Get back in the carriage.” Daniel tried to push her away, but she clung to him.
“How sweet,” the woman cooed. “But have no fear, we will not kill him instantly. No, I have plans for both
