Chapter 1
Jacob gazed out the window, feeling the rhythmic movement of the carriage as it jolted its way along the road towards Putton.
Soon, the track would emerge from the forest they were travelling through, and the pine trees lining the road would begin to thin out, with dwellings and shops taking their place as they entered the town.
Before long, they would be arriving at their destination, and he knew it was time to drag his attention away from his daydreams and back towards the job at hand.
He turned to face his mother, sitting opposite him in the carriage. “Tell me again about the situation with the leases on the cottages by the church?”
His mother, Margaret, scarcely managed to suppress her sigh. “Jacob, my dear, I have told you already, at least twice!”
Jacob gave her a wry smile, running a hand through his light brown hair as he did so. “Forgive me, Mother. I have had many more interesting things to think about lately. But I promise I will concentrate this time.”
She huffed, smoothed her skirts with her soft, pale hands, and looked at him with piercing green eyes. “You must listen properly this time. You need to take this seriously.”
Jacob nodded, feeling chastened. He knew she was right. It was now a whole year since his father had died – he could scarcely believe that so much time had passed since that momentous day when life had irrevocably changed for him and his mother and sisters.
He was the Earl of Chesterfield now, whether he liked it or not, and although he had never shirked from his responsibilities, he knew it was time to take a proper grip on things now.
No more travelling, no more fun with his friends.
All these things had served as perfect distractions from the rawness of his grief following his father’s unexpected and sudden death.
His father had left this world far too soon when he had so much life left in him. But Jacob knew it was time for him to fully accept his new responsibilities now, even though he wished his father was still there to guide him.
But there was no use dwelling on his grief. His mother was far more knowledgeable than he was on the details of the many properties on the estate and their various leases; his father had treated her almost as an equal when it came to managing things.
He sensed, though, that these responsibilities were becoming onerous to her now as she struggled with her own grief and sorrow, and he was keen to relieve her of the burden.
But first, he needed her to inform him of everything he had to know, so that he could relieve her of the responsibilities she had carried alone. “Tell me all about it,” he urged his mother. “I promise to pay attention this time.”
“Well, it is not terribly complicated, really,” Margaret began.
“The tenants of the cottages have all been in their houses for a long time. I have known them all for many years. I know their children, even their grandchildren, in some cases. Many of them work on the land outside the village, on your father’s estate.
” She stopped and blinked. “Forgive me, on your estate. Of course, it is all yours now, Jacob, and rightly so.”
Jacob gave his mother a sad smile. “I wish it were not so. I still forget, sometimes, that he is gone,” he said softly.
Margaret glanced out the window for a moment, a faraway look on her face. Jacob wondered what she was imagining. But then she sat up a little straighter and turned her attention back to her son.
“Yes,” she said shortly. “But he is gone, and we must carry on. It is a privilege, you know, to be in a position to help those less fortunate than ourselves, and you must carry on his work and my own as well. I will not live forever, after all, and I must confess that I feel my energy waning somewhat.”
Jacob reflected on his mother’s rather grave words as the carriage continued to bump along the road.
After a few moments of silence, his mother spoke again. “There will come a time, and I hope it will be soon, that you will have your own family, a wife, and children, and then it will be even more important that everything is stable and well-managed to provide you with the security you will need.”
Jacob scoffed a little. “Mother, you make it all sound so prosaic! Am I not allowed to think there might be something more than stability to look forward to?”
Something like love, he added to himself, although he did not want to say the words out loud to his mother. She would only get over-excited, and he was not quite ready to share his plans with her just yet.
“Stability is better than nothing,” she replied shortly, but their conversation was cut short when the carriage suddenly gave a violent jolt. “These roads!” he exclaimed. “I am sure they are getting worse!”
Margaret shrugged. “The journey will get smoother as we get closer to the town. This road through the forest has always been terribly rutted. Now, the Smiths are the only tenants who have ever given us any trouble. The rest of them are all good as gold, always pay their rent on time, and look after their cottages. But the Smiths … well. They need careful management.” She paused and frowned. “Did you hear something?”
Jacob held his breath. He had a strange feeling that something was wrong, although he could not put it into words.
But his skin prickled with a sense of danger all the same.
He told himself he was being ridiculous; his mother was just being over-anxious, as usual, and if he looked worried, it would make her feel all the more unsettled.
“I did not hear a thing, Mother,” he said, with what he hoped was a reassuring smile.
“So what’s to be done about the Smiths?”
Suddenly, a loud bang hit the air, and Jacob’s blood ran cold. “Mother, get down!” he shouted.
Margaret went white with fear, but she managed to obey him, ducking her head between her knees and placing her hands over her head.
There was another bang – a gunshot, surely? Jacob had to fight every instinct to copy his mother and throw himself down onto the floor of the carriage. But he knew he must remain alert and try to find out what was happening. He had to protect his mother at all costs.
The carriage lurched to a halt, and he heard shouts and the loud whinnying of the horses.
Without thinking, he threw open the door and jumped onto the road, his boots landing on the dusty track with a thud.
The acrid smell of gunpowder assaulted his nostrils, and his heart thumped in his chest as adrenalin flooded through him.
He looked around, and his worst fears were realized. Highwaymen. They must have been waiting for them amongst the trees, on the last stretch of road before the town, where they could lurk unnoticed in the undergrowth for hours until a suitably smart carriage passed by.
The Morton family carriage was not especially opulent, but on seeing it, it would be clear to any bystanders that it contained passengers of noble birth, likely to have at least some valuables with them on their travels.
Jacob swore under his breath as he counted the masked men surrounding the carriage, all dressed in black. There were three of them – no, four – two on horseback and two on the ground, their horses standing at a distance. His heart sank.
The coachman jumped down from his seat at the front of the carriage and looked around, quickly assessing the situation. Then, he glanced at Jacob. There was fear in the man’s dark eyes but a hint of something else, too – determination and defiance.
“Do you think we can take ’em on, My Lord,” he murmured.
Jacob swallowed. He was not a man to shy away from confrontation – heavens, although his mother would swoon at the thought, he had not led an entirely blameless life as a schoolboy or even in the years that had passed since his schooldays.
But he also knew that more bandits could be hiding in the forest, waiting to jump out at the first sign of resistance. And, of course, these men had guns.
He and the gutsy coachman had only their fists. Much as he wanted to fight back, he knew it would not end well. They had no hope of overpowering the bandits.
The horses stomped next to them, neighing in fear and confusion, and Jacob knew he had to act quickly. If the horses spooked and ran off with the carriage, that would present a whole new disastrous situation, especially with his mother still inside.
He took a step forward, his heart pounding.
One of the highwaymen strode towards him, brandishing his pistol. “You’ll give us your money!” he yelled. “And anything else you have!”
Jacob yearned to resist, but he knew it was futile. He nodded to the coachman, hoping he understood. They would have to admit defeat and hand over their very limited valuables.
All they could do was hope that it would be enough to satisfy these men’s criminal greed. A surge of anger started to rise within him at the injustice of it all. Not to mention the shame of it.
He was not looking forward to having to tell his companions at the club about this incident – assuming that he came out of it in one piece, of course.
But now was not the time for heroics, especially when he had his mother’s safety to think of.
He knew that he would have to submit and then pray to all that was heavenly that the highwaymen would allow them to go on their way without doing them any harm.
Then, suddenly, he heard a whizzing sound, and a shout, followed by a thud. He whirled around, to see one of the bandits who had been standing on the other side of the carriage, crumpling to the ground.
“Oy! What?” the bandit nearest to Jacob shouted, frantically looking around in confusion.
Jacob, too, was baffled. Were they under attack from another gang of thieves? He could not comprehend what was happening.
Again, there was the same series of noises, and this time, Jacob was sure he felt the air moving right next to his face as if some object had flown past him, very fast, too fast to see.
Another bandit fell from his horse to the ground. They were dropping like flies, and Jacob could not figure out what was going on.
The ringleader swore out loud. Clearly, this was not part of his plan, and he was not sure what to do next. Only one of his companions remained standing.
The situation was changing by the second, and Jacob wondered for a moment if he should rush at the man and try to overpower him while he was distracted.
Jacob watched in amazement as the man in front of him, too, fell to the ground, his pistol dropping from his hand and clattering onto the road.
Everything was happening so fast, but Jacob knew he had to figure out what was going on so that he could protect his mother and their property, too, if at all possible.
He whirled around, but before he could make sense of what was happening, he felt a sharp pain in the side of his head, like an explosion.
Then he felt his legs giving way underneath him as he fell to the ground.
He felt the sensation of his face hitting the dirt of the road, and his last thought was of his mother and how he could get her to safety. Then everything went black.