Chapter Nineteen
Damian woke before he slowly opened his eyes, not certain when he fell asleep.
Georgie had drifted off before he had, leaning against her side of the coach. He had nearly drew her to his side so that she could rest her head against him, but he had suffered enough temptation already and having her that close would be more than he wanted to endure.
Not long after, he recalled that his eyelids became too heavy to keep open, likely because of his lack of sleep the night before and then having drunk nearly a bottle of wine with Georgie before their stop.
He hadn’t awakened because he had got enough sleep, but something had disturbed him, and it wasn’t that he was sleeping in a mail coach.
Something wasn’t right.
Damian held still to determine what was wrong.
Then he felt a hand carefully pull at his suitcoat. Without looking, he knew that it wasn’t Georgie. She had no reason to lift his purse.
His eyes shifted lower, and even though the light in the lamp by the door had been turned low, he recognized that it belonged to a man and in a blink, grasped his wrist and looked him in the eye.
He did not need to ask what he had been about to do. “I suggest you sit back in your seat.” His tone was deep, cold, a clear warning that if he did not, Damian would toss him from the moving mail coach. He was tempted to do so anyway.
“What…”
He glanced over at Georgie’s exclamation. The woman who had accompanied the man had lifted the flap of her satchel, which Georgie constantly kept on her lap and a hand over the flap. The woman must have carefully moved it away.
“Thieves!” Damian exclaimed.
Georgie sat straight and pushed the woman back with enough force that she fell onto her seat before she searched her satchel, likely to make certain nothing had been taken.
“Is anything gone?” Damian asked.
“No. Was anything taken from you?”
“No.”
Georgie scooted closer to him.
“Is this what you do?” he asked the couple. “Ride mail coaches at night, when people are tired, rob them in their sleep, then leave at the next coaching inn in hope that nobody notices until it is too late and the mail coach is too far away, knowing that it will not return.”
Neither said anything but stared at him with defiance.
Damian stared right back and did not say a word, neither did Georgie, but he could sense the tension, likely anger, radiating from her body.
He really wished that he knew how long the mail coach had been traveling and if he had slept through one of the stops or if it hadn’t yet reached the stop that followed the one where these two entered the coach.
He pulled the pocket watch from the inside of his suitcoat and held it up to the low light. It was just after one in the morning, but as he hadn’t checked the time when these two joined them, he had no way of knowing how long they had traveled.
Damian had half a mind to pound on the roof of the mail coach so that he could have these two removed, except mail coaches stopped only at scheduled coaching inns and could only be interrupted under the gravest of circumstances.
Catching two thieves before they made off with his and Georgie’s funds would not be considered a critical situation.
However, one thing was certain, he would not fall asleep again. Not until they were gone, and likely not if he and Georgie were joined by other passengers.
He simply stared, eyes hard, a warning. No doubt the two had hoped to escape as soon as the mail coach stopped, but he would block their exit.
The four of them rode in silence and when Damian checked his pocket watch again, it had been thirty minutes, which could only mean that he and Georgie had slept through one of the stops.
He assumed that he must have remained awake until just before they had made their third stop and those two hoped that nobody else boarded the coach.
They trundled on for nearly another hour before the mail coach pulled into another inn.
He leveled his eyes on the two and placed his hand on the handle used to open the door.
“You cannot keep us inside,” the woman said.
“I can. I will not let you leave until the driver is made aware of what you are about, and perhaps see you arrested.”
“We did nothing, and you cannot prove anything.” The man smirked.
“It will be my word against yours,” Damian acknowledged.
“Why would anyone believe you over us.” The woman laughed, confidant that she would walk away without repercussions.
“I am Damian Wynd, brother to the Earl of Wyndham, and I operate Trade Wynd. I have no doubt that I will be believed over the likes of you.”
When the mail coach came to a stop, the man jumped forward but Damian pushed him back, stood and motioned for Georgie to scoot behind him. Only then did he open the door enough for her to step out. He then followed then slammed the door before the two could exit.
“Driver,” he called.
“Ten minutes,” he returned as he climbed from his perch.
“It is another matter,” Damian said, with his hand still holding the door closed.
The driver let out a sigh of irritation. “What?”
“I woke to the two passengers you picked up at the second stop trying to lift my purse.”
“The woman was trying to search my satchel,” Georgie added.
The driver grumbled something that Damian did not understand before he marched off toward the inn.
“May I leave?” Georgie asked.
“No!” Where did she think to go?
“I really must,” she insisted, then marched away. With one hand pressed against the door, he watched helplessly as Georgie made her way behind the inn. He was torn between following to protect her and keeping the two inside from escaping.
Just as he was about to finally abandon his post and go after Georgie, the driver marched out of the inn, two men with him.
Damian stepped back and the door was pushed open from the inside and the man jumped out, only to be stopped.
“He lies,” the woman cried.
“He does not,” the driver answered.
Damian heard enough and started to go after Georgie.
“You match the description of complaints that we have had. You will no longer be allowed to purchase passage with this company,” he heard the driver say just as he stepped behind the inn in search of Georgie.
He could only assume that she was in the necessity and paced outside and waited.
What if something had happened to her when she was out of his sight?
What if she wasn’t in the small building at all but had been taken off by someone intent on harming her.
His pulse hammered in his veins as he marched forward, determined to pound on the door until it was answered, except it opened just as he neared.
“Are they dealt with?” Georgie asked as if nothing was amiss.
Had she not been concerned that they had nearly been robbed or that she had caused him nearly to panic when she had been out of his sight?
“Yes! They have been,” he ground out. “You should have waited for me.”
Georgie blew out a sigh and started back for the mail coach. “I was perfectly safe, as you can see.” She turned and offered him a half smile. “You worry too much, Damian.”
He hurried to catch up. “Need I remind you that we were nearly robbed?”
“I was there and it was not so long ago, but we were not because we both woke in time.”
He shook his head. There was no point in wondering what could have happened when nothing had and he should be grateful that he hadn’t been deeply asleep.
Besides, that wasn’t what had truly caused his deeper anxiety. It had been when he feared that something may have happened to her.
*
If that couple had taken her funds, Georgie wasn’t certain what she would have done because she needed her money for passage home for her and Grace.
She supposed she could have written to her father and asked for assistance, but that would leave her in England for nearly five or six months because it would take that long for a letter to reach him and for him to return a response.
“If anyone else joins us, I want you to sit right next to me, lean into me and sleep if you would like.”
“Why?” Not that she had any complaints about sitting close to Damian, even falling asleep on him again because it had been quite comforting the first time. She was also certain that there was a reason that had nothing to do with him wanting her in his arms.
“You sit on the side where my purse is tucked into my suitcoat, which will make it doubly difficult for anyone to lift it.
“What about my satchel?” she asked.
“What is inside?”
“Clothing and my funds.”
“Do you not own a reticule?”
“I do not need one,” she responded.
“Yes, you do. We will purchase one at the first opportunity.”
The last thing she wanted to do was to purchase an item that she did not need.
The book had been frivolous, and because of boredom and so she did not spend her time worrying about Grace.
It had also been a mistake because Georgie wasn’t certain if she would ever be able to finish it.
As for a reticule, she had two at home and brought neither with her because she had left dressed as a man and had not anticipated needing one when they sailed back to Italy.
She did not need one now, which she would tell Damian when the time came.
By the time they reached the mail coach, three other passengers had joined them.
A woman sat at the far end of the bench facing the front of the coach and the two men were on the opposite side.
Georgie took the same seat she always seemed to occupy, in the center, and Damian sat next to the door.
He then put his arm along the back of the squabs and she moved closer, aware that this was more about protecting his funds and not so much that he wanted her against his side, much to her disappointment.
The near kiss was behind them and would never happen again.
“Get some rest,” he whispered into her hair.
Except, Georgie wasn’t certain that she could after what had happened earlier.
What if she had been alone with those two? What if she hadn’t woken?
And as much as she insisted that she was independent and could take care of herself, events of late proved just how wrong she had been and it irritated her to no end.
Further, she would never tell Damian because she loathed admitting that he had been right that she had needed some protection.