Chapter Twenty

"What is the meaning of this!" Trenchert roared from inside his carriage.

Sean O'Malley stared at the viscount before answering, "It should be obvious. The road is not open to visitors."

"Move that wagon at once!" Trenchert demanded.

Sean ignored the viscount and told the coachman, "Ye'll have to turn yer carriage around. Orders from the earl."

"Who does he think he is?" Trenchert bellowed, still seated inside his carriage.

Sean crossed his arms in front of him, stared down at the viscount, and replied, "The owner of this property. Edward Earl Lippincott, brother to His Grace, the sixth Duke of Wyndmere."

"Ignore that idiot, coachman!" the viscount said.

Trenchert had the door open and was about to step down, but Sean was already in position standing between the lead horses and had a hold of their bridles. "Easy now, lads," he crooned. "Ye'll not be wanting to crash into the earl's wagon. Walk with me now," he said as he led the horses onto the grass on the left side of the road, where there was plenty of room to turn around.

He chuckled, watching as the viscount struggled not to fall out of the carriage. Wouldn't it be grand now if the man fell on his face and broke his jaw? No one would have to listen to his bellowing then. A glance over his shoulder at the coachman had Sean wondering if the man would suffer for his actions. Not much could be done about it now, as Sean was following orders, as the coachman no doubt was. He'd make a point to find out later if the viscount let the man go for insubordination. If the coachman had been, Sean would speak to the earl and ask to add the man to his staff.

He watched as the coach drove away, and signaled to the stable hand who'd been out of sight, waiting for the viscount to leave. "Take the shortcut through the woods," Sean said. "Let Michael know the viscount should be trying to access the manor via the south road, since he met with resistance here."

The stable hand mounted his horse and rode off to do Sean's bidding. Sean waited a moment before whistling—his signal for the footman who had accompanied him to the north entrance. While he waited for the man to approach, he wondered if Trenchert would brandish a weapon when forced to stop a second time. He should have said something to the stable hand before sending him off to warn Michael. But it was too late now, and he needed to remain in his position until word reached him that the situation had been fully handled and he could return to the manor house.

"As the viscount met resistance here first," Sean told the footman, "he's bound to try a different tack to get his way. While I know me brother will be ready for the man to try anything to get his way, I need ye to ride over there and warn him." He hoped his brother would anticipate being used for target practice.

*

Trenchert pushed thecarriage door open, leaned out, and bellowed, "You cannot refuse me! Do you have any idea who I am?"

"Aye," Michael O'Malley replied. "I've been given strict orders that no one—not even yerself—will be allowed entrance to the manor today. Ye'd best tell yer coachman to turn around and head back the way ye came."

Watching the viscount's bright red face darken to apoplectic purple, Michael added, "Oh, and don't be thinking to pull a weapon on me. I'm armed, and I have three men who have ye in their sights and will shoot at me command."

The viscount shouted, "I am not leaving until I speak to Lippincott!"

"That's Earl Lippincott," Michael reminded him. In a lightning-fast move, he reached for the rifle he'd stashed beneath the wagon seat, cocked it, and aimed for the spot between Trenchert's eyes. "And I have me orders—no one is to be admitted today."

Incensed, the viscount commanded, "Do not point that gun at me!"

Michael ignored him. "As soon as yer coachman turns the carriage around and heads back the way ye came, I'll put me rifle away. Until then, I am within me rights as one of the duke's guard to protect the duke's brother and his family to the best of me ability. That means keeping me weapon trained on ye until ye leave his lordship's estate. Ye should be warned nothing will keep me from fulfilling me duties."

The viscount frowned, but wavered under Michael's determined expression…and the rifle still aimed at his forehead. Finally, he capitulated and gave his coachman orders to turn back.

Michael did not lower his rifle, or his guard, until the carriage was out of sight. He whistled and waited for the men hiding out of sight to answer his summons. When the three of them appeared, he gave the order for one of the men to follow the carriage, for one to alert Sean of what happened, and for the third man to remain with him, in case Trenchert had a change of heart and returned.

*

Dermott paced, waitingfor one of the stable hands, or footmen, to arrive with the news that the viscount had indeed tried to push his way past—or through—the wagons his cousins were using to block the roads leading to the manor. All was quiet… And just like his ma never trusted when he and his brothers were quiet when they were young, Dermott knew that silence was not always indicative of retreat. He was confident in his cousins' powers of persuasion, and that eventually the viscount would do as they suggested.

He had no doubt Trenchert would realize he had no choice but to turn back, if only to return to his stables for his thoroughbred. A man could easily navigate the paths in the forest on horseback. A coach and four would never be able to follow one of the narrow trails through the woods to access the manor house from behind the stables. Besides, Stratford and Varley were guarding the eastern and western perimeters, and they were bound to send word that the viscount had tried to bull his way through one of the wagons—or returned to attempt access via the trails.

An hour after they'd assumed their positions, the man Sean assigned to follow the carriage returned, reporting that the viscount had gone back to his home. "And did ye observe him entering?" Dermott asked. "Did ye wait to make sure it wasn't a ruse, or that he expected to be followed?"

"Aye, O'Malley," the footman answered. "The viscount was shouting loud enough to be heard miles away. My gut feeling is that he'll return…with more men."

Dermott nodded. "It's what I would do. We'll need to ask Tarleton and the others to see what they can find out."

The man agreed and returned to his post inside the manor house. A short while later, Sean drove the wagon past the front of the house and around to the stables. Michael arrived a few minutes later, coming from the other direction. Leaving the stable hands to unhitch the horses from the wagons, they walked over to confer with Dermott.

Sean was the first to speak. "If he wasn't already, we've made an enemy of Trenchert."

Dermott shrugged.

Michael asked his brother, "Did ye have to brandish yer weapon, Sean?"

"Nay. I take it ye did?"

"Aye, he was half out of his coach when I aimed me rifle to the spot between his eyes. He didn't back down right away, just sank back into the carriage and continued to shout orders to let him pass. Stubborn bugger."

"That he is," Sean agreed.

"He'll not be giving up," Dermott murmured. "We'll have to send an escort to fetch the vicar when he comes to marry the lass and me later. If that bloody bastard manages to slip past us, the lass will be in imminent danger!"

"We'll not be taking any chances," Sean said.

"We'll send two of the footmen to fetch the vicar," Michael said.

"I'm thinking I should escort the man meself," Dermott told his cousins.

Sean shook his head. "'Twill never work—Trenchert is smart enough to eventually reason out that Eggerton had an alternate plan for his daughter that would involve marriage to someone else."

Michael agreed with his brother, adding, "We cannot risk having the viscount see yerself fetching the vicar and put a lead ball in yer back!"

Dermott scrubbed a hand over his face. "I cannot let that excuse for a man anywhere near the lass. I don't trust him!"

"None of us do," Sean assured him. "He won't be getting past us, and with our eyes and ears around Trenchert Manor, the bugger won't slip past our guard. We'll be ready and waiting for him."

The hard truth sat in Dermott's gut and burned. "The viscount will never give up a prize as beautiful as the lass. But while he no doubt planned to use her ill, and mayhap even destroy her reputation, he also does not realize how resourceful the lass is. She escaped him once…and suffered for it."

"She recovered," Michael reminded him.

"Aye, but she has a will to match me own and will never give up trying to escape the man. God forbid he manages to somehow get past our wall of protection around the lass—we cannot let that happen!"

With a glance at those surrounding him, Dermott blew out a breath. "I can never thank ye enough for adding the lass to those under yer protection."

"Yer thanks aren't necessary," Michael told him.

"Aye," Sean agreed. "After what ye said when ye brought her here. Ye found her…"

Dermott wasn't able to hide the emotions swirling inside of him as he finished his cousin's statement. "And I'm keeping her."