“Bind him,” a gruff voice said.

It was enough to set every pore in his body into fighting mode. A man did not spend his life so close to the noose without preparing for those two words.

It didn’t matter that he couldn’t see. It didn’t matter that he had no idea who they were or why they’d come for him. He fought. And he knew how to fight, clean and dirty. But there were three of them at least, possibly more, and he managed only two good punches before he was facedown in the dirt, his hands yanked behind his back and bound with…

Well, it wasn’t rope. Almost felt like silk, truth be told.

“Sorry,” one of his captors mumbled, which was odd. Men in the business of tying up other men rarely thought to offer apologies.

“Think nothing of it,” Jack returned, then cursed himself for his insolence. All his little quip earned him was a mouth full of burlap dust.

“This way,” someone said, helping him to his feet.

And Jack could do nothing but obey.

“Er, if you please,” the first voice said-the one who’d ordered him bound.

“Care to tell me where I’m going?” Jack inquired.

There was quite a bit of hemming and hawing. Minions. These were minions. He sighed. Minions never knew the important things.

“Er, can you step up?”

And then, before Jack could oblige, or even say, “Beg pardon,” he was roughly hoisted into the air and tumbled into what had to be a carriage.

“Put him on a seat,” a voice barked. He knew that voice. It was the old lady. His grandmother.

Well, at least he wasn’t off to be hanged.

“Don’t suppose someone will see to my horse,” Jack said.

“See to his horse,” the old lady snapped.

Jack allowed himself to be moved onto a seat, not a particularly easy maneuver, bound and blindfolded as he was.

“Don’t suppose you’ll untie my hands,” he said.

“I’m not stupid,” was the old lady’s reply.

“No,” he said with a false sigh. “I didn’t think you were. Beauty and stupidity never go as hand in hand as one might wish.”

“I am sorry I had to take you this way,” the old lady said. “But you left me no choice.”

“No choice,” Jack mused. “Yes, of course. Because I’ve done so much to escape your clutches up to now.”

“If you had intended to call upon me,” the old lady said sharply, “you would not have ridden off earlier this afternoon.”

Jack felt himself smile mockingly. “She told you, then,” he said, wondering why he’d thought she might not.

“Miss Eversleigh?”

So that was her name.

“She had no choice,” the old lady said dismissively, as if the wishes of Miss Eversleigh were something she rarely considered.

And then Jack felt it. A slight brush of air beside him. A faint rustle of movement.

She was there. The elusive Miss Eversleigh. The silent Miss Eversleigh.

The delicious Miss Eversleigh.

“Remove his hood,” he heard his grandmother order. “You’re going to suffocate him.”

Jack waited patiently, affixing a lazy smile onto his face-it was not, after all, the expression they would expect, and thus the one he most wished to display. He heard her make a noise-Miss Eversleigh, that was. It wasn’t a sigh exactly, and not a groan, either. It was something he couldn’t quite place. Weary resignation, perhaps. Or maybe-

The hood came off, and he took a moment to savor the cool air on his face.

Then he looked at her.

It was mortification. That’s what it had been. Poor Miss Eversleigh looked miserable. A more gracious gentleman would have turned away, but he wasn’t feeling overly charitable at the moment, and so he treated himself to a lengthy perusal of her face. She was lovely, although not in any predictable manner. No English rose was she, not with that glorious dark hair and shining blue eyes that tilted up ever-so-slightly at the edges. Her lashes were dark and sooty, in stark contrast to the pale perfection of her skin.

Of course, that paleness might have been a result of her extreme discomfort. The poor girl looked as if she might cast up her accounts at any moment.

“Was it that bad, kissing me?” he murmured.

She turned scarlet.

“Apparently so.” He turned to his grandmother and said in his most conversational tone, “I hope you realize this is a hanging offense.”

“I am the Duchess of Wyndham,” she replied with a haughty lift of her brow. “Nothing is a hanging offense.”

“Ah, the unfairness of life,” he said with a sigh. “Wouldn’t you agree, Miss Eversleigh?”

She looked as if she wanted to speak. Indeed, the poor girl was most definitely biting her tongue.

“Now if you were the perpetrator in this little crime,” he continued, allowing his eyes to slide insolently from her face to her bosom and back, “this would all be so very different.”

Her jaw tightened.

“It would be,” he murmured, allowing his gaze to fall to her lips, “rather lovely, I think. Just think-you, me, alone in this exceedingly luxurious carriage.” He sighed contentedly and sat back. “The imagination runs wild.”

He waited for the old lady to defend her. She did not.

“Care to share your plans for me?” he asked, propping one ankle over the opposite knee as he slouched in his seat. It wasn’t an easy position to achieve, with his hands still stuck behind him, but he was damned if he’d sit up straight and polite.

The old lady turned to him, her lips pinched. “Most men would not complain.”

He shrugged. “I am not most men.” Then he offered a half smile and turned to Miss Eversleigh. “A rather banal rejoinder on my part, wouldn’t you say? So obvious. A novice could have come up with it.” He shook his head as if disappointed. “I do hope I’m not losing my touch.”

Her eyes widened.

He grinned. “You think I’m mad.”

“Oh, yes,” she said, and he rather enjoyed her voice again, washing warmly over him.

“It’s something to consider.” He turned to the old lady. “Does madness run in the family?”

“Of course not,” she snapped.

“Well, that’s a relief. Not,” he added, “that I am acknowledging a connection. I don’t believe I wish to be associated with cutthroats such as yourself. Tsk tsk. Even I have never resorted to kidnapping.” He leaned forward, as if imparting a very grave confidence to Miss Eversleigh. “It’s very bad form, you know.”

And he thought-oh, how lovely-that he saw her lips twitch. Miss Eversleigh had a sense of humor. She was growing more delectable by the second.

He smiled at her. He knew how to do it, too. He knew exactly how to smile at a woman to make her feel it deep inside.

He smiled at her. And she blushed.

Which made him smile even more.

“Enough,” the old lady snapped.

He feigned innocence. “Of what?”

He looked at her, at this woman who was most probably his grandmother. Her face was pinched and lined, the corners of her mouth pulled down by the weight of an eternal frown. She’d look unhappy even if she smiled, he thought. Even if somehow she managed to get that mouth to form a crescent in the correct direction-

No, he decided. It wouldn’t work. She’d never manage it. She’d probably expire from the exertion.

“Leave my companion alone,” she said tersely.

He leaned toward Miss Eversleigh, giving her a lopsided smile even though she was quite determinedly looking away. “Was I bothering you?”

“No,” she said quickly. “Of course not.”

Which couldn’t have been further from the truth, but who was he to quibble?

He turned back to the old lady. “You didn’t answer my question.”

She lifted an imperious brow. Ah, he thought, completely without humor, that was where he got the expression.

“What do you plan to do with me?” he asked.

“Do with you.” She repeated the words curiously, as if she found them most strange.

He lifted a brow right back at her, wondering if she’d recognize the gesture. “There are a great many options.”

“My dear boy,” she began. Her tone was grand. Condescending. As if he’d only needed this to realize that he ought to be licking her boots. “I’m going to give you the world.”

Grace had just about managed to regain her equilibrium when the highwayman, after a lengthy and thoughtful frown, turned to the dowager and said, “I don’t believe I’m interested in your world.”

A bubble of horrified laughter burst forth from her throat. Oh dear heavens, the dowager looked ready to spit.

Grace clamped a hand over her mouth and turned away, trying not to notice that the highwayman was positively grinning at her.

“Apologies,” he said to the dowager, not sounding the least bit contrite. “But can I have her world instead?”

Grace’s head snapped back around in time to see him nodding in her direction. He shrugged. “I like you better.”

“Are you never serious?” the dowager bit off.

And then he changed. His body did not move from its slouch, but Grace could feel the air around him coiling with tension. He was a dangerous man. He hid this well with his lazy charm and insolent smile. But he was not a man to be crossed. She was sure of it.

“I’m always serious,” he said, his eyes never leaving those of the dowager. “You’d do well to take note of that.”

“I’m so sorry,” Grace whispered, the words slipping out before she had a chance to consider them. The gravity of the situation was bearing down on her with uncomfortable intensity. She had been so worried about Thomas and what this would all mean for him. But in that moment it was brought home to her that there were two men caught in this web.

And whatever this man was, whoever he was, he did not deserve this. Perhaps he would want life as a Cavendish, with its riches and prestige. Most men would. But he deserved the choice. Everyone deserved a choice.