Before Rose could understand what he intended, Barnaby slapped the horse hard on the rump with the reins. Jerking in shock, the animal lunged into action and began to gallop wildly down the street.
Rose gasped when the clatter of the horses’ hooves on the cobbles was accompanied by several popping noises behind them. She watched in horror as the men a few yards in of them lifted their guns too.
“Get down!” Barnaby ordered, hunkering over the reins. Tugging hard, he flicked the reins to keep the horse going and ploughed through the line of men trying to shoot at them.
Rose kept her eyes open, but they were going too fast for anyone to even get near the carriage. She squealed when they rounded the corner at the end of the road so quickly that the carriage tipped onto two wheels. When she opened her eyes all she could see was the cobbled street rushing past at terrifying speed.
“We are going to be killed,” she gasped as the carriage bounced along and righted itself.
“Not yet,” Barnaby bit out through clenched teeth. “Not tonight.”
The wind dragged the pins out of her hair which tumbled free in a wild abandon about her shoulders, but she was oblivious to everything apart from the mild annoyance caused by having to flick the heavy tresses out of her eyes. She daren’t let go of the seat for long for fear of falling off it and ending up beneath the wildly spinning wheels.
“Will you slow down, for Heaven’s sake? We are going to end up dead, and it won’t be Chadwick’s fault,” she snapped. Her only response was a loud bang behind her followed by an explosion of brick dust off the house they flashed past.
“Stay down,” Barnaby ordered.
“Was that gunfire?” Rose gasped in horror. She tried to glance behind them to see where the gunman was but everything was such a blur that she could see nothing.
Barnaby swore loudly, grabbed the back of her neck and shoved her down onto the seat when she didn’t do as she was told.
“Sit still and stay down.” He couldn’t hold her head down, and cursed when she immediately popped back up again. He gave her a filthy glare.
“They are shooting at us,” she cried in outrage when another shower of brick dust fell over them.
Barnaby grabbed the back of her neck and shoved her down again. “Stay there,” he snarled in a fit of rate that was uncharacteristic.
Rose suddenly found her face pressed against his thigh, inches from his manly parts.
“Look, if this is all some sort of sick joke, I think you must stop now,” Rose protested as she pushed herself upright, her cheeks flushed. “Why do I need to stay down? You are sitting upright.”
Ignoring her, Barnaby glanced over his shoulder at the road behind them as they swung around the next corner. Chadwick’s men were racing after them on foot and were doing a far too credible job for comfort. He hadn’t put as much distance between them as he had hoped and unless he could find another way of getting them out of the area they were going to get caught.
“We have to find somewhere to hide,” he growled aloud.
“I am sorry, are you talking to yourself, or me?” Rose snapped.
When another flurry of popping noises whizzed past her ears, Rose suddenly found the back of her head grabbed again and her face shoved roughly against his rock-hard thigh.
“Let me go,” she ordered, slapping at his hand until he had no choice but to let her up again. “Will you stop doing that?”
“Someone is trying to kill us,” Barnaby ground out between clenched teeth.
Was she dense? “Did you not hear that gunshot?” he snapped.
“Of course I did,” she replied with a snort. “I am neither deaf nor stupid.”
“Oh, well, would you care to tell me how to stop it? Moreover, explain to me why you decided to walk off down the street when I expressly told you to stay still? We could have been away from here if I hadn’t had to stop to pick you up,” he shouted. “Now look what has happened!”
He paused in lambasting her long enough to call an apology to the man who tumbled out of a tavern and was nearly run over.
Rose heaved a sigh of relief as she watched the man stumble back against the path and then fall over. At least they hadn’t hit him, but it had been close.
“Will you slow down?” she demanded.
“No,” Barnaby snorted. “Not right now, thank you.” He smirked at her, as if daring her to try it. “Feel free to disembark if you want to.”