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his pistol and pointing
it in readiness at the hedgerow as he slowed to a steady
canter.
    Jamie
needed no further encouragement. Nudging his horse faster, he drew
alongside Cecily’s horse and grabbed the dangling reins, murmuring
soothing noises to the huge, wild-eyed beast as he slowed them down
to a fast trot. Clearly the horse was lost in the grip of fear and
began prancing and objecting to the restriction on his speed and
movement. Sensing an ensuing fight, Jamie held tight, throwing one
arm around Cecily’s weight.
    “ Get on the back,” Jamie snapped, hating the abject fear
written clearly on her face. Although he was relieved that she had
made it over the fence in one piece, the ordeal wasn’t over yet.
There was the chance that the horse would bolt again, and take
Cecily with it. She wasn’t experienced at all and would be unable
to handle the huge beast. Death would be the only route out. He had
managed to get this far with her; he was certainly not going to
bloody well lose her now.
    Gritting
his teeth, he leaned over and grabbed her firmly around the waist,
ignoring her squeal as the horse, sensing the restriction on the
reins had vanished, lunged forward and began to charge across the
uneven field once more.
    Behind
them another gunshot broke the afternoon air, but it was of little
consequence to Cecily at that moment. Hanging suspended in mid-air
for several of the longest moments of her life, she found herself
unceremoniously dumped on the saddle in front of Jamie in an
undignified heap. The hard bridge of the saddle bit into her
posterior, but there was little she wanted to do about it at that
moment. The reassuring comfort of Jamie’s arms wrapped tightly
around her, were a boon to her battered senses. For a few moments
there was little she could do except lie still and hope she wasn’t
sick all over him – them. She lay like a wet dish rag, limp and
quivering, waiting for the wild motion to stop.
    “ Are you alright?” Jamie snapped, hating the paleness of her
cheeks. She was so pale he was certain she was going to expire on
the spot. “Cecily?” He prompted when she didn’t answer him. He
nudged his shoulder in an attempt to capture her attention. He
hated to rouse her. The feel of her against him was simply
wonderful, but he just had to make sure that she was alright and
hadn’t done any damage. He had been watching her and was fairly
certain that apart from a sore bottom in the morning and a fright,
she had suffered no lasting ill-effects from jumping over a huge
hedge while being shot at. For that he could only thank the good
Lord, but he desperately needed her to open her eyes and look at
him – just once; just to be certain.
    “ Cecily,” he snapped, dropping his head until they were
practically nose to nose.
    Cecily
opened her eyes, lost in a dream like state. The scent of him
lingered, despite the fact that they were in the middle of an open
field. How could that be? She should be able to smell nothing but
open air and grass, and she could, but it was tinged with the
decidedly masculine scent of soap and sandalwood; something that
was intrinsically him.
    The
sight of his beautiful grey eyes shooting shards of ice at her was
as effective as a bucket of cold water. In an instant the soft fuzz
of contentment vanished and was replaced with awkwardness that made
her want to squirm in her seat. Only she was immediately acutely
aware of just how close they were – down there. She was practically
sitting on his lap. Colour flooded her cheeks, and she slowly eased
upright until her back was rigid. She wished she could put some
distance between their bodies but there was nothing she could do.
Gulping, she carefully averted her gaze from the sight of the
ground that was so very far below.
    “ Everything all right?” Jonathan grinned as he drew alongside
them.
    Jamie
rolled his eyes. He was certain that the sight of Cecily
high-tailing it over the hedge on an out-of-control horse would
remain