Savage Thunder by Johanna Lindsey Read Free Book Online Page B

the shots from the rear, but whether the guards have passed behind the coach yet or not, the driver must be prevented from applying the brake. Without the driver, the coach horses will then move forward on their own.”
    “No problem.” Dewane grinned, able to see the big man now who was driving the lead coach. “He’s no easy target ta miss.”
    Elliot saw it was one of the grooms driving the duchess today. Too bad it wasn’t the Spaniard. Thatman was a devil with knives, and had killed one of Elliot’s men in New York who had been caught tampering with the duchess’s coach.
    The guards were passing now. In another moment, another…
    “Send the signal,” Elliot ordered over his shoulder.
    He waited tensely, holding his breath. The first pair of matched grays had passed, the second pair was nearly past. Bloody, bloody hell, if that Mexican…
    They heard the shot. So did the guards below. They were all turning about, but Grahame sent only two back to investigate. The vehicles were all stopping. There were shouts filling the air, demanding to know what was happening. The driver of the lead coach was standing up to look back.
    The third matched pair of grays was below the boulder now.
    Another two shots were fired successively. The remaining four guards began to maneuver past the coach on the side of the slope, the only place there was room for them to go. Grahame stopped, however, undoubtedly to reassure the duchess. Watching him, Elliott didn’t see the driver reach for the brake handle, but Dewane did. The shot fired right next to him gave him a start, but not enough to miss seeing the driver drop the reins as he began falling, right off the coach. He hit the ground behind Grahame’s mount, making the horse rear up out of control. The driver hit the ground close enough to the third set of grays; they likewise tried to rear, couldn’t, and set their harness mates into fright.
    From a dead stop to a frightened surge forward, it was too fast. “Now!” Elliot shouted, then swore a blue streak as he watched the boulder crash to the ledge below, break apart on contact, and do no more than scatter dust on the rapidly fleeing coach.
    He got to his feet with a snarl, and narrowly missed being shot. The guards were already returning the fire his men were raining down on them.
    The two men who were supposed to have climbed down to the ledge below to get to the coach if it was missed, were standing there awaiting new orders.
    “Get your horses and come around to where these trails end,” Elliot instructed. “With her bloody luck, that coach will miraculously make it to the bottom of the mountain without going over the side. Follow it with all speed, stop it if you have to, but make sure no one is left alive inside it. No one.”

Chapter Five
    “V anessa? Vanessa, are you all right?”
    “You may ask me that later. Right now I honestly couldn’t say.”
    Jocelyn was lying on the floor, or to be more exact, on the door. After that horrifying ride that had seemed as though it would never end, the coach had somehow tipped over on its side. Jocelyn had fallen against the door when the coach began to tilt, and presently had her back flat against it, with her long legs stretched out on the actual floor, which was now straight up in the air. Vanessa had not fared much better, though she had remained in her seat, which was now against the side of the coach above Jocelyn’s head.
    They both sat up at just about the same time, Vanessa with a moan, Jocelyn with a grunt. “I imagine we’ll have a few bruises to show for this experience.”
    “Is that all?” Vanessa replied, sounding not at all herself. “It feels—”
    “You are hurt,” Jocelyn said accusingly, seeing how the countess was pressing her hand to the side of her head.
    “Just a bump, I think. I was trying to brace myself, but my arm slipped.”
    “Turn around and rest your back against the seat. It’s more cushiony than the wall.”
    Jocelyn helped her