Free 06.The Penniless Peer (The Eternal Collection) by Cartland Barbara

only travelling a short distance.”
    “Periquine . . .” Fenella began.
    “We would not go on the main highway,” Lord Corbury continued, “but keep to the side roads. I am sure the coaches there are not armed any more than I should carry a firearm if I was visiting your father or going to The Hall.”
    “No of course not,” Fenella agreed.
    “We could ride about five to six miles away where we would not be known. I believe that the Gentlemen of the Road, as they are called, make a fortune.”
    “I doubt if they can collect as much as we did the other night,” Fenella said.
    “It is certainly more sporting,” Lord Corbury continued. “I have an aversion, Fenella, to creeping into a man’s house when it is dark, stealing his gold when he has not a chance of defending himself or seeing who the intruder might be.”
    “We do not want to be identified,” Fenella protested.
    “No of course not,” Lord Corbury agreed. “But at the same time it is a question of man to man, and the strongest wins, even if he does hold a pistol in one hand.”
    “I see what you mean,” Fenella said. “All right, Periquine, when do we start?”
    He held out the mask towards her. “Why not now?”
    “Now!”
    Fenella took the mask from him and realised that its design, with only narrow slits for the eyes, made it a good disguise for the face, not like the frivolous wide-eyed masks that were used at Cotillions or fancy-dress parties.
    “I was thinking about it in the night,” Lord Corbury went on. “I reckon the best time to be on the road would be when people are going out to dinner. To begin with the women would have their jewels on and a man would doubtless be carrying a heavy purse.”
    “I am sure you are right,” Fenella agreed but a little apprehensively.
    “We will keep in the shadows of the trees,” he continued, “and assess the coach very carefully before we make a move. Then, if we think it safe, I will hold them up and you will keep your pistol trained on the coachmen while I take the goods from the occupants of the carriage.”
    “It sounds easy,” Fenella said.
    “And ought to prove quite lucrative!” Lord Corbury enthused. “That is what is important. If it is not going to prove profitable, then there is no point our risking our necks.”
    “They hang Highwaymen up on the gibbet at the crossroad,” Fenella said.
    “And they hang robbers at Tyburn,” Lord Corbury retorted. “I have a suspicion that the place is not particularly important when it is your neck that is being stretched.”
    Fenella laughed.
    “I have a feeling, Periquine, that you were not born to be hanged.”
    “My tutor at Eton had quite a different idea,” Lord Con- bury replied. “But if we get some really good hauls, Fenella, we should be getting on towards our goal.”
    “Yes of course,” Fenella agreed.
    She wondered what Hetty would think if she knew the risks Periquine was taking in his efforts to win her.
    Would she be touched and flattered that a man gambled his life so that he could lay the spoils of his ill-gotten gains at her feet?
    Or would she merely be shocked and think it reprehensible that he should not behave like a gentleman, even if he were a poverty-stricken one?
    She could not answer the question. She only knew that whatever Periquine wished her to do with him she would do.
    There was a light of adventure in his eyes and he was smiling. She knew that anything was better than seeing him depressed, miserable and without hope.
    “One good thing,” she said, “is that I discovered upstairs, also in the attic as it happens, the riding-breeches you wore when you were fifteen. Your mother was a hoarder, Periquine, and there are all sorts of things up there put away carefully, which now quite surprisingly are coming into use.”
    “Riding-breeches! “ Lord Corbury exclaimed. “Well, you certainly cannot come dressed as a woman.”
    “I will go and put them on,” Fenella said, “and if I tuck my hair