Savage Thunder by Johanna Lindsey

until she was settled, then got to her knees. They were both a mess, clothes askew, coiffures falling down. Jocelyn removed the few remaining hairpins that hadn’t rattled loose, then tossed her hair back out of the way. She would have grinned at that point for having escaped this experience intact, if Vanessa weren’t grimacing in pain from the bump on her head.
    “What do you think happened, Vana?”
    “I think John Longnose was up to his old tricks again, that’s what.”
    “Do you really?” Jocelyn’s teeth worried at her lower lip a moment as she considered that possibility. “But how could he have gotten in front of us? How could he know which way we would come, for that matter?”
    Vanessa didn’t open her eyes to answer. “We weren’t exactly hurrying through Mexico, my dear. There was time aplenty for him to get ahead of us. And as to his knowing where we were going, well, I wondered about that guide’s sudden disappearance, I really did. Rather convenient, wasn’t it, leading us right to the start of that mountain trail?”
    “Why, that little traitor!”
    “More likely he was in Longnose’s pay first, my dear. He came to us, if you recall; we didn’t find him. Besides, I know an Englishman’s voice when I hear it, and that shouted ‘Now,’ just before that crash we heard, was decidedly British. What was that crash, anyway?”
    “I have no idea. A better question would be, what’s become of our driver?”
    Here Vanessa sighed. “I really don’t think he was with us on that insane ride, or we would have heard him shouting at the horses, even if he couldn’t stop them. That shot that was so close—”
    “Don’t even think it!” Jocelyn cut in sharply. “If we lost him, he no doubt only lost his seat—as we both did innumerable times.”
    “No doubt,” Vanessa agreed, to keep the peace. They would learn soon enough what had really happened. “But I think we’ve lost our horses too.”
    Jocelyn had also felt the difference in the pull of the coach just before they tilted over, so she didn’t argue that comment. “They’ll be found,” she said with confidence. “And so will we be shortly. In the meantime…”
    Vanessa opened one eye to see the duchess getting to her feet. “Whatever are you doing?”
    Standing on one door, Jocelyn realized that her head didn’t quite reach the other. “I was going to see how we might get out of here, but even if I could throw that door open—”
    “Don’t even bother, Jocelyn. It won’t be that long until our people reach—” She didn’t finish, because they could hear someone approaching at a gallop. “You see? That didn’t take long at all.”
    Ears attuned, they heard the first horse skid to a sudden stop very near, probably one of the guards ahead of the others, probably Sir Parker Grahame himself. He was ever diligent, and besides, he was sweet on Jocelyn, and so was prone to get more upset than the others each time Longnose made one of his attempts.
    After another moment the coach groaned as their rescuer climbed on top of it, and then the door was lifted and dropped back with a bang. The overhead sun had been pouring in through the window, but nothing like what was now coming in through the open door. Jocelyn was momentarily blinded when she looked up, but as soon as a man’s silhouette appeared to block some of the glare, it was easier for her to see, though not to recognize who he was at first.
    “Parker?”
    “No, ma’am,” came a deep, lazy drawl.
    If he had said more in that moment, Jocelyn wouldn’t have begun glancing about for her reticule, where she kept the little derringer she had purchased in New Orleans. Not that she couldn’t have been shot in the time it took her to locate it, hidden as it was under the hats and jackets that had been removed earlier that morning.
    When he did speak again, it was with some impatience. “Do you want out of there or not?”
    “I’m not so sure,” Jocelyn said honestly,