Cinders and Ashes by Rebecca King Page B

gently down on the carriage floor at his feet, before the
door was slammed shut. As planned, the carriage immediately moved
off at a fast clip.
    “ You bastard!” Amelia spat, shaking the blanket off her head.
She was so angry with him that she could have happily clawed his
eyes out. “You can just turn this carriage around right now and
take me back. I will not go with you!” The last was bitten out through
clenched teeth, as she fought to free herself from the rough
confines of the covers wrapped tightly around her. “Let me
up!”
    “ I take it they didn’t hurt you?” Sebastian’s question was
almost conversational as he carefully settled back against the
squabs, clearly not prepared to help her.
    She
didn’t bother to answer, as she tried desperately to squirm her way
out of the tangled mess wrapped around her.
    “ Take me back, for God’s sake. How dare you do this?” Her
voice trembled with anger.
    “ You haven’t listened to a word I have said, have you?”
Sebastian’s voice was so calm and unaffected, she wanted to kick
him.
    Amelia
tried hard to ignore his masculine length lounging nonchalantly
against the seat opposite. “I have listened, but I don’t agree. You
have no right to override my wishes in such a high-handed way! Who
do you think you are?” Amelia ranted, her voice rising to a
near-shout.
    “ I am not your bloody servant you can order to do as you wish!
I demand you turn this carriage around and take me home!” Her tones
were clipped and cultured. Once again the speech she had slipped
into, in her fury, was pure aristocracy.
    It
confirmed that there was much Sebastian had yet to discover about
his future wife.
    Sebastian shook his head slowly. “Sorry, darling, I can’t do
it. Not only do I not consider it in your best interests to return
you to that desolate hovel you call home. But the coachman has been
instructed not to stop unless it is to change horses. We are to be
taken directly to Tingdale.” He leaned back against the squabs
nonchalantly. “I could bang on the roof for the next ten minutes,
and he will ignore me as he has been instructed to.”
    Closing
his eyes, he pretended to settle back for a snooze, seemingly
ignoring the soft thumps coming from the opposite side of the
carriage as Amelia unravelled herself from the blankets.
    “ Take me back, Sebastian, now.” Amelia’s voice was harder than
he had ever heard it, and it was enough to make him open his eyes
and consider her warily.
    Her
stony glare glinted at him through the dimness of the carriage.
Whether the moisture was from tears or temper, he wasn’t sure.
Still, he couldn’t afford to cave in and let her have her
way.
    “ Stop this carriage now, or I will jump out.”
    He
tensed, wondering if she was serious. Within moments he had his
answer as she moved towards the door. He didn’t hesitate to drag
her hand away from the handle, and tug her down onto the plush seat
beside him with a thump. He lay over her to hold her still when she
tried to squirm away from him.
    “ What the hell do you think you are doing?” His voice was
incredulous as his own temper began to rise. “Do you not remember
the state I was in when I jumped from a moving carriage?” he
snapped. He couldn’t believe she would be that stupid, even when
she was so upset.
    “ I told you to take me back.” Amelia's chest heaved with
temper.
    “ No!” Sebastian replied, softly but firmly. He had not seen
this side of her before, and it intrigued and worried him in equal
measure.
    A small part of him wanted to prod and provoke her a little
just to see how she would react. How much could he get away with,
before his spitting kitten revealed her claws and scratched him? He
felt his manhood begin to stir beneath his breeches, but knew this
wasn’t the time. She would probably snap
it off and beat him with it; if he showed her the effect having her
angry at him was having upon his loins, he
thought as he slowly eased away from her.