Charlotte, but something's wrong

Three horses with riders were moving slowly up the overgrown path leading to the ruins. At first Randy didn't think Lady Marlton was even one of the three riders, but then he saw her. She wore a green dress that flowed off her shoulders and draped her legs beautifully, but to Randy's surprise, as fine a horsewoman as she was, Charlotte was not even riding her palfrey, her horse was being led by one of the lead riders. Charlotte was riding double before the gentleman on a handsome hunter. She sat side saddle in front of the man and her hands were resting on her lap awkwardly but Randy was too far away to ascertain why they looked so odd.

As the party approached Randy could get a better look at the two others, the handsome young gentleman in bright red waistcoat and sword Randy remembered from the hunt and a petite blonde woman in a golden dress was familiar as well. The pair were laughing gaily but Charlotte rode in silence with her head bowed modestly. The three paused well away from the ruins and the blonde woman said something to Lady Marlton, Randy regretted his choice of a perch now that he was straining to hear what was being said.

Charlotte slid gracefully from her saddle and finally Randy was able to see what was odd about her posture. Lady Marlton's wrist were bound tightly together with a twisted rope, and as he watched the gentleman lifted her arms as he tested the lead. His companion laughed musically as she dismounted and held the two palfreys. This time the woman's voice was loud enough for Randy to make out her words.

"Go ahead My Lord, lead your captive prize into yon castle." The man tightened the lead until Charlotte was pulled to his stirrup. "I'll be in shortly to make sure you are properly chastising her for her misdeeds." The handsome gentleman heeled his charger forward dragging the bound Lady Marlton at his side like a Roman general claiming an enslaved Celtic princess in a scene from antiquity. Randy could not believe what he was witnessing; that a gentleman might treat a woman so was not impossible for him to fathom, but that one of Lady Marlton's girlfriends appeared to be complicit was incomprehensible.

Initially Randy thought that perhaps his encounter with Miss Charlotte had been discovered and that she was being punished for her willing response to his kiss. Almost immediately however, he dismissed this idea. Everything about this scene struck him as the type of games that the realm's nobility were rumored to play at. He was startled at how close the scene he was witnessing was to what he had so badly wanted to do to Lady Charlotte the day before. Had he known that she liked playing the role of the bound captive, he might well have obliged her.

But what was Miss Charlotte's role in this game? Was she an active participant in this masquerade or was she truly a captive who had been bound by these so called companions. Randy hated not knowing and he hated the idea that his request that Miss Marlton meet him in this secluded location had somehow placed her in peril.