Saved, but not by a hero

Mr. Worthington kicked off his boots but paused with his open trousers hanging around his upper thighs with a hawkish leer in his eyes.

"This will never do, will it?" He asked shaking his head deliberately. "How can you put up a fight if your hanging there like a ripening pheasant?" Before Charlotte even had a chance to object to being compared to a gamey fowl, Jason pulled the rope binding her wrists free and stepped back a few paces with a flourished bow that looked ridiculous coming from a man with his loosely hanging trousers. Pulling her bodice back into place Charlotte decided that she had little choice but to play Jason's game. Charlotte knew that he was goading her into running so he could chase her down, but a small chance was better than none and she started for the entrance; if she could get to copper she at least had a chance, but Jason moved with the swiftness of a fencer easily blocking her path.

"That's better, Charlie." Jason grinned eagerly, "Come on, let's see what you've got!" He had to take a moment to catch the trousers that had slid even lower and Charlotte took advantage of his momentary distraction to take off again. This time the step to the open arch was a feint and when Jason jumped in that direction she instead bolted for a small doorway on the other side of the alter. Perhaps once in that smaller antechamber she'd be able to scale the crumbling walls and reach the horses waiting outside the small chapel. When she reached the small room her heart sank, the grassy chamber was smaller than she remembered and its walls higher and more solid than she had hoped. Turning back to the only way out she saw Mr. Worthington appear in the archway and smiling wickedly that she realized she was now completely trapped.

"No more running now, my Sweet." Jason sneered, "I had hoped for a longer chase, but I imagine you're still going to put up a fight."

"Jason, don't do this." Charlotte pleaded softly hoping that he might come t his senses. "You don't want to marry me. Go back to London and find someone that will make you a proper wife."

"I will marry you, Lady Marlton." Charlotte to see the cold anger in his eyes. "I will have your hand in marriage, I'll have your estate and the title that comes with it." His eyes flickered over the bare skin of her throat and the curve of her breasts exposed by the loose bodice of her green dress to explore the tender skin of her bosom. "But know this - I'll have your maidenhead too Charlie, and I'm taking that prize this afternoon before you leave these secluded ruins, and as many times as I have to until I've planted my seed in your ripe womb." As he stood in the narrow archway Jason shucked his jacket tossing it onto the grass at his feet licking his lip in anticipation of forcing her.

That dishonourable thought was the very last thing Lord Worthington's wicked mind had, because with a 'BANG' that made Charlotte start Lord Worthington's eyes glazed over and he dropped to his knees. Standing in a cloud of smoke was none other than Miss Dunning holding Jason's prized silver-handled flintlock in her shaking hands.

"Pig!" She spat at the crumpled heap lying in the narrow doorway. "You should have married me."