A Chance With You by Paula Camille Wong (the snowy day read aloud TXT) 📖

them,” He growled in a low voice before pulling open the back entrance heading outside into the stables, untying his horse’s reins out of the post and swung his long and powerful body over the saddle, turning their direction to the west where the carriage should be going and finally scurrying off into the long and empty road, hoping that his fear of them being in some kind of danger, is not real.
Chapter 7

A loud thud woke Jane from her sleep, and not just a loud thud, but also the carriage stopping abruptly. Her sleepy eyes took a moment to adjust to her surroundings. Lillian was also waking up on the opposite side of her.

She looked outside of the glass window. The vast grassland viewed itself before her eyes. No signs of houses, stores, or any people at all. The carriage was stopped at the middle of the rocky pathway. “What in the world happened?” Lillian asked, her hand moving to her mouth to cover a soft yawn.

Jane shrugged, not knowing at all what had happened. “I do not know,”

“Deviling!” She called out through the carriage. There was no response.

A slight ounce of emotion settled through Jane. It was odd really, this kind of feeling only happened twice in her life. The loss of her father and the loss of her best friend.
It was the feeling that she had somehow lost something. Something in her life that is precious. “I do think I will go see what the matter is,” Jane volunteered, opening the carriage handle before Lillian can say anything and stepped out. The spring breeze, teased her senses, making loose curls mask her narrow and pale face. “Stay there,” She murmured, closing the carriage door yet again, picking up her gown to walk over to the front of the carriage. Unlike the interior of the carriage, which was the color of white cotton, the exterior was pure black. The only contrast of the exterior colors out of the carriage was the golden handles and glass windows, dripped with the spring colored emerald curtains.

She approached the front of the carriage slowly. “Deviling?” She called out, remembering the name that Lillian called out earlier. Still there was no response. Something was dreadfully wrong, she just knows it. As she neared the driver’s seat, she knew that her hunch was correct. There, by the ground, lay Deviling’s still form. She gasped and made her way toward him, kneeling down to check his pulse…- only to find a pistol pointed at her face.

“Well ‘ello there girly. What have we got here?” The man with the gun said, a smile on his face, showing completely yellow, unattractive teeth. There are at least three of them. All of them wearing the same clothes, aristocratic clothes. They probably belonged to unfortunate victims of these Highwaymen.

Jane remained silent, slowly observing them. Her heart was beating away in her chest, fear starting to consume her. She had never faced highwaymen before in her life. She had heard stories of what they do to innocent people. Specially people with fortune. Such as Lillian. Jane on the other hand was alright. She only had the title of the Marchioness. But not the fortune and wealth. Lillian on the other hand had the fortune, title, and wealth. She has to be protected.

“Ey! I was talkin’ to you. This carriage belongs to you ‘ight?”
She nodded in response.

“You h’ve fortunes here ‘ight?”

“Yes,”

A smile spread from their faces as the man with the gun walked toward her, grabbing the front of her bodice letting her on the feet, but not before letting them trace her breast. She winced in disgust and pulled away.

A laugh came from the man. “Such medium sized breasts you have. One is enough to fill my hand,” He held up one lean hand. He had long fingers, nails as long as two inches.

Jane cringed in disgust, her arms crossing around her chest.

A laugh came from another man, a man that was behind him. “Is it?” He walked toward her, she backed away until she hit the corner of the carriage driver’s seat. “Now, now. You don’t have to be afraid ‘irly. We ain’t going to hurt you. Just be a good girl,”

“Get away from me. Just leave us alone. What is it you want?” Surprisingly, her voice didn’t waver. A deadly calmness to it.

“We ‘ever seen a lady like you come by through here before. It’s always the oldies and never the young ones,”

“What is it you want?” She asked yet again.

“Anything ‘ou have,”

Jane bit her lip. This is a very difficult situation. She did not bring anything with her. At least nothing that will be of importance to them. Just then a loud scream came from the carriage; Lillian stumbled out with another man, his hand wrapped around her wrist nudging her along. “Cork, found this one in the ‘arriage,”

Lillian tried twisting away from his grasp, the look of fear clearly in her eyes. “Jane,” She called out, finally the man let go, letting her stumble toward her, needing for Jane to catch her, helping her with her balance.

Jane stepped in front of her, shielding her from their view. “Leave her alone. I am the one who owns this carriage. She is nothing but my maid,”

“A young perty maid,” Cork grinned, showing those disgusting yellow teeth.

“Leave her out of it,” Jane replied more firmly, her eyes staring daggers.

He only smiled along with his other fellow highwaymen. “A woman with att’tude. We l’ke that,”

In a flash, he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close to him, his filthy body pressed against hers, curves not matching any of his at all. “I do’t think that that will work darl’ng,” He announced an ugly smile on his face.

“Jane,” She heard Lillian say behind her. Fear clearly visible in her voice. “I wish to go home,”

“You will darling,” Jane mumbled, keeping her gaze locked on the highwaymen. “Since I own tremendous amount of fortune and she doesn’t. I would bid you to leave her be,”

“And why, your highness, will we do that?” Cork whispered, his head bent to her ear, sending a shiver of disgust through her body, the same disgusted feeling when she with Marcus, her previous husband that had passed away a year ago.

“Because I will offer myself as an exchange for her safety,” She answered calmly. “I’m the one you want. I am the one who is wealthy, a Marchioness. I have access to tremendous amount of fortune,”

That caught his attention. “Well that IS good to know lady but you see… we have many fortunes already. We had already collected them from our previous…. Well… um… friends,” He grinned.

The same shiver made her skin crawl with revulsion. “I’ll do anything. Please, just don’t touch her,” She begged, all of her calmness melting away replacing by fear. These men killed before, she can tell by the atmosphere they carry.

“Jane,” Lillian whispered, remaining at her position though. “I do not need any of your sacrificing. You need not anything of that,”

“Lillian-,”

“No Jane. We just had you back. We do not want to lose you again,” She turned her gaze to the highwaymen. “I am the one you are referring to. Jane here is my longtime friend. I am the sister of the Duke of Bakewell. My friend here is nothing but a commoner from the City that I happened to admire so I had hired her as my chaperone,”

Cork and his fellow highwaymen turned to face her direction. “I believe this girly over here is telling the truth,”

Dunk licked his lips. “I don’t mind if we take the both of them. Come on Cork, we can each take turns. It won’t harm any of us, right?”

Goo nodded.

“Alright, take them.” And with that Cork turned to tend to his horses, getting ready his saddle. “But I want the fair-haired. You take the other one,” He said to Dunk who happily obliged.

Jane’s eyes widened as Cork came closed to her, when he was done settling the saddle, and ran over to Lillian’s side, stepping in front of her. “No. You shall leave her be. You may take me but you will not take her,”

He pointed the pistol at her forehead. Lillian gasped. Jane stood still. “You will take her over my dead body,” Her British accent strong and firm.

The highwayman looked at her with amusement. “Th’ts the f’rst time I seen a woman l’ke you bef’re. I gotta say. You amuse me, but I am sorry. It’s a shame to lose the other when it’s so close in reach. And besides, she saw us,”

“You won’t take her,” She repeated.


Lillian gripped Jane’s shoulder and closed her eyes, willing this nightmare to end.

Cork grinned and stepped toward her, his hand coming up to skim his fingers through her pale and soft neck, then down to her cleavage. “You have a use for me girly. I was planning to put the plan to work when we get to my hideout but it seemed there was a change of plans. You’re beautiful. Young, attractive, and energetic. A perfect person to be my woman,”

Jane shivered and slapped his hand away, only to be slapped by him back, a red bruise on her cheek starting to form. Lillian winced beside her, as if she was the one who got hit. The sound still leaving an aftereffect across the empty fields. “You have been a very bad girl. It’s time to each you a lesson or two,” And with that he took her by the hair and threw her on the ground.

The man, Dunk, came to stop Lillian from running to Jane, his dark arms wrapping around her, keeping her from moving.

She lay on the ground, her hair dangling down her face, tear stinging on the corner of her eyes. The bun was no longer a bun and additionally, her green gown that Lillian lend to her was ruined. The man started to unbutton his trousers as Jane watched in horror, her legs kicking out to hit him on the chin. He let out a scream and furiously looked down at her, dropping so he locked his legs around her own to keep her from kicking, thrashing, or hitting him anywhere. “LET ME GO!” Tears escaped those light green eyes, trailing down her cheek as she helplessly watched him in horror, his hand pinning both her wrist on top of her