Читать книгу Damsel In Distress? - Kristina O'Grady - Страница 8

Chapter 1

They were getting closer. Harriet raced through the dark. With her heart thumping in her chest she raced across the lane and under the arched entrance of Hyde Park. Horses’ hooves pounded the ground behind her. She leaned lower on her horse’s neck and swerved him to the left to duck in behind a row of trees. She would not let them capture her. She didn’t come to this time only to fail now, the King was counting on her to deliver the information she had safely tucked inside her corset.

The sun began to rise, casting pink shadows across the ground. Her horse was tiring and started to stumble, they had come so far. The foaming sweat on his neck flicked onto her face as she raced through the park. She was going to run out of places to hide once the sun came up. She urged him faster still when they broke from the trees and she dared a glance behind her. There was no one there. Relief flooded through her core and she momentarily loosened her death-grip on the reins.

A shot rang out through the cool morning air. Her horse screamed seconds before Harriet felt him stumble. She didn’t have time to brace herself as he went down. The ground rose up and connected with her face. The package hidden in her corset pressed itself into her ribs when she hit the ground and in the moment before everything went black Harriet wondered if her hiding place would be good enough.