Perilous Risk (10 page)

“I never said that.”

“You said she wasn’t really interested in blaming me for Saxby’s death.”

“Logically, I predict that she isn’t.”

Again, her brows drew closer together. “So there’s no real danger there? Do you think she’s just bluffing ?”

God, she sounded so hopeful. And this was all tearing him apart inside. Literally, for a slow yet steady burn had begun to smoulder in his belly.

“Rebecca, logic isn’t always an accurate gauge of what a person will do. Especially if they are unbalanced in any way. And I need to hear more about what she really wants, before I can more accurately predict her future behaviour.”

Her eyes widened and she blanched. How he wished he hadn’t had to tell her that part. She had looked quite lovely with her angry flush just a few moments past when she had been hotly cross-examining him over his title. And it hurt him to know she was once again frightened.

Now her shoulders drooped even more. “Please, I am very tired and I need to return home.”

Time for another bit of bad news. But he had no choice. “No, you can’t go home.”

“Why not?”

“If she called for a magistrate, they could come at any time and take you away. And it would be more difficult once you were in custody for me to assure your safety. You could come to some harm there.”

Her faced went ashen and she closed her eyes. “Oh God.”

He squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry, I am going to do my utmost to protect you.”

“I don’t know what to do.” Her chest rose and fell rapidly, the sound of her panting breaths echoing softly, the sound exaggerated by the closed space.

There was something oddly compelling about that sound, combined with watching the rise and fall of her breasts, the size of early summer peaches. It put him immediately in mind of what she would look like in bed, beneath him, on the verge of coming. It made his own breath begin to quicken. It put fire in his blood.

It was giving him an erection.

He’d been fortunate not to have ever had to physically torture a woman. But over the years, he had applied mental and emotional techniques when needful during interrogations of women. Their tears had left him feeling nothing but a certain discomfort to cause a woman distress.

Yet, if he liked a woman, her tears, her visible signs of fear aroused him. It was something that rested uneasily on his mind and conscience. He had certainly never explored the phenomenon. It made him too uncomfortably aware of how closely he matched the other flawed males of his bloodline.

He took a deep breath, trying to clear his mind. “Rebecca, please trust me.”

But it was as though she hadn’t heard. Her chest rose and fell even more quickly, and her eyes glazed over.

A bolt of pure lust shot into his loins. It was reprehensible of him. Utterly reprehensible.

“I don’t know what I should do!” Her hands gripped his, her nails digging into his flesh like claws. “I can’t go to prison. I can’t!”

He pulled her close. “Shh-shh.”

Her body, so warm in his arms, began to tremble. “I can’t face this!”

“You’ve always been strong.” She’d been an inspiration to him as a boy, when he’d known her as a practical yet sunny-natured young woman with a lively laugh and a gentle, kind manner of speaking. She’d been a stabilising influence, the kind of woman who could listen to a man with such genuine empathy and understanding that he couldn’t help but feel instantly lighter of heart.

Skilled and efficient, she’d been a laundress who was handy with her needle, an expert nursemaid, a highly sought out helpmate among the officers. The wages she had commanded had made the other women green-eyed with envy.

Of a sudden, a passage from
Proverbs
leapt into his mind.

A wife of noble character who can find her?

She is worth far more than rubies.

Indeed. Such was Rebecca Howland. An Incomparable.

Was it any surprise that Stephen had never forgotten her…or that he had failed to find another woman who could come close to matching her in his estimation?

She shook her head wildly. “No, no, you only know the me on the outside. I am expert at being a fraud. You don’t know what I am really like on the inside.”

Her voice carried a note of rising hysteria. The last of his lust drained away and was replaced by intense sympathy.

“Then tell me, Rebecca.” He touched her mussed hair. His fingertips glided over strains that were softer than cornsilk, slightly cool and still damp with rain. “Tell me your fears.”

“Rats. I am terrified of rats.” She shuddered violently. “All those years sleeping in barracks and tents, and I was terrified of being bitten in my sleep. No one knew but Jon. He let me keep cats even on campaign. And I felt safe again. But they won’t let me have my cats in prison.” She was speaking hurriedly, rambling.

“Shh.” He caressed her hair.

“Rats have such sharp little teeth and they can sneak up on you and they-they—”

Ah, yes, rats. He did indeed know about rats.

“Rebecca.” He spoke firmly. “You must stay calm.”

“Y-you said we cannot know what she will do.”

“Indeed, we cannot. That is why we must keep our heads and act decisively. But you must trust me.”

“I don’t know you.”

Her words sliced into him. Her stricken expression stung him even more. No, he mustn’t give in to maudlin personal feelings. It wouldn’t help the situation. He must remain strong, firm, focused.

“You know me.”

She shook her head frantically. “No, no I don’t.”

“You must try to trust me.”

“Oh, Stephen. It isn’t that easy.”

“Will you please try?”

She stared at him blankly for long moments.

“There’s no time for us to argue the matter.” He attempted to speak calmly, though the urgency of the situation was beginning to press upon him. Truly, he did not know what this duchess would really do. The woman might be mad. And he never knew when a more severe attack of pain would render him incapable of action. He must get things in motion soon.

“Oh God.” She bit her lip then turned back to him. “You’re exactly right. She could send for the magistrate at any moment. She may have already done so.”

“You must come with me.”

“Yes.”

Could she have sounded any less confident? Less trusting?

“I own a property in Cornwall. That’s just where we need to go. Someplace remote.”

“You mean I should run?”

“It would be better for you to be out of reach. For your whereabouts to be unknown to others.”

Rebecca gaped at Stephen. In the glow of the lamplight, his masculine beauty appeared otherworldly; he looked like a beautiful archangel, sent to her in her most trying moment.

Heavens, he’d just told her that she’d become a fugitive.

She couldn’t go home.

She hadn’t considered not standing her ground. She was innocent. She just needed help with the strategy she must take from someone experienced in dealing with the law and the power and caprice of the aristocracy.

“It’s going to be all right, sweeting.” His voice was so assured. So comforting.

The reality of the situation finally hit her with brutal effect. Her life had changed tonight. All her rights and liberties as an Englishwoman might have already been stripped from her.

“Shall I have to hide for the rest of my life?”

He shook his head.

“This is just for a short while. Until Maria Seymour shows her hand and I can sort out what to do.”

“You are so kind to offer your protection in this manner. But I shall be able to leave town on my own.” Rebecca stood quickly.

Her knees seemed to turn boneless and the closed space of the antechamber spun. She swayed on her feet. He caught her.

She had forgotten how potent Kean’s punch was.

“Have you eaten recently?”

She thought back over the day. “I haven’t eaten since early this morning.” And that had been but a thin slice of bread and a cup of tea she’d choked down in between attending to a particularly difficult birthing. She’d been called in to see a viscount’s young wife who had birthed six daughters in eight years. The young lady had struggled valiantly but had already endured two days of labour. She had died.

Though she was used to losing patients occasionally, the loss of a young mother always shook Rebecca to her core. She’d had little sleep in the past day and a half.

“Are you well?” he asked.

“I just need to go somewhere…I need sleep.”

“You can’t go home,” he repeated firmly.

“I know.” She put her hand to her head for a moment and the chamber began to appear steadier. “I’ll stay the night at a tavern. I’ll hire a post chaise and I shall leave town for a few days.”

She would give Ruel the time with his countess and then she would write to him and seek his council.

“You cannot travel on your own.” Stephen’s husky voice cut into her thoughts.

She jerked her head up. “Why not?”

“Because they expect you to flee. They will be watching for a woman who fits your description, travelling alone, appearing harried.”

Yes, she should have thought of that. She needed sleep. Dear heavens, how she needed sleep. She attempted to think clearer. “I’ll travel with a companion and I shall be cautious.”

“Rebecca, I repeat, if they take you into custody, I will not able to help you as well as I can if you will just trust me now.”

Nausea lurched through her stomach, a lightning jolt of realization.

He was serious.

She couldn’t remain in London a moment longer than she had to. Maybe she would have to flee to America. Her heart began to pound against her ribs as though it would leap out.

God. Edwin. She didn’t want to leave him. But who knew where this would end.

The unfairness of it all slammed into her. “I am innocent.” She gaped at him a moment. “
Innocent
.”

His handsome face contracted, a pained expression. “Rebecca, don’t dwell on the uncertainty. Not now.”

“Oh, that’s all very well for you to say. It’s not your life.”

He took her hands. “You’re tired and afraid.”

“Yes, I am.”

“You shouldn’t be alone like this. At least allow me to take you for a meal.”

“A meal? I don’t think I could swallow a bite.”

“You must try. Then you can think clearer. You will be calmer.”

Suddenly, she felt as though the walls were closing in on her. Something about this whole situation of him being here, offering her help, it did not sit well with her.

She kept having the most peculiar sensation, right in the pit of her belly. There was an air about him. Something hidden there under the surface. Maybe something sinister…and yet he was the same Stephen she’d known before. She couldn’t reason it all out. “No, I just need sleep.”

She stood then her legs gave way and she wobbled.

He was there. Immediately. Holding her against himself. “Do you see? You need nourishment. After that, you will be able to see things more clearly.”

How confident he sounded. A confident man, offering to protect her. Seducing her into trusting him.

Her throat ached with the yearning to yield. To put aside her resistance and lean on him. She let her gaze caress his broad shoulders. He certainly seemed capable of bearing her burdens.

It was just a meal. Afterwards, she would determine her next move.

The outside of the coaching inn, if it could be called that, was rather daunting. The building was in dire need of fresh paint and rough looking men were loitering about the courtyard.

As Rebecca walked past them, they stared at her openly, sweeping her form with their gazes. The heat of their interest seemed to burn into her.

Stephen replied in a casual tone to the men who spoke to him. But his arm remained locked around her waist, a silent statement of possession and protection.

It was odd to think of herself like that again, as an object of desire. Someone in need of protection against the lusts of other men.

They entered the inn, flanked by Stephen’s rather brawny-looking coachmen. There was no vestibule, one simply walked into the main taproom. A haze of smoke and the odour of unwashed bodies stung her nostrils. As with outside, the room was filled with what could only be described as ruffians. And possibly worse.

Yet a well-dressed gentleman leant against the bar with a peaceful expression, as though he weren’t standing in the midst of perdition, begging a pickpocket to oblige him.

As she and Stephen approached, a grin split the man’s face and he came to attention.

“The usual chamber, my lord?” His gaze wandered to Rebecca and ran lingeringly down her body.

Stephen drew her closer. “Yes, that will suffice.”

She could feel it again then. Only this time it was more overt. No longer hidden. A definite air of energy that Stephen exuded, something dark and dangerous.