Harlequin Historical May 2014 - Bundle 2 of 2: Unwed and Unrepentant\Return of the Prodigal Gilvry\A Traitor's Touch (40 page)

Then she felt his fingers at her entrance, parting her folds, and the blunt tip of his shaft pressing against her.

‘You will take me,' he said. ‘All of me.'

And he drove home to the hilt and she dissolved into bliss.

And he continued to drive into her, bringing her to the peak and beyond twice more, before he withdrew and spilled his seed on her belly.

He collapsed beside her, his hands reaching up to untie the blindfold.

She blinked at the sudden light as she regained her vision. He was up on one elbow, working the lock of the manacles. She was rewarded by seeing a look of sensual bliss and contentment on his face. He looked younger. Less careworn.

He freed her wrists and looked down at her face. She couldn't stop herself. She stretched up and kissed his mouth.

He gazed at her with what was clearly astonishment. ‘Are you all right?' he murmured softly.

‘Oh, yes,' she whispered, smiling. ‘Thank you.'

If anything his expression of astonishment grew more intense. He shook his head. ‘Rowena, rest now.'

He must think her exceedingly strange, but there was a slight smile on his lips as he lay down beside her and pulled her into the crook of his arm, positioning her so her head rested against his shoulder. Gently, he stroked her hair where it fell over her breast.

‘Little one,' he said. His eyelids drooped and his breathing deepened.

* * *

‘Mr Gilvry.'

Rapping. On a door. And a weight on his shoulder. Drew jerked awake. The warmth at his side was a woman. Rowena. The knocking on the door?

Careful not to wake his sleeping companion, he slid out of bed to another round of knocks.

‘Who is it?'

‘Eva, with your supper.'

Right. No food since earlier in the day. No wonder his belly felt empty. He glanced over at Rowena. She pulled the sheet up over her head with a mutter about the racket.

He scooped his shirt from the floor, pulled it over his head and unlocked the door.

Eva trotted in. She glanced at the tangled sheets on the bed with a knowing grin. ‘Madam Belle thought as how you might be in need of a bit of sustenance.' She set a tray on the table.

‘Thank her for me.'

The girl gave him a saucy smile. ‘She's lucky, your lady is, having such a well set-up fellow as you, even with that face. You should see some of the flawns and dodderers the girls have to put up with.'

‘I'll take that as a compliment.' Drew fished sixpence from his coat pocket and slipped it into the girl's palm. ‘I'll leave the tray outside when we're done. No need to come back until morning.'

‘Thank you kindly, sir.' She dipped a little bob and scuttled out.

Drew locked the door behind her.

Rowena threw back the sheet and gazed at him, her expression puzzled and her eyes misty with sleep. ‘What is happening?'

‘Eva with supper.'

‘Oh.' She sat up, careful to keep herself wrapped in the sheet. As if he hadn't seen her a few minutes before in nothing but her skin. And a beautiful skin it was. Very responsive. And silky soft.

His blood thickened and his thoughts must have shown on his face, because hers turned red.

Dammit. He hadn't wanted to make her embarrassed. Not after she'd given him the most pleasurable interlude in his life.

He still couldn't quite believe that he had found a woman who had participated in his deepest, darkest fantasies. Had her enjoyment been real or out of gratitude?

Even as the thought flittered through his mind, he knew it wasn't true. The blush on her face was not embarrassment. It was desire. For some unfathomable reason, the fates had sent him a woman who liked the opposite of what he liked.

He hardened. And inwardly cursed the thrum of hot blood in his veins. Even if it had been a long time since he'd been able to indulge in his particular vices and even if she was willing, he'd tormented her enough for one night.

They had important matters to see to tomorrow and they would both need their wits about them. ‘Come, sweetling. You need to eat.'

She blinked and then smiled. ‘I can't believe how hungry I feel.'

‘It's not surprising,' he said, raising a brow. He picked up her robe from the floor and handed it to her, turning his back so she could slip out of bed and put it on.

He didn't do it because he didn't want to see her. He did it because he knew if he caught so much as a glimpse, she would never get as far as the table.

He pulled out a chair and she gave him a smile and sat down. ‘What have they sent up?'

It was a cold supper of the sort of plain fare Belle would have available to her customers downstairs. He'd partaken of it often enough in the past. Cold meats and haggis, fruit tart, bread and cheese and a flagon of small beer. They tucked in. He was glad to see that she ate heartily, though nowhere near as much as he, and when she was done she watched him finish his meal.

‘Do you really think your brother will help us?' she asked when he, too, sat back with a sigh.

Of all of his brothers, Niall was the most likely not to toss him out on his ear. But if he did? What then? ‘Dinna worry. We'll find someone else, if he cannot.' There was something else troubling him. ‘I still do not see why Lady Cragg was so set against me.'

Rowena frowned. ‘I never heard her say any such thing.'

‘Did you no' say that she told Mr Jones she would be glad to see me deported? That was why she had McKenzie's men lying in wait for me when I left.'

‘Oh.' Her eyes widened. ‘It wasn't Lady Cragg talking to Mr Jones. It was a gentleman.'

‘The duke?'

She frowned, as if trying to recall something. ‘It could not have been the duke. Mr Jones called him my lord. Not your Grace.'

‘It might have been a slip of the tongue.'

‘Mr Jones does not seem the sort of man who would make such a mistake.'

‘Aye, but if it was no' Lady Cragg or the duke, who the devil was it? What did he look like?'

‘I couldn't see him very well, he was the other side of a very thick hedge. I had the sense he was an older gentleman, by his voice.'

‘If you heard that voice again, would you ken it?'

‘I believe so. The air was clear and their voices carried, farther than they might have guessed, I think.'

‘It is too bad I didn't know this when I was a guest of McKenzie's men,' he mused. ‘Morris liked to talk. He might have told me.' He frowned. ‘He did say something about me giving them the slip once before. I assumed he was talking about Logan.'

It couldn't be Ian. Not if it was an older man. But someone working with Ian? Someone like...Carrick?

Not possible, surely?

But the men who had delivered Ian's message had been Carrick's men. And it was Carrick who had offered him a place in his American business.

‘What is it?' Rowena asked. ‘You look worried.'

It surprised him that she could make out any expression at all on his face. It was as if she saw right past the ruined flesh and only saw the man behind it.

His heart gave an odd little lurch.

Now she was looking worried and he did not want her bothered by his musings, which had nothing to do with her problems. ‘No, not worried. Just thinking. Don't be concerned about Niall. We'll know very quickly if he will help us or no'. We have a great deal to do in the morning, I think it is time you went to bed.'

She looked down her nose at him. ‘I'll decide for myself when I'm ready for bed.'

He let his glance slide to the chest standing on the table.

Her breath gave a little hitch. ‘Oh.'

He shook his head. ‘Much as I'd like to play some more, I need my sleep, even if you don't.'

She went bright pink. ‘Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't wish to be disobliging, I just didn't want you to think you could order me around.' Her colour went brighter. ‘As a general rule, I mean. In the daytime.'

Heavens, she really was an absolute treasure. It was a shame he didn't deserve her. ‘I understand,' he said. ‘You take the bed. I'll take the floor.'

‘Oh, no. I wouldn't hear of it. We will share.'

‘So you intend to boss me around, do you?' he said with a teasing note in his voice.

‘Certainly not. I am just being sensible.'

‘Sensible. Aye. Then I'll accept your kind offer.'

* * *

His hands were unsteady as he laced her stays. Eva had returned her clothes along with the water for washing. He was glad Rowena had her back to him right at that moment and could not see his reaction to touching her.

He wanted her again. And she had given him so much already. In his heart he knew he would never get enough of her, and it wasn't right. Not when his future was so unsure.

‘Your brother is going to be very surprised to meet us, I think.'

Us.

His fingers stilled. He'd been alone for so long, fighting for his own survival, it came as a shock to think of himself as something more. He pulled at the laces and tied off the bow. ‘Aye. He'll be surprised.'

She seemed satisfied with his answer.

He went to the mirror and tied his cravat while she put on her stockings. Such lovely long legs she had. He glanced at the tumbled bedclothes and then at the clock and wondered if there might be time...

A knock sounded at the door. ‘Who is it?'

‘Eva with your breakfast.'

‘I'm ravenous,' Rowena said.

So was he. And not only for food. With a regretful sigh he went to the door and opened it. The young maid bustled in with a tray.

‘Madam Belle wants to know if you'll be wanting this room tonight, as well?'

He glanced at Rowena and discovered she was looking towards the bed with what he could only describe as a hopeful expression. His groin tightened at the thought that she was actually looking forward to another night with him. It seemed so improbable that he would meet a woman, who on the outside seemed so self-assured, and yet who craved what gave him pleasure.

How wrong her husband had been to call her cold and reserved. She was a passionate delight who had somehow filled a very empty place in the deepest reaches of his soul.

‘Tell Belle, yes, if she can spare us the room.'

The maid whisked off. He seated Rowena and as she lowered herself on to the chair she looked up at him with a pink wash of colour. How could he ever have thought she was plain, seeing that blush over her pale-as-milk skin that covered every inch of her body?

She spread butter and jam on her toast. ‘We will go together to your brother's office,' she said in the decided way that she had. She used it to hide her uncertainty, he realised. Her fear of rejection.

Such a small insight into her vulnerability, but it made him feel suddenly protective.

‘We will,' he agreed, selecting bread and slicing off a lump of cheese. ‘After all, this is your business. Not mine.' His business was with Ian. The urgency to face his brother seemed to have faded. Because it would mean leaving Rowena and likely never seeing her again? He pushed the thought aside, unready to deal with that part of his future.

He had sworn to give her his aid and he would see it through to the end.

* * *

Breakfast over, they dressed for the chill of a winter morning in Edinburgh. He wrapped his muffler around his face. ‘No sense in setting the dogs to barking,' he joked when he saw her watching him.

She shook her head. ‘I hardly notice the scar any longer. It's your expressions I see. Your kindness.'

As he had suspected the previous evening, but to hear her say it made something hard and uncomfortable rise in his throat. He swallowed it down without examining the emotion at its source, though he had a feeling it was gratitude. He was grateful to her for so many things, it seemed. Would it give her some sort of power over him? Make him weak? He pushed the thought aside. ‘Let us go.'

They hurried down the back stairs and out the side door. He gestured for her to stay in the shadows while he took a quick look to see who was about on the street. There were the usual hawkers—the baker, the milkmaid, a girl with a basket of turnips—crying their wares. A dustcart rumbled by. No sign of the smugglers. ‘Gardy loo!' He dodged back into the alley to avoid a stream of night soil from a front room of the brothel.

‘All seems well,' he said, holding out his arm.

She took it. They walked briskly. Rapidly enough to show they had purpose, without looking hurried or anxious. At the corner of the street where Niall's office was located, Drew stopped. ‘Let me make sure it is safe.' He'd been both hunter and prey. He knew better than to be caught out in the open.

She nodded. He peered around the corner.

Drew had no trouble identifying the man standing on the opposite side of the street against the apothecary's window. His friend from two nights ago. Morris. Cursing, Drew came back to Rowena.

‘What is it?' she asked.

‘The smugglers are watching Niall's office.' And they could be watching the nearby streets, too.

He grabbed her hand and they ran, ducking into alleyways and doubling back. He didn't stop moving until he was sure they weren't being pursued.

Out of breath and panting, Rowena leaned against the wall. ‘Did they see you?' she gasped.

He shook his head. ‘No.' He was almost sure they had not.

‘What now?'

‘We could try his house...'

‘But they might be waiting there, too,' she finished.

‘Aye. Likely. If they know of his office, they would easily discover where he is living.'

‘And we wouldn't want to put his family in danger.'

How did she know what he was thinking at the same moment he thought it? He grinned at her, then realised that beneath his muffler she wouldn't be able to see his expression. Probably just as well. Right now he was feeling a little too besotted for comfort.