“We need to help them.” She felt a sudden sense of urgency to get back to Daniel as quickly as she could. Something was not right; she could sense it.
“I need to get you to safety,” Marco replied, leading her over to the edge of the boat.
She followed his gaze to where he was looking down at a rope ladder hanging from the side of the boat down toward the river. Leaning slightly over the edge, Bree could see that the ladder dropped into a small wooden dinghy, which lay bobbing along the water, tied to the barge.
“We cannot simply save ourselves,” Bree declared as she tried to tug her arm free from his grip. “We must help the others. It sounds as if they need all the help they can get.” She could hear the men shouting in the background for water, and the sound of the fire crackling and roaring as it greedily consumed the wood.
Marco held fast, his fingers starting to dig into the material of her dress. “You must climb down into the boat, Principessa. Your safety is paramount.” The light from the lanterns, which were strung around the deck, showed the seriousness of his expression.
She stopped, a chill of foreboding creeping up the back of her neck. “Everyone’s safety is paramount.”
A shadow crept up behind Marco. Without warning, someone smashed a bottle over his skull. He crumpled to the ground, blood spilling onto the decking from the gash in his head.
“You should have listened to him, Principessa,” a man said, pointing a pistol at her midsection. “He was actually trying to protect you.”
Bree gasped as she recognized him as one of the other soldiers from Alessandro’s group, a man named Piero, if she remembered correctly.
“If you yell out for help,” Piero said, “I will shoot all who come to assist you. Now, start climbing.” He used the pistol to point to the ladder.
Bree crossed her hands over her chest. “No, I shall not.”
Piero spit out the side of his mouth. “You are a true Bartelli. As arrogant as all hell, just as those are who share the same blood of your wretched family. Climb down, or I will throw you down. Broken bones will heal.”
She stared at him in defiance. “I will not go with you.”
“Then you will condemn another to death.” Piero aimed the pistol at Marco’s head. Though Marco was slowly waking, he seemed most groggy and likely would not be able to help her for some time. “Don’t make me ask you again, Principessa.”
Bree could see that he meant what he said, the ill intent lurking in his black eyes.
“Very well,” she reluctantly conceded as she stepped over to the railing and gripped the rope of the ladder. She prayed that it would hold, as frayed as it appeared to be.
She twisted the skirt of her dress up and over one of her shoulders, then swung her leg over the railing until her foot found purchase on one of the rungs.
A bellow of fury tore through the night, echoing from the hull of the ship.
Daniel! She would recognize that yell anywhere. He’d obviously returned to their cabin and discovered her gone.
Fear flittered in Piero’s gaze. “Hurry up!” He nudged the pistol into her chest.
“Brianna!” Daniel’s deep voice roared again from below the stairs. He sounded closer.
“Hurry!” Piero urged, beads of sweat suddenly dotting his forehead. “If you’re not in that boat before he gets up here, I will shoot him, and trust me, from this distance, I will not miss.”
Bree swung her other leg over the railing and began to climb down. She didn’t think she’d ever moved as quickly before. She stepped on the bottom rung and then deftly jumped into the boat.
Her tummy lurched as the small boat rocked fiercely. Oh, goodness. She stood still, her hands outstretched to either side for balance as the boat gradually settled.
Piero began his descent, too. She scanned the dinghy and noticed the oars sitting to the side. She reached down and grabbed one.
“Not a good idea, Principessa,” he said from above.
Bree stopped with her hands gripped around one of the oar paddles and looked up. Piero had ceased climbing and was hanging above with the pistol aimed directly at her chest.
“Do not think you are indispensable,” he warned her. “I will shoot you if you try to hit me with that. You are not worth my life. Now, put the oar down and go and sit at the far end of the boat.”
He tipped his chin downward and looked over his nose in a calculated manner, and Bree had a sense that this man would indeed do as he said he would. Reluctantly, she released her grip from the wood and did as he instructed. “Why are you doing this?”
Piero ignored her, tucking the pistol into his waistband and continuing his descent. He jumped down into the small boat. “If you move or try anything, I will shoot you.”
He untied the rope securing the dinghy to the barge, and then used his free hand to push against the hull.
As the dinghy separated from its tether and began drifting away, Bree felt her hopes sink.
Piero grabbed the oars and sat on the opposite side from her, beginning to furiously paddle in the opposite direction.
Her heart lurched as she saw Daniel race up to the edge of the deck of the boat, frantically scanning the dark water until he caught sight of the dinghy.
“No!” Daniel’s voice echoed across the water.
Piero pumped his arms harder, gaining further distance between the larger vessel as the barge continued to steam well ahead of them down the river.
A scream escaped her lips as Daniel dove from the deck down into the inky water and disappeared beneath its surface.
“Merda!” Piero’s movements becoming jerkier as he swiveled his head over his shoulder, trying to see behind him. He haphazardly shot at the water, and the dinghy wobbled unsteadily from the movement.
She waited for Daniel to surface. But he didn’t.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Bree gripped the edge of the boat tightly, her eyes desperately searching the dark water for Daniel. The current appeared strong as the water swirled about, churning with great force downstream. She couldn’t see him anywhere.
Piero slowly relaxed and turned back to her with a twisted grin on his face. “Stupid Englishman. He would have had no idea of how strong the Fiume Crati River currents are. Many have lost their lives underestimating their power.” He glanced over his shoulder again and shrugged. “Looks like it has claimed another life.” He resumed his rowing.
“Daniel!” Bree screamed across the water, searching back and forth across the stretch of water yawning between herself and where she’d seen him plunge into its depths. The dinghy was pulling farther away from him. “Daniel, where are you?”
“Shut up!” Piero hissed as he continued rowing the oars, navigating the dinghy in the other direction of the barge.
She could see nothing, with the water itself as black as the sky above. Daniel couldn’t be gone. He was an excellent swimmer. But it had been a minute or two, and he hadn’t surfaced… Please God no. Don’t take him from me.
A sense of numbness stole through her as Piero began steering them toward the bank of the river.
“Your man is gone.”
Bree swiveled herself around until she faced the traitor. She felt a burning wrath, unlike anything she had ever known, spread through her, seeing his satisfied smirk.
Without thinking, she launched herself across the boat and onto him, battering her hands as hard as she could against his head and using her nails to claw at his cheeks, raking them deeply into his flesh.
The boat rocked from side to side as she kept hitting him, her rage giving her a strength she hadn’t known she possessed. Piero, in turn, tried to wrestle her away from him, still desperately trying to grip ahold of the oars. Bree wrenched the pistol from his waistband. She swung it up toward his temple. Piero yelled in fury and grabbed onto the gun with both of his own hands, dropping the oars in the process.
Bree used her other hand to gouge him in the eye. He hollered, then wrenched the gun from her hand and slap
ped her hard across the cheek.
Her head whipped back from the force of his strike, and her ears started to ring. She stumbled backwards, her legs tripping over the plank stretched across the middle of the boat. She tried to stay upright, but she couldn’t maintain her balance as she tumbled onto her backside. She fell with a thud onto the wood beneath, the force knocking the air from her lungs.
Blinking, she felt disoriented and unable to move. Suddenly, Piero loomed above her, his pistol pointed directly at her head.
He lifted his other hand up to his face and touched the jagged marks her nails had left. His fingers came away covered in blood. “You little bitch,” he spat out. “You will pay for making me bleed.”
“Why are you doing this?” she asked him, taking in a shaky breath. “I thought you were meant to protect me.”
“I am being paid a lot of money to retrieve you, Principessa.”
“So, you are prepared to lose your honor for money?”
He slapped her hard again, the sting from which she felt down to her toes.
“Honor has gotten me little in this world. Money is what will bring me respect.” He looked around the boat briefly and swore. “Damn it, the oars are gone. I am going to have a great deal of fun punishing you for this inconvenience, Principessa.”
“Not before I punish you.” She swiftly drew her knee back and kicked her boot with all her might, aiming directly for his bollocks.
Her heel rammed into the junction of his thighs. Fury flashed across Piero’s eyes before he groaned and doubled over.
“Puttana,” he choked out, half collapsing onto his knees in front of her. He raised the pistol toward her, his aim slightly unsteady but holding true.
She held her breath as a look of grim intent radiated from his gaze, slowly replacing the agony that her kick had caused.
“You won’t get paid if you kill me,” she reminded him.
The man weakly chuckled. “There is another who will pay for your death, not as much as the first who wants you alive, but still enough for me to live very well for many years to come.” His expression twisted into a satisfied grin as he cocked the hammer. “And I think I will prefer that option. I am done with you, Principessa. Prepare to meet your maker.”
Without warning, the boat lurched to the side, as a surge of water crashed down upon them. Bree gripped the sides of the wooden dinghy as hard as she could, staring as a hand reached over the side of the boat and ripped Piero from where he was perched, flinging him effortlessly into the water.
Daniel!
An instantaneous sense of relief coursed through her as she gripped the rocking boat tightly. He was alive. Thank goodness.
She could only catch glimpses of the two men wrestling each other in the swirling river, drifting farther and farther away.
Daniel’s dark golden hair bobbed up from the water for a moment before he dragged Piero beneath the surface. A moment later, they both came up for air, and the moonlight glinted off a dagger Piero was swinging toward Daniel. The knife plunged down, aimed directly for Daniel’s heart, but at the last moment, Daniel grabbed ahold of Piero’s wrist and, using the forward momentum, twisted the man’s hand, redirecting the blade toward Piero’s own chest.
Even with the river churning around them, Bree thought she could hear the sickening sound as the knife plunged through the shirt material and lodged deep into Piero’s flesh.
The man looked down in surprise toward the silver hilt now protruding from his torso.
Daniel thrust away and began swimming back toward Bree, fighting the strong current. Piero ripped the blade from his chest, and his body clenched for a moment as he floundered in the water. Then a sudden stillness gripped him, and the river slowly began dragging him gently, almost lovingly, under its surface. A chill ran through her as she realized Piero would not be reemerging this time. She quickly rubbed her hands along her upper arms, but it did little to warm her.
The boat lurched to one side, and Daniel pulled himself up and into the hull. He rolled to a sitting position against the edge of the dinghy and sat there on the wood, dripping wet and breathing in deep gulps of air.
“Are you all right?” he asked, his chest heaving while he stretched his legs out.
Bree nodded shakily before she stood and stumbled over to him. She collapsed down between his legs and leaned in against his chest. He caught her to him and pulled her in close. Clutching tightly to his neck, Bree couldn’t stop her body from shaking.
“I thought you were dead,” she whispered.
He chuckled briefly before gently tilting her chin backwards until she was looking into his gaze. “I’m not that easy to get rid of.”
Bree silently agreed. For years, she’d been wanting him to stop interfering in her life and disappear, but now, that was the last thing she wanted to have happen. “When I saw you dive from the barge and plunge into the water,” she told him. “I nearly forgot to breathe. And then when you didn’t surface, I… I’ve never felt so scared before in my life.”
He glanced out across the water. “After we realized someone had set the fire on purpose to block anyone from getting back down the stairs to you, I was… My heart stopped when I saw you in this dinghy floating away from me.”
Those were the most romantic words she’d ever heard. His hand twisted up behind her head to grip the nape of her neck gently, and her pulse began a frantic beat. Slowly, he tugged her head toward his.
Their lips met, and suddenly, nothing else mattered to Brianna in the world except for this moment with Daniel. The brush of his mouth against hers as he pulled her onto his lap felt like she had finally arrived home. His lips were cold from the water, but the inside of his mouth was warm as he nibbled softly against hers.
She wound her hands up around his neck and settled more comfortably on his thighs. Her eyes widened when she felt his thick shaft pressing against her, hard and pulsating lightly beneath.
She wriggled against him and had the satisfaction of hearing him groan. The man was attracted to her even though he may think her a hoyden; there could be no denying that. The thought filled her with a thrilling sense of joy and satisfaction, knowing that, at least in this, he couldn’t deny his feelings for her. Physical though they may be, they were still feelings nonetheless.
A horn bellowed in the distance. Daniel tore his lips from hers and looked past her down the river.
With an equal measure of relief and annoyance, she saw the barge ahead. It was rocking slightly but relatively stationary in the middle of the river, a thick line of rope stretched taut from the deck down into the water below. The captain had obviously weighed anchor in order to send out a search party for them, Bree assumed as she quickly scrambled away from Daniel.
Some men hollered from the deck, and Bree could see that another dinghy was bobbing in the water, men aboard it ready to cast off.
Bree looked back at Daniel. “We are rescued, it would seem,” she said, feeling unaccountably nervous all of a sudden.
He dragged a hand through his damp hair. “I’m sorry, Bree. I didn’t mean for that kiss to hap—”
“Stop,” she interrupted him. “You’ve said that so many times over the last few days that if you dare do so again, I swear to God, I will scream. We’re obviously attracted to each other. As what occurred in the cabin a short time ago would attest to.” She stared him down, silently daring him to deny it.
He stayed mute for a moment, an unreadable expression etched on his face. “I never should have let it get that far. It showed great disrespect to not only you, but to Sir Walter as well. A man who has been more like a father to me than my own ever was.”
“Don’t you dare bring my uncle into this,” Bree replied. “If we’re being completely honest, there’s always been something between us, simmering just below the surface. And though it may have come to a head after having recently been thrust into several extraordinarily dangerous situations together”—she took in a quick breath of air and fortified her res
olve before it deserted her—“I also know I liked it. I liked it very much.”
He closed his eyes and grimaced.
Definitely not the response she’d been hoping for. Her heart clenched in agony.
“Stay on that side,” Alessandro’s voice broke through the tense atmosphere like a sword.
Bree turned away from Daniel’s scrutiny and watched as Alessandro threw a rope with a hook attached to one end toward the opposite side of the dinghy from where she and Daniel were perched. “Clearly, the feeling is not reciprocated.”
The hook landed with a thud as it latched against the edge of the dinghy, sounding as hollow as her heart felt. Carefully, Alessandro and the other two men with him, gripped onto the end of the rope and pulled the dinghy in toward where they stood balancing on their own small boat.
“Bree…” Daniel pleaded.
From the corner of her eye, she saw him raise a hand toward her, but she refused to look at him and give him the satisfaction of seeing the hurt her face was surely displaying.
His hand dropped by his side. “I am sorry, I—” His voice sounded tortured.
She kept her attention fixed firmly ahead on Alessandro and his men. “Then you can do as you previously suggested and at least save me from being forced to marry. You know marriage was never a wish of mine, so a short-term sham marriage is better than one to a man who will dictate my every move.”
“It is?”
“Yes.” She forced herself to turn back. “When we get back on board, fetch the boat’s captain, and he can marry us.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You wish for us to marry now?”
She smiled at him, though she was certain there was little humor showing in her tightly stretched lips. “I do. But don’t worry, Daniel; it will be in name only.” She turned back to the barge, which loomed closer and closer as their dinghy was pulled farther in. “Then, we can get an annulment, and you may eventually marry your ideal mouse of a wife.”
The Elusive Earl (Saints & Scoundrels) Page 22