“Nothing, my lord.”
“Stop calling me my lord,” he snapped.
“Stop interfering in my business,” she snapped back.
“I’ll leave you alone if you call me Andrew,” he offered as he stepped closer.
“I’m not calling you that,” she bit out and stepped further away.
They glared at each other before he stepped back and smiled.
“Fine,” he said. “How about Ash? It’s what Jon and Anna call me, and it can’t be improper because it’s merely the shortening of my current title.”
Evelyn frowned at him, wondering what he was about. Why did he care so much what she called him anyway? But arguing was futile. The stubborn oaf wouldn’t go anywhere until she agreed, and she needed that bag.
What’s more, he was confusing her by simply being there. If she was in disguise, she would be flirtatious, wicked, and seductive, even though she wasn’t sure how to be.
But now, being Evelyn, well… She just needed him to leave.
Saying a swift prayer for patience, Evelyn looked at him and gave a tight smile.
“Fine. Ash. Happy?”
“Ecstatic.” He grinned, and Evelyn had to stop herself from smiling back. He was incorrigible.
“Will that be all?” she asked in a not-so-subtle attempt to get rid of him.
He grinned again. It was beautiful. Just like the rest of him. The cad!
“Not quite. I need your help.”
“Really?” she asked, ridiculously pleased by the notion. “With what?”
“With your cousin,” he said, and her stomach plummeted.
Of course. Anna. Her stunningly beautiful, lovely, married cousin.
She tried not to be devastated by his rakish ways. Anna had told her the rumours of what he and Jonathan got up to, but really, was kissing two women, as he believed her to be, not enough for him? Did he really need to pursue Anna too?
“I’m not sure what help I could offer, my lord,” she said sharply, her tone icy. “I’m not in the habit of helping unscrupulous men pursue my married cousin.”
She spun away as his chuckle did nonsensical things to her insides. How could he still affect her when she knew what he was?
“Oh, my dear Eve. I cannot believe anyone who knows you thinks you a mouse. You are a veritable lioness, and with some of the sharpest claws I’ve ever encountered.”
His words pleased her more than they should, so she kept her back to him and tried to pretend he wasn’t there.
“But, as much as I rather enjoy the high opinion you have of my stamina, I am not in the business of dallying with married women.”
Evelyn continued to pretend to ignore him while listening avidly to his every word.
“Besides which,” he continued, this time his voice softer so that she had to strain to hear him, “I have my hands full enough with her stubborn little cousin.”
Evelyn swallowed past the sudden lump in her throat but still did not turn around.
That was until he took her arm and spun her himself.
Evelyn was overwhelmed by his nearness, and she was afraid she’d repeat her foolishness of yesterday morning.
“What do you want?” she demanded.
“You, as it happens,” he announced so casually that it took a moment for his words to sink in. When they did, it was all she could do not to swoon from the shock. How could he announce such things like that?
“But that isn’t why I’m here. I need to speak to you about Jonathan.”
“About Jonathan,” she repeated in surprise.
He nodded his head toward a log that she hadn’t managed to drag since it was huge and imbedded into the soil below it. “Shall we?”
Her curiosity and concern for her cousin was such that she followed him without protest and sat on the log, waiting for him to join her and doing her best to ignore the closeness of his body to hers.
He really did smell delicious. Spicy and warm and—
“Are you listening?” he asked suddenly, and she nearly fell off the log.
Righting herself with a glare in his direction, she nodded then set about actually listening.
“As I was saying; you will have noticed he is rather quiet?”
Evelyn nodded but did not interrupt. This seemed to be difficult for Lord Ashdon — Ash — to speak about, and she had been concerned about the change in Jon. They all had.
“He — he lost someone. Someone important. The last time we were on the continent.” Ashdon spoke to his boots, the words obviously difficult, and Evelyn felt such a wave of compassion for him, this strong man seeming suddenly so vulnerable. “The thing is… I knew how difficult it was for him. But I didn’t understand it, though I might be starting to,” he added quietly, glancing in her direction before looking back toward the ground.
Evelyn reminded herself that breathing was actually vital to living, so forced herself to take a breath. She shouldn’t read too much into such comments in any case.
“Anyway, the other day we were talking, and I-I said something rather unforgiveable about the whole thing. We’ve spoken since, but it’s not the same, and I—“
Suddenly he leapt from the log and began pacing.
“We’ve been through a lot, Jonathan and I. Things that nobody else would ever understand. I don’t know how to make up for what I said. I don’t even know if it’s possible to make up for it.”
He was so genuinely distressed that Evelyn had no doubt that he regretted whatever had happened between him and Jonathan, and her heart hurt for the man.
Without thought to anything but offering comfort, she stood and went to him, and clasped one of his large hands in both of hers.
“Andrew,” she began, not noticing that she’d used the Christian name she was so adamant she would not use, “please do not distress yourself so. I see the closeness between you and my cousin. Anyone would think you were brothers, the way you are with each other. And Jonathan knows your regard for him, as you know his for you.” She lifted his hand until it was pressed against her heart. “Whatever you said, I am positive Jon knows you did not mean it. Give him time. Whatever demon he’s fighting, he will defeat it as long as we are all here to help, should he ask for it.”
He stayed quiet for so long that Evelyn became self-conscious and made to move away. But his hand tightened in her grip, and when she looked up, she found her gaze locked with the impossible green of his.
“You are utterly befuddling, my Eve,” he said softly. “A tongue so sharp, a heart so soft. Beautiful and fierce in your own quiet way.”
Well, what was she to say to that?
She remained still as a statue as Ash lifted a hand and brushed a stray curl from her face then bent to press his lips gently against her own.
Evelyn was fairly sure that if he hadn’t chosen that moment to wrap his arm round her waist, she would have ended up in a very embarrassing puddle at his feet.
This kiss was nothing like the others; it was soft and tender and felt very much like it meant something, which confused her further. In fact, she didn’t think she’d actually had a single coherent thought since he’d arrived here.
The sudden screech of a bird overhead had them springing apart, and she couldn’t help but return his rueful grin.
Though she didn’t want their time together now to end, she felt fairly sure that he would return to the woods tonight in search of the mystery woman, and then she could act whatever way she wanted without fear of being caught, or reputations, or anything that was currently holding her back.
And if she felt a pang of sadness, that if he did show up tonight to be with the masked woman, it would mean that he was merely trifling with her this morning, then so be it.
It wasn’t as though there could ever be anything real between them anyway. He was a Peer and would marry the daughter of a Peer. It was always the way with these things. And she, well… she didn’t have time to even think on such things. As soon as she’d gotten this little infatuat
ion out of her system and cleared up the debacle she’d created with these robberies, she would be concentrating once more on bringing her uncle to justice.
So there was no need to be maudlin about him. None at all.
She would go tonight, but she was adamant that she would never rob a single person again. She would have her fun. And then, she would get her life back.
Andrew felt shaken to his very core by whatever had just happened with Evelyn.
He had known that his attraction to her was growing by the second, but this was beyond anything he’d ever experienced. That kiss, though it had been one of the gentlest he’d ever had, had felt like the earth shifting beneath his feet.
He was far too much of a coward to look too closely at his feelings and the reason for them, however, so he set about distracting them both until he could either get his head straight or drown himself in brandy. The latter seemed preferable at that moment in time.
“Thank you,” he said softly, “for helping to reassure me.”
She merely smiled in response, her eyes shining up at him, and it was all he could do not to grab her to him once again, imagining those eyes gazing at him every day, every morning… every night.
Damn it. This was not good at all.
Jonathan was barely speaking to him as it was. Somehow, Andrew didn’t think that ravishing the man’s innocent cousin would do him any favours.
“I insist you allow me to thank you properly,” he said, trying to sound casual and coolly polite.
She frowned in that terribly distracting way of hers. The way that made her skin crease right there and made—
“Ash?”
“Yes. What?” he asked, trying to clear his head of thoughts that had no business being there.
“I asked what you were talking about,” she said, looking at him as if he’d run mad. Which he had, most likely.
Pull yourself together, man he demanded before concentrating on the conversation at hand.
“Whatever you have hidden up there,” he said, pointing to the cottage, “I should like to retrieve it for you as a way of saying thank you.”
If a person could literally freeze with shock, Ash reckoned that Evelyn could have done it just then. Her jaw opened, and her eyes widened, and he did his best to ignore how adorable it made her look.
“Wh-what nonsense. There’s nothing up there. Why should I hide anything up there?” Her laugh sounded slightly maniacal.
Ash bit back the desire to tell her that, actually, he was one of the best agents the Crown currently had and figuring out that she had stashed something here was child’s play. He couldn’t very well go around shouting it from the rooftops, even if he had a sudden and overwhelming urge to have her trust him.
“Eve,” he said softly, stepping closer to her, “I know there is something up there. And it is obviously something you don’t want me to see. I also know that you are hiding something that you don’t want me — or possibly anybody — to know about. I promise I shan’t look at whatever it is and that I shan’t press you to tell me what is going on. But I can’t stand by while you hurt yourself trying to get up there.”
He was close enough to her now to see the golden flecks in her eyes, to see the length of the dark lashes that framed them. His throat dried in an instance, and his heart began to pound. God, she was stunning.
“So, will you let me help you?”
Ash couldn’t explain it, but he knew instinctively that this was a monumental ask. That if she trusted him with this, it would be an immense thing for her to do. And he wanted so badly for her to trust him.
He felt himself holding his breath as a range of emotions flickered across her face. She was definitely battling herself on this, and he hoped that she would agree, because, otherwise, he’d have to go against her wishes and suffer her wrath.
And even though she was more like a furious, spitting kitten than anything else when she was angry, he still much preferred her smile to her hisses. But he wasn’t going to let her injure herself, and that was that.
After what seemed like an age, she huffed out a breath and glared at him.
“You promise not to look?”
“I do,” he agreed solemnly.
“And you promise not to ask questions?”
“I promise,” he confirmed.
After another silence, she spoke again. “Very well. There’s a bag up there in a hole in the stone just beneath the thatch. If you would be so kind as to get it for me, I would appreciate it.”
Andrew nodded his head and moved to the cottage, making sure to hide his smile of triumph from her.
She was starting to trust him, and he didn’t care to examine why that was akin to the best feeling in the world.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Evelyn couldn’t quite believe that she’d actually allowed him to fetch the bag for her.
What if he were lying about his intentions?
What if he were to open it? All would be lost. He would discover that she was, well… herself.
Would she end up in Newgate? Would she hang for her crimes? If so, her father would never be avenged. Her uncle never brought to justice.
“Eve.”
Evelyn whipped round at the sound of Ashdon calling her.
Her heart gave a little start at his name for her, and she gave it a sound talking to. Now was not the time to be fluttering, for heaven’s sake.
“Yes, my lord?”
He walked back to her.
“I’m going to ignore the fact that you insist on using that ridiculous title for now, since we have a more pressing matter to attend to.”
“And what is that?”
“I can’t reach it.”
Damn and blast, she thought. She was going to have to wait until she’d kidnapped Jon’s horse again before retrieving it, which meant she wouldn’t be able to sneak it to the church until tomorrow. Which meant another sleepless night tossing and turning and worrying about it.
“Well, never mind. Thank you for trying. Good morning,” she muttered with a quickly bobbed curtsy as she went to walk away.
“Not so fast,” he called and grabbed her arm to stop her from dashing off. “I have an idea.”
Since Evelyn really did not relish having to leave the bag there longer than necessary, she was willing to try anything.
“All right, what is it?”
“I’m only a couple of feet short of reaching it,” he began as he started to unbutton his dark green coat.
Evelyn swallowed hard and tried to ignore the emerging hint of muscle she could see beneath the thin lawn shirt he was revealing.
If he took off his waistcoat, her heart would stop.
“So I’m going to balance on that little collection of logs of yours,” he continued casually, as though stripping in the middle of a forest was a regular and completely normal activity.
He’d removed the coat fully, and Evelyn was watching in rapt fascination as he folded it neatly then placed it on the log they’d been sitting on.
She glanced back at Ashdon and saw he was watching her with that boyish grin that melted her heart, along with other places.
“What if you should fall?” she asked doubtfully. “I’m not sure the logs will hold your weight. You—“ Her blasted cheeks were heating again. “—well, you are rather big.”
He laughed softly and stepped forward to once more brush a curl from her cheek.
“Don’t trouble yourself, my Eve. We’ll have your bag in no time.”
He strode over to the logs and climbed atop. The stack shook from side to side, and Evelyn’s heart leapt into her throat.
“Don’t wobble about so!” she shrieked.
If anyone saw them now, him with no jacket, balancing beside a rundown cottage on a clump of logs, and her barking instructions at him, well… it would be more than a little difficult to explain.
“I’m not wobbling,” he grumbled.
Evelyn watched as he stretched as high as he could with one hand whil
st gripping the wall of the cottage with the other.
The ridiculousness of their situation hadn’t escaped her notice either, and she was conscious of the fact that, although it was always fairly abandoned around here, there was a possibility of their being discovered.
“What’s taking so long?” she called to Ashdon.
“Nothing,” he called back, sounding grumpier than she’d heard thus far.
“Nothing? Excellent. I was hoping you’d take your time for no reason, enjoy the view, take in the sights…”
“I am not taking in the view. I can’t quite reach it. And I’m doing this for you, remember?”
“Yes, I remember. I didn’t think you’d use the opportunity to have a rest.”
He growled something under his breath. “Hold on, I’ll try to get closer.”
Evelyn watched as he reached further forward, and suddenly the log beneath him lurched, and he landed with a thud on his backside, clutching the drawstring bag.
Evelyn couldn’t help it; she laughed louder than she had in a very long time.
It struck Andrew that he’d been less embarrassed by being caught, quite literally, with his trousers around his ankles in the stables of the family seat when he’d been a lad. The stable master had given him a sound talking to, he remembered, about the dangers of dallying with lose maidens. Of course, being young and infatuated, Andrew had thought he’d never find a woman he would feel as passionate about as — well… her name escaped him now. Which just went to show the old stable master had been a wise man.
And as it turned out, he was more aroused by her husky laughter, aimed at him though it was, than he’d ever been by the terribly friendly maiden back home.
He tried desperately to remind himself that Eve was an innocent. An innocent related to his partner and best friend. An innocent who was hiding what appeared to be quite a big secret. But nothing was going to cure him of this knee-buckling want for her. Even when she leaned down and began yanking at his arm to help him up, she conjured up images that had no business being conjured.
It was the oddest sensation, being so attracted to her that it nearly made him dizzy while at the same time being mortally wounded by her laughing at him. And all the while, worrying about her safety in whatever she’d mixed herself up in.
Highway Revenge Page 11