by Candace Camp
He faced her silently, arms crossed over his chest. After a long moment, he said, “In that case, you will simply have to write a note to your sister and her husband. Tell them that you have gone to visit a friend.”
“In the middle of the night?”
“Your friend is ill. She sent for you to come posthaste.”
“And exactly why did I barricade my door and leave by my window?” Nicola shook her head. “No one would believe that, even if my door were not locked. I would have awakened someone and told them I was leaving. Indeed, the person who brought the message would have had to awaken someone to gain admittance to the house.”
“I can get around all that,” he told her confidently. “I shall return to your room and leave it as if you had been called away suddenly. And I will see to it that one of the servants will say that they opened the door to the messenger.”
“You have the Earl’s servants in your employ?” Nicola asked, amazed.
“Not in my employ. But I do have connections. Exmoor is not a popular employer—nor a very generous one.”
“You are serious, aren’t you?” Nicola studied him. “You are willing to risk everything so that I will stay here and take care of your friend?”
The highwayman shrugged. “He has been a good friend to me for many years. More than that, he showed me that not everyone is treacherous.”
“This is absurd. You will never be able to pull the wool over their eyes.” Nicola sighed and turned away from him, gazing down at the man in the bed. Finally, she said, “All right. What if I agree to look after him? But first, you take me back to Tidings, where I will tell my sister that I am going…somewhere for a few days. Perhaps my aunt’s. That would be reasonable, and Deborah won’t want to go over there in her condition…although she might not want me to leave her for that long.”
“There is always the friend-in-need story,” Jack suggested wryly.
“I suppose I could invent something—no, wait, I’ve got it. I will tell her I’m going to fetch Nurse. Aunt Adelaide was supposed to write her, but I can say that I have decided to go in person to convince her. Instead, I shall come here. No, wait—” Nicola frowned. “Exmoor will probably insist on sending somebody with me for protection, thanks to your stopping me the other day. And he will make me take the carriage and coachman. I cannot do that.”
“Then I will do what I intended in the first place.”
“Don’t be so hasty. I have it. I will tell them that I am going to visit Aunt Adelaide. That way the Earl’s carriage and coachman can take me over there and leave me, then return and get me. I can ride from Buckminster on one of Aunt Adelaide’s horses. I shall tell her I am going to get our nurse. She won’t think twice about my riding there on horseback, and she will gladly lie to cover my absence, should anyone ask. I will tell Deborah the same thing, but I shall explain that I am leaving from my aunt’s because I don’t want Richard making me take the coachman and a groom for protection. She knows me well enough to know that I would not like that at all. So she will be happy, knowing I am going to get Nurse, Richard will be satisfied because I will take the coach to Aunt Adelaide, and Aunt Adelaide will be blissfully unaware. It should all work out fine as long as you do your part and bring our nurse back.”
“There is one further problem,” Jack pointed out.
“What?”
“How do I have any assurance that you are actually going to do this? Suppose I take you back tonight? Who is to say that you will come riding in here tomorrow? Or that if I tell you how to get here, you won’t tell your brother-in-law?”
Nicola cocked her eyebrow and regarded him coolly. “If you are afraid that I will reveal the location of this house, then I will meet you somewhere and you can blindfold me again and lead me here. You can wait for me on the road from Buckminster to the village.”
“Too crowded. I will meet you on the path that runs from Buckminster to Lady Falls. Do you know it?”
“Yes. I know it,” Nicola replied evenly. “Where would you like to meet?”
“There is a large rock, about seven feet tall, looks like three rocks stacked together, a few yards from the path. It comes along not long after the group of three oak trees.”
“I know the rock,” Nicola replied shortly. That was the spot where she and Gil used to part when they had spent time at the Falls. “I will be there tomorrow afternoon. It will take some time to go to Aunt Adelaide’s, then get away. I doubt I will be there before midafternoon. As for whether I will show up…I don’t know how I can convince you that I will, except to say that I came here tonight to help your friend.”
“You knew I would have carried you here if you had refused.”
“I could have screamed. I could have kicked. I could have made it much more difficult.”
“I would have simply tied you up and gagged you, and your journey would have been a good bit more uncomfortable. I imagine you were aware of that.”
“Actually, I didn’t think about it. But since you are determined to see only the worst in me…Yes, you could have forced me to come here. But you could not have forced me to use my knowledge and my skill. I could have dissolved into hysterics and been unable to pull out the ball. I could have refused to give him anything. Or given him the wrong thing. Would you have known if I did not give him the right remedy? I could have given him something that would kill him instead of help him. I still could, for that matter. So you see, you simply have to trust me about some things. This is one of them. I will meet you tomorrow afternoon where we said.”
The highwayman looked at her with a long, unblinking gaze. “I appear to have little choice, don’t I?” he said finally. “If I keep you here, I will, as you explained, increase the danger to my men and myself. And, as you so smoothly implied, you could kill Perry in retaliation rather than heal him.”
“I didn’t say that!” Nicola protested.
“Not in so many words. But there was a clear message in what you said.” Jack’s eyes were dark and unreadable. Nicola wished that she could rip aside the mask so that she could see his expression.
“You are the most suspicious man I have ever met!” Nicola exclaimed.
“I have good reason to be. I learned long ago the perfidy of women.”
“Oh, that’s right. Blame it on a female. That is always the easiest thing, isn’t it? ‘A woman made me sin.’ The truth is, you are suspicious because it is your nature,” Nicola retorted. “No doubt you suspect everyone else because you yourself are so full of secrets. It is you whom no one knows, whose face is never revealed, who lets no one learn his hiding place or true name.”
“It is safer for everyone that way.”
“It seems to me a hideous way to live—trusting no one, confiding in no one….”
“I am accustomed to it.”
“Accustomed? I think not. What you are is embittered and hardened.”
“You’re awfully cocksure in your opinions, given the fact that you know me not at all.”
“It does not take more than meeting you to see your bitterness,” Nicola shot back. “It comes oozing out of your every pore. I would have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to be aware of it.”
“Well, that is very edifying, Miss Falcourt,” the highwayman began dismissively. “However, it—”
He was stopped by a groan from the man on the bed. Both he and Nicola whirled around to look at Perry. He turned his head on the pillow, letting out another groan. They waited anxiously, watching him, but he did not move or make more noise. Nicola moved closer to the bed and laid her hand upon his forehead.
“No fever yet.” She looked at Jack. They both knew that the odds were that there would be a fever later.
“We had better leave. The sooner you get home, the better. You will need some sleep if you are to carry out your plan tomorrow. I will get Saunders to come watch over him while I’m gone.”
Nicola nodded and started toward the door. As she passed him, the highwayman reached out and wrapped his
hand around her wrist, pulling her to a halt. She looked at him in cool inquiry.
“Should you think about not following through with your plan…remember how easily I got into your room tonight.”
A tremor ran through Nicola, more at the touch of his hand upon her bare skin than from any fear. “If you think threatening me will cause me to do what you want, you are sadly mistaken, sir,” she said, returning his gaze unblinkingly. “I will do as I said because I told you I would. It is the concern for another human being that impels me, not your threats. And if I were you, I don’t think I would try entering my room that way again.”
She waited, gazing at him in the same icily unconcerned way until finally he released her wrist and stepped back, allowing her to walk past him to the door. He followed her down the stairs.
Saunders came from the kitchen into the entryway at the sound of their footsteps, and Jack tersely told him to watch Perry while he was gone. “Don’t let him move around and reopen that wound. And for God’s sake, don’t entrust his care to Diane. She’s a fool. I will take over when I get back.”
The other man nodded his understanding and, with one quick glance at Nicola, turned and ran lightly up the stairs. Jack pulled the black scarf from his pocket and came toward Nicola, folding the scarf into a blindfold. Nicola grimaced, but closed her eyes and stood passively as he tied the thing around her head, annoyed by the way her pulse sped up at his nearness. The man was infuriating, and there should be nothing that stirred her about his tying the scarf over her eyes.
After all, she reminded herself, she resented it; it was humiliating and unnerving. Yet she could not keep from recalling, as the soft silk settled upon her skin, the sensuality of the ride over here this evening—the heightening of all her senses, the feel of the cool night air against her skin, the rougher touch of his jacket, the smell of leather and horse and the man whose arms encircled her, the warmth of his body and the deep rumble of his voice, which she both heard and felt as she leaned against his chest, the sexual suggestion of her position between his legs, the unmistakable quickening of his manhood against her buttocks, the rhythmic rocking of the horse. Her nipples tightened at the memory, and she realized with a small jolt of shock that she was looking forward to the upcoming ride with a kind of excitement, even pleasure.
Heat rushed to her cheeks, embarrassment mingling with excitement. Nicola hated it that she felt like this—as if she were the sort of weak creature men often painted women to be, controlled by their emotions and desires, easily tempted and even more easily giving in, the sort of being who must be protected not only from others but from herself, as well. She was both angry and humiliated at the way her nipples swelled and grew tender when Jack’s fingers brushed against her face as he wrapped the scarf about her eyes…at the warmth that blossomed between her legs in anticipation. She wondered if he had any idea of the effect he had upon her. No doubt if he did it amused him terribly!
Jack wrapped his hand around her arm, and he guided her out the door, his voice low and warm in her ear. “There’s a step down here.” He held her arm firmly as she made her tentative way across what seemed to be a porch. “Now two more steps. There. Wait a moment while I untie my horse.”
She waited, listening to his voice murmuring to his mount as he untied it and the low answering neigh from his horse. She recognized the familiar sounds of a horse moving and shaking its head. Sternly she told herself that the ride back to Tidings would be different. She would hold herself aloof. She would not give in to the sensual thoughts and feelings that had overtaken her on the way here. It had been nonsensical of her to do so the first time; it was not like her at all. She was not a cold person—indeed, she was quite warm and loving with those she cared about—but with men she had a certain reputation of being disinterested, even cool, a woman who might flirt with one, but who would never be inclined to a little dalliance.
She felt Jack’s hands at her waist, lifting her up onto the horse. An instant later, he was up behind her, settling her against him and wrapping his arms around her as he had before. Nicola found herself fitting into her spot all too easily, and heat flooded her as his strong thighs cupped her buttocks, her stern resolutions evaporating in the reality of his touch. It amazed her that she had so little control over herself. She did not understand what was the matter with her, why she was acting so unlike herself. How could her body respond so to a man she did not even like?
They made their way slowly through the night, the soft brush every now and then of leaves against her shoulder or face confirming her supposition that they were winding through trees. Her body shifted with the movement of the horse, rubbing her subtly against Jack, and a low noise escaped him, muffled quickly against her hair. Nicola felt the heat of his body rise, engulfing her.
She cast about desperately in her mind for something to say, to do, that would take her thoughts away from the tumult in her body. “I, um, I left a bag of meadowsweet for the fever, did I not?”
“Yes. You left your whole kit of herbs and potions there.” His breath ruffled her hair and touched her ear, sending a shiver of primitive response straight down through her to her loins.
“Oh. Yes, of course.” It had made sense to leave it, since she was coming right back, but Nicola knew that she had not made any conscious decision to do so. She had merely forgotten it, something she could not even remember doing. Jack Moore had a lethal effect on her mind as well as her senses, apparently.
He shifted a little in the saddle, pulling her back even more tightly against him. Nicola had to press her lips together to suppress a little gasp at the feel of him hard against her. His arms tightened around her, and she felt his head move against hers. She realized that he had buried his face in her hair at the crook of her neck. He said something, his voice muffled by her hair; she thought it was her name. Desire stirred in her, turning her loins soft and waxen.
His hand came up and pushed her hair back from her neck. He bent and pressed his lips against the tender flesh. Nicola knew that she should protest, should push away from him, but she could not make herself move. She felt languid and heated, dazed at the rush of sensual pleasure his lips evoked in her. His lips were warm and soft, the merest touch like a butterfly’s wing, yet they seared her like fire. She leaned back, her body melting involuntarily against him. The movement seemed to add fuel to the flame of his passion, for his hand slipped inside her cloak, pulling it apart, and he began to caress her body, his hand sliding back and forth across her waist, then drifting up until it brushed the undersides of her breasts.
Her nipples blossomed, swelling with heat, and Nicola had to bite back a most unladylike moan of hunger. Somehow, the fact that she was blindfolded made the situation even more sensual. Each new touch, each kiss, came as a surprise, and her lack of sight seemed to increase the sensitivity of her other senses, so that each sensation was heightened. Her breasts tingled with anticipation, eager to feel his touch. It was an embarrassing sensation, but at the same time, it was far too enjoyable to stop. All she could do was wait, barely breathing, for what he would do.
His hand slid down again, and she felt a dip of disappointment, but in the next instant his hand was roaming down past her waist onto the flat plane of her abdomen, touching her in a way that no one ever had. Nicola’s breath rasped in her throat, quick, almost panting. He explored her body boldly, moving all over her stomach and abdomen and down onto her thighs, and with each touch, Nicola felt herself melting more and more inside. There was a tingling heat between her legs, a prickling sensation that made her want to clamp her legs together to ease it, yet at the same time open up to him.
The last thought sent a flush of embarrassment rising to her cheeks that made her glad it was dark. She knew that he must assume her to be a wanton, the way she let him caress her so freely without even a protest. It was a humiliating realization, but she could not tell him to stop. There was a pulsing hunger inside her, a desire to feel all that she could feel, and that hunger was far
stronger than any other emotion.
His hand slid up and down her side, the base of his palm brushing the side of her breast, and she trembled every time he grazed the soft orb. She ached for him to touch her breast; her hand tightened into a fist to keep from reaching out and pulling him to her. His lips moved up her neck and back down, onto the bony plateau of her collarbone, teasing and caressing, sending the flames roaring higher within her.
Just when Nicola thought she could stand the tension no longer, that she would have to beg him to take her breast in his hand, he did exactly that, cupping the underside of one breast. It gave her a certain amount of satisfaction to feel the shudder that ran through his body when he did so, for obviously it affected him as strongly as it did her.
He pressed his lips against the soft skin of her neck, nibbling and kissing, his breath a blast of hot air upon her flesh, while his hand gently squeezed her breast, his forefinger finding her nipple beneath the cloth of her dress and caressing it. Nicola could not hold back her soft groan at that. Gently his fingers played with her, digging gently into the supremely soft flesh of her breast, circling the hard button of her nipple, then squeezing it gently between his thumb and forefinger. His hand crept up over the top of her dress onto the sliver of soft breast above the neckline. He tried to slip his exploring fingers down beneath the material, but the dress thwarted him.
With a low noise of frustration, he went to the buttons down the front of her dress and began to undo them. His fingers were clumsy with haste, and two of the little buttons popped off, flying into the dark night. Then he was touching her bare breast, his skin sliding over her flesh, pushing down the thin barrier of her chemise. Her nipple tightened as the cool air touched it, and she could feel his response to the sight in the insistent throb against her hip. His hand covered the white orb, sliding gently over it to cup it from beneath, delighting in the heaviness in his palm. His thumb moved over the little bud of her nipple, stimulating it to a harder, tauter state. Her breasts felt swollen with desire, her nipples supremely sensitive, and with every motion of his hand, her passion flamed hotter.