Regency Seduction: The Captain's Courtesan / The Outrageous Belle Marchmain. Lucy Ashford

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СКАЧАТЬ bought your drinks. And now you’re sick as a dog … Yet you were going back with him, in his carriage?’

      She clutched Katy tighter, her face blazing defiance again. ‘I had nowhere else to go! And you, of all people, should know why, since you are responsible!’

      Alec drew a deep breath. Light was just beginning to dawn. ‘I take it you’re talking about that fire again.’

      ‘Yes, and don’t insult me by pretending you don’t know! My friend Helen’s home was burnt to the ground tonight, because you took exception to my comments about your way of life, that day at Two Crows Castle! And I know you also set your men two weeks ago to destroy my friend’s printing press—her livelihood!’

      Oh, devil take it. The smashed press, the fire. She thought it was him. He clenched his jaw. ‘Certainly I did not like the garbage you spouted that day you came to my home, chiefly because it in no way resembled the truth. But to think I would take such squalid and petty revenge …’ Alec took a deep breath. ‘Listen to me. I was not responsible for the damage done to your friend’s printing press. I did not set fire to your friend’s home tonight.’

      She lifted her chin, in defiance and disbelief. ‘You have plenty of men to do your dirty work, though, haven’t you?’

      ‘You are insulting them,’ he snapped. ‘I thought you as Ro Rowland pretended to be on the side of former soldiers. Now you’re assuming, as so many others do, that they’re all common criminals. Well, don’t. And your friend with her printing press has no doubt made countless enemies if she regularly publishes vitriol-filled, inaccurate pieces like the one you were starting to write about Two Crows Castle that day you came to visit.’

      She swallowed hard. Either he was an extremely good liar, or he was telling the truth. Impossible. But …

      He was reaching into his pocket, pulling out a folded sheet of paper. ‘Here,’ he said tiredly. ‘You dropped this.’

      It was the letter Biddy had brought to her, from Helen. She had forgotten all about it. Still clutching Katy, she unwrapped it with fingers that were numb with cold.

      Dear Rosalie, we are all safe, though the house is a burned-out shell. I am sending Katy to you with Biddy, because the child was inconsolable and wanted you badly. As Biddy will tell you, you must make haste, both of you, to Mr Wheeldon’s house.

      I have more idea now, Rosalie, who our enemy is. Because shortly before the fire another note was delivered, just like the first—on the same notepaper, in the same handwriting—saying, ‘If you write one more word about Lady A., then you and those close to you will be the target next, not just the house.’ I fear I have made a vicious enemy, Rosalie. But Mr Wheeldon and his sister and their servants here make me feel most secure …

      Rosalie felt the world tilt around her. An enemy Helen had made, then, not her. So the finger of blame was no longer pointing at Alec Stewart … Oh, Lord. She tried to shove the letter back into her pocket, impeded because Katy, upset, was fighting to get free.

      ‘Hush, sweetheart,’ Alec was saying softly to the little girl. He’d picked up the tattered rag doll she’d dropped and gave it to her.

      Katy gazed up at him, her crying hiccupping to a stop. ‘Polly-doll,’ she said.

      Decisively Alec took her in his arms. ‘News?’ He nodded curtly towards Helen’s letter.

      The colour crept hotly up Rosalie’s throat to her cheeks. ‘It seems I might have been mistaken. In the matter of what happened to my friend, and the fire at her house. I—apologise.’

      His expression remained iron hard. ‘You make rather a lot of mistakes, don’t you, Mrs Rowland?’

      ‘I’ve said I’m sorry!’ she flashed. ‘Let me have Katy back.’

      ‘You’re not fit to look after yourself, let alone a child!’

      Katy stared up at Alec, wide-eyed, interested. ‘It’s all right,’ he said soothingly to her. ‘It’s all right, sweetheart.’ He gazed narrowly at Rosalie. ‘You’ve nowhere to go, you’re not well and you have the child to think of. You’re what I’d call in trouble.’

      ‘Lord Maybury would have helped me!’

      His lips thinned. ‘If you believe that, you’re even more foolish than I’d thought. And as Lord Maybury’s gone on his sweet way, I’d say you’ve actually no choice but to let me take you both to my house for the night.’

      Fear jolted through Rosalie. She’d always intended to tackle this man. To enter his lair somehow, and find out all she could about Linette’s enemy. But, oh, Lord, not like this. Not with her legs shaking, and her stomach heaving, and her brain a woolly mess. And with—Katy.

      Yet what else could she do? She had no money. No means now of even getting safely to Mr Wheeldon’s house. ‘Wonderful,’ she said bitterly. She pushed back her hair. ‘So it’s your basement again, is it?’

      Her legs wobbled and he saw it. ‘Take hold of my arm,’ he ordered. ‘I’ve got the child safe. And this time, we’ll try to do better than my basement. Garrett!’ He was turning to call out to Eyepatch.

      ‘Captain?’

      ‘I want you to take the horses home. But first find me a hackney, quickly. I’m bringing Mrs Rowland and her child to Two Crows Castle.’

      Garrett’s face was a picture of dismay. ‘My God, Captain, have you lost your wits?’

      ‘Button it, Garrett. Just do as I say, will you?’ Glancing down, Alec saw that Rosalie looked white as death.

      The child looked anxious. ‘Mama?’

      ‘She’s all right,’ Alec said gently. ‘Your mother will be all right, Katy.’

      Alec realised he was getting himself into a fine pickle. No wonder Garrett had looked aghast. But when Alec had seen her struggling to get out of Stephen’s carriage, he’d wanted to punch his brother into the gutter. She looked so defenceless in her drab wet cloak, with her rain-soaked hair clinging to her face. Yet not only had she paraded her wares at the Temple of Beauty, but she’d been with Stephen tonight. She’s no innocent, you fool. Young though she is, she’s a widow and has a child. What’s more, she’s a gossip-raking troublemaker who’s wrongly accused you of all sorts of rubbish …

      The hackney summoned by Garrett rumbled to a halt close by. He thought he could see tears misting her eyes as she turned to him and whispered, ‘You promise me the child will be safe?’

      ‘I promise,’ he said, tight-lipped. God, she could barely stand. Grimly he climbed after her into the dingy hackney with Katy still secure in his arms and cursed himself for a fool all the way back to Two Crows Castle. His men would be far from delighted to see her after her last visit. But he couldn’t leave her out on the street. ‘Why not?’ loyal Garrett would say. ‘She deserves no better.’

      Alec sighed. The trouble was that even now, bedraggled and sick and hostile as she was, she was still so eminently desirable that his loins ached. Dear God, she was prey to anyone like this, let alone his evil brother. She was clearly of gentle birth and educated. So what СКАЧАТЬ