Page 152 of A Perilous Passion

He squeezed Charlotte’s fingers appreciatively. She was learning, bless the girl.

“I’m sorry. We’ll say Mr. Seabourne is a distant relation, taken ill on a visit. Or perhaps we could say he slipped and tore a ligament.”

Charlotte smiled. “You’re getting too good at dissembling, Aunt. I never knew you had it in you.”

“Needs must,” was Flora’s muffled reply, and Rafe wondered sleepily if Charlotte had touched a nerve.

He murmured, “Charlotte? You must be battered and bruised after your struggles to get me here. Miss Hartington—”

“Call me Flora, please. After all, I’ve seen more of you than a lady should.”

Charlotte chuckled—a delightful sound. “Aunt, I’m shocked at you!” she exclaimed.

“Thank you, Flora,” he said. “I’d be much obliged if you’d tend to Charlotte’s needs now. And please, I’ll be fast asleep soon, so no one need sit up with me. I don’t wish to keep any of you from your beds.”

There was further movement, followed by the extinguishing of most of the lamps. A hush fell over the room, broken only by the occasional crackle of wood in the hearth.

He closed his eyes and felt Charlotte’s hand in his again. He smiled dreamily.

She said softly, “I’m so sorry, Rafe. If I hadn’t tried to interfere, that shot might never have hit you.”

“On the contrary,” he murmured. “It could have hit me in a far more vital place. You did exactly the right thing. I will forever be in debt to you and your family.”

“I’ve been a bit surprised, myself, by them. I’d no idea Aunt Flora had acquired such a raft of medical knowledge. And wasn’t Jenny splendid? Even though Culverdale was quite legitimately about to fire at a highwayman, she saw me desperately trying to prevent it and acted to help without hesitation.”

“No, the honors should go to you,” he insisted. “I’d no idea you had such a strong stomach. Most young ladies would just have fainted and let someone else deal with the crisis.”

He tried not to think about what she might have seen, or done, in her former life as a smuggler’s daughter, which had inured her to blood and gunplay. When he was better, he’d make it his business to find out the truth. His suspicions were threatening to tear him apart.

How he wished he was free to love her! It was doubtless the brandy fogging his mind, but it would be so easy to just offer himself to her right now. He tipped his head back on the pillow and fell silent, struggling to make sense of his unfamiliar feelings.

She must have assumed he’d fallen asleep, for the next time he looked in her direction, she was sitting in the chair opposite, her nightgown pulled up to her thighs so that she could anoint the scratches on her legs.

He feasted for a moment on the splendid sight, though he knew the gentlemanly thing to do would be to look away. After a brief battle with himself, the roguish side of his character won out. He drawled, “If I saw a vision like that every time I opened my eyes, I would be a very happy man.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

The low voice from the bed startled Charlotte so much she almost dropped her pot of salve. Recovering quickly, she set it down and lowered her nightgown.

“Please, I beg you, don’t deny a wounded man such an uplifting tonic,” Rafe implored her. “You’re a poor nurse if you don’t understand that your patient needs to be kept in good spirits.”

“And you’re an unconscionable flirt,” she said stiffly, patting her gown modestly into place. “I can’t imagine you saying such a thing to Mama or Aunt Flora.”

“Heaven forfend!” A wicked smile worked at the corners of his mouth. “I suppose a kiss would be out of the question?”

“Rafe! How much brandy have you had? Or perhaps it’s the nostrum that’s sent your thoughts down this road. This is neither the time nor the place for such improper suggestions. You’re hurt and need to be calm.”

“I disagree. Alone with you in a bedchamber, in the dead of night, is the perfect place and time.”

The man was truly incorrigible. “Only a few short hours ago,” she said, “you forbade me to have anything to do with you because it was too dangerous. It seems I can’t take your word for anything.”

“Yes, you can. Forgive me—I forgot myself. But be in no doubt about your attractions. I’m not merely flattering you when I say how desirable you are, how I long to taste you again.”

She blinked. This was not what she needed to hear. Not with her vivid imagination already working overtime. “Rafe, do I have to throw a ewer of cold water over you?”

Or herself?

He rolled his gaze up to the ceiling and murmured, “Mayhap you should. I fear I’m my own worst enemy. Let’s find something neutral to talk about, to take my mind off your considerable charms.”