Page 195 of A Perilous Passion

For a brief moment, his fingers ceased their task.

She had agreed to marry him, hadn’t she?

“It’s coming,” he said, giving a final pull at the loop of cord. “There. Rest your hands on my shoulders while I release your feet. By God, you’re as cold as one of my Praxiteles statues. I’m so grateful I got here in time. Splendid—that’s you free.”

He stood and lifted her into his arms, and she struggled to drape her numb hands around his neck. When the blood came back it would be painful, and he’d need to chafe them for her. But not in this dreadful place.

He carried her through the door and pushed it shut before setting her on her feet. She wobbled, and he cursed the man who’d tied her up so cruelly.

“Sit,” he ordered, pointing to a fallen tree trunk. “Rub the blood back into your hands and feet while I deal with this piece of human cess.”

Kneeling by the limp form of the free trader he’d laid out upon arrival, he stripped off the man’s belt and kerchief and trussed him up so he couldn’t speak or move.

A small bunch of keys was attached to the man’s belt. “Good,” Rafe said, standing up and approaching the door. “One of these must be the icehouse.” He found the right key and locked the door. “This should keep his lordship out of trouble.”

“Are you sure he can’t escape?” Charlotte asked as he pocketed the keys.

“Not unless the fiend can climb concave walls, or happens to have a pick-lock about his person.”

“He had a knife.”

“He doesn’t now,” Rafe reassured her, patting his pocket. Correction. Jessop’s pocket. Soon he must head back to the coast, to find out how the ambush was going, though he wished with all his heart he didn’t have to leave her. The sight of Charlotte helpless in Culverdale’s hands had made him murderous. Only the fact that a living traitor was more use than a dead one had stayed his hand.

Charlotte looked horribly shaken.

Rafe said gently, “Don’t worry. His plan is collapsing even as we speak, making him less dangerous by the minute. Jessop’s at the beach in charge of the operation. I’ll make sure you get home safely, but then I must return to the fray. Here, take this. You’re shivering like mad.”

He shrugged out of Jessop’s uncomfortably tight jacket and draped it around her shoulders.

“Why are you wearing Justin’s jacket?” she asked, clearly puzzled. “And, if I’m not mistaken, his breeches and waistcoat?”

“A bit of subterfuge, to keep up the morale of the men. They don’t like their commanding officers disappearing off in the middle of a battle. Jessop is currently masquerading as me, with Goves to back him up. He’s managing well enough, I’m sure. We went over the plan a dozen times.”

“What plan? How on earth can Justin pretend to be you?”

“I’ll explain later. Do you think you could sit on a horse? I’ll lead it for you.”

“If you think it’s not going to send you into a sneezing fit.”

“I’m glad you feel able to mock my Achilles heel,” he said drily. “It shows you’re feeling better.” He smiled gently down at her. “The world would be a much darker place without you in it, Miss Charlotte Allston. I don’t know what I’d have done if that villain had harmed you. You mean everything to me, my love, and after tonight I intend to keep you close.”

Her expression turned troubled. “You still have your mission.”

“Aye, but it’s almost done. Afterward, I’ll resign. If all goes well, I will have brought His Majesty a fine catch. Not only will it include free traders, a traitorous aristocrat, and a French frigate, but also some valuable contraband and vital military intelligence. I believe I’ve done enough with that and deserve a rest.”

She looked at him for a long moment. “I want to hold you, but my hands feel as if they’re stuck full of pins and needles.”

How he wanted to be held! And have her kiss him, and say she loved him and would gladly marry him. But he dared not linger.

“Come, let me warm you for a moment,” he said briskly, settling her with her back to a giant lime tree so he could chafe her hands and feet. She’d lost her shoes, but there was no time to hunt for them.

When she swayed and rested a hand on his shoulder to support herself, he felt the lightning shock of attraction and cursed every god he could think of for not permitting him more time with her after her horrendous ordeal.

“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice bubbling with tears. “You were right. I’ve distracted you from your mission ever since we first met, and now I’ve taken you away at the most crucial moment of all. I’ve been so foolish—I tried to eavesdrop on Culverdale tonight. He’d left the party to—”

Rafe was on his feet in an instant. “Hush now,” he said, sweeping his fingers across her cheek. “There’s nothing to forgive. Culverdale and his cronies are the wrongdoers, not you. If he knew who I was, and that you and I are connected, he might have taken you whatever the circumstances. I assumed his impromptu supper party was to keep everyone occupied while he traded secrets with our enemies, but he may have planned to take you hostage all along.”

Taking her hand, he leaned in and kissed away her tears. “I am to blame for putting you in danger. I should never have allowed things to go this far between us.”