Page 10 of A Game of Hazard

“I’ll forgive you if you leave me alone. Every movement, every word I speak is like church bells sounding in my head or the thump of a blacksmith’s hammer.”

He stood. There was little more he could do here—he couldn’t very well search this room without distressing Miss Isaacs or making her sicker. How frustrating! But as she settled back on the bed, the mattress lifted just enough for him to see some dark cloth sticking out. He brought the lantern closer and saw the cuff of a man’s shirt, covered in soot.

His throat went dry. “Off the bed, if you please.”

She was about to protest, but then her eyes met his, and she moved without complaint.

Thrusting the mattress back against the wall, he extracted an entire outfit of men’s clothes, soot-stained and dirty.

Her face went whiter still.

“What is the meaning of this?” Although he hardly needed to ask. There had been a man here, one who had been involved in dirty work, such as hiding a stash of contraband goods in the chimney—or removing them from thence to a safer place. And she knew who that man was.

“Where is he?”

“Where is who?”

Exasperated, he caught her shoulders and gave her a little shake. “Where is the man to whom these clothes belong?”

Her breath hissed between her teeth, and his attention was caught by the fullness of her lips. Had someone recently enjoyed those lips? And more? Her evening gown was sufficiently crumpled to suggest it.

Bile burned his throat. Everything about this woman was a lie. Did Lady Osbourne know it? Were they both pulling the wool over his eyes, laughing at him? Why not dangle a jade who consorted with smugglers in front of a revenue man and make him pursue her. What an entertaining tale to share with her fellow tabbies over the tea table!

His voice came out as a growl. “I know the kind of man you have been with. You’re not going to tell me you didn’t know what he was involved in?”

He had pulled her close to him, and her head was forced back so she could look at him. Her eyes were wide, the cloud of her red hair framing her face like fire—untidy, utterly wild. And so very enticing.

His temper flared. He shook her again. “Who is he? Would you have me arrest you and question you in a cell?”

Her jaw tensed. “I have no idea what you mean, Captain. Unhand me at once. I thought you were a gentleman, but now I realize you’re quite the opposite. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

“I note you don’t answer my question.” He kept his voice low but made sure she was in no doubt of the warning it carried.

“I have no idea what those things are doing there. As soon as the megrim hit me, I collapsed into bed with a dose of laudanum. I barely knew whether I was asleep or awake until you burst in so rudely and made me feel worse. I suggest you step back a pace or two, sir, in case I cast up my accounts on your coat.”

He felt her breath on his face and smelled the sweet scent of the punch they’d both enjoyed earlier—in such a different world and such different circumstances! Perhaps he should feel ashamed of accusing her. He’d overstepped the mark.

He released her. “This isn’t the end of our conversation, Miss Isaacs. For the moment, I suggest you find yourself another room while my men search this one. If anything is found to suggest that this place has been used by smugglers, then everyone here will need to be examined by the authorities in the morning. Good night.”

He spun around and stalked out, then clattered down the stairs to join the rest of his men. The question that should have been uppermost in his mind was that of her guilt. He should have been asking himself if she knew more than she’d revealed, if she’d come here for a tryst with some contemptible fellow.

But no. That wasn’t what was on his mind at all. The only thing he could think of was how deuced close he had come to kissing her.

CHAPTER 5

“He knows, Mama—I swear it!”

Alex’s mother let the drape slip back into place and turned to face her.

“Of course, he doesn’t know—how could he? You’ve been so careful—we all have. He is here as an ardent suitor, and you should be glad of it.”

Alex rolled her eyes, then peeped through the gap between the curtains again. Down below, Captain Giles Harewood lounged against the wall of the building opposite, smoking a pipe and occasionally glancing up at the windows of their rented rooms.

“Why don’t you just let him in? All the neighbors will be gossiping about the fact that he’s lurking outside our door. You know how dangerous gossip can be.”

Should she let him in? Or would he simply grill her about that business at the Boar? She’d learned subsequently that he had interrogated everyone within a mile of the inn in the week after their unfortunate encounter. She was the only one to have escaped further questioning, having claimed illness ever since her return to Bath. Which was a bore, since neither she nor Mama dared go out. She might as well be in prison.

What would happen if she and the captain were left alone together for any length of time? She shuddered—for more reasons than one, she wasn’t prepared to find out. The man must get fed up and leave eventually or be called away. But until then, her smuggling business was stagnant—she couldn’t send messages to the rest of the crew because she knew the captain would intercept them.