Page 16 of A Game of Hazard

He kissed her hair. “I’ll do my damnedest.”

Alex sent up a silent prayer, then made her decision. “I was tasting Lady Osbourne’s brandy—without her permission. And wearing men’s clothes. I had no expectation of being caught. I meant well. I was only trying to find out if the brandy had been watered down by a certain person.”

Harewood exhaled heavily, and his hand stopped moving. “Then you are no mere acolyte—you are an important part of the Circle.”

Silence settled around them, and a solitary tear squeezed its way out of the corner of her eye. How different things could have been! This could be a real courtship, not a sham. She would be a regular young female with no perilous secrets, enjoying the honest attention of an attractive man. Her hand clutched his shirt, but she couldn’t bring herself to speak. She’d revealed too much—he’d be calling for his men soon, to carry her off to the cells.

He spoke softly, as if to himself. “I wondered where that information about the Boar had come from.” He gave her a gentle shake. “The Circle must have an informant. There is no honor among thieves—have you never heard that? As I said before, this is no occupation for a female, particularly not one gently-bred and barely out of school.”

She shook her head, then wished she hadn’t. His face blurred as she pulled away and attempted to look him in the eye.

“I’m not barely out of school. I have done the Grand Tour and I’m almost twenty years of age. I’m extremely good at arithmetic and have been keeping the accounts.”

“What dire circumstance would make you consort with smugglers?”

“Why should I tell you?” If he hadn’t made the connection between the late smuggler, Isaac Abrahams of Dorset, and the Isaac ladies in Bath, she wouldn’t be the one to enlighten him. “You’ll have me arrested.”

“Not immediately. Perhaps not at all.” There was a teasing note in his voice. “If you are merely their accountant, we may be able to extricate you, but I need to know if you deserve it. After all, there is a considerable price on the head of the ringleader.”

“You’ll only get the money if you give me up.”

There was another silence. He held her away from him, and she could feel his eyes boring into her.

“You? Are you telling me that you are in charge?”

Was that so very hard to believe? Damn it, why was she letting her pride get in the way? Everything she’d been trying to hide was just spilling out. What was it about this man that undermined all her strength?

Maybe unburdening herself of her secrets would make her feel better. She’d been shouldering a heavy responsibility, largely because she didn’t want to see the families of the smugglers suffer from loss of income. They had seemed happy for her to “inherit” the enterprise at the time. Well, most had.

Captain Giles Harewood had an intelligent head on his shoulders. He might be able to help her find a way to resolve matters. If he was in need of money…

“You could take over.”

His chest heaved with mirth. “Me? You need to sober up, girl. That’s a ridiculous idea.”

“But if you don’t want to give me up to the authorities, and I don’t want any of my men to be punished, then I don’t see what else there is to do. I’m offering you an empire and the income that goes with it. There are inns, farms, and barns that we own throughout the West Country. You’d have a life of adventure, with constant surprises, perils, and challenges—no different from being a soldier.”

“Little fool.” He pressed his lips against her forehead, filling her with heat right down to her toes.

She had to hope that his apparent admiration and affection were genuine, or she had just put herself into the power of someone even more dangerous than Lady Pandora Osbourne.

“I think we must assume that my answer is no and always will be. But let’s discuss matters with Lady Osbourne—we can’t have her outing you before we’ve worked out what to do.”

“But what can we do?” She liked the sound of that ‘we’. “How can we change her mind? She seems so determined to make a match between us.”

“If that’s what needs to happen to keep you safe, I’m happy to oblige.”

Clarity started to return, and Alex sucked in several rapid breaths. “Do you mean you would still court me, even knowing what you do?”

His gaze fixed on her face. “I sense that our fates are bound together. I’m averse to seeing you swing from the gallows which means, alas, giving up my hopes of winning the prize offered for your capture.”

“Then you must take the Circle from me so you won’t be out of pocket.” She was trying to sound businesslike, but had no idea if she was succeeding.

His fingers grazed her cheek. “I have an idea. If we can square matters with Lady Osbourne, perhaps we can lay all the blame upon your informant. Give me his name.”

It came hard to betray another. Could she be absolutely certain?

“I’m not sure, but it could be George Prowse. He’s my second-in-command, the only one who knows almost as much about the Circle as I do.”