Page 129

His eyes darkened, as they had just before he’d kissed her that night so many weeks ago. His hands slid down to her waist and sent heat sizzling through her. A log crackled, like the magnetic force hissing between them.

She nodded.

“Sit down. Let’s get you out of those wet boots.”

His tone brimmed with kindness, not seduction. She sat and watched him patiently work the wet laces and ease off the half boots. When his fingers reached under the trousers and hooked the top of her stockings, the shock of his touch sizzled through her and she held her breath.

Their gazes met and her heart hammered in her chest. He tossed the stockings aside, stood, and took her hands. “You’ll want to change.”

“Yes.” She set her hands to his—those strong hot hands, with their long fingers—pried them away, and went to rummage through her bag.

Should she don the rest of the boy’s clothes she’d brought for her travel, or a gown, or… her nightgown?

Not the nightgown. That would tempt them both, and she needed to send Simon away. She needed him to not follow her. Sally was expecting her; had promised she’d get her mother to take her in.

They’d decided it would be safer for Nancy to travel alone as a boy and there’d be no time to waste changing clothes again after Simon left.

She found the clothing she needed, snatched up a candle, and hurried off to one of the side rooms.

Inside, she gasped. She hadn’t had time to explore the folly rooms in the morning.

Here, in what used to be a storage room filled with castoff furniture and other things, a wide tester bed took center stage.

Pale ivory hangings reflected the candlelight and framed the rich red and ivory of the bedding and Aubusson carpet.

Family legend said the folly was built as a private love nest by her great-great grandfather for his new bride. Fitz and Mel were restoring the tradition. Theirs was a love match; how she envied them.

When she returned to the main room, she found Simon setting out plates and silverware. An open bottle of wine stood next to two wineglasses.

He looked up from the table, blinked, and his eyes crinkled in a mischievous smile. “You make a fetching boy, though the hair is a distraction.”

“I’ll pin it up when it’s dry.” She needed to unsnarl it as well.

“I’ll play your maid and brush it for you, but come and eat first. You packed a good cold collation.”

He uncovered a plate of cold meats, and despite the butterflies flapping in her stomach, her mouth watered.

She’d need sustenance to carry her through the night.

Boarding the coach at the Royal Swan was not a possibility now that her family knew of her plans.

If she couldn’t get a lift on a farm cart, it would be a long walk to the next coaching inn.

Suddenly exhausted, she plopped into the chair he’d pulled out. “I didn’t pack that basket, which means someone else is coming—perhaps Fitz and Mel. Go back before they arrive, Simon. You don’t want to be found here with me.”

“Don’t I?” His lips quirked. They were firm lips, but the almost grin, the piercing heat in his eyes, made her even more nervous.

Her hands fisted. “You drank the Spanish fly too.”

“No. Not a drop. Percy grabbed my drink and he shared it with Miss Hazleton when the sneezing powder seized her.”

A shudder went through her. “I told my brother, no aphrodisiacs.”

“If James thought to give me an aphrodisiac—which, by the way, I’d never need with you—do you think perhaps he was working against you? Perhaps with whoever delivered this basket of food?”

“No…”

Her stomach lurched and she buried her face in her hands. Arrgh, her interfering family .

The damp smell of the yellowed paper she’d found in the attic came back to her. Be careful what you wish for .

She’d wished to have her revenge and then slip away into the night and begin her adventure. She’d had some revenge. She’d slipped away into the night. And this… being alone with Simon in a love nest was certainly an adventure but not the one she’d planned. Or wanted?

They could make you marry the Swilling Duke. I heard Papa talking to Mama about it.

She rubbed her forehead and studied her empty plate. “I’ll not be forced into marriage.”

Wine gurgled and splashed into a glass. “Much as I want you, Nancy, I would never force you.”

She glanced up at him, then tried to look away and couldn’t. A thin scar marked his side and another one his upper arm, while dark hair sprinkled his chest and ran down to the top of his trousers.

“S-simon, you can’t stay here. You need to go.”

“And as soon as I leave, you’ll run away? You were planning to run away, weren’t you?”

“I’m not running away. I’m simply leaving, which I won’t be able to do if I’m locked in my bedchamber. I need to go before Fitz arrives here.”

“Fitz sent me after you.”

“ Fitz ?”

“Yes. No one else is coming tonight. Eat.” He took her plate and filled it with meat, salads, and bread. “And then I’ll escort you to Birmingham myself.”

“How did you?—”

“Mary told us, the imp. As it happens, the Duke of Swillingstone has a small hunting box near Marston Green. In fact, I’ve just come from there. I saw the notice about Mrs. Simpkins’ concert. She’s going on to France and Italy, I hear. Were you planning to accompany her there?”

S imon watched as shock registered on her face and color flowed up from under the poorly tied neckcloth to flood her cheeks.

It was hard to keep a straight face. “Don’t be angry with diabolical little Mary.”

She spluttered and threw down her fork. “Is it so terrible that I want to visit a school friend? That, perhaps, I might see something besides Loughton Hall and London ballrooms? Yes. I would dearly love to travel to France with Sally and her mother. I love plays, the theater, learning lines and playing a r-role. I want to travel.”

Traveling to France and playing a role . He stowed those bits away. “Catch your breath. Have a sip of wine and then go on. Tell me more about what you want.”

Head hanging, she sighed, blinked rapidly under her angry flush, and tossed back the wine.

What she wanted wasn’t so unreasonable. Yet he understood completely her family’s worries. There were too many men like Percy Nacton about.

There might be other men like himself, drunkenly groping her at a ball.

She was young, beautiful, and rich; all those blessings restricted her freedom.

Just as this new title restricted his. He couldn’t dump everything and run off to the far parts to fight the Crown’s enemies. People here were relying on him.

He refilled her glass. “How little freedom any of us truly has.”

She scoffed. “You have plenty of freedom to come and go. You can associate with actresses. Why, an actress was Fitz’s first mistress.”

“Nancy.” He couldn’t help a shocked laugh. He and George and their friends at school had been all abuzz with that gossip. “You would have been a baby when… if that happened.”

“It did happen, and I know because Sally told me. The woman was a friend of her mother. A Frenchman became her next protector. They fell in love. She went on to marry him and move to Paris.”

And they lived happily ever after . Oh God, surely Nancy wasn’t romanticizing the life of a courtesan? For every ladybird that was happily married there were a hundred that wound up poor and poxed.

How to tell her that without starting an argument?

“Fitz went on to marry horrid Alice and be mostly miserable, though he adores his daughter by her. The little eavesdropping tattletale.”

“You adore her too.”

“She’s far too clever. But yes, I love her.”

“Love,” he said, thinking, “can be a rare thing, in marriage, in families. You have a loving family, Nancy.”

“A loving family who never listen to me, except at keyholes. Fitz and George are probably standing on the opposite shore passing a spyglass back and forth. Unless they’re outside right now. I must go.”

When she started to rise, he pulled his chair close to hers and nudged her back into her seat. “When did you last eat?” He cut through a slice of beef. “You need your strength. I won’t stop you from leaving.”

She opened her mouth and accepted the meat, eyeing him sidewise and chewing.

“I won’t let you travel alone though.” What had Fitz said about the actress, Nancy’s friend’s mother? “I’m not sure Mrs. Simpkins would happily receive a runaway dressed as a boy. It’s said that she’s taken great pains over her respectability for the sake of her daughter.”

Nancy turned quickly away and chased the food down with a swallow of wine.

“While you eat, I’ll tell you a story about the night the Swilling Duke made his first appearance to the ton .”