Page 23
Nodding, Valoree started towardthe door. "I shall just go fetch myaunt and uncle and we can be off. " Then she paused to examine Daniel pointedly. "ShallI see you out, my lord? You werejustleaving, were younot? "
Nodding, Daniel set thedrink he hadbeen holding down, then movedsilently toward her. Shedidn't waitfor him, butstepped out into the hall, leaving him to follow. By the time he had reached the hall, she was at the front doorand pullingit open.
Pulling the door tothesalonclosedwith a snap, Daniel crossed to Valoree determinedly, caught her about the waist, and drew her against hischest. She tried to bring her armsup, but he had pinned them nicely to her side. Then she opened her mouth, probably to bestow upon him a few more of her colorful endearments, buthe covered hermouthwith hisown, taking full advantage of the moment.
Valoree didn't crumble right away - she did have some backboneto her - but when he pushed the door closedwith his foot, caught her hands, and held them behindher back with one of hissothatthe other could roam freely over her breasts, sheat least stilled and stopped struggling. It took several minutes of thorough kissingandfondlingbefore sheactually began to kiss him back, butonlya moment or so more afterthat before she was as liquid fire inhisarms and moaning intohismouth. That was when he stopped.
Taken bysurprise, she sagged against the wall and watched blanklyas he straightened his cravat and cuffs.
"I justthought I would leave yousomething to remember me by, " he saidwith a wink, then opened the door and slipped out quickly. A growl of rageslid from her throatandshe grabbed a vasefromthe table beside her. Daniel pulled thedoor closed and chuckledas he heard the smashof glass behind it.
The battle lines, it seemed, had been drawn.
Chapter Ten
"Icannot believe youdidthat!" Meg snapped, climbing intothe carriage and seatingherself across from Valoree so that she could glare at her throughthe darkness. "What on earth is thematter with you? Are you deliberately trying to ruin any possibility of finding a husband andclaimingyour inheritance? Becauseif you are, you are doing a fine job ofit!"
"There is nothing the matter with me, " Valoree snapped impatiently. "Scrantom was feelingme up with his stinky old foot underthetable!"
"What? "Megblinked in amazement, seeming at a loss for a moment; thenshe sighed impatiently. "Well, that may be, but an old man playing a littlefootsie - "
"Footsie? " Valoree snorted her disgust. "He had hisfoot under my skirt, halfwayup my thighs, andwas still movingupward until I put a stop to it. "
Meg bither lip. "Oh. "
"Aye, oh, "Valoree said in a snarl, turningher head to glare out the window of the stationary carriage. Itwas stationary because they werewaitingfor Henryand him tocome out.
Him was how Valoree thought of Daniel Thurborne now. Just him. The man wasa cankeronher butt. A wart on her nose. A pus-ridden carbuncle on her arse.
In short, he was making her life absolute hell. He was everywhere she went. Therewasn'ta moment's peace fromhim.
Every walk, every dinner, every anything one of her suitors choseto do during theirappointed times with her . . . he was there. Which might not have been so bad hadhe simplybeen present. More often than not his wit and charm turned what would have been hellacious hours spent in the company of boring, whining, or just plain weakmen into bearable chores.
Unfortunately he did morethan that. Heteased, and chatted, and made her laugh, waiting thewhole time like a vulture. And the moment the opportunity presented itself, he pounced, taking her inhis arms and makingherdizzy with passion, working her into a frenzy ofwant, then stopping and walking away, leaving hera bundledball of knotted nerves. Andit was hell.
He didn't even have to kiss ortouch her anymore. Themoment she saw him, Valoree's body began tohum withwant. Should he brush against her innocently in passing, a jolt of desire shot throughher likelightning. Andforget fighting it. At first she had tried toavoidany situationhe might take advantageof, but now she sought them out. Now she looked for them. He had worked his frustrating magic on her behind trees, in hallways, under stairways, andeven, once, in a closet. Butalleach episodedid was make her more miserable. And she was reaching the breakingpoint. Even losing control of herlife didn'tseem like such a horrible price to pay to gain release from this terrible frustration. And that scared the devil out of her.
Back-from-the-Dead Red, scourge of the Caribbean, the pirate feared by theSpanish, French, andDutch alike, waslaid low by the need for a man betweenher legs.
Notjust any man. Him. Only he would do. Oh, she had tried kissing her various suitors, and even a bit more on the less repulsive ones. But itwas liketryingto substitute wine for rum.
Winewas sweet but not very strong; rumwas spicy and had a kick. Valoree wanted the damn kick! But shedidn'twant tohave tomarry the kicker. Whata pain.
A titter from Megdrew her head around, and Valoreepeeredat the older woman in question. "Whatis sodamn funny? "
"Oh, dear. Iwas just thinking ofLord Scrantom's face when you slammedyour knife into thetable beside hishand. I think he relievedhimself on thespot. "Shecovered her mouthtokeep a laugh in, then shook her head. "Then whenyou pulled it out - "
Shebegan to laugh helplessly, and Valoree smiled slightly as she recalled the moment. It had been rather funny, now that she thought ofit. She had tugged the knifeout of the tableinthe sudden silence, nonchalantly turning it over, to hold it half an inch in front of Scrantom's quivering nose sothat hecould seethe decimated insect on its end. "A fly, " she had said, as if that explainedeverything, "Peskylittle things. Theyliketocrawl up under a lady's skirts and tickle her legs. " Then she had shot her gaze to himcoldly and added meaningfully, "I hate things that crawl upmyskirts and tickle my legs. "
The man had gone intoa dead swoon. Valoree had wipedthe flyoff on hissleeveand stood to leave the room, saying, "Cross him offthe list, Henry. He wouldn't survivelong enough to get me with child. " Then she had come out here to wait in the carriageforthemtojoin her, which Meg had done almost right away. Daniel and Henry, the only other guests at Scrantom's dinner, hadn'tyetcome out.
"Where is Henry? "she asked impatiently.
Megleanedforward to peerthrough the window at the town house. "I am not sure. I thought Henry was right behindme, but - Oh, heretheycome. "
Valoree leaned forwardto seethe men chatting asthey walked toward the carriage. They parted at the end of the walk, Thurborne moving toward hiscarriage, and Henry hurrying over towhere Meg and Valoreewaited.
"Come on, " hesaidcheerfully, pullingthedoor open. "Iinvited Thurborne back for something to eat, since Scrantom's shenanigans cheated us out of half our dinner. He's offered us a liftinhis carriage. "
Valoree blinked in surprise that Henry had known what the man was about, then frownedas what he saidsank in. "What's wrong with our carriage? "
"Nothing, if ye don't mind riding in a sea of silk, " Henry muttered in disgust. "It's too damnsmall forthe three of us, let alone all four. "
"Well, he can just follow inhiscarriage, " she argued, but not with verymuch force behind it. A momentlater, as Henry pursed his lips and looked downhis nose at her, she heavedasigh and started out of the carriage. Satisfiedby her agreement, Henry turned totellNo-Nosethechange ofplans.
She supposed she wasn'treally fooling anyonebysucha weak protest, at least notHenry. Heknew her too well tobe fooled by it, but she felt better that She had at least made the effort. Valoree attempted notto look too eageras she walkedfrom one carriage to theother. She even muttered something unpleasantunder her breath whenDaniel winked at her as he helped her inside. A heartbeat later, they were all seated, and Valoree was cursing herself for herweakness as the carriage theynowrode in moved outto followtherented hack home.
The Thurbornecarriage was larger than the one themen had rented for their stay inLondon, but Daniel didn't seem to be aware of that. Hewas sittingsqueezed up againsther, his hip and outer thigh pressedagainsthers, and hisarm
rubbing herswith the movement of thecoach as hechatted with Henry. It was all what She had hopedfor, ofcourse, but it was sheer hell anyway.
Amazing, thethings that youcould learn about yourselfwhen put intonewsituations. For instance, until she had come to London and metThurborne, Valoree hadn'thad a clue that she had such masochistic tendencies.
Shewas berating herself forafool whenthere was a sudden shout of warning, the shriek of horses, and a loud crash. The carriage lurchedviolently, throwing Valoree against Daniel, but a glance outthe window showed a wagon tipping on its sideeven as itwas pulledpast by two panicked horses.
"Are youallright? " Daniel asked, helping her to sit up again once the carriage had stopped.
"Aye, "Valoree assured him, then peered out the window as Daniel turned to check on Henry and Meg. Her gaze moved towardtheroad at the back of Thurborne's carriage, the direction the wagon had gone. She saw the vehicle had stopped some distance back, lying on its side in the road. The driver was whipping the horses, tryingto get them to moveanyway, todrag the wagonaway. When they wouldn't budge, hegaveup, and ran off down the road. Muttering under her breath, Valoree then turned to glance to the expanse of road at the front of Thurborne's carriage. What she sawthere made her blood run cold and hadher scrabbling to get outside.
"What isit? " Daniel asked, noticing her panic, but Valoree didn't stop to tell him. Stumbling from the carriage, she ran towardthewreckage of thehackher menhad rented.
"One-Eye!" sheyelled, hurrying toward thefirst man she saw.
Flung tothesideof the lane, he satup slowly, shaking his head as shedroppedtoherkneesbeside him. "Areyou all right? What happened? "
"Don't know, " he answered dazedly, shakinghis head again. "I guess we crashed. There wasa bang;then I gotthrown fromthe back of the hack. "
"Isanythingbroken? "she asked worriedly as Daniel reached them.
"Don't think so. " He moved one limb, then another with caution. "Nay, I'mfine. Whatabouttheothers? "
"Youstayhere and rest a minute; I'll go see. " She patted his back, then stood and moved toward the front of the spilled carriage, aware that Daniel was following her. She heard him curse ashelooked over what remainedof therented hack, but didn't look herself. She had seen the wreckage when she had peered out the window of his coach. The hack had tipped, smashing intothestone wall along the frontof a townhouse. The top had beentorn off, itssides hadcavedin, and the bottom was twisted. She doubtedanyone would havesurvived had theybeen inside.
She found Bulland No-Nose off to the side at the frontof the carriage. Bullseemed fine as he knelt by the other man, but No-Nose was not. His legwas broken, the bone poking clean through the skin.
"Sorry, Captain, " No-Nose apologized. "Thatwagon came out ofnowhere. Headed straight forus. I tried to move out of the way, but. . . "He shook his head.
"Shutup, No-Nose, " Valoreemuttered, kneelingbyhis injured legandbeginning to rip at the hemof her petticoat. "Help me here, Bull. We have to straighten this out. Are you hurtanywhere else? "
"Nay, I - Aaaahhhh, "he screamed, then beganto curse a blue streak as Valoree and Bull set to work onhim.
Valoree pressed her lips together and didwhat hadto be done, or at least as much as she knew. Scratchy wouldhave to have a look at itwhenthey got him back to the ship. Hewas the doc.
Butshe knewNo-Nosewould be lucky to keep the leg.
"Damn, " Henry swore upon spotting No-Nose's injury as he andOne-Eyereached them. "Howthehell did this happen? "
"A wagon came aroundthe corner, pointed straight at us, " Bull rumbled. "No-Nosetriedto getus outof the way, but theother fella wascomin'on too fast. We couldn't avoid getting hit, and we both jumped off just before ithit. "
Henry blew out abreath, then asked, "Hegonnabe all right? "
"He'll live, " Valoree answered shortly, unwilling to make promisesabout keeping hisleg. Hergazemoved to Bull. "Ican finishuphere. You and One-Eyegotip thatwagonback onits wheels andsee if it willmove. If it still works, bring it back here.
You'll need it to take No-Nose back to the ship. "
"I'llgive 'em a hand, " Henry said, chasing afterthem as the two men hurried away.
Daniel shifted, drawing her gaze to him. She had quite forgotten he was there.
"No-Nose? " he said softly, raising one eyebrow. "Ship? "
Lipstightening, Valoree turned back to trying to stanch the flowof blood from No-Nose's leg.
"Here. " Meg was suddenly beside her, ripping a length of materialfrom her own petticoats and offeringitto Valoree, even as she attempted to reassure the man. "You will be all right, Robert. "
Eveninpain as he was, the man managed to grimaceat the use of his proper name.
When she had done the best she could for him, Valoree glanced around. Daniel hadmoved off tohelpthe men. They had the wagonbackon its wheels, but insteadof bringingitback, had pausedto chat with a stranger. The four men she knew were standing in a semicircle, apparently listening to the other, who was gesticulatingwildly.
Clicking her tongue impatiently, shestood and roared, "Quit yerlollygagging, yeshiftless bastards!I've a woundedman here!"
Jaw dropping to hischest, Daniel wheeled around to peer at her inamazement. One-Eye and Bull, however, rushed to the wagon and leaped onto the driver's bench, immediately turning it to ride back toward her. Henry stayed, though, apparently trying to soothethestranger. Theman was getting moreexcited by the moment.
"Sorry, Captain, " One-Eye apologized, holding the horses steady as Bull leapeddown tolift No-Nose into theback of the wagon. "That fella back there is the ownerof the wagon. "