At the Highwayman's Pleasure(29)

‘Oh! I did not hear you. I-'

He interrupted her without apology.

‘Jed is preparing the carriage now. Collect your things and he will take you back to Allingford.'

‘What has happened?' she demanded, alarmed by the urgency in his tone. ‘Why must I hurry?'

Ross stepped up to the table and began to pull off his gloves.

‘Phineas will not pay,' he said shortly. ‘I am letting you go.'

She frowned.

‘I don't understand.'

‘What is so difficult about that?' His response was almost a snarl.  ‘Jed is going to take you home as soon as you are ready. Excuse me. I  have a great deal to do.'

He strode out and she followed him across the hall to the study.

‘But what about you?'

‘That need not concern you.' He was pulling papers from his desk, paying her very little heed.

‘But...Wheelston?'

‘Once it is known that I am the Dark Rider, Wheelston will be forfeit  to the Crown. The tenants should be able to start paying their rents  next Lady Day, so I hope they will be allowed to remain.'

She pulled the shawl a little tighter around her.

‘Has my father discovered your identity?'

‘Not yet.'

‘Then you think I will reveal it?'

He looked up.

‘You told me yourself he would force it out of you. I would rather he  did not have to. I would not have you suffer for my sake.'

She shook her head slowly.

‘It need not be like that. Phineas cannot question me if he has no  legal reason to do so. We will convince him I was never here, adhere to  the story I have already told my maid. He will think the Dark Rider was  trying to dupe him. You do not need to give up all this, we can keep it a  secret. You may trust me.'

He gave a savage laugh.

‘The last time I trusted a woman-'

‘I am not like Hannah!'

‘Even if I believed that, Phineas would drag the truth from you.'

‘Not if he thinks the Dark Rider was lying, that there was no kidnap. After all, what proof did you give him?'

‘He had your letter.' He stopped, his brow furrowed. ‘Although he did admit he could not recognise your handwriting.'

She bit her lip. ‘Please, listen to me. No one need know I have been  here, I can deny I wrote the letter to Phineas. Let Jed take me back  when it is dark so that no one will recognise the carriage. I will say  it was the snow that has kept me away from Allingford longer than I  intended-no one will question that.'

‘Do you think Phineas will not do so?'

‘He has no jurisdiction in Allingford.'

‘I am aware of that, but he is a dangerous man.'

Her fingers crept up to the curl resting on her shoulder.

‘Do you think I do not know that? However, he cannot touch me if I stay  in Allingford, with my friends. Once it is seen that I am safe and  unharmed, he will think someone played a trick upon him.' She could see  that he was wavering and she added softly, ‘I will not betray you. You  have my word.'

‘Why should you do this for me?'

She blushed. Why indeed?

‘Let us say I am atoning for past mistakes. And besides, you have been wronged by my father.'                       
       
           



       

He met her eyes for a moment, his own dark with suspicion. At last he  said, ‘The carriage will be at the door in a moment. You should get  ready.'

‘You will not quit Wheelston? I assure you there is no need to do so on  my account.' When he did not reply she put a hand on his arm. ‘Please,  Ross, do not judge all women by the standards of Hannah Weston.'

It was the first time she had called him by his name. She saw the  flicker of surprise in his face, quickly suppressed. He covered her hand  with his own and his touch shocked her. It burned her skin and her hand  trembled, causing his fingers to tighten as if he thought she would  pull away from him. Charity raised her eyes to his face and his fierce,  burning glance set her heart racing, thudding so hard and so erratically  that it was difficult to breathe.

The air around them had changed; it was suddenly heavy and oppressive,  charged with anticipation. Ross was staring down at her as if he was  seeing her for the first time. She forced her eyes away from that  disturbing gaze, but they moved no further than his mouth. How was it  she had not noticed before the sensual curve of his lips? Her fevered  brain began to imagine how those same lips would feel on her skin, not  just her mouth. She had read of such things, heard them discussed by her  friends in the theatre and had always thought the idea of giving a man  such licence quite abhorrent, but now, with Ross holding her hand she  suddenly wanted nothing more than to have him explore her body. She felt  that familiar ache between her thighs and a hungry longing possessed  her. An invisible thread was drawing her closer. She was a moth to his  flame; if they came together she would disintegrate, but she didn't  care....

A hasty step, a sharp knock on the door and Jed appeared.

‘The carriage is ready, Master. I don't want to be keeping the horses standin' in this weather.'

The spell was broken. With a start Charity stepped back and Ross made  no attempt to stop her when she pulled her hand free, but he kept his  eyes on her face while he addressed his servant.

‘There has been a change of plan, Jed. Mrs Weston will go home after  dark, so you may take the horses back to the stables until later.'

She felt a rush of pleasure and when they were alone again she waited,  her body tingling with a need she did not fully understand. Would he  reach for her now, drag her into his arms and kiss her until she forgot  the world? Her skin was on fire from her toes to the very top of her  head. She was almost quivering with anticipation, wanting to hurl  herself across the short distance between them and cover his face with  kisses, but something held her back, a deeply inculcated belief that he  would be repulsed by such behaviour.

Face the facts, Charity Weston. You are the daughter of his enemy. He  wants nothing to do with you-however differently you may feel about him.

He had sent Jed away because he had agreed to her plan, not for any  wish to make love to her. His continued silence only reinforced this  conclusion and after a moment she said, with a reasonable assumption of  calm, ‘You are going to stay. I am glad of it and you have my word I  will not betray you.'

‘As to that, madam, only time will tell.'

And with that, he turned on his heel and strode out of the room.





      Chapter Eight

‘Where in hell's name have you been? You have missed the first rehearsals!'

Hywel Jenkin's blunt welcome made Charity smile, despite the faint  persistent ache of unhappiness she had felt since leaving Wheelston. She  knew that behind the bluff and bluster Hywel would have been concerned  at her absence, as was her maid. Betty had interrogated her quite  rigorously when she had returned to the house the previous night,  wanting to know who were these friends in York and why they had not been  mentioned before. In the end Charity had been obliged to give her a  gentle reprimand.

‘I am very sorry, Miss Charity, I am sure,' returned Betty, with a  disapproving sniff that gave the lie to her apology. ‘It just seems odd  that I've been with you all these years and never heard of this Mrs  Rawlinson, and neither has Mr Jenkin,' she added, unable to disguise a  note of triumph at being able to support her argument.

‘That is because he would have known her unmarried name. It was only by  the veriest good luck that we recognised each other at Lady Beverley's  the other evening. We had so much to catch up on I was only too happy to  return to York with her that night, but of course once the snow set in I  was obliged to impose upon her hospitality for a little longer.'                       
       
           



       

‘Hmm.' Betty sniffed again. ‘Well, p'raps if you'd let me know how long  you was staying away I wouldn't have been so worried about you.'

It had taken Charity some time to smooth her maid's ruffled feathers  and she had come to the theatre prepared to do the same with Hywel. She  had dashed off a note to him as soon as she had returned to North  Street, telling him she would be there for the rehearsal the following  morning, but she had expected a rare trimming, as she told him now.

‘And you would deserve it, madam. Why, I have already had the handbills  printed. I should have been in the devil of a fix if you had not come  back. Where have you been, you minx? Who is this Mrs Rawlinson in York?'

Charity only shook her head, saying mischievously, ‘I shall not tell  you, my friend, you would not approve!' Seeing he was still looking  angry, she said quickly, ‘Nay, Hywel, it was very bad of me to miss  rehearsals and I beg your pardon, truly. But I promise you I shall work  very hard now.' She met his frowning look with a coaxing smile and after  a short struggle with his temper he laughed.