Christian Seaton_ Duke of Danger(20)

It was perhaps as well that there was no one on the street to observe them because Lisette, crouched in that position, looked very—risqué, if one did not realise she was merely applying a tourniquet to his thigh.

‘There.’ She gave a nod of satisfaction as she straightened, seemingly completely unaware of the picture of debauchery she had just presented to the world. ‘I shall need your instruction to drive the carriage, Christian. Do you feel strong enough to be helped up into the driving area?’

He determinedly dragged his thoughts back from the lewdly suggestive delights that having Lisette kneeling in front of him had evoked.

It looked a very long way up to where his groom drove the carriage, when he was feeling less than agile, the loss of blood having also made him feel slightly light-headed.

He set his jaw grimly. ‘I shall manage with your help, yes.’ He was determined to do so, knew that he and Lisette must now get themselves away from here as soon as was possible, that they had delayed long enough.

He had no doubt that the men who had accosted and then shot him and Pierre were the cut-throats Lisette had warned him Helene Rousseau had intended sending to dispose of him. That at any moment they might return and finish the job.

There was no sign of life or candlelight inside the Fleur de Lis itself, but that did not mean that Helene Rousseau was not observing the two of them right now. And no doubt filled with fresh resolve now that she had seen he was not only still alive but also mobile enough to struggle up onto the carriage with Lisette’s help.

That resolve would no doubt deepen, and Helene Rousseau herself be filled with renewed rage, when she saw her niece drive away with him in his carriage.

‘Perhaps you should not accompany me, after all.’ Christian frowned as Lisette climbed up beside him. ‘Your aunt will no doubt make her disapproval known—’

‘I have already told Helene that I shall be leaving the Fleur de Lis in the morning.’ She shrugged.

‘The two of you have argued?’

‘That is one way of describing it.’ Lisette’s hand moved up to touch her mouth.

Christian’s eyes darkened as he saw her bottom lip was slightly swollen. ‘She struck you?’

‘Yes.’

‘Because of me?’

‘The reason is unimportant.’ Her expression was grim as she picked up the reins, ready for departing. ‘And she is not my aunt.’

‘Not your aunt...?’ Christian echoed softly, the effort of climbing up into the carriage having taken the last of his strength.

‘No.’ Lisette’s jaw was clenched.

Well, that at least explained Lisette’s hesitation every time he referred to her as such. It did not, however—

‘Madame Rousseau is my mother, not my aunt,’ she continued scathingly. ‘And I do not care what her opinion might be on any of my actions after the way she has behaved this night!’

Christian dropped back weakly against the seat, knowing that this revelation now gave him no choice where Lisette was concerned.

Leaving Helene Rousseau’s niece behind in Paris might have been explained away—just—but the daughter of Helene Rousseau must return with him to England.





Chapter Five

The journey was a long and painful one, as each rumble of the carriage wheels over the cobbled streets caused renewed pain to spear up through Christian’s thigh, and it took every effort of will on his part to stay conscious long enough to direct Lisette in the initial driving of the carriage. Luckily, she was an intelligent as well as capable young lady, and had mastered the horses and the carriage within a few minutes.

Leaving Christian to contemplate the leaden weight in his chest at the knowledge that the young woman sitting beside him was the daughter of a woman believed responsible for attempting to free the Corsican usurper by causing actual physical harm to people he cared about.

A belief Christian was even more convinced of after the attack on him tonight. An attack Lisette believed to have happened because of his attentions towards her earlier this evening, but which Christian believed to have been for a different reason entirely; Helene Rousseau not only knew who he was, but also the reason for his currently being in Paris.

And if she knew that, then there was every chance that she would try to have him killed a second time, if he remained here. More than a chance, now that he had her daughter with him.

Once returned to his temporary home he would have to make immediate arrangements for both himself and Lisette to take ship to England. Without, he acknowledged heavily, telling Lisette exactly why he was taking her with him. He doubted she would come with him to England at all if she knew who he was and the reason he had been in Paris, much less that he now had no choice but to deliver Helene Rousseau’s daughter to Aubrey Maystone.