Rescued By A Viscount(32)

He caught her hand and placed her palm flat on his chest. She felt him through her gloves–the solid planes of his chest and the steady thud of his heart. A yearning grew inside her. The need to close the distance and rest her cheek on that broad chest was almost overwhelming. “And where will this thing take you?”

She thought briefly of saying nothing further. Then she thought of lying. But neither option would get her where she wanted to go, so she decided on the truth. “To Liverpool. I-I need to get there, my lord, as soon as I can. The matter is extremely urgent, and no one can know I am going–not even my family. Please let me leave. I must, as there is so much at stake…”



Simon could feel the tremors running through Claire’s body. The hand beneath his shook, so he pressed it harder into his chest. What the hell was going on, and why was she here on Daniel’s doorstep when he and his family had left for Stratton thirty minutes earlier?

“Claire, you have no driver. Therefore, I surmise you are to take this journey on a stagecoach or in a hired carriage. You also have no maid, which is not only dangerous but foolhardy for a gently bred woman with little experience of how life outside her world works.”

“I must go, Simon.” Her words were a plea. “Please, I am to harm no one or…or undertake anything illegal.”

He snorted. “I know enough about you to know that, Claire, but I still cannot let you go alone.”

“Oh, but I must–”

“However if you need to go, then I shall take you.”

That surprised her. Her mouth opened and closed. She dropped her eyes to his chest and then lifted them again. “No. I just need a carriage, and then I can get there myself.”

“I will not let you travel alone to Liverpool, Claire. So you let me take you there, or I take you back to your brother.”

He was standing so close to her, he could see the little flecks of green in her eyes and the dark smudges beneath. She was exhausted. Tiredness had made her shoulders slump with fatigue and given her a vulnerable air he had never seen before.

“You would do that? Take me back to my brother if I do not let you accompany me?” Her voice trembled.

“I would, and not because you believe me capable of nefarious deeds, but because you are exhausted and vulnerable and obviously about to do something that involves secrecy and evasion but more importantly, is forcing you to lie to your family.”

“I must-”

“I am your friend, Claire,” he interrupted her again. “I want to help you, and helping you is not sending you off to Liverpool in a carriage alone.”

She bit her bottom lip, which drew his eyes to her mouth. He’d often wondered what she would taste like. Sharp and tart or sweet and alluring.

“I-I…”

“Claire, will you let me help you…please? It is obvious to me that you need someone to support you at the moment, and I know you well enough to realize that if I returned you to your brother, you would just find another way to do whatever it is you are doing.”

Her lashes fluttered closed briefly, almost as if the effort to keep them open was beyond her. “I’m afraid to involve you in this, my lord, as I fear it may go badly.”

“Are you sick?”

Her brow wrinkled as she looked up at him. “Sick? No, why would you ask that?”

“You were upset and scared when you ran into me in that lane, Claire. I thought of many reasons for you to be there, and that was one of them.”

“Will you believe me when I tell you I am not sick?”

He searched her eyes and saw the truth, and the feeling of relief almost made him lightheaded. “I believe you. However if you are not ill, then you went there to meet someone.”

He saw his words confirmed in her eyes.

“Let me go, Simon, please.” The whispered words were a desperate plea he steeled himself to ignore.

“Sorry, but I can’t let that happen.” Taking the hand off his chest, he picked up her luggage and led her back to the house.

“Wernham,” he said through the closed door, knowing the man was on the other side. “I have changed my mind,” he said as it opened and the butler reappeared. “Will you please rouse my driver from your kitchen, where he is indulging himself in cake, and have him bring my carriage around at once. I no longer wish to walk and will be escorting Miss Belmont home, as she has missed the duke and duchess’s departure.”

“At once, my lord.”

“Simon, please.”

He wasn’t sure what she was trying to say, as she did not complete the sentence, but her eyes begged him to understand.

“Claire. I give you my word that you will get to Liverpool as soon as possible. However, I will need to know why, and that I am not placing you in danger before I do so. Firstly, however, I must notify–”