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.But he’d made his peace with that, hadn’t he? He’d risked Louisa’s safety on that last roll of the dice and she’d narrowly escaped torture and death.It was time to cut his losses.He might never have her, but she would be safe.There’d be some comfort in knowing she was alive and well.He slid his hand up to cup her shoulder.“I can’t pursue him tonight.I can’t leave you here, without protection, where he might find you before I find him.I can’t take the risk.”He touched her hair, where it tangled around her ear, close to the slash on her face.It was a featherlight touch, painfully careful of her wound.His hand trembled.A harsh breath that sounded shamefully close to a sob escaped him.“Your face.”She gripped his wrist.The blue eyes hurled lightning bolts.“Don’t you dare pity me, Jardine.”That fierce warrior woman leaped in her eyes.“I have felt more alive in the past few days than I have in eight years and I’ve no intention of losing you now.Go after Smith.I’ll come with you.I promise I’ll stay out of your way.Give me a shotgun and I’ll hide somewhere nearby.At the least, I can even the numbers.”No.He couldn’t possibly allow it.In a rasping voice, he said, “Louisa, I have lost everyone who was ever close to me.” She blinked at the change of subject, but he went on.“My parents were loving and gentle and kind.They died of typhus fever while I was away at school.”“It must have been dreadful for you.”“They were my world,” he said simply.“I had no siblings, or at least none that survived infancy.It was just the three of us.And suddenly, there was only me.I was brought up by schools and servants, and then as a young man I ran wild.I was good at finding trouble and even better at getting out of it.Faulkner discovered me, trained me, and I thought I’d found direction.For a while, it was exciting and I believed passionately in what I did.But that life isolated me even more than before.”He looked into her eyes.“And then I met you.It was as if I’d been adrift all those years, rudderless, sailing through an endless night.You, Louisa.You were the sun on the horizon, lighting the way home.” He gripped her dear, determined chin.“I cannot lose you.If I lose you, then I am lost, too.”“There are more ways than one to lose someone.” She said it quietly, but he detected the tremor in her voice.“If you send me away now, it must be over between us, Jardine.When this threat is past, there’ll be another, and another.There’ll be more excuses for you to avoid risking your heart.”The accusation stunned him.“You think I’m a coward?”“Yes, I think you are.You don’t want to see me hurt, I know that.But I’ve lived with that same fear for you.I’ve lived for eight years with the knowledge that I might hear news of your death at any moment, or worse, that I might never hear at all.What do you think that has been like? I’ve been a prisoner to your fear, like a princess in a tower.You’ve made me alone, just as you are.”She sat up, hugging her knees.“That’s no way to live, Jardine.I’m not going to live like that anymore.”A drum of desperation beat in his brain.She’d leave him.She’d find someone else.After all she’d been through.After all he’d done in her name.He gritted his teeth.“All right, I’ll go.You stay here with the shotgun.I’ll tell the old woman to look out for you.”She shook her head.“I’m coming with you.”JARDINE’S eyes snapped.Flatly, he said, “The hell you are.”Louisa made what was possibly the most momentous decision of her life, next to marrying him.“If you go without me, Jardine, I won’t be here when you get back.”She lifted her chin, her heart beating hard in her chest.She was afraid.The memory of their recent incarceration, of Radleigh’s blade slicing into her flesh, was all too vivid in her mind.With iron will, she repressed a shudder, gripped her hands together so they wouldn’t tremble.He tilted his head, considering, and she swiftly forestalled him.“If you are thinking how you might tie me up and put me in a cupboard until you get back—”“The thought crossed my mind,” he muttered.“—Then think what will happen if Smith has sent another of his cutthroats after me.Or if you do not come back.”The place behind her eyes stung and grew hot.She would not cry.She despised women who used tears to get what they wanted.His features were so taut with anger, she thought the pale mask of his face might crack.“You will be safer here than in the cross fire.”But she wouldn’t back down now.She’d leave him no choice.“If you go without me, I shall return to London and go to work for Faulkner.If I’m going to live my life in fear, without you, then I’ll turn it to good account.I won’t die waiting for you, Jardine.”Hours might have ticked past as they stared at each other.He was white to the lips, his eyes fiery and dark as hot coals.Finally, he launched from the bed and reached for his shirt.“If you’re coming with me, you’ll damned well do as I say.”THE ride was a long one, and by the time they arrived at their destination, her mare was almost blown.Silently, Jardine dismounted, then reached up for her.The warmth of his hands spanning her waist was a small comfort.She wished she could stop shaking.She would go through with this.She must.Jardine checked the shotgun he’d brought and handed it to her.Then he motioned her to the edge of the stand of trees.Below them, in a dell overrun with shrubs and weeds, stood a small stone cottage.The house had bars on the windows and a sturdy-looking door.An odd place to hold a dangerous criminal.Two guards played cards at a crude wooden table under the eave, tankards at their elbows and rifles propped against the benches on which they sat.A large lantern swung gently from a beam overhead, casting its glow over the two men.Jardine hissed in disgust.“Ripe for the picking,” he muttered.He glanced back at Louisa.“Stay here and cover me.If anyone approaches you, shoot them on sight.”Ducking low, he made his way through the thicket, and she realized he meant to circle the house, rather than approach it directly.Louisa lost sight of him almost immediately.She turned her gaze to the clearing around the cottage, her heart beating in her throat.What she needed to do was give herself as much cover as possible and present the smallest target she could to anyone firing back at her.A prone position would be best.She managed to find a suitable spot that had the added advantage of a large boulder behind which she could retreat in case of return fire.She sat on the grass with her back to the boulder, to wait.The day waned and the sun hung low in the sky.How long would Smith wait to make his move? Until nightfall? With the summer twilight, that was likely to mean an extended vigil.She didn’t know how many men Smith could command.Three of his rough henchmen were already accounted for.Radleigh was still on the loose, though.She shivered and clutched her shotgun tighter.Suddenly, there was a loud crack.Louisa twisted and peered around her concealing rock, to see one of the card-players jerk and fall backward, toppling his chair.The other player leaped up, grabbed his shotgun, and ducked out of the lantern light [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]