Part 10 (2/2)

With a great splash, the lorry drove off into the water. She lifted her head to watch. Steam boiled up with a hiss, then a gurgle as it sank under.

Newberry set the balloon down. He rushed to her. ”Inspector?”

Mina sat up. ”I'm fine, constable.”

”Yes, sir.” He stopped, blushed a fiery red. He averted his gaze. ”Your skirts, sir.”

Oh, she'd forgotten about the rip. Had she shown her a.s.s all over the docks? That would make for an astonis.h.i.+ng headline in the newssheets. Mina glanced down.

The hem had torn, exposing her ankle.

With a laugh, she got to her feet. She nudged the unconscious Wilbur the Reacher with her toe. ”Let's get him back to the ball.”

But there was no need, Mina quickly learned. Geordie stood beside Anne and Rhys when Newberry set the two-seater on the lawn. Beneath the tents, dancers twirled to music. Laughter floated across the gardens.

Mina hopped from the two-seater, turned to Newberry. ”Will you take the Reacher to the lockup at the Anglesey station, constable? It should only be five or six minutes by balloon.”

”I will, sir.”

”Hurry back, then. I'm sure your wife would like a dance.”

”Thank you, sir.”

She stepped away from the balloon and gave him room to lift into the air again, then turned to Rhys. ”I want to tell you, before you read it in the newssheets-I was never scandalously unclothed, and it wasn't that dangerous. I did jump from a two-seater onto a moving lorry, and I did jump from the lorry before it took a dunking, but you can see that I am quite unharmed aside from a few bruises and sc.r.a.pes.”

He didn't take her word for it, but moved in and slipped his hands over her arms, down her back-and she supposed that with her hair a mess, her dress torn, and her slipper missing, he had reason to doubt it.

She reached up, touched his jaw, hardened with tension. ”Do you see?” she said softly. ”Perfectly all right.”

”Yes,” he said gruffly.

She glanced past him to where Geordie stood with Anne. ”And so the Blacksmith arrived?”

”No.” He pressed a kiss into her palm. ”I took care of it.”

”How?” Had Anne found a flaw in the design after she'd left?

”Go see,” he said, his eyes on hers. ”And then I will meet you in the library.”

Where he'd s.h.a.g her. Heat coiled through Mina's stomach. And even though it was the middle of a ball, why not? Looking at her, no one would be able to tell the difference. She was already mussed.

”All right.” She looked to Anne. ”Will you walk with me to the ballroom? I'd like to hear exactly what happened . . . and whether 'taking care of it' came from one of your ideas.”

A mischievous grin lit the girl's face. ”It didn't.”

”Well, then.” Mina took her hand. ”Show me.”

Mina burst through the library doors five minutes later, heart pounding. Rhys sat waiting at the edge of his desk, arms folded across his chest. Oh, but he was all right. She'd already known-she'd seen him-but now she had to see again, to make certain.

She stalked across the room, her gaze searching his face, his eyes, down . . . was he sitting just a little stiffly? Was that a different jacket? Stopping in front of him, she lifted her hands to his face, desperate to know, ”Are you all right?”

”Yes,” he said, but it wasn't enough. She stripped off his jacket, lifted the edge of his s.h.i.+rt. A raw red streak across his side took her breath, squeezed her heart into nothing.

”Rhys,” she whispered.

”It's all right,” he said, catching her hands.

She rose up, caught his lips with hers. With a groan, he opened his mouth to her kiss. His arms wrapped around her waist, lifted her against him. That wasn't enough. She needed him inside her, needed to know he was all right, alive, hers. She shoved at his shoulders, pushed him back on the desk. She reached for the flap of his breeches, already stretched by the force of his erection.

”Now,” she said against his lips. ”Now.”

There was no sheath. She didn't care. His hot length filled her, and after a long, endless moment she was riding him, riding until her name on his lips was a hoa.r.s.e cry, his control tenuous. She lifted and moved back, took him in her mouth, and didn't let up until he shook, shouted her name.

Then the desperation eased, and she crawled up and kissed him. His arms came around her, and his lips softened beneath hers, sweetening and lingering.

Her breath was still ragged when she lifted her head. ”It seems you are not the only one who must become accustomed to fear. I had no idea that love could be so terrifying.”

”It is. G.o.d, it is.” His body shook with a laugh. With gentle fingers, he smoothed her hair from her face. His eyes never left hers. ”I have many enemies, Mina. And I will make more. There will always be someone hoping to kill me-this is not even the first since we have been married.”

What? ”Why didn't you say anything?”

”I didn't want to worry you,” he said, and she could not stop her laugh. But she quieted when his expression darkened, his jaw set with determination. ”But I swear to you now: When you come home to me, I will always be here waiting for you.”

Her heart filled. Could she possibly ask for anything else?

No.

There was no one else in the ballroom. Mina did not care that one half of it still smoked. She did not care that the music from outside was hardly loud enough to guide them. She did not care that strangers kept looking in through the doors, and that her feet were bare, and her dress torn.

Rhys slid his hand around her waist, took her hand in his. She waited, but he did not start. He closed his eyes.

”I don't dare,” he said. ”Even if you wore shoes, I could not.”

”Then this.” Mina stepped onto his booted toes. ”Or am I too heavy?”

His kiss was answer enough. His hand tightened on her waist, and then she was swept around, his strong body moving against hers. Oh, but she could become used to this.

”We will do this again next year,” he said. ”If anyone has cods enough to return.”

Mina laughed. He sorely underestimated the fascination everyone held for him; the Wheel of Death would only strengthen that. ”I think that next year we will not just have people coming out of mourning to attend, but coming back from the dead.”

”Zombies?” He grinned when she shuddered. ”We'll kill them together.”

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