Part 3 (1/2)

The sparkle in Jamie's eyes hardened to a dangerous glitter. ”And you a.s.sumed I would be expecting the same thing from you.” It was not a question.

”From what your man said, you'd be more likely to demand than expect.” Even though it was one of the hardest things she'd ever done in her life, she forced herself to hold his direct gaze. ”Or to simply take what you wanted without begging my leave.”

His rugged jaw tightened, that subtle motion only hinting at the dark things that could pa.s.s between a man and a woman when she was forced to rely upon his mercy. ”As long as Hepburn gives me what I want, you've naught to fear. I won't let anyone hurt you.” He paused for the s.p.a.ce of a heartbeat. ”Including me.”

She gazed at his outstretched hand, still torn. All she had to do was stand and stretch out her own arm to seize his offer of salvation.

She had no reason to trust him. He was a scoundrel and a thief. He could be lying through his teeth. Her gaze darted to the dizzying drop below. If she were a true lady, she would fling herself upon the rocks rather than risk being defiled by his hands.

Almost as if reading her mind, he said, ”You're forgetting one thing, la.s.s. Your virtue is of nearly as much value to me as your life. The Hepburn isn't going to pay me so much as one halfpenny for damaged goods.”

”What makes you think he'll still want me? How can he not consider me damaged damaged after you and your band of not-so-merry men have dragged me halfway to Hades without the benefit of any sort of chaperone?” after you and your band of not-so-merry men have dragged me halfway to Hades without the benefit of any sort of chaperone?”

”Oh, he'll still want you,” Jamie said grimly, ”if only to prove a Sinclair didn't get the best of him. Knowing the Hepburn, he'll probably insist his own personal physician examine you to prove you're still worthy to be his bride.”

As the full import of his words sank in, a scorching blush drove the chill from Emma's cheeks.

”Why, I wouldn't put it past the auld buzzard to invite the wedding guests into his bedchamber to witness your deflowering or to hang a bluidy sheet out the window the next morning just as the Hepburn lairds of auld used to do.”

”Stop it!” Emma shouted. ”Stop trying to make a kindly old man out to be a monster when you're the true villain! For all I know, you're lying about everything, including what you plan to do to me if I trust you enough to give you my hand!”

”What if I am?”

The deadly calm of his tone cut right through her agitation.

A taunting sneer curled his lips. ”What if I am lying to you? Have you so little spirit that you're willing to die to preserve your precious virtue?” Even though Emma suspected he was deliberately trying to goad her into action, she was still mesmerized by the cruel cant of those sensual lips. ”You set a very high price on yourself, don't you, la.s.s? Why don't you come up here and show me whether or not you're worth it?”

Keeping her furious gaze locked on his face, Emma began to inch her way to her feet, her back still pressed to the stony wall behind her. As the subtle s.h.i.+ft of her weight sent a fresh shower of rubble dancing its way down the side of the cliff, she squeezed her eyes shut against a rush of paralyzing vertigo.

”d.a.m.nit to bluidy h.e.l.l, woman, take my hand!” Jamie's voice deepened on a beseeching note. ”Please...”

It wasn't his roared command but that raw plea that finally swayed her.

She swung her arm upward and slapped her hand into his broad palm, choosing life, choosing him. His fingers closed around her slender wrist with the force of a vise. As the narrow ledge beneath her feet broke away from its stony mooring and went tumbling into the gorge below, Jamie hauled her up and into his waiting arms.

Chapter Six.

JAMIE ROSE AND STAGGERED backward, dragging them both away from the edge of the bluff. As the last echo of the shelf tumbling into the gorge died, reminding her anew that it could have been her fragile bones shattering on those rocks, Emma clung helplessly to him, conscious only of the warmth and solidity of his bare chest beneath her cheek. Her s.h.i.+vering had deepened to a violent trembling she could not seem to control. backward, dragging them both away from the edge of the bluff. As the last echo of the shelf tumbling into the gorge died, reminding her anew that it could have been her fragile bones shattering on those rocks, Emma clung helplessly to him, conscious only of the warmth and solidity of his bare chest beneath her cheek. Her s.h.i.+vering had deepened to a violent trembling she could not seem to control.

He hesitated for a moment, but then his arms went around her, drawing her even deeper into his embrace. Through a haze of blind relief, she realized his heart was pounding nearly as wildly as hers.

”There, there, la.s.s,” he murmured, stroking a hand over her tangled hair. ”It's all right. You're safe now.”

Although there was some treacherous part of her that wanted to believe she was safe in the solid warmth of his arms, she knew better. Flattening her palms against his chest, she pushed herself away from him, determined to stand on her own two feet.

He watched through wary eyes as she brushed crumbs of dirt from the skirt of the tattered, filthy rag her wedding gown had become. An alarming amount of pale, freckled skin was beginning to peek through the shattered silk, a fact that did not seem to have escaped Jamie's heavy-lidded gaze.

”When I warned you about trying to escape, it never occurred to me you'd take some fool notion into your wee head to go running off in the middle of the night and tumble over a cliff .”

”So what do you want from me now?” she asked, shooting him a defiant look. ”Should I apologize for trying to escape or for making such a mortifying muddle of it?”

He folded his arms over his chest. ”Perhaps the question should be what do you want from me, Miss Marlowe? Do you want me to prove I'm every inch the villain you believe me to be? Are you deliberately trying to goad me into lifting my hand to you? Into forcing you to my will?”

”What I want, sir, is to go home!” Emma was as shocked as he was to hear the words come spilling from her lips. She'd been choking them back for what felt like an eternity. Emma was as shocked as he was to hear the words come spilling from her lips. She'd been choking them back for what felt like an eternity.

Jamie stiffened. The heat faded from his eyes, leaving them as cool and opaque as paste emeralds. ”I promised you I would return you to your bridegroom just as soon as I was able. I'm sure you'll make a very fine mistress for his castle. And his bed.”

Shaking her head helplessly, Emma backed away from him. She sank down on a stump and rested her chin in her hand, unable to look at him for fear the tears clogging the back of her throat would finally come trickling from her eyes. ”Hepburn Castle is not not my home. My home is a ramshackle old manor house in Lancas.h.i.+re that's been in my mother's family for two centuries. The roof leaks like a sieve, the floorboards creak beneath every step, and there's a family of mice living behind the kitchen baseboards that creep out every night to steal the crumbs left beneath the dining room table. Most of the shutters hang crooked and don't close properly and when it snows the drafts are so cold a thin layer of ice forms on the my home. My home is a ramshackle old manor house in Lancas.h.i.+re that's been in my mother's family for two centuries. The roof leaks like a sieve, the floorboards creak beneath every step, and there's a family of mice living behind the kitchen baseboards that creep out every night to steal the crumbs left beneath the dining room table. Most of the shutters hang crooked and don't close properly and when it snows the drafts are so cold a thin layer of ice forms on the inside inside of the windows. The flue in the drawing room fireplace sticks more often than not so you never know when you light a fire if you're going to end up getting chased out of the room by clouds of smoke.” of the windows. The flue in the drawing room fireplace sticks more often than not so you never know when you light a fire if you're going to end up getting chased out of the room by clouds of smoke.”

She stole a wary glance at Jamie to find his expression even more unreadable than before. ”I always know spring is coming because a cheeky robin and his mate build a nest in the holly tree growing right outside the window of my bedchamber. When the babies hatch, their chirping wakes me up each morning at dawn. The arbor at the edge of the orchard is on the verge of falling down because it's completely buried beneath a tangle of wild roses.” She could not stop a wistful smile from curving her lips. ”And in autumn when the apples start falling from the trees in the orchard, the whole world smells so tart and sweet you'd swear the very air could make you drunk.”

”You speak o' this place as if it's heaven on earth, but what about all o' those treasures the Hepburn can give you? The jewels? The furs? The land? The gold?”

She cast him a despairing glance. ”I'd trade them all for a chance to go out foraging for blackberries in the hedgerows on a fine summer morn.”

”If you love this home of yours so well, then why did you agree to marry the earl?”

Emma went back to gazing into the shadows. ”Before Papa sent me to London for the Season, we received a notice informing us the house was being seized by his creditors and we had three months to vacate the premises. The earl's offer was a G.o.dsend. Instead of demanding a dowry, he paid my father a generous settlement in exchange for my hand. It's too much for even Papa to gamble or drink away. My mother will be guaranteed a roof over her head for as long as she should live. And as the earl's new countess, I'll possess both the means and the influence to sponsor my sisters' London debuts. I'll be able to find them decent husbands and homes.”

”While you give up your home and any hope of happiness?” Jamie shook his head, a flush of anger touching his high cheekbones. ”If your father was the one who drank and gambled away his family's last s.h.i.+lling, why should you be the one to suffer for it?”

She rose from the rock to face him. ”Because I'm the one who drove him to it.”

Chapter Seven.

FOR THREE LONG YEARS, no one in her family had dared to utter those words. Yet here she stood confessing them to a man who was little more than a stranger to her-and a dangerous stranger at that. It was such a relief to finally say them aloud that it took Emma a moment to register Jamie's incredulous smile. It was the sort of smile one might give a gibbering escapee from Bedlam who claimed to be Richard the Lionhearted or a vanilla blancmange. no one in her family had dared to utter those words. Yet here she stood confessing them to a man who was little more than a stranger to her-and a dangerous stranger at that. It was such a relief to finally say them aloud that it took Emma a moment to register Jamie's incredulous smile. It was the sort of smile one might give a gibbering escapee from Bedlam who claimed to be Richard the Lionhearted or a vanilla blancmange.

”You? You were the one who drove your father to the bottle and the gaming tables?” His smile escalated into a snort of disbelieving laughter. ”Just what turrible transgression did you commit, you wee wicked hoyden? Did you forget to let the cat in or break your mother's favorite china saucer?” You were the one who drove your father to the bottle and the gaming tables?” His smile escalated into a snort of disbelieving laughter. ”Just what turrible transgression did you commit, you wee wicked hoyden? Did you forget to let the cat in or break your mother's favorite china saucer?”

She lifted her chin a defiant notch. ”I broke a man's heart.”

She half-expected him to dissolve into fresh gales of laughter at the thought of her as some sort of temptress but as she continued, his smile slowly faded.

”When I was seventeen, I went to London to stay with my aunt Birdie and my cousin Clara for my debut. Everything went exactly as my parents had planned and I was able to secure a proposal from a perfectly nice young curate with excellent prospects for a decent living in Shrops.h.i.+re. After he had obtained my father's hearty blessing, all of the betrothal doc.u.ments were drawn up. But less than a month before we were to be wed, I decided I had no choice but to beg off the engagement.”

”Why?”

Emma turned away from him then, biting her bottom lip as an old shame warmed her cheeks. ”I realized I was in love with another man. Lysander was the second son of a marquess who flattered me with his attentions each time we met at a ball or while riding in the park. He would deliberately seek out my company and tease me so tenderly I soon found myself thinking of him every moment we were apart. After I went to my fiance and broke off our engagement, I sought him out to tell him what I'd done. I thought he'd be overjoyed.”

Jamie winced as if already antic.i.p.ating the inevitable outcome of her tawdry little tale.

Emma's wry smile mocked no one but herself. ”He was horrified. It seemed he was on the verge of announcing his own engagement to a young American heiress-a very beautiful, very wealthy wealthy American heiress. He made it quite clear a pa.s.sably pretty baronet's daughter from Lancas.h.i.+re could never be anything more to him than a flirtation-and a mild one at that.” She shrugged away the remembered anguish and humiliation of having her fragile young heart ripped right out of her breast. ”He was generous enough to suggest I might consider becoming his mistress after he'd been married for a respectable amount of time.” American heiress. He made it quite clear a pa.s.sably pretty baronet's daughter from Lancas.h.i.+re could never be anything more to him than a flirtation-and a mild one at that.” She shrugged away the remembered anguish and humiliation of having her fragile young heart ripped right out of her breast. ”He was generous enough to suggest I might consider becoming his mistress after he'd been married for a respectable amount of time.”