A Shocking Proposition (8 page)

Maddy glared at him. “That he was going to shoot you!”

Ketch, who had followed them in, made for the bed and slunk under it.

Ash said a couple of words she’d never heard. “Instead he nearly shot
you!
” he went on. “What do you—damn it!” His voice changed. “Your cheek—there’s blood on it!”

Maddy became aware that her left cheek really did sting. She raised a hand to it, surprised. “Oh. Splinters I think. The ball hit the door.”

Ash reached her, caught her chin in one shaking hand and turned it. His mouth was a grim line. “Yes, splinters.”

Maddy let out a breath. “Well. Nothing to worry about then.”

His hand tightened on her. “It could have been your eye, and it could still fester! I should put you over my knee and spank you. I
told
you to stay back with Ketch.”

She lifted her chin. “You said we were the reserves.”

“What?”

His eyes bored into her, but she held her ground. “In case the first plan didn’t work.” She fixed him with a glare. “And it wasn’t. If you had a plan. He had only one shot, so I thought we had a chance if I could distract him. Hopefully waste the shot.”

His mouth flattened. “You were nearly killed! What the hell did I matter? Sit down while I get the splinters out.”

She sat, and he lit every candle in the room, banishing darkness and fear. They were safe. Edward was locked up in the root cellar with a single blanket and no light with two men on guard. Given that he had tried to burn the house down, his plea for a candle had been dismissed. He would be taken to a magistrate in the morning.

Ash found a cloth, heated water over the fire and dabbed carefully at her cheek. She sat very still, trying not to wince as he searched for splinters in grim silence.

Ash could barely speak for remembering the sickening swoop of terror as Montfort’s pistol had swung toward Maddy. Knowing he couldn’t reach Montfort in time, believing she was going to die. At last he spoke. “I’m not saying your plan wasn’t a good one,” he said, each word feeling as though it had been ripped from him. “But you still shouldn’t have done it.” If a junior officer had handled himself like that in action, coming up with a spur of the moment diversion and counterattack to save a comrade, he’d be commending the young idiot.

But Maddy wasn’t a junior officer. She was his wife and he’d thought she was about to die. He eased his fingertips over her cheek, searching. All the splinters seemed to be gone.

“Can you feel anything?” he asked. What he could feel, tearing at his heart, was a damn sight worse than splinters. He’d have to get used to it, because no matter how painful, he couldn’t imagine not loving her.

She shook her head. “I think you got them all. And for what it’s worth, you do matter. To me.” She met his gaze. “You can be as cross as you like, but I’d do it again.”

He groaned, drew her into his arms. “I know you would. And it terrifies me. What the hell would you have done if you hadn’t had the dog with you?” He shuddered, glancing at Ketch under the bed. A tail thumped. “No. Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.”

Epilogue

Twelfth Night

Supper was over, the household had retired for the night and Ash stood, his arm about Maddy, watching fire blazing in the hearth of the hall. The remnant of the Yule log had been removed and quenched. It was set safely aside to light next Christmas. Yet the fire still burned, and deep inside him, where it counted, there was still a light burning. This Christmas, their first together, might be over, but he knew that the candle lit within him would always be there. Waiting, hopeful, even if he could never quite tell Maddy. They had made a bargain to save her home from Montfort. Despite everything, he was not entirely sure she would wish to alter that bargain, and her heart had not been part of it.

“Ash?”

“Yes, sweetheart?”

“I was thinking that it hasn’t all been quite as convenient as we intended,” she said.

He snorted. “I’ll admit I didn’t count on Montfort’s lunacy.” His gut twisted. “Or yours, for that matter,” he growled. “Losing you would have been damnably inconvenient!” Fear still choked him every time he remembered Maddy facing Montfort’s pistol for him. If he hadn’t already known what it was he felt for her, that shattering instant would have done the trick.

“Is love inconvenient, Ash?”

Everything stilled inside him, except the hopeful candle that leaped and shouted in joy. “I don’t think so,” he said at last, choosing his words carefully. “I’ve been finding it rather painful, not sure if it was unrequited or not. But no, on the whole it’s not inconvenient.”

She turned in his arms, witch-green eyes staring up at him in shock. “
You’re
finding it painful?” she demanded. “But I’m—”

To his absolute horror, the bright eyes filled with tears. “Oh, lord! Don’t cry Maddy.”

“I’m not crying,” she sniffed. “I was telling you that I love you, and—”

“I thought you were telling me love was inconvenient,” he said.

“It is,” she muttered. “Every time you make love to me, I keep nearly telling you, so—” She broke off as he grabbed her wrist and towed her unceremoniously across the hall. “Where are we going?”

“Bed,” he told her. “I believe you have something to tell me.”

The smile on her face nearly undid him. “Oh, I do,” she assured him. “Am I going to have lots of opportunities to say it?”

“Plenty,” he assured her.

* * * * *

Enjoy more passion through the ages with the sensual Harlequin Historical UNDONE titles on sale now:

Rescued by the Ranger
by Lauri Robinson
Not Just a Seduction
by Carole Mortimer
A
Lady Seduces
by Bronwyn Scott
A
Dance with Indecency
by Linda Skye
One Night with the Highlander
by Ann Lethbridge
How to Seduce a Sheikh
by Marguerite Kaye
Bewitched by His Kiss
by Barbara Monajem
In Bed with the Highlander
by Ann Lethbridge
The Magic of His Touch
by Barbara Monajem

Craving something a little longer? Find more historical romantic adventure from Harlequin Historical at
www.Harlequin.com
or your local bookstore.

Interested in writing for Harlequin Historical UNDONE? Send your submission to
[email protected]
.

* * *

Connect with us for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!

Subscribe to our newsletter:
Harlequin.com/newsletters

Visit
Harlequin.com

We like you—
why not like us on Facebook:
Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks

Follow us on Twitter:
Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks

Read our blog for all the latest news on our
authors and books:
HarlequinBlog.com

ISBN-13: 9781459255548

A SHOCKING PROPOSITION

Copyright © 2014 by Elizabeth Rolls

All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.

www.Harlequin.com