Blackthorne's Bride (23 page)

"But you didn't go to the dress shop, did you?" He grabbed her wrist and tugged her toward a carriage that was now waiting outside the livery. She realized this must be the carriage he'd secured for them. "You could have been hurt," he said.

"I know."

At her apparent easy acquiescence, he turned and looked back at her.

"But that bear is hurt, Jack. Those poor dogs, too. How could I let that happen without trying to stop it? How can you let it go on?"

"Maddie ..." He leaned down so she could see his eyes. "I'm having a hard enough time trying to keep you safe. What the hell am I supposed to do about a bear?"

She put her hands on her hips. "Well, if you won't do something, I will. I'm not leaving that bear, Jack. If I have to stay in Gretna Green permanently—"

"We're returning to London. Now." He grabbed her arm and tried to push her toward the carriage. Maddie slapped him away, and a woman passing on the street gave them a curious look. "Stop it," he ground out between clenched teeth. "You're causing a scene."

"You're
causing a scene," she retorted.

"Get in the carriage."

"No." She shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest. "And if you try and make me, I'll scream my head off."

"Goddamn, bloody—"

"Profanity won't help you," she said calmly. "Now, you can either help me or abandon me, but I'm not leaving without that bear."

She saw the muscle in Jack's jaw tense, saw his fists curl into hard balls. Then he grabbed her shoulders roughly. "Stand right here." He backed her up until her spine was pressed against the livery. "Do not move. Not your feet, your arms, not even your eyes. I swear by all that's holy, if you move one inch, I'll kill you, and that goddamn bear, too."

He stalked away from her and climbed in the carriage. As she watched the carriage pull away, Maddie bit her lip.

One day of marriage, and he'd already left her.

She knew she should have married Dover. At least he would have tried to help her with the bear. Mr. Dover would have—

She swallowed a sob. Poor Mr. Dover. He wouldn't ever be helping any bears after this. And it was all her fault. How was she ever going to atone for that sin?

She'd only begun to imagine all the punishments she deserved when the carriage with Jack returned, this time pulling a cage on wheels behind it. Maddie stared at the cage, then broke into a huge smile.

The bear was inside. Jack had the bear!

The carriage door opened and Jack stuck his head out. "Get in before the owner changes his mind."

Maddie scampered forward and jumped in. Jack rapped on the coach's roof and they were off.

Her husband started to say something, to chastise her, she was sure, but Maddie didn't let him say a word.

She climbed in his lap and kissed his frowning lips until, finally, he kissed her back.

* * * * *

"Jack, we have to stop in Carlisle," Maddie said.

Snuggled on his lap, her face buried in his neck, she couldn't see his scowl, but he made sure she knew about it. "No, we don't," he said. "We're getting as close to London as we can before dark."

He'd barely whisked the woman out of Gretna Green in one piece. He was not letting her free in Carlisle. Who knew what mischief she would find there?

Not to mention that he didn't know if Bleven was still looking for them. Jack assumed the duke had returned to London after his defeat a few days ago, but he couldn't be certain. He didn't want to run into Bleven on the road in the middle of the night. He wanted to confront the Black Duke in London, when the time was right, and the advantage was his, not Bleven's.

So they weren't stopping in Carlisle. They'd travel as far as they could, and then he'd tuck Maddie away at an inn, where he could keep her safe for the night.

And where he could make love to her until dawn. He'd had her in the water and on the soft straw of the stable—she'd been too delicious to resist last night—but he'd never had her in a bed.

"I don't want to stop, either," Maddie said, interrupting his pleasant thoughts, "but Mr. Dover ..."

She looked up at him, those big blue eyes full of unshed tears.

Oh, Jesus Christ! How was he supposed to fight against tears?

"I want to know what happened to him, Jack. And if he's—if he's d-d—" She swallowed loudly. "—gone, I have to pay my respects." She buried her head against his shoulder. "This is all my fault. I might as well have been the one who pulled the trigger."

At least that's what Jack thought she said. It was hard to understand her words under all the blubbering.

"You weren't responsible," he said, trying to sound reasonable. "Dover knew the risks."

"You don't understand, Jack. He didn't want to marry me. I persuaded him." She looked up at him again. "I can be very persuasive. Poor Mr. Dover. He never had a chance."

Jack thought Dover was probably swayed more by Maddie's good looks and ample charms than her rhetoric, but kept his opinion to himself. If she wanted to canonize Dover, he knew that arguing with her would only make him look bad.

"And he has two little children. Poor babies. How are they going to survive without him?"

"We don't even know if Dover is dead," Jack argued. "For all we know, your father missed."

Maddie grabbed his coat and hauled herself up. "Do you think so? Really?"

The hope in her eyes undid him—more even than the tears.

Bloody hell.

"Fine. We'll stop, and I'll make inquiries about the professor. But you are to stay in the carriage. Understand? No bears—" He glanced at the bear's cage behind the carriage and rolled his eyes. "— no dogs, no bunny rabbits."

Maddie nodded violently. "Stay in the carriage. I promise."

Jack gave the coachman instructions to stop in Carlisle, outside the posting house. It wouldn't be a total loss. While he made inquiries, they could change horses.

Ten minutes later they reached Carlisle, and he left Maddie in the carriage, with the bear in his cage behind. She was full of more promises not to leave or even think about leaving.

Skeptical, Jack turned back several times as he walked away, to make sure she hadn't moved. His first stop was a nearby tavern. It was the best place for local gossip. And he desperately needed a drink.

He ordered a gin, swallowed it in one gulp, and asked for another. A few minutes later he had the information he needed. He returned to the carriage, pleased to see that everything was as he'd left it. A few curious townspeople were milling about, trying to get a good look at the bear, but the coachman and the outriders were keeping them away.

Jack nodded to the coachman and then inclined his head toward the coach. The coachman gave him a reassuring wave. All was as he'd left it.

Jack allowed the muscles of his shoulders to relax. Maybe this marriage wouldn't be as difficult as he'd feared. His wife could follow his directions. She wasn't as unmanageable or stubborn as she'd seemed.

He opened the door of the coach, a smile on his lips. "Guess what? Your professor— What the hell?"

"Jack! Don't yell. You'll upset him."

And right on cue, the small snot-nosed child in her lap began to bawl.

Jack stared, blinked, then stepped back and shut the carriage door. Outside the carriage, the kid's cries were muffled, and Jack closed his eyes.

He hadn't had that much gin, had he?

No.

Impossible.

Even when he'd spent the night drinking, coming home completely floored, he had never imagined seeing children.

Jack took a deep breath, opened the carriage door again, and winced. The kid was still wailing loud enough to wake the dead. Jack opened his mouth to say something, but his jaw was clenched too tightly.

"Now, Jack," Maddie said, holding her hand out. "Don't become distraught. I didn't leave the carriage."

Jack heaved in a deep breath and blew it out again. He stared at the urchin on her lap and willed the kid to shut up.

"And I didn't find any bears, dogs, or rabbits. That's what you said. You didn't mention children."

He was aware that his breath was coming in short, fast heaves. He probably looked like a man who'd just run three miles. But it was either that or punch a hole in the carriage.

"Jack, are you all right?" Maddie asked tentatively.

The child in her lap had finally stopped crying and now was hugging her, thumb stuck in its mouth, staring at Jack with more interest than fear. Jack didn't have much experience with children—they all looked the same to him—but he guessed the kid was somewhere between three and ten.

And it was probably a boy.

Or a girl.

He didn't know if it could talk, but it looked like it could walk. It was dirty, its clothes tattered, and its face crusted with snot.

Jack pointed to the kid. "Where did that come from?"

"That?" Maddie followed his finger and frowned. "Timmy?"

Oh, devil take him. It had a name. "We're not keeping it. I've already agreed to keep the bear."

"Well, a bear is hardly the same as a child."

"We're not keeping it!" Jack bellowed, and Timmy started crying again.

Maddie ran a hand over the child's dirty curls and glared at Jack. "If you keep yelling like that, I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I won't tolerate yelling in my carriage."

"Your
carriage? This is my bloody carriage."

He'd almost yelled again, but managed to tamp his voice down at the last moment.

"Are you going to evict a defenseless woman and child? Is that the kind of man you are?"

"Oh, bloody hell." He wanted to hit his head on the carriage.

"Don't talk like that in front of Timmy."

Jack grasped the sides of the carriage, took one deep breath, then another. "Maddie, I'm asking you as calmly as possible. Where did this— Timmy— come from?"

"Is that all you wanted to know?"

He narrowed his eyes menacingly.

"I was going to tell you," she said. "If you hadn't started yelling."

"Maddie—"

"Very well. I was sitting here waiting for you to return with word of—oh, Jack, did you find out about Mr. Dover?"

Jack held up a finger. "Timmy first."

She frowned. "As I said, I was waiting for you to return when I happened to look out the back window. I wanted to see how the bear fared, and I suggested to the coachman that he might bring the poor creature some water. Did he? Blackjack looks thirsty."

"Blackjack?"

Maddie nodded. "The bear."

Dear God, she'd named it. They were never going to get rid of the beast now.

"You looked out the back window ..." Jack prompted.

"Right, and when I did, I saw Timmy standing all by himself, looking at Blackjack." She looked down at Timmy and smiled. The boy smiled back, and Jack saw that the child was missing his front teeth. "And I called Timmy over and—"

"Wait." Jack held up a hand. "You weren't supposed to call strangers over. You were supposed to wait in the carriage."

"I didn't leave the carriage, and you never said I couldn't speak to small children. Really, Jack."

"Go on," he said through clenched teeth.

"Timmy told me he was lost. He doesn't remember where he lives, and I was just asking where he last saw his mama when you returned and began yelling."

"We're not keeping him," Jack said, pointing at the boy.

Maddie rolled her eyes. "He has a mother, Jack. We just need to find her."

"And I suppose that's my job."

Maddie shrugged. "I'll be happy to do it. Just move out of my way—"

Jack held his arms out. "Do not leave the carriage. I'll be right back."

He closed the carriage door on his wife and little Timmy, and turned to see the coachman looking at him with raised brows. "Ready, my lord?"

Jack blew out a breath. "Not yet."

"Yes, my lord. But we're losing daylight, and you said—"

Jack walked away. More and more, he was hoping Bleven would find them. A quick bullet to the brain and Maddie, Timmy, and Blackjack—why the hell had she named the beast Blackjack?— would no longer be his problem.

And he'd thought Nicholas was trouble.

An hour later Timmy and his mother enjoyed a lengthy reunion. There were tears and embraces and profuse expressions of gratitude.

Jack sat in the carriage and scowled while Maddie hugged Timmy and his mother at least a dozen times. He'd tried to urge her to hurry the reunion along, but she ignored him. Finally, he pulled her into his lap, waved good-bye, and closed the carriage door.

"Jack!" Maddie said, the worry line he'd like to banish appearing between her brows. "That was rude."

"You think it would have been better if I'd done this in front of little Timmy?" And he bent and took her mouth with his. When he pulled back, she was breathless. "More? Or are you still worried about Timmy?"