No Other Love (31 page)

Nicola nodded. “He didn’t just come back here to live. He—he is a highwayman. He has been stealing from Richard for months.”

There was a long silence as the other two women stared at her.

“You see?” Nicola said unhappily. “I told you it was a terrible tangle. As if it weren’t enough that I am in love with a man whom I’m not sure loves me, he is also a criminal and likely to be seized and hanged at any moment. I have to sneak around to see him so that Richard and his man Stone won’t find out. I am a fool, aren’t I?”

“But a very intriguing one,” Penelope teased. “I think your story tops even Alexandra’s or Marianne’s.”

“But this highwayman…” Marianne said. “Is he our highwayman? The one who saved Justin and me—you remember, when Fuquay made the mine cave in on us, a mysterious man dressed all in black dug us out. And Lambeth felt sure he was the highwayman everyone had been talking about, that he probably had some of his goods stored in the mine entrance.”

“That’s right!” Penelope exclaimed. “I remember. Don’t you, Nicola?”

“I’m not sure I ever knew who it was that saved you. So much happened right after that, with the other attacks on your life and then finding out who you really were. Did he tell you his name? He calls himself Jack Moore now.”

“Yes! Jack! That’s it,” Marianne said, nodding. “Well, he isn’t your typical highwayman, I can tell you that. Justin and I owe him our lives.”

“I know. He is a good man, really. It is only that he despises Richard—it is almost always things related to Richard that Jack seizes. But they will hang him for it, anyway, if he is caught.”

“Won’t he stop?” Penelope asked. “I mean, now that you and he are—”

“I don’t know what we are. And I’m not sure whether he will stop, either. Getting revenge on Richard seems to have driven him for the past ten years. I don’t know that he can give it up now.”

“If he loves you, he will,” Marianne said quietly. “You cannot hope for a life together as long as he continues to be a highwayman.”

“I know.” Sudden tears sparkled in Nicola’s eyes. “I suppose that that is the only way that I can learn if he still loves me. If he gives up his attacks on Richard so that we can be together.” She looked from one woman to the other. “A pretty clear-cut test, isn’t it? What does he want more—me or revenge?”

T
HE NEXT MORNING
, N
ICOLA WAS
in her sister’s sitting room describing Penelope’s and Marianne’s wedding plans to Deborah and Nurse—though not as all-consuming a topic as babies, weddings were always of major interest—when they were interrupted by the quiet entrance of one of the footmen.

“There is a…person, my lady, at the kitchen door asking to speak to Miss Falcourt.”

“Me?” Nicola looked up. “Who is it?”

“A lad from the village, I believe.” The footman’s tone clearly expressed his low opinion of sorts such as village boys turning up asking to talk to one of the ladies of the house.

“Oh. Someone must be sick.”

“Yes, miss. I believe that is what the boy said.”

“I’ll see him in the kitchen.” Nicola excused herself to Deborah and hurried through the hallway after the footman into the vast kitchen of Tidings.

A boy of about ten whom she had seen before but could not place was seated on the hearth beside the great kitchen fire, looking with awe all around him. At Nicola’s approach, he jumped up, twisting his cap in his hand.

“Miss? Maggie Falkner sent me. Her babe is sick, and she’s fair discombobbled about it. She says you’d know what to do. Will you come, then?” He finished his little speech and visibly relaxed his shoulders.

“Yes, of course I shall come. I just have to gather my remedies. Do you know what ails the child?”

“Me mam says ‘tis only colic and Maggie’s too green to know, but Maggie, she’s worried somethin’ sick about it.”

“Well, we’ll see. Run back and tell her I am coming.”

The child left, visibly relieved to escape the grandeur of the great house, and Nicola went upstairs to change into her riding habit and get her bag. No matter what the boy’s mother said, Nicola could not imagine Maggie Falkner, a steady-headed young woman if ever there was one, would be calling for her help for nothing more than colic. She felt sure it was imperative to get there as soon as she could.

She hurried down to the stables, where they saddled the horse she had been riding since she came to Tidings, and soon she was on her way. She did not glance back to see if Stone was following her. She assumed he was, and, indeed, she rather hoped so.
Let him spend an afternoon standing out in the cold watching the Falkners’ house.

She made good time to the village. She imagined that she had beaten the neighbor boy back, in fact, even though the way by foot was shorter than taking the road, as she had. She dismounted, and Maggie’s husband hurried out to take her horse and tie it for her.

“How is the baby?”

Falkner nodded his head. “We’ll all be fine, miss, now that ye are here.”

Nicola went into the house, calling out softly as she stepped inside, “Maggie?”

The young mother came bustling toward her. “Upstairs, miss.” She motioned for Nicola to go before her up the narrow, twisting little stairs that led to two small rooms. Nicola went lightly up the stairs, wondering at Maggie’s attitude. She looked far less worried than Nicola would have imagined.

“What is wrong with the baby?” she asked, twisting back to look at Maggie. “What is she doing?”

“Ye’ll see, miss. I can’t explain it that well.” She pointed to the door in front of them. “Go on in.”

Nicola turned the knob and walked into the room. In the instant that her mind registered that there were only a bed and a chest in the room, with no cradle or baby in sight, the door slammed shut behind her. Nicola jumped, letting out a squeak of surprise, and an arm wrapped around her waist and a hand came up to cover her mouth.

“Don’t go yelling now, or you’ll give the game away,” a low, masculine voice murmured in her ear before the hand over her mouth fell away.

“Jack!” Nicola whirled around, delight bubbling up in her. “Oh, Jack!” She threw her arms around his neck and went up on tiptoe to kiss him.

After a long, satisfying moment, his arms loosened around her, and she slid back down and looked up at him, her eyes shining. “What are you doing here?”

“I had to see you. Hal Falkner’s one of the village men who rides with me. So I asked a favor of him and his wife. The babe’s not sick, just asleep in the room next door.”

Nicola’s eyes widened. “Oh, Jack…” She reached up a hand and smoothed it down his cheek. “I’m glad you did. I have been racking my brain trying to think of a way to see you. But I couldn’t even get word to you if I had thought of a way. That Stone fellow trails me everywhere I go.” She drew a sharp breath. “Oh, my God! He’s probably outside right now, watching the house!”

She started toward the window, frowning, but Jack caught her wrist and pulled her back with a smile. “Don’t worry about him now. He’ll see nothing, standing out there watching this house. I have been here since before first light, and my horse is nowhere around. No one knows I am here except Hal and Maggie, and they certainly won’t be telling him. He won’t come to the door, and even if he did, they won’t let him in.”

Nicola let him pull her back into his arms. “All right. If you’re sure…”

“I am.”

She leaned against his chest, luxuriating in the warmth of his arms and the steady beat of his heart beneath her ear. “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too. God!” He squeezed her tightly against him. “It seems like weeks since I’ve been with you. I kept thinking about you, wondering what you were doing, wishing you were with me.” He kissed the top of her head.

Nicola smiled. “Me too.”

“I don’t like being cut off from you. Not even being able to write you a note…”

“I know.”

“Mmm, you smell good.” He breathed in her perfume, nuzzling her hair.

Nicola let out a sigh of pure pleasure as his lips moved down to her ear and trailed slowly over her cheek, velvety and hot. “Jack…”

“How did I live without you all those years?” he murmured. “Oh, Nicola…”

His mouth found hers, and they kissed lingeringly, rediscovering each other as if it had been weeks instead of days since they last kissed. Nicola’s hands slid up Jack’s chest and around his back, caressing the smooth curve of his muscles through his shirt. She thought about slipping her fingers beneath his shirt and touching his skin, and the idea made her shiver with desire. As though he knew her thoughts, Jack’s body surged with heat, and he wrapped his arms around her tightly, lifting her up off her feet. He began to walk toward the bed.

Nicola tore her mouth away, whispering, “Jack! No. What about Maggie and Hal?”

“They won’t be coming in here. And they wouldn’t let anyone else, either.”

“Yes, but they’ll know….”

“Know what?” He kissed his way down her neck.

“That we—that—” She let out a sigh as his lips touched the soft upper curve of her breast.

“Mmm?” He set her down on her feet beside the bed, and his hands slid up her body to cup her breasts. He looked down into her eyes, his thumbs circling her nipples, bringing them to life. He bent to kiss her lips while his fingers caressed her breasts. “That we what?”

“I forget….” Nicola tugged his shirt from his trousers, slipping her hands up underneath the material. His flesh, smooth over rock-hard muscles, seared her fingers. She could think of nothing right now but him—his scent, his touch, the incredible sensuality of his mouth on hers.

They tumbled onto the bed, lost in a haze of passion, the rest of the world receding. Limbs twined together. Hands and lips explored, aroused, soothed. Had an army burst in at that moment, they might not have noticed, so wrapped up in their passion were they.

They made slow, sweet love, kissing, murmuring, taking their time to bring out each ounce of pleasure. Nicola, shuddering under Jack’s skillful touch, wondered if anyone had ever felt the stunning sensations that ran through her now. And when at last their blissful torment had built to its highest peak, release burst through them like a tidal wave, joining them in a dark, mindless pleasure.

Jack lay back on the bed, his heart pounding, sweat drying on his skin, and he pulled her close to him. “I don’t want to let you go,” he whispered.

Tears sprang into Nicola’s eyes, and she snuggled even closer to him, as though she could somehow crawl right through his skin and become part of him. “I don’t want to go.”

“The last few days, all I could think about was you. I didn’t want to. I tried not to. But nothing worked.” He paused, then continued, “What if…what if there were no Jack Moore, gentleman highwayman?”

Nicola’s heart stuttered. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, what if he disappeared? And then what if one day—not long from now—Gil Martin returned. Older, wiser, back from America. A man with a past and a future, a man no one was hunting.”

Nicola sat up, turning to look down into his face. “Jack, are you serious?”

He nodded. “I don’t want to live like this, hiding, meeting you in secret. I want…I want to call on you. To go riding with you in broad daylight.” He reached up and took a strand of her hair in his hand, twining it around his fingers. “I want to squire you to the opera. Or a play. And I don’t think that The Gentleman can do that.”

“You’re right.” Nicola took his other hand, linking her fingers through his.

“You know, I have been a highwayman only the past few months. Before that Perry and I owned a business in Maryland. I am really a rather dull fellow.”

“What about Richard?”

He grimaced. “I will never beggar him. All I can be is a thorn in his side. It has been amusing, but that hardly seems like enough for a life.” Jack looked at her. “I hated him the most for taking you away from me. Now that I have you again…”

Nicola leaned forward and kissed him. After a few moments, she said, “What are you going to do? Is ‘The Gentleman’ just going to disappear?”

“We are going to carry out one last raid. Day after tomorrow, early in the morning, Exmoor has a wagon leaving the mine. It is going to be carrying a lot of money, more than we’ve ever gotten off him before. He has been storing it in a safe there, afraid to send it for two months because of the damage we’ve done him. He thinks to escape detection by sending it early in the morning and with no guard, disguising it as a common ore wagon. But we have informers inside the mine. So we will be waiting for it.”

Nicola sat up, uneasiness stirring in her. “Are you sure? Must you make a last theft?”

“I could leave it. I told you, I had a business. We sold it, and I have the money. I could set up something here or back in the States. But I want to give the men one last big payoff. It will keep them going for a while. I hate to leave them at the mercy of Exmoor’s jobs again.”

“I see.” It still made her uneasy. But Nicola understood his desire to make sure that his men were taken care of. It was one of the things she admired about him.

“Then The Gentleman will disappear,” Jack said lightly. “After that, I believe that Gil will appear—in London, perhaps? It might be better to have some time between the two events here.”