The Highwayman (Rakes and Rogues of the Restoration Book 3) (13 page)

“Ah, well, I am often told I would try the patience of a saint. One hopes you never learn to load that pistol, or make your hand into a fist.”

His tone was light and her mouth turned up in a smile, but for all his teasing and charm, he had yet to tell her what she really wanted to know. Despite his apparent interest, or perhaps because of it, she could not let it go.

“Why
did
you take it, Jack?”

“Come. A little privacy, yes? You can tell them you led me away to badger me into repenting my ways. They will believe it easily enough after the wallop you gave me. Look close and don’t lie. Will this handsome face be spoiled by a blackened eye?”

“Jack!” Her voice held a note of warning, but it was ruined by her grin.

“Come...I promise I will answer your question, but first, there is something that I want you to see.”

He held out his hand and she took it, unable to resist his smile.

‘Yet, if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,

Then look for me by moonlight,

Watch for me by moonlight,

I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way.’

~ Albert Noyes

As Jack spread his greatcoat on the ground for them to sit on, Arabella glanced over her shoulder to where the others waited below.

“Have you lost your nerve, Bella? Do you wish to return to the fold?” There was a challenge in his voice.

“I wish you to answer my question.”

“Then sit with me. They can’t hear or see us.”

“And they are bound to imagine the worst.” Despite her words, she allowed him to take her hand and help her settle down beside him. She could hear her companions’ voices in the distance. Something Mr. Butcher said had made them laugh.
We mustn’t stay away too long,
a part of her insisted, but it was hard to pay it much attention. From the moment she had seen him, she’d been under Jack’s spell.

“If you lived your life in fear of what others might imagine, you would never have left your carriage to walk with me. Besides, as long we aren’t gone too long, I can charm them into believing any story. Trust me, Bella. Look, listen, and tell me what you see.”

She could tell by his voice that it was important to him. With an ancient boulder serving as a comfortable backrest she relaxed and let the night envelope her in its seductive embrace. A dulcet breeze trilled like silvery laughter as it drifted through the forest, playing in the leaves. The night smelled of wood-smoke, apples and late-blooming roses and an incandescent moon hovered overhead.

Just as the sky above them pulsed with light, the city shimmered below. Candlelight and lanterns flickered here and there marking private homes and gardens. The glow from street lamps illuminating major thoroughfares looked like earthbound constellations. Rooftop’s glittered where the rich entertained, and the torches of the linkboys drew bobbing patterns as they led their charges home.

Arabella felt as though she were floating, suspended between day and night, heaven and earth, the world as she had always known it, and one she was just beginning to know. She felt perfectly at peace, safe and protected, even though she was alone in the dark with a man she hardly knew.

“It’s beautiful, Jack. I have never seen or imagined London like this. It’s as if we’re looking down from the heavens. At first it just looks vast and empty, and then, one by one, a light comes into view—each one telling a story. Lovers making assignations in the park. A nurse or mother awake with a restless child. A celebration of old friends. Somebody finding their way home.”

His laughter was warm, indulgent. “You wax poetic. A symptom of those who spend too much time drinking the dark.” He took her hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze.

It was such an intimate gesture. One of familiarity and caring. Of togetherness and belonging in a lonely world. Yet how could that be? How could she so forget herself, be so comfortable and easy with this dangerous, unsuitable, impossible man? She closed her eyes a moment. How many women had thought as she was thinking now, and allowed one simple gesture to forever change their lives? How many women had it ruined?

“Is this what you wanted me to see?” She wrapped her fingers around his, and squeezed back.

She didn’t resist when he tightened an arm around her waist and pulled her close, resting his chin on her shoulder. When he spoke, his breath was warm against her cheek. “It is what I hoped you’d see. I lived in London for a time, when I was a boy. I used to come here, when the world became so small and hard I couldn’t breathe. I would imagine other people’s lives, just as you do now.”

“You weren’t afraid?”

“Of the dark? No. I am well acquainted with it. I look on the city at night and I am one with it now. I see every path and roadway. The wonders and the terrors. As a child, the things I feared slept in the dark. Watching from up here, I felt safe and free. The world from here looked limitless to me....”

She touched his arm, wondering what terrors he could have known, this man who laughed at danger.

“I took your necklace, Arabella, because when we were together, I forgot that it is not....I think we both forgot. I imagined things that could never be. I took it because I fear we are a danger to one another, even on such short acquaintance. I took it to remind us both. Because you are who you are, and I am who I am, and there is no place I can imagine where we both might fit.”

She didn’t know why his words should hurt so much when he only repeated what she told herself, but the pain she felt was piercing. She should do something. Get up and walk away. But he held her still, and showed no sign of letting go.

“Tell me then, Jack. Why did you come all this way?”

“I don’t really know. I told myself I had news to bring, but that was just an excuse. It would have been far easier to send you a message. I
wanted
to see you, though it be dangerous for both of us. The night we met, I agreed to the thing out of boredom. For a long time now life has held little flavor. But when I saw you, cursing and kicking your bucket, your perfect hair in tangles…when you brushed against me as we climbed down the tower...suddenly everything was thrilling because nothing was the same. I have never enjoyed a night so much that I can recall. Anything seemed possible. There was magic in the air. I swear even Bess flew.”

“Yes, she did!” Arabella laughed in delight. “I thought I imagined it, but there was a moment she was galloping so fast all four feet left the ground and she flew.”

He nuzzled her jaw. “I have boasted that she can, but none will believe me but you. I know I shouldn’t be here, Bella. And neither should you. I came to see if I imagined it all. I came because when I am with you, I don’t need to imagine a way we might fit….We just do. I came because I wanted to kiss you.”

His words sent shivers through her body. She should leave. They’d been too long already. The others were waiting. She should say no....

She turned into him with a soft sigh. He groaned and lifted her, settling her in his lap. As she melted against him, reaching her arms around his neck, he pulled her closer still, pressing his lips to hers in a tender kiss before slipping his tongue past her teeth and softly exploring her mouth. His bristled jaw rasped her tender skin as he angled his mouth, deepening his kiss. She laced her fingers through his hair as sweet sensations curled inside her. It was a gentle possession. One that cajoled, enticed, caressed and invited, until she forgot who she was or where she was and met him eagerly, kiss for kiss.

She followed happily when he eased her to the ground, and she made no protest when he shifted position so she lay beside him, looking up at the moon, anchored by his leg. Hidden crickets sang a chorus, and a nightingale called from the trees. The moon, which had loomed so close, was now high and far away. “We have been kissing for a long time.” She sounded surprised.

~

“Yes we have,” he murmured, brushing her jaw with his knuckles. She shone like alabaster in the moonlight. Some exquisite Greek statue come to life––but far lovelier for she was soft and warm, where a statue was hard and cold. So innocent. So brave. So trusting, with her trim waist and long legs, those firm breasts, so temptingly rounded and full, cruelly trapped in her tight bodice. He watched as they rose and fell with her breath and his fingers itched to touch them.

“Do you want to go back now, Bella?”

“No. I never want to go back. I want to stay like this forever.”

He bent his head, his lips playing across hers, tasting and teasing, softening as he explored her face, lingering against her cheek and jaw before claiming her in a voluptuous kiss. His fingers traced her collarbone with a delicate touch before trailing along her décolletage, leaving frissons of pleasure in their wake.

As he pressed against her, she could feel him, hard and insistent against her thigh. It was an unaccustomed sensation, one that both thrilled and frightened. Before she could decide on which mattered more, a voice called her name, making both of them jump. She pushed at his shoulders and he sighed and released her.

“Jesus, Bella!” He rolled away from her and raked his fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry. I lost track of time. I meant to be more careful.” He reached for her hands to pull her up, and then wrapped his arms around her. “It seems, love, we have run out of time.”

Arabella sighed. Leaning back in his embrace she took one last look at the city below. “I can think of another reason you like to come up here.”

“And what is that?” he asked indulgently.

“Looking down from here, I wager you can see the best places to lay traps for unwary travelers.”

“There is that as well,” he acknowledged with a wry grin. “Though that was Nick, who is now retired. Come...Belle du Nuit must turn back into Arabella before the rising of the sun. Let’s get you home.”

Arabella felt a sudden sense of panic. It wasn’t about the length of time they’d been gone, or how she would face the other ladies. It was that Jack would leave now, and she might never see him again. Gathering her courage, she tossed caution to the winds. “I...it was wonderful, Jack. Not just the view, but seeing you again...and... I...very much enjoyed the kissing.” Her face burned in the moonlight, but she feared if she didn’t say it something close to being found might well be lost. “I should very much like to do it again.”

He groaned. “I fear you for the death of me, Bella. It’s time to return you to the others. I think we’ve both had enough adventure for one night.”

“Will I...see you again?” She hated herself for asking.

Another voice was calling, more insistent now, but they both ignored it.

“Is that what you want?”

“Yes. Of course it is. But I have no idea how.”

He smiled in the dark and pulled her into a tight hug. “We need a way to meet safely. Some place that can be our own.”

“Like now.” She snuggled against him, warmed by his heat.

“I
could
come to you by night, if you will it. Though I swear I have no idea where it might take us, for good or ill. I would not be the ruin of you, Bella.”

“Nor I of you.”

“Shall we dare it then, and see what happens?”

She knew she mustn’t think too much. There were times a person needed to trust their feelings. If her parents hadn’t done so, her father would never have married her Irish mother, her mother would have refused to leave her home, and she would never have been born. She wrapped her arms around Jack’s neck and kissed him. “In all my life I have never had one moment as intoxicating as those I’ve spent with you. Of course, I’ll dare it.”

His smile was huge as he shrugged into his coat and plopped his hat on his head. “I will see to it then, Bella. Look for me by night.”

“Jack, wait! Before we return to the others. You spoke of a message?”

“God’s blood! How could I forget? Yes. About your cousin. He will not be troubling you anytime soon.”

“What do you mean? You don’t know him. You have no idea what he’s capable of.”

“Oh, I daresay I have a fair idea. I’ve met the man, if you recall.”

“You didn’t—”

He raised his hands in a gesture of innocence. “I promise you, I did not lay a hand on him. I thought that might annoy you. Though I could kill him for you if you ever change your mind. I’ll have no truck with murder, but I’ve nothing against challenging a dog that preys on women and running him through.”

“But if you didn’t....Then how…?”

“You’ll scarce credit it, Lady Hamilton, but it seems the fellow was such a poor hand at cards and so deeply in debt that he hazarded the highway and landed in a spot of trouble. I expect your shall hear of it soon. He will be held over until the spring assizes and with any luck, then it’s off to Barbados he goes.” He punctuated that amazing statement with a wink and a broad grin.

Her relief was so profound she was giddy. “Jack Nevison!” She gave him a warm hug. “I don’t know how you managed it, but I thank you from the bottom of my soul!”

“It’s all in a day’s work, my love,” he said modestly, but it was clear he was pleased with her response.

“You scare me, Jack.”

“You scare me, too.”

“I think I might easily fall in love with you.”

His look was thoughtful, but he said nothing.

“You are a good man, Jack. Aren’t you?”

“What do you want me to say to that, Arabella? You must judge for yourself. In my own way, I suppose, by my own rules, I try to be. I don’t trifle with women. I try to be civil, and I don’t countenance murder or rape. I don’t take advantage of those less fortunate, and I try to help where I may. But you know who and what I am. I make no excuses, nor do I seek to change.” He gave her a slight smile. “Am I still welcome to call?”

Her smile was warm and bright. “I am very much looking forward to it.”

They ambled back to the coach. It seemed Mr. Butcher’s brandy had worked its own form of magic, because villain and ladies, servant and coachman, were seated in a convivial circle by a crackling fire. Lady Grantham was playing a flageolet, while the rest were singing and Mr. Butcher marked the time.