Too Dangerous to Desire (14 page)

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velyn was free. The buzz of night critters, the light whis
per of a breeze had never sounded so lyrical. Her eyes swelled with moisture at the sight of a flurry of fireflies, dancing to the soft swell of the music drifting from the house. And the stars! The stars had never appeared so bright, so alive with puls
ing light.

She restrained her joy, though. She and Adam still had to traipse through the well-hewn grounds unnoticed before she truly distanced herself from
him
.

Evelyn moved in quick strides across the green before Adam steered her beneath the shelter of an oak tree. Breathless, he needed a moment to rest.

She eyed him warily. “What’s the matter?”

He pressed his back against the tree and grabbed his midriff in support. “Nothing’s the matter. I’m fine.”

“You’re in pain.”

She examined the wide breadth of his torso, stared at the formal evening wear hiding his dis
comfort. She wished she could see past the layers of clothes to the grief that lay beneath.

“They hurt you, didn’t they?” she said. “The henchmen?”

A vivid memory filled her head: the henchmen burning his home, thrashing his body. She was sick with grief at the thought of what Adam had endured—and all because of her.

“I’ll live,” he said softly.

He tried to make light of the matter, discourage her from fretting. But he’d failed in the endeavor.

Guilt overwhelmed her. Adam was in agony because of her, brutalized because he had tried to help her.

Gripped with a burning desire to heal the man’s wounds, she reached out for him. “What did they do to you?”

But he seized her wrist, preventing the ministra
tion. “Don’t trouble yourself with my condition.”

“Adam, let me help you.”

“No.” He was winded. “It’s my job to help you.”

She chewed on her bottom lip. Adam was such a hefty man, filled with robust strength. Yet he was suffering. The torture he had endured must have been brutal.

Wild images of cruelty stormed her weary brain. She shuddered at the morbid thoughts, tamped the wretched guilt in her belly. There would be time aplenty to make amends. First she had to make sure Adam was safe. He had escorted her thus far; now she had to see him to a restful haven.

“Here.” She positioned herself next to him. “Take my shoulder.”

Adam glanced at her sidelong. The shade of leaves covered his features, but she sensed his mulish expression.

“Don’t be stubborn.” She curled her arm around his lower spine in encouragement. “Let me help you.”

At length he resigned to her entreaty with a loud sigh and slipped a thick arm around her shoulders, hugging her for support.

It was an intimate embrace, stirring feelings of warmth. To discourage the frantic flutters of her heart, she moved the discourse to another press
ing matter:
“How did you find me?”

The couple treaded carefully across the lawn, a pair of shadows among so many.

“I had a little help,” he said tersely.

“From the men at the ball?”

“That’s right.”

His succinct responses indicated ill-will be
tween him and his friends . . . Or were the fright
ening devils his friends?

She wondered, “Are the men your comrades?”

He let out a soft, choking laugh. “My worst en
emies, in truth.”

“But—”

“There isn’t time to discuss the matter now. I have to get you away from here.” He guided her toward the procession of fine-crafted town coaches. “This way, Evie.”

She dug in her heels. “No, we can’t!”

“Trust me.”

Trust him to steal a town coach? “Why can’t we make our way toward the woods?”

“No, we have to get to the . . .”

“The castle? What castle, Adam?”

“You’ll be safe there.”

“Where
is
there?”

He stopped beside a regal vehicle, the family crest brilliant under flickering torchlight, and opened the door for her. “Get inside.”

The driver didn’t even protest their raid. Was he asleep? Didn’t he realize he was being burgled?

At her lengthy hesitation, Adam very uncer
emoniously cupped her posterior and nudged her inside the compartment.

Flustered, Evelyn quickly scooted to the far end of the cushioned squabs and gathered her skirts. She expected Adam to take the seat op
posite her, but he settled beside her instead, the heady musk of him filling her lungs like a divine perfume.

Adam knocked on the roof. “Drive.”

The vehicle departed the queue and slowly rolled down the pebbled road.

Evelyn’s heart was in her throat. “I can’t believe we just appropriated a carriage!”

“We didn’t steal it, Evie.”

“The devil we didn’t!”

“It belongs to my brother.”

She gathered her brow. “You mean it
belonged
to your brother?”

He was silent.

Slowly she asked, “Adam, is your brother still alive?”

“You assumed the man was dead, and I let you believe it.”

Evelyn gasped. “But why?”

The man tensed. She heard the audible shift in his breathing pattern, too. A deeper and heavier rhythm.

“I quarreled with my brother four years ago. After the row, we parted. In a way I did lose him.”

It baffled her, the fraternal strife. She had never quarreled with her sister. She didn’t even know what it felt like to be angry with Ella. “And now you’ve borrowed the man’s carriage?”

“I needed his help to find you, Evie. He, too, is at the ball.”

“Who is your brother?”

He paused, then said, “The Duke of Wembury.”

Evelyn’s eyes widened. “The ‘Duke of Rogues’?”

He offered her a mordant smile. “I see my brother’s reputation precedes him.”

Evelyn’s heart, her blood raced.
This
was Adam’s idea of protection? To take her from the hands of one villain and deliver her into the hands of another? The “Duke of Rogues” was an infamous scoundrel. The worst reprobate in Eng
land! How was she supposed to be safe behind
his
walls?

“No!” She moved away from Adam and settled against the opposite squabs. “I won’t go to the duke’s castle.”

Evelyn’s thoughts whirled. It dawned on her that Adam was no ordinary man living off “a re
spectable family allowance,” as he’d termed it. He was the brother of a duke!

And that meant Adam was also a member of the peerage. No wonder he had appeared so comfort
able inside the royal house. He was used to living in a castle! And that’s how Adam had found her, too: through his brother. The duke had been in
vited to the ball; she remembered seeing his name on the guest list before she had run away from home—and into Adam’s arms.

Adam maintained a firm fix on her with his eyes. “The duke won’t hurt you, Evie. He’s not like that anymore. He has a wife and a child now.”

Rot! The duke had married four years ago, it was widespread truth, but Evelyn wasn’t a fool to think wedded life had changed the infamous villain. A husband’s right to abuse his wife was common law. She understood that better than any lovelorn girl about to make the wedding march. And she was
not
going to put herself at the mercy of such a man.

“No, Adam. I won’t reside with another devil!”

“He’s not a devil.” Adam said firmly, “And you must stay at the castle. You’ll be safe there. I will be with you.”

But even that assurance did not offer her com
fort. The more Adam confessed his past, the more she wondered if perhaps he was secretly
like
his ignoble kin. After all, how could one brother grow up to be the “Duke of Rogues” and the other not?

“Let me go, Adam.”

“Go where?”

“I don’t know. Anywhere. I can—”

“No!”

She bit her bottom lip to hold her tongue.

He sighed. “I’m sorry, Evie. I didn’t mean to be so curt.”

She inhaled a steady breath before asserting, “I can make my own way in the world.”

“How?”

“I can work in a household as a cook or a house
keeper or a governess. But I won’t live with the duke or . . .”

Her thoughts returned to the sinister-looking devils who’d assisted Adam in her rescue.

“Who are the other men, Adam? The ones who helped you?”

“They’re the duke’s brothers-in-law.”

“You said they were your enemies.”

“They are.”

“Why?”

He sounded disgruntled. “We had a disagreement—over a watch.”

“A watch?” It didn’t sound like the sort of thing one had a disagreement over, but Evelyn wasn’t bothered by the pettiness. She was more per
turbed by the mounting number of houseguests in the castle. “The duke’s brothers-in-law are going to be at the keep, too? Aren’t they?”

She remembered the big devil’s order:
Take her back to the castle. We’ll follow you shortly
.

She shivered at the thought of sharing a haven with
them
, too. “I don’t want to be near them, Adam. They’re so . . . so . . .”

“Brutish?”

“Yes, brutish. And sinister. They remind me of . . .”

“Pirates?”

“Yes, pirates—” Evelyn blinked. “They’re
pirates
!”

That did it. Evelyn reached for the door.

Adam wrested her hand from the latch and hauled her into his lap. “I’m afraid you’ll break your neck if you try to jump at this speed.”

She glanced out the window to observe the quick movement of darting shadows. The thought of physical injury had not occurred to her. The only thought troubling her was the revelation that she was going to live with a band of rogues and pirates!

“That’s
why you’re a captain, isn’t it, Adam? You’ve been chasing the pirates at sea.”

“I had to avenge my late wife’s memory.”

She was filled with alarm. “What did they do to your late wife?”

Evelyn imagined the four frightening brigands as they had circled the bed. What would they have done to
her
if Adam hadn’t been inside the room, too?

“The pirates once robbed me of a fob watch: a watch Teresa had gifted me.”

Oh. After hearing the account, she was a bit more at ease. But she was still anxious to distance herself from the intimidating brood.

“I still don’t want to go to the castle.”

“Have I mistreated you, Evie? Have I given you any cause to be wary of me?”

He had not abused her. True. But she could not shake the nagging worry:
What if Adam was like all the others?
What if he had
yet
to hurt her?

“Trust me, Evie.”

But that was the hardest thing in the world for her to do: trust. Betrayed so many times in her twenty years, Evelyn didn’t think she could ever really trust someone again.

And yet Adam had come to the ball to save her from the prince. If it had not been for his help, she would still be locked inside the gruesome coffin. She was grateful for his assistance. But she had to wonder why he had risked his life to come for her.

Another dark thought entered her mind then.

“You know who I am, don’t you?” she said quietly.

“I do, Lady Evelyn.” His voice was low, a gruff whisper. “Why didn’t you tell me your real name?”

“Why didn’t you tell me yours?” she rejoined, suddenly aware of the fact that she was sitting in his
lap
. Very comfortably, too.