Breathless

by Anne Stuart

Page 37

  Author: Anne Stuart

  He pushed away from the bar, the beer sloshing a little bit. He’d had too much to drink and he knew it. They would be in London by noon tomorrow, thank God, and he’d never have to see Miss Jane Pagett again. She’d marry her worthy fiancé, have babies and a good life and he’d continue to raise hell.

  He could pretend to be drunk, stumble into her private dining room and maybe she’d invite him in, talk to him in that soft, charming voice that he sometimes dreamed about.

  He could …

  He could head out to the stables and forget all about Miss Jane Pagett. She’d know better than to come traipsing down in her nightgown in the middle of the night this time. She could come across Jacobs the womanizing groom, and there was no telling what might happen.

  The truth was, he didn’t want to return to London. He was sick of the city, the smell and the smoke, the noise. He’d been a traveling man since he first ran away from his master who’d beat him when he grew too big to climb up the chimneys. He wished he knew where that mangy old bastard was. He’d gotten right big, well over six feet, and it would give him a great deal of pleasure to loom over the old man and show him what it was like to be stuffed up a chimney.

  Ah, but he’d let that go. Still, he was longing for sunshine and warm air. For different lands and words and choices. That was one reason he hadn’t put up an argument when Long Molly told him they were to spend another night on the road. He was in no hurry to return to London. He could happily drive this landaulet anywhere Miss Pagett with the sweet brown eyes and the wonderful mouth told him to.

  He prided himself on being a practical man, a pragmatic one. He’d had that damnable romantic streak beaten out of him when he was young, for all that Scorpion liked to tease him. There was just something about her eyes.

  He drained his ale, setting the mug down with a snap. As always he was the last man standing, alone in the taproom. She would have gone to bed by now, wouldn’t she? He could make a little bargain with himself. He’d go check on the private dining room. She was more than likely gone, in which case he’d go on out to his bed in the stables with no one the worse for wear. If she was there he’d stay and talk with her, flirt with her just a little bit. It was up to the fates.

  The private dining room was up a few steps, and he stumbled, cursing. He was old enough to know better, he told himself, and reached for the cast-iron door latch.

  The room was empty, the fire banked down to coals. It was a clear night, and the moon shone in brightly, illuminating the empty parlor. He closed the door and leaned against it, telling himself it was relief that he felt and nothing more.

  And then he saw the stairs.

  It was a very small inn. There was only one bedroom for the quality. Their servants, including Long Molly, were housed around back of the kitchens. He’d known that when he’d stopped for the night, hoping that the place would already be bespoken, and they could push on for the night, relieving him of temptation that much sooner.

  But that had worked against him. The place was deserted except for the landlord, his good wife and the barmaid, and now all were abed. Everyone but the wicked, randy King of Thieves masquerading as a coachman, in search of.

  He didn’t want to think about what he was in search of. In truth, his brain was too foggy to clarify exactly what he wanted, though his lower half was leaving him in no doubt. And he headed for the stairs.

  Would she be asleep? Would her door be locked? Any sensible woman would lock her door in a public house, but he wasn’t convinced of Jane’s sense. She’d let him kiss her, hadn’t she? She’d invited him to join her by the fire. She hadn’t a whole lot of sense when it came to protecting herself from wolves like him.

  Though those were two different men she’d invited, he reminded himself. Perhaps he was completely wrong about the girl. Beneath her startled eyes and soft mouth was the heart of a wanton, who took whatever was offered.

  No. She hadn’t known how to kiss, and he could tell by the racing of her heart and the trembling of her body that she would have kissed him back quite hungrily had she known how. As it was, her attempts had only whetted his appetite.

  No, she was an innocent, all right and tight. Most likely very tight, he thought dreamily. The women he tupped had had so many men that if he weren’t a good-sized man he might have fallen out.

  Ah, but virgins were the very devil. He’d had his share of them, going through scores of them when he first discovered sex, and they’d discovered things together. As he grew more experienced he avoided them. They cried, they hurt, they didn’t know where to put their legs or their hands, they especially didn’t know where to put their mouths, they believed your lies and they wanted to be held when all was said and done.

  He looked at the staircase. There was a window on the landing, and the moon illuminated the way. Clearly that was a sign.

  He started up the stairs, thinking about what lay ahead of him. If the door was locked would he force it? Would he knock, and if she said go away, would he? If she screamed would he put his hand over her mouth until she liked it? Just how big a bastard was he?

  He reached the top landing. Her door was there, the only door, and he contemplated it. What if he opened the door and she smiled and bade him come in? What if she was frightened?

  He stood very still. Tomorrow she’d be out of his life for good. Tonight was his last chance, and he had to be hog-whimpering drunk to even risk coming up these stairs.

  He was at her door, and he leaned his forehead against the warm wood, closing his eyes. He thought he could smell the faintest trace of violets through the door, but that had to be his imagination. The imagination that had become his worst enemy.

  He whispered her name, so softly it could be the sound of the wind through the fresh leaves outside the moon-shadowed window. And then he laughed soundlessly, at what an idiot he was being. Moon-mad indeed.

  He pushed back from the door. The first thing he was doing after he dropped her off at her family home was head straight back to Beggar’s Ken, grab Grace by the hand and take her up against the nearest hard surface.

  And then he’d find Lady Blanche and do the same. And then see if he could get the two of them together—right now he felt as if he could take on half a dozen hungry women at once, he was so fucking randy.

  He turned, silent, letting out his pent-up breath, not sure if it was relief or regret. And he started back down the stairs.

  Jane lay in her bed, breathless and unmoving. She heard the footsteps, slow and faintly unsteady, coming up her stairs, and she knew who it was. He’d been drinking a fair amount, Mrs. Grudge had said with a cluck of disapproval, excusing herself early to see to him. So Jane had eaten her dinner in solitary splendor, waiting to see if anyone would come by. She’d even opened the door, just a crack, and waited, long into the evening, but there was no noise from the taproom beyond but the muffled sound of a few voices, and then eventually silence.

  So she’d closed the door again and headed upstairs for her usual struggle with her gown and undergarments. Never in her life had she been without her maid, and she appreciated her absent servants’ efforts more than ever.

  Speaking of which, what did her maid Hester and Miranda’s abigail make of their mistresses’ sudden disappearance? She hadn’t even stopped to think of that.

  She’d find out soon enough. Tomorrow, in fact. Tomorrow, when she’d be back in her old life and Jacobs the womanizer would be long gone, ensuring her safety. Safety.

  If she let Jacobs seduce her, she thought with a snort of amusement, at least he’d know how to get her blasted clothes off without much effort.

  Or maybe he’d simply push her down on the bed and pull up her skirts. She could certainly manage her drawers on her own—it was the rows of tiny buttons at her sleeves and her back, and the corset ties that annoyed her, but in the end she managed. No need for a lover after all, she thought
wearily.

  She’d be so happy to get into fresh clothes again. Back to her own bed, the comfort of her maid and her family, her future mapped out in front of her.

  She heard him in the room beneath her, and she muttered a polite curse under her breath. If she’d just stayed down there a little bit longer she could have seen him, talked to him. Harmless enough. Though she wasn’t quite certain why she wanted to do that.

  Anyway, it would have been a great deal longer. She’d been in bed for hours, tossing and turning. She’d even slept for a bit, then woken again, from a strange dream in which her mysterious jewel thief had kissed her once again, picked her up in his arms and carried her into the light, and she’d looked up into his handsome face and seen Jacobs.

  Ridiculous. If a man was clever enough and well-spoken enough to be a jewel thief then he’d hardly be driving a carriage to dispose of an unwanted female.

  For that’s what she felt like. Unwanted, awkward, in the way. Not that her parents ever made her feel that way. They loved her dearly, and her older brother doted on her, as well. But she knew the way her parents looked at each other, the deep passion that still ran between them, the kind of passion that wasn’t to be her fate. And she knew she needed to let them be on their own.

  When she heard the booted footstep on the first stair her heart slammed to a stop. And started again on the second step. There was nothing up here but her bedroom, no one up here but her. Lying in bed in the nightgown Mrs. Grudge had brought her, along with a few other necessities. And she heard another step, and she sat up, her hand to her throat.

  She hadn’t locked her door. There’d been a key all right and handy, and she hadn’t used it. Hadn’t she heard tales of robbers who came upon lonely inns and slaughtered the guests asleep in their beds?

  But she knew those footsteps. It could only be Jacobs. Though why in the world would she suppose the handsome coachman would have an eye for someone like her?

  He was far beneath her in every way, she reminded herself. One didn’t speak to servants; one didn’t even look at them. Though in truth her parents were far more casual than that, and treated the vast number of servants who kept Montague House going with kindness and respect.