by Candace Camp
His face betrayed nothing except a certain wariness. “Lady Pencross. I must say, I am even more surprised to find you at such an event. I would have thought you had little interest in scientific advances.”
The woman shrugged and made a charming moue of distaste. “Duncan assured me that it would be fascinating. I shall have to take him to task for that later.”
“I’m sure,” Sebastian commented dryly. He sketched a small bow in her direction. “If you will excuse us, we were on our way to—”
“That suits me perfectly,” Lady Pencross interjected smoothly. “I was about to take a stroll myself.” She shifted her parasol to the other shoulder and drew closer to Sebastian.
Alexandra sighed inwardly. The woman had made it socially difficult to do anything except allow her to walk with them. Sebastian, however, seemed to have few qualms about committing social solecisms.
“I did not ask you to accompany us,” he said bluntly.
Lady Pencross stiffened at the blatant insult, and her eyes flashed. But she quickly brought her expression under control and said in her silky voice, “Still mad at me, Sebastian?” She smiled in a slow, sensual way. “Fourteen years is a long time to keep a flame going.”
“Madam,” Sebastian began in a clipped voice, “the only feeling I have for you is profound indifference.”
He turned and started away, but Lady Pencross grabbed Alexandra’s arm and jerked her back. Her eyes blazed into Alexandra’s. “Do you think that you can catch him? Don’t be naïve. He’s toying with you, as he has toyed with every woman he’s been with since me. I am the only woman Sebastian ever loved—or ever will love. If I wanted him back, he’d come—just like that!” She snapped her fingers contemptuously.
Sebastian made an angry noise and started toward Lady Pencross, but Alexandra spoke quickly, forestalling him. “I should not brag if I were you, my lady, about the fact that you threw away a man who loved you because you preferred money. You made your choice long ago, and you can’t get back what you despised. If you think that you could ever get a man like Lord Thorpe back after what you did to him, you obviously do not know him, no matter how many times you were in his bed. Now, good day, my lady, and I would suggest that you not humiliate yourself by following us any farther.”
Alexandra glanced significantly at the people in the carriages around them, who had fallen silent and were avidly watching the scene before them. Sebastian, who had been looking thunderous, had to smile at the look on Lady Pencross’s face as she realized that a large number of her acquaintances had witnessed Alexandra giving her a set down. Embarrassment quickly turned to rage, however, and she glared at Alexandra in a way that would have made a lesser woman quail.
“You will be sorry for this,” she hissed and stalked to her carriage.
“I appear to have made an enemy,” Alexandra said lightly as she turned to Sebastian. They resumed walking. “It seems to be a habit of mine.”
“She is not a pleasant enemy to have.”
“I suspected as much. However, I’m too occupied with my present enemy to worry overmuch about her.”
They walked to the end of the line of balloons, where a blue-and-white-striped one lay. Two men worked busily at filling it, while a third man, with a wild shock of white hair and a beard, spent his time shouting directions. There were few spectators this far down.
“I presume someone must have informed you of my youthful infatuation with Barbara,” Sebastian commented, looking at the balloon rather than at her.
“Something of it.”
“Funny, how easy it is to fool oneself into believing that a person is one way or another just because you want them to be. I never saw her selfishness or her mean spirit until the end. I told her about my plan, that we would run away to India, escape her husband and my family and all of disapproving Society. We would live in blissful love.” A smile twisted his lips. “She told me that blissful love would purchase no dresses or jewelry for her, and that she would rather die than leave the social rounds of London for the wilds of India. The only women there, she said, were the dowdy wives of soldiers and merchants. I could not believe it at first. I argued with her. I believed, foolishly, that she was simply nervous and scared at the prospect of breaking with her past life. So I assured her that our love would make up for whatever discomforts we might have.”
He paused. “She told me that it had been no grand love that had made her cuckold her husband, as I had thought. It had been merely an affair with a boy who took her fancy—an affair in a string of others. I didn’t believe it. I raged at her. That is when she told me that she was growing tired of me, even without the dreadful prospect of going to India. She had, it seemed, already found a lover to replace me.”
“Sebastian! Oh, no!”
He nodded and turned toward her, his mouth twisting into a cynical smile. “The man who replaced me was the Earl of Exmoor.”
Alexandra drew in her breath sharply. “That is why you dislike him so!”
“Yes. Although, God knows, it could have been any one of a dozen other men. Barbara does not like to be alone. It broke my heart—for a time, at least. But it wasn’t really Barbara that I cried for—it was all my pitiful, broken illusions.”
“I’m sorry,” Alexandra said inadequately. She wanted to put her arms around him and hold him close to her, to stroke his hair and assure him that she would banish all thoughts of Barbara and her betrayal. Of course, it was far too public a place to do something like that. However, she was not sure whether Sebastian would wish it, even if they were alone. He had apologized to her for what he had thought about her, but he had not said that he had any feelings for her, any desire. She could not help but remember the way he had rejected her that night at his house.
Sebastian shrugged. “It was a long time ago. It’s all over now.” He glanced toward their carriage. “I suppose we had better return. Else it will set tongues to wagging.”
“I find that tongues wag easily here.”
They returned to the carriage, where the servants had laid out the picnic luncheon they had brought. They ate while the slow process of filling the balloons continued. Gradually, all over the field, the balloons swelled and then began to lift from the ground.
Thorpe went off with Lord Buckminster to talk to a friend, and one of Lady Ursula’s acquaintances came over to talk to Penelope. Alexandra soon grew bored with the inconsequential chatter about people she did not know, and she decided to take a closer look at the balloons, which were floating above their baskets.
Taking her leave from the women, she strolled toward the jaunty blue-and-white-striped balloon that she and Sebastian had been looking at earlier. The man with the full head of white hair and the equally flowing white beard was standing in the basket of the balloon, arguing at full volume with the two younger men outside the basket.
Intrigued, Alexandra moved closer. The balloon was almost completely full, buoyant and straining against the ropes that held it tied to the ground. She watched the gesticulating men, who seemed to be arguing about the small bags tied to the side of the balloon. She wondered what the bags had to do with the flight of the balloon. Were they weights? She wondered how the whole thing operated and if the balloonists ever took passengers up with them.
Intent on the men and their vehicle, she scarcely noticed the rustle of footsteps behind her, until suddenly an arm shot around her waist and a hand clamped over her mouth. She was being lifted and pulled backward almost before she knew what was happening.
The balloonists, wrapped up in their contretemps, didn’t even look her way. Alexandra twisted and struggled, lashing with her feet. One heel cracked hard into a man’s shin, and he let out an oath. His grip on her mouth loosened a little, and Alexandra grabbed at the hand with both of hers, yanking it from her mouth. She let out a piercing scream.
“Sebastian!”
The man who was holding her began to curse in earnest, and he clapped his hand over her mouth again. But Alexandra had m
anaged to draw attention to them.
“I say! What are you doing?” Voices rose around them. To Alexandra’s profound relief, Sebastian turned and saw them. He started toward them on the run.
“Alexandra!”
Suddenly the man released her mouth, and an instant later he jabbed something small, round and hard against her temple—a pistol! Alexandra’s screams died in her throat.
“Stop!” He jerked the gun against her temple so hard it made her eyes water. Sebastian came to a halt, his face taut and furious. “I’ll shoot the witch if you come any closer!”
“Don’t be stupid,” Sebastian told him, his hard gray eyes fixed on the man intently. He edged forward as he spoke. “You cannot possibly hope to get away. You’re surrounded.” He gestured toward the spectators blocking the man’s exit. “Let her go.”
“Wot? You think I’m a bleedin’ idiot?” Alexandra’s captor replied. “Ain’t none of you doin’ anyfing to me while I got this pop shooter to ‘er ‘ead. Not unless you want a dead lady on yer ‘ands. I said, stop right there!”
His voice rose hysterically, and Sebastian stopped, holding his hands up in a peaceful gesture. “Nobody wants to hurt you. Just let her go, and you are free to leave. But if you take her, you will have half of London on your trail. You cannot possibly escape.”
“He’s right, you know,” Alexandra agreed.
“You shut up!” Alexandra could smell the fear in her captor, hear his rapid breathing, and she wisely closed her mouth.
He hesitated, then jerked her to the side, pulling her to the balloon. The three men who operated the balloon stared at them, openmouthed, their disagreement forgotten. Alexandra’s captor shoved her into the basket and followed her in.
“Here! You can’t do that!” The fellow with the flowing white hair started toward them indignantly.
Alexandra’s companion directed the barrel of his pistol toward him. “The hell I can’t! You stay back.”
“But—but the balloon’s ready to leave,” the balloonist protested.
“Then that’s right lucky, ain’t it, ‘cause so am I.” He gestured at the man with his pistol. “Start undoin’ them ropes.”
The man stared at him, his jaw dropping. “You can’t be serious! You know nothing—”
“Shut up!” Alexandra’s abductor roared, his face reddening, and the hand holding the pistol shook dangerously.
Now that the pistol was no longer pointed at her head, Alexandra thought about lunging against the man, but he still held her arms effectively to her sides, and she was also afraid that in his agitated state he would shoot wildly and hit one of the men before her. She dared a sideways glance in Sebastian’s direction and saw that, while her assailant’s attention was on the others, Sebastian was inching his way closer to the basket.
“I said untie those ropes!” Her attacker brought the pistol to Alexandra’s temple. “Are you goin’ to do wot I said, or do I ‘ave to show you I mean business?”
“Yes, yes, of course.” The men hurried to work at the knot holding one of the ties to a stake in the ground. They managed to untie it and turned. Alexandra’s captor gestured at another rope, shouting at them to go on. With obvious reluctance, the men began to work on the second rope.
There were only four ropes holding the balloon to the ground, and as the second one was pulled free, the balloon bounced up a little, knocking Alexandra and her attacker back. The man’s arm left her waist as he grabbed at the side of the basket to steady himself. Alexandra seized the opportunity to throw herself at his gun arm and knocked it aside. The pistol went off, the ball slicing through the third rope, and the balloon tugged upward, yearning toward freedom.
At the same instant Sebastian ran the last few feet to the basket and jumped in, crashing into Alexandra’s assailant. The three of them, tangled, tumbled around the basket. The last rope jerked free from its stake, and the balloon surged up. The three balloonists grabbed the end of the rope, holding on for dear life as Sebastian and the ruffian grappled with each other. The attacker had his hand around Sebastian’s throat and was squeezing. Sebastian lashed out, punching him in the side of the head, but the man’s grip did not loosen. Alexandra threw herself at the man’s back, wrapping her arm around his neck and pulling with all her might, kicking at his legs and pulling his hair.
He let go of Sebastian with a howl and swatted behind him, knocking Alexandra to the side. But Sebastian was up and caught him with a solid right hook. The man staggered and fell through the open door of the basket. They were a few feet off the ground, and he fell straight into the group of men struggling to hold the balloon fast. They went down in a heap of arms and legs, letting go of the rope, and the balloon shot up.
Alexandra gasped at the sudden movement. She had fallen to the floor, and now crawled until her back was against the solid wall of the basket. Hands braced on the floor on either side of her, she stared across the basket in consternation at Sebastian, who was standing, one hand on the edge of the basket and the other grasping a rope leading to the balloon. He looked at her in equal amazement.
Finally he reached over, pulled the hanging door to and shoved the bolt home. Alexandra stood up, holding on to the side of the basket for support, and joined him. Below them the balloonists on the ground were rapidly receding. The man with the flowing white hair was shouting and waving his arms at them, but they could not understand what he said. The other two balloonists were struggling to hold on to Alexandra’s attacker, and as they watched, Lord Buckminster and some other spectators ran up to help subdue the man. Nicola and Penelope were there, too, shading their eyes and gazing at the balloon in wonder.
“Oh, my,” Alexandra said, drawing in a breath as she looked at the trees and land falling away beneath them.
All around them the other balloons were beginning to rise, too, huge bright balls soaring in the sunlight. “Isn’t it beautiful!”
She had never felt anything like this before. There was an exquisite freedom in floating away, escaping the bonds of earth. It was like flying, she thought. And even though it was a scary proposition to be dangling up here at the mercy of a strange contraption she knew nothing about, it was also wildly exhilarating.
She waved at her friends, then turned to Sebastian. His hat was long gone, the wind tousling his dark hair. His gray eyes were alive with the same excitement Alexandra felt. She laughed aloud.
“Isn’t this glorious?”
Sebastian let out a bark of laughter. “God! You are one in a million!”
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Alexandra clung to him dizzily, the excitement of the wild ride mingling with the delicious passion of Sebastian’s lips. Heat rose in her, melting her loins and sizzling through her veins. All the desire that had been simmering between them since the night Sebastian had rescued her burst into full flame, filling and consuming them. His arms went around her tightly, and he pulled her into him, his legs braced apart on the moving floor. Alexandra wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him back with all her fervor. Sebastian murmured her name as his mouth left hers and began to trail fevered kisses down the side of her neck.
Suddenly something thumped the bottom of their basket, jerking them back into reality. They broke their embrace and looked out. Their basket was grazing the tops of some trees and ahead of them stood more, and taller, trees.
“Oh, my God, we’re going to crash!”
“How the devil do you get this thing to go up?” Sebastian growled, searching the balloon for some mechanism that would help them.
“The weights!” Alexandra cried, remembering the argument she had watched among the balloonists. She leaned over the side of the basket, pointing to the small bags of sand tied around the outside.
She began to wrestle with the knots, but Sebastian reached inside his sleeve and pulled out a small knife. Leaning over, he cut through the rope, and the small bag fell. He moved on to the next. Gradually, the balloon began to rise, but the trees were still looming dangerou
sly close. Frantically, he sliced through the ropes, dropping the weights, but still it wasn’t quite enough. Just as it looked as if the basket would crash into the treetops, a gust of wind lifted the balloon, and they sailed over the trees, branches scraping against the bottom of the gondola.
Alexandra let out a gusty sigh of relief and sagged against the side. She looked at Sebastian. He straightened and slid the knife up his sleeve into the small scabbard on his arm. Her eyes followed the knife.
“I would not have thought that a concealed knife was de rigueur for a London gentleman.”
“It seems advisable not to go out unarmed when you’re around,” he explained wryly.
Alexandra raised an eyebrow. “It’s not my fault.”
“No. But someone certainly seems to want to do away with you. The question is, why?”
“I don’t even care about why!” Alexandra exclaimed. “I would just like to find out who is behind it all.”
“Yes, but I suspect that the why would lead us to the who, if only we could figure it out.”
“Right now, I would like to know how we are going to get down from this thing,” Alexandra commented. “It’s lovely up here, but I would feel quite a bit better if I had some idea how it operated. There must be some way to bring it down. Surely they don’t just rely on chance.”
Sebastian looked around them. “We seem to have lost ground with the others.”
He pointed ahead and above them, where most of the other balloons floated, moving farther and farther away. Alexandra nodded. They were being carried along by a current of wind, it seemed, that was bearing them off the path the other balloons had taken. She also noticed that, with most of their weights gone, they were continuing to rise.
“How high will it go, do you think?” she asked, alarm stirring in her.
“I don’t know,” he replied grimly, looking at the ropes going up to a sort of ring above them and from there up to the balloon. “How do you steer this thing?”
“I don’t think you can,” Alexandra replied. “I believe that we must be more or less at the mercy of the wind. Obviously those other balloons must have gotten caught on a different current of wind because they were higher.”
