My Seductive Innocent

by Julie Johnstone

  “I can lead you there personally,” she said, though there would be the devil to pay with Frank when she returned. “He lives down a road that’s hard to find if you don’t know just where to look. Let me just get my cape.” And her dagger, in case Moses decided to seek retribution for what Nathan had done to him.

  Nathan frowned. “You want to show me personally?”

  She felt her own brow pull into a frown. “Yes. Is that a problem?”

  “Are you bringing a chaperone?”

  She struggled not to laugh. Ladies in her social class didn’t have chaperones, but he probably didn’t know a single commoner besides her. “I don’t have a chaperone.”

  “Won’t your father object?”

  She glanced over her shoulder and Frank was once again in his usual place behind the bar with a drink at his own lips rather than pouring for the customers. She shook her head and lied through her teeth. “He won’t even know I’m gone.” She’d ask Mary Ellen to cover her tables for the half hour she’d likely be away. The customers wouldn’t suffer at all, though Frank would still complain because that’s what Frank did best.

  He cocked his head as he surveyed her. “Are you trying to trap me?”

  She scrunched up her face, her brow wrinkling. “Trap you?”

  “Into marriage?”

  This time she did burst out laughing. Then his insult hit her and she clamped her jaw shut and scowled at him before flaying him. “You are a pompous peacock.”

  “I’m no peacock,” he said in a deadpan voice. “Pompous? Perhaps. Careful? Always.”

  She huffed out a breath at the ridiculousness of this conversation. “You know as well as I do that you could ravish me and everyone would simply look away. No one would expect you to marry me, especially not anyone from your world.”

  He shrugged. “True, but I wanted to be certain you understood a ravishment claim will not bring me to heel. I find, no matter the class, all women think alike.”

  She clenched her jaw and counted to ten before she was calm enough to speak. “You don’t trust women very much, do you?”

  “I don’t trust women at all,” he said. The warmth that had been in his eyes previously was totally gone, and two hard balls of darkness stared back at her.

  “You can rest easy,” she snapped. “I’ve no designs to marry you whatsoever. I don’t care if you’re the richest man in England.” When a telling smile quivered at his lips, she caught her breath. “Are you the richest man in England?”

  “I do believe I’m a close second. Does that have your scheming wheels turning?”

  “My what?”

  He tapped her on the head. “Your mind. Are you now reevaluating your desire to trap me into marriage?”

  “Certainly,” she said cheekily. “What woman wouldn’t dream of marrying a man who seems to detest women?”

  “I assure you I don’t.”

  She ignored him, her anger bubbling. “I daresay I spend many nights sitting on my bedroll―”

  “Your what?” he interrupted.

  “My bedroll.”

  He looked at her questioningly.

  “The cot that I sleep on,” she tried.

  “You mean your bed?”

  “Yes, but it’s not―” She stopped herself from saying anymore. It would be foreign and unimaginable to a man such as the Duke of Scarsdale to comprehend that she did not have a bed. He would instantly pity her. She was sure of it, and she did not want his pity. “Never mind.” She waved a dismissive hand. “Either you can trust me or go on your merry way. Suit yourself. But the house is more than difficult to locate.” She eyed him just as she did Harry when he was doing something naughty.

  “I do believe I’ve just been put in my place.”

  “I believe you have,” she agreed, the tension draining from her. “So?”

  “I am at your command,” he said in a smooth, gravelly voice. She had a feeling he’d had many women at his command before.

  Embarrassed by her own thought, she didn’t meet his gaze as she said, “Go wait outside for me. I’ll just grab my cape and make sure my tables are tended.” She also wanted to tell Harry she was going so he wouldn’t be worried.

  She found her brother in the kitchen, standing on a stool washing dishes. “Harry,” she whispered.

  He turned around and grinned at her, making her heart expand. She reached out and wiped some soapsuds off his nose. “I’ll be back shortly. I have to show a customer to Mr. Bantry’s.”

  Harry nodded. “I’ll b-be here.”

  She tweaked his chin. “Don’t fret. I’ll be back soon.”

  He hugged her and gave her a hard squeeze the way he always did, as if he was afraid she would abandon him as his mother had. She squeezed back with vigor to reassure him otherwise and kissed his head. “We’ll make a pie when I come back.”

  He grinned at that, and she left the kitchen, heading to her bedroom to grab her dagger. She tucked it in her boot and went back down to the tavern. After locating Mary Ellen and asking her to cover her tables, Sophia made her way outside to meet Nathan.

  He was sitting atop a magnificent, gleaming, gold curricle with a pair of perfectly matched black steeds. She sucked in a breath, never having seen such a grand sight. Nathan scrambled to the ground and frowned at her.

  “You better go back inside and get your pelisse. The temperature is dropping rapidly.”

  Sophia gathered her threadbare cape tighter and fixed a smile on her face. “I’m warm-blooded.”

  He squinted at her. “If you don’t have a pelisse, retrieve a heavier cape.”

  She notched her chin up. “This cape will do.”

  “Is that all you own?” Incredulity tinged his voice.

  “I’ll be perfectly fine,” she replied, refusing to confirm what he likely now understood. To sanction his suspicion would be to welcome his pity. “The drive is short and the sun is only now setting.”

  Without a word, Nathan stripped off his topcoat and laid it gently over her shoulders. “I admire your astonishing lack of complaint, as well as your backbone, but I insist you wear my coat so you won’t take a chill.”

  His husky voice made her stomach tighten, and her fingers went immediately to the soft luxurious fabric. She could not help but stroke it in awe.

  His gaze strayed to her caressing fingers, so she forced her hand down to her side. Something burned in his eyes that she couldn’t place, but he spoke, stealing whatever chance she had to place the look.

  “I insist you take some money for showing me the way to the trainer’s. You could, if you wished, buy a pelisse with the funds since you seem to have misplaced yours.”

  His kindness and tactfulness in not naming the obvious touched her, but she didn’t want his pity or his charity. She shook her head. “That won’t be necessary. This is my way of repaying you for helping me with Moses.”

  He regarded her with a quizzical look. “I’ve never met a lady that refused a gift.”

  She grinned. “Now you have. I can take care of myself.”

  “Yes,” he said, amusement lacing his tone. “I saw what a sterling job you were doing.”

  She scowled at him. “I would have eventually gotten into a good position to wound him where it counts.”

  He raised his eyebrows, and she could see a smile tugging at his lips. “And where does it count?”

  Automatically, her gaze strayed to the juncture between his thighs, and heat singed her cheeks. Heavens! Whyever had she glanced there? Reluctant to look back up but left with no other choice, she met his laughing eyes and cleared her throat. “Shall we go?”

  “By all means,” he drawled and held his gloved hand out to her. She placed her hand in his large one. Even with the soft leather between them, his heat leeched through the gloves and made her fingers curl tightly around his as her breath caught. She forced herself to exhale, and a puff of white came from her mouth.

  His fingers suddenly curled more tightly around hers in return. “You’
re trembling,” he murmured. “Are you still cold even with my overcoat?”

  She nodded. There was not a chance she was going to admit the cold had nothing to do with why she was trembling. The feelings he was stirring in her were not anything she’d ever experienced before. Confusion blanketed her mind as she settled beside him on the seat of the curricle, situated his coat around her legs, and tucked it under her chin. She started to rub the material again. It was impossible not to. It was the softest thing she’d ever felt in her life, not scratchy at all like the material of her cape.

  He turned to her as he took up the reins. “Where to?” he asked, his thigh pressing against hers as his body shifted. She had to clench her teeth to keep from gasping at the tingling sensation shooting from her leg to her head.

  The distinct sound of a hiss coming from Nathan tickled her ear. Had she affected him, as well?

  She surreptitiously glanced at him from under her lashes, but his face was impassive. If she had affected him, he certainly wasn’t showing it. How utterly ridiculous she was being to even think of such things. She was nothing to look at. Her hair had been her best feature, and now it was gone. Her face was too thin from a lack of proper meals, her skin chaffed from hours out in the cold fetching wood for the fire, and she did not posses any curves to make a man look twice. She did have a nice smile, she thought. And her eyes were passably pretty. Her teeth were straight and white, too, thank God. Burying the unfamiliar feelings he had stirred within her, she sat up taller and pointed ahead. “Go straight, and I’ll tell you in plenty of time where to turn.”

  Nathan nodded, clicked his tongue, and set the horses into motion. Within minutes, they were well on their way. The sun was almost below the horizon in the bright orange sky, and the temperature seemed to be dropping rather quickly right along with it, just as Nathan had predicted. She drew his coat up higher over her mouth and peered out ahead, watching for the narrow road that led to Mr. Bantry’s house. The road was hard to spot because it was hidden between two massive oak trees.

  She would have made polite conversation but she was wary to come out of her cocoon, and it wasn’t exactly as if Nathan was attempting to talk to her. He hadn’t even glanced her way since they’d started out. She pursed her lips to keep her teeth from chattering, but it was a futile attempt. They clacked together anyway and sounded as loud as a drum in the mostly silent night.

  The unmistakable sound of Sophia’s teeth chattering from the cold filled the space between them and made Nathan tense. The best way to warm her up would be to get her to slide closer and put his arm around her, but that was a distinctly bad idea. The chit was making him want to do things he never did, and he didn’t understand it.

  He prided himself on never allowing his emotions to rule him, but he’d reacted without thinking the minute he’d seen her struggling to get out of that man’s groping embrace. Anger had fueled his actions, not logic. He could dismiss that incident because any honorable man would have been angry at her predicament, but it was harder to dismiss how she had amused him with her banter and impressed him when she’d stood up to him. It was even harder to ignore the strong sense of pity coursing through him. And pity was a dangerous emotion that could lead to caring.

  He stole a sideways glance at her. She was clutching at her tattered skirts with chapped hands. Either her parents were too poor to buy her proper clothing or they were neglectful. And what the devil had she done to her hair? It looked as if she’d carelessly lopped it off with a dull knife. Good God, could she have had fleas? His skin immediately started to itch.

  As the chattering of her teeth began to speed up, he could feel his resolve to keep his distance unraveling like a knot being worked at by a knife. Damnation. He eyed her petite, unmemorable form and worked his jaw back and forth. He couldn’t very well let her freeze. “If you scoot close to me, we can keep each other warm.” He winced at how uncharitable his voice sounded.

  She turned her head toward him, and he could see nothing but her pert nose and large, exquisite blue eyes peeking out from under his topcoat. Those cobalt eyes shone bright in the burgeoning moonlight.

  A man could forget his worries when looking into those beguiling eyes. They twinkled with wariness at times and laughter at others.

  He nearly gasped at the peculiar thought. This wasn’t him.

  She clutched his coat tighter around her and said, “I’m all right where I am, thank you very much.”

  He chuckled at the wariness that punctuated every word she spoke. She sounded just as guarded as he felt. “Suit yourself,” he said. “But I’m a very hot-blooded man and I guarantee I could warm you up in seconds.”

  Her brows drew together. “How many women have you said that to?”

  “You’re the first, I assure you.” He’d never wanted, nor needed, to offer anything to a woman he was interested in, except his current mistress. However, he’d only offered her an allowance and home while they were exclusive to ensure she understood the rules of their relationship―no love. He forced his thoughts back to where they needed to be: on the road.

  “How much farther?” he asked.

  Sophia extracted her arm from his coat and pointed ahead. “See the trees up there? When you get to the third one, take a right and then the house is only about five minutes from that point.”

  He peered ahead to a long row of towering trees that lined the road on either side, and his suspicions spiked. “If I could have counted to the third tree and turned, you should have just told me that and saved yourself the trouble of coming out in the cold.”

  She jerked his topcoat away from her face and scowled. “If I had a pound for every person I’ve given directions to that took the wrong road, I would be rich—perhaps even as rich as you. Why, just two days ago, I instructed a gentleman how to get to Mr. Bantry’s, and he hobbled away all high and mighty with his nose in the air without so much as a thank-you. Came back an hour later begging me to show him the way.”

  Nathan laughed, surprised at the sound. He could not remember the last time he’d let his guard down far enough around a woman to genuinely laugh. Except... He stilled. He’d either been laughing or wanting to since he’d met Sophia. She was not like the typical women with whom he kept company, which must explain why he didn’t feel the need to guard himself as much. She was also quite young from the looks of her.

  And from what she’d demonstrated so far, she was bold as brass. She didn’t try to hide her feelings behind masks. In fact, her eyes were so expressive he wanted to tease her simply to see what her eyes would do. “Did you consider that your directions might be lacking?” he prodded.

  Her eyes did not disappoint him. They flared like two burning torches. “They were not!” She leaned forward and jerked her arms out of his coat. “I give perfect directions, you beetle-headed man! You can have your coat. I’d rather freeze!” With that pronouncement, she threw his topcoat at him, just as he had started to make the turn onto the road.

  Temporarily blinded but chuckling, he tugged the reins back to bring the horses to a stop. As he did, Sophia gasped beside him. He shoved the garment off his face and turned toward her, expecting to find her glaring at him, but she was staring straight ahead with her lips parted and her mouth in a perfect O. He followed her gaze and froze. Two men stood in the road with hoods over their faces and pistols pointed in his direction. Fury obliterated the chill from the air. He’d been duped, after all, had been bamboozled by a slip of a woman with a shorn hair, tattered clothing, and a forgettable figure. She’d played the innocent and he’d stared into those fathomless blue eyes and believed her.

  “How stupid of me, my dear,” he mocked, without taking his eyes off the men. “I pride myself in considering all possibilities, but I foolishly never once considered that you would rob me. How very sly of you.”

  Sophia’s small cold hand clutched his thigh and squeezed very hard. “I am not trying to rob you.” Her frightened voice sent alarm bells off in his head. She wasn’t lying.


  He eyed the box on the floorboard that contained his pistol. He was a damn fool not to have been prepared for something like this. Traveling alone was dangerous, and traveling at night even more so. He eased back into his seat and regarded the cloaked figures, one tall and one short but both obviously men based on their stocky builds.

  “Gentlemen,” he said, instilling a note of nonchalance into his tone, “how can we help you?”

  “Ye cannot,” the short man said. He had an accent that sounded almost Irish. “We’re here ta kill ye, and I’m doubtin’ ye want ta help us do that.”

  “Kill me?” Nathan replied, slapping ruthless control over his body so as not to show the slightest concern. He leaned his elbows on his knees to get closer to the pistol box, but really, he didn’t see how he could get it open before they shot him or Sophia.

  “Aye. We would’ve already shot ye, but we were expecting ye ta be alone. We didn’t get no instructions ta kill no girl.”

  “Jest gonna have ta kill her, too,” the taller man said. “She’s a witness now.”

  Sophia’s nails dug into Nathan’s thigh. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and draw her in to the protection of his body, but to move might mean her death. As he searched his mind for a plan, she squeezed his thigh again and then said in husky voice, “I’m no lady, gentlemen.”

  Nathan turned and gaped at her. What the hell was she doing?

  “Lord La-tee-da has paid me for my services, but if you promise to let me go, I’ll service both of you for free.”

  Sophia was mad. And it just might save them both! Nathan clamped his mouth shut.

  “Come on down here, and I’ll take a sample,” the shorter man said with a chuckle.

  Nathan clutched Sophia’s leg as she started to rise and held her in place. He couldn’t just let her go without trying something else. “There’s no need to kill me, gentlemen. Whomever I’ve angered, I’m sure if you’ll simply give me his name, we can work it out. And I’ll pay you handsomely for doing so.”