A Dangerous Damsel (The Countess Scandals) (11 page)

Worrying about the rest later was how he’d gotten into this mess. He didn’t want Rose here, surrounded by criminals—especially not with the myriad complications of his developing feelings for Deidre. He didn’t know what was in store for them and he could not guarantee he could protect her.

He looked at his grandmother’s rigid expression. She’d looked much like that when she’d told him to stop crying about his mother
because it made his father angry
. Hot rage washed over him.

“Fine. She stays, but ye go. Right now.”

A curt nod was her only answer. She sailed out the doors after her luggage.

“Ewan?” Rose’s hand hovered over his arm uncertainly.

“See her off. I’m sure she’ll want to say good-bye.” He wasn’t sure. For all he knew, Iona’s relationship with Rose was as cold as the rest of her, but he was no fit company for a woman of Rose’s delicate sensibilities at the moment.

Rose hurried off with a backward look when she reached the door. Ewan smiled, doing his best to look calm and unaffected. When she disappeared from view, he sent his clenched fist flying into the stone wall next to him.

Blinding pain erased everything for a few blissful moments. When it faded to a steady throbbing, the anger was back to a simmer.

“Have ye broken it?” Angus asked from the shadow of a doorway.

He should have known the old man wouldn’t be far. “Nae quite.”

Angus looked it over. “Well, that’s the day done then. I ought to shame ye into more lifting on account of yer an idiot, but I’d just end up doing most of the work.”

Ewan didn’t argue. “I’ll go see if they’ve managed to get the handholds put in on the cliff trail.”

“See if ye can avoid falling off,” Angus advised.

Chapter 14

Deidre shifted her position on Darrow’s lap, running her fingers through the hair at his temple.

“Hearts.” Her sultry murmur was low, right against his ear, so only Tom could hear.

He pretended she’d said something provocative. “Oh aye, there’ll be plenty of that later, love. Hold yer horses.”

Now Tris knew his hearts would be good at the end of the round.

Her brother had arrived before them, getting a place at the card table early to dissuade suspicion. Deidre had explained the system of indicators she and Tris had developed over the years to tell each other which cards they were holding. It was a lot to learn in an evening, so if Darrow was confused on a sign he’d squeeze Deidre’s thigh and she would whisper confirmation to him. It wasn’t a foolproof gambit, but in a four-handed game, knowing half the cards made it very difficult to lose.

While they played, they worked. Darrow took on the role of a loquacious merchant looking for ill-advised ways to squander his money. His portrayal wasn’t perfect, but Deidre’s presence helped sell the story of his success. No one with empty pockets could afford a woman that looked like her. Tristan took on a quiet, menacing persona. She hadn’t been convinced that was the best idea, but the tavern they’d chosen near the docks seemed to be empty of any truly menacing individuals, so hopefully he wouldn’t be called on to back it up.

It was all part of the plan. This was the tavern frequented by men from the docks, and they were waiting for sailors from the ship they scouted out earlier that was rumored to deal in illicit cargo. When Deidre saw them walk in, it was time for the plan to advance to the next step.

“Time to take me to bed,” she murmured to Tom.

“Sweeter words were never heard,” he whispered back. At the close of the next hand, he gathered up his winnings. “Sorry, lads. This one’s getting antsy for some fun.”

They went upstairs to the room they’d rented to allay suspicions. While she waited, Deidre counted out the winnings. “Not a bad haul, especially considering it wasn’t why we came.”

Tom let his accent fall away again. “Have you thought about just doing that?”

“Card swindling? Nah. Too dangerous. Word gets around fast with gamblers.”

Tom nodded. He sat on the sagging bed with his ankles crossed. “So what’s next?”

“In about five minutes,” Deidre explained while she mussed up her hair and rubbed the back of her hand roughly across her lips, “I’ll head back down and see what’s what.”

“Five minutes?” Darrow was properly offended. “Couldn’t you wait a bit longer?”

She shook her head. “I’m afraid not. Your insufficiencies as a lover will be one of my primary inroads to conversation.”

Tom sighed. “At least I used a fake name.”

“There’s the spirit.” She turned to him, tugging her bodice out of place. “How do I look?”

“Like you’ve been unsatisfactorily tumbled.”

Deidre grinned. It was almost a shame she didn’t trust anyone. Under different circumstances she might actually like Tom Darrow. “Don’t go falling asleep now. You’re out the back window and meeting Tris behind the barn in ten. I’ll see you outside.”

She scooped up the money and headed back downstairs. At the bar, she deliberately tripped into Tristan, transferring most of the money to his pocket.

“Sorry, so sorry. That was clumsy of me.” She smiled.

He frowned, but said nothing.

Deidre flitted down the bar toward the corner where her targets were. She ordered a pint for herself, and tried to look bored. It didn’t take long.

“Did ye lose your man, luv?”

“Wasn’t much of one,” she answered. “Thought I’d see what else was about.”

They invited her to sit down.

From there, it was too easy. Deidre laughed at the right times, flirted shamelessly with them both, and played them off each other until they were falling all over themselves to impress her.

“I’m done with honest men,” she declared. A strategic hiccup lent validity to the inebriation she was pretending. “From now on, only cheats and thieves.”

The men laughed. “Why’s that then?”

“Better lovers,” she slurred. “They don’t fumble about. Quick hands.”

They laughed again.

“I’m serious,” she insisted. “You lot seem like fun, but if you ain’t got a bit of bad in you, I’m not having it.”

The burlier of the two men—Liam, he’d told her—leaned close. “I’ve got a bit of bad I can show ye.”

“We both do,” his partner chimed in.

Deidre squinted at the first man, feigning double vision and touching their noses together. “Prove it.”

They conferred quietly among themselves. Deidre let her attention wander around the room, throwing flirtatious smiles at anyone who paid her any mind.

“All right, all right,” Liam said. “Let’s just take her to the ship.”

“If she tells anyone—” his partner warned.

“She won’t. Look at her.”

Deidre chose that moment to wobble precariously on her chair. She righted herself with a smile, followed by a small celebratory cheer for her reflexive prowess.

“Yeah, all right,” the partner agreed.

As they left the tavern, Deidre made certain she produced enough noise and lewd suggestions to keep them from noticing that Tom and Tristan started following behind them.

“How we gonna get her on board?” the partner pondered as they walked. “That new boatswain said no whores.”

“I ain’t a whore!” Deidre protested.

Liam grinned. “See, Niall, she ain’t a whore.”

“Close enough.”

“Oi!” Deidre stopped in front of Niall with a raised finger. She held it up for a long moment before breaking down into a giggle. She wrapped her arms around his neck, plastering her curves to his body. “I’m just friendly. Let’s all be friendly, Niall. Can we?”

Niall stood still, looking down at her. “Bloody hell. All right, but yer gonna have to distract him while I sneak her on.”

“Will do, friend. Will do.”

The ship they arrived at wasn’t particularly impressive, but it was seaworthy. That, and a talent for circumventing the law, was all that Deidre required. As promised, Liam went off to distract the boatswain while Niall snuck her below. He showed her a hidden panel, behind which was stashed stacks of furs.

Deidre pretended not to understand. “Why do you keep them back there?”

“They’re from New France,” Niall explained, nervously watching the door. “We smuggle them in.”

“Oooh.” She ran her fingers over the top of the stack. They were good quality.

A commotion started up on the deck. Niall hastily closed up the hidden stash. “Time to go.”

When they climbed back up, instead of following Niall toward the railing, Deidre crossed the center of the ship.

“Lass! Lass, get back here,” Niall whispered furiously.

She came up behind the boatswain, who was barring Tristan and Darrow from boarding the ship.

“Ye ain’t got no business on this ship,” he told Tristan.

“Actually, they do.” Deidre dropped all pretense of inebriation. “We have a business proposition for your captain.”

The boatswain turned, cursing roundly. “Where’d you come from?”

“Below decks. Is the captain aboard?”

“How in the—” The boatswain caught sight of Niall. To say he became livid would be an understatement.

“Ye tricked us,” Liam accused from where he was lurking.

“I did. But if you go get the captain,” she explained, “he may thank you instead of marooning you.”

As it turned out, there was no need. They’d made enough of a fuss to bring the captain out of his quarters to investigate.

“What’s all this then?” the captain asked. “Why am I marooning able-bodied sailors?”

“You’re the captain?” Deidre asked.

He looked her over from head to toe. Appreciation sparked, but didn’t dispel the suspicion already there. “I am.”

Excellent. Deidre had no use for a partner that would lose his head over a pretty face. “I have a business proposition for you.”

***

Ewan tried not to think about how long they’d been gone. He’d tried not to think about it all through dinner and during the backgammon game they’d played after. His utter failure had resulted in Rose beating him soundly.

“Yer worried,” she said as she put the board away. She looked at his swollen hand, wrapped now, but didn’t mention it directly.

“Aye.”

They went back to the sitting area they’d created in what had been a study. It wasn’t a fashionable room, but it suited Ewan’s purposes. Books, decently comfortable furniture, and an ocean breeze made it a preferable place to pass the evening. He hoped Deidre would like it.

“How is it, usually, when she goes off to do . . . whatever she does?”

“I dinnae ken. This is the first time.”

Rose looked surprised.

“Nae the first time for her going. Just my first time waiting.” He sounded like an idiot. “I only met her a week ago.”

“Truly?”

“Aye.”

“I thought it would be longer. Ye seem quite close.”

They were. Ewan wasn’t sure how it had happened. Deidre knew things about him now that no one else did. Some of the things she’d told him, he felt certain she didn’t share often. And there was an easiness to being with her that he had never felt—when she wasn’t trying to drive him mad with temptation. There was nothing easy about her then.

For a moment the only sound was the ticking of the clock. Rose sipped her port and stared at the blackness out the window.

Ewan realized he wasn’t the only one with things on his mind. “Are ye worried as well?”

“Aye.”

“What about?”

She laughed. “Everything. Iona. The future. What we’ll eat tomorrow. When the snows will start.”

“That’s quite a lot to be carrying.”

Rose shrugged. “No more than usual. I’m a worrier.”

“Well, ye needn’t worry about Iona. Heaven help the poor bastards that waylay that carriage.”

“Dinnae do that,” Rose said seriously. “I know you don’t get on, but don’t joke about that.”

Ewan would try. It was a sight easier to be charitable knowing his grandmother was a full day’s travel down the road. “Do ye miss her?”

“It’s funny, really. She’s certainly nae an easy woman to live with, but . . .” Rose swiped away a tear that had crept out of the corner of her eye. ”She’s the only mother I’ve ever had. And she’s always been here.”

And Ewan had sent her away. Once again, he felt like a monster. “Rose—”

She waved off his concern. “It’s all right. I’m just tired. It’s been a very long day.”

They had all been long days lately. “Ye should go to bed.”

She nodded. “I think I will. Good night, Ewan.”

“Good night.” Watching her leave, he couldn’t help comparing her graceful steps to Deidre’s sultry sway. There was history between him and Rose, shared experiences both good and bad that he could never truly explain to someone who hadn’t been there. And yet it was with Rose that he constantly felt out of place. He kept misstepping and disappointing her.

It didn’t make any sense that he should be so comfortable with Deidre. She’d robbed him, lied to him, exacted torturous revenge against him—although the last part certainly had its moments. But she was also the first person he’d actually managed to sleep next to since his mother died. There was something about her that set Ewan at ease. When he was with her, he didn’t feel so on edge.

He didn’t blame Rose for being afraid of him. The resemblance to his father wasn’t just in appearance—there was a violence inside Ewan that he despised. They’d both been victim to Hugh MacMurdo’s rages. It was a miracle she could even stand to be in the same room with him after some of the things his father had done.

Deidre, on the other hand, was thoroughly unaffected by his ferocity. She’d watched him severely beat two men in an alley without blinking an eye. Ewan wasn’t sure if that was due to a lack of fear or her familiarity with violence, but it caused an instinctive relaxing when he was around her. He didn’t feel as much pressure not to become angry when he was with her. He felt calmer.

He didn’t feel calm now. They’d left in the afternoon, and it was nearing midnight. What if she was in trouble? Ewan realized he didn’t even know where she’d gone.
Going to see about a job
, she’d said. Why hadn’t he asked more questions? Now there was nothing he could do but hope she came back.

Settling deeper into his chair, he prepared himself for the wait. He didn’t bother picking up the book on the table next to him. He might stare at the pages but he wouldn’t really see the words. Instead, he kept his eyes on the window. In the blackness on the other side of the glass was the courtyard. At some point, Deidre would come riding back through it. She had to.

It was going to be a very long night.