No Other Love (16 page)

She stood up abruptly.
This was not at all the sort of thing she should be thinking.
“Thank you.”

She turned back to the man on the bed. Once again, she washed the wound clean, then held a bandage against it to stop the bleeding.

“Hold this here, hard,” she told Jack, turning over the bandage to him, and went to her bag. Taking a vial of oil and a small pot, she returned to the bed. “Has the bleeding stopped?”

Jack nodded, lifting the bloodied cloth so that she could see. “What are those?”

“This is a cream of marigold mixed with marsh woundwort,” she explained, holding up the small pot and taking out a dab of it, which she applied carefully to the wound. “It helps prevent pus from forming. The other is oil infused with comfrey, to help it heal quickly.”

When she had applied the remedies, she stitched the wound and placed a clean, soft folded cloth on the wound, and, while the two men held the patient’s torso up off the bed, she wrapped a long strip of cloth around the man’s chest to hold the bandage in place. Then she pulled the covers up over her patient’s chest and stood for a moment looking down at him.

“That is all I can do right now,” she told Jack. “He may get a fever. They often do. I will leave some powdered meadowsweet, which you can steep in hot water for a tea. It will ease his fever and pain. Change his bandage at least once a day—I will give you some clean ones. Reapply the marigold cream and comfrey oil when you change it.”

She glanced back at her patient and sighed. “I am afraid it could be some time before he is out of the woods. He is still in a great deal of danger from fever and infection. If he does get delirious from fever, you will need to hold him down to keep him from reopening his wound. He will have to be watched round the clock.” She frowned, thinking of the girl who had been set to look after him before she came; she had little faith that Diane would make an adequate nurse. “If you care for this man, you will make sure that someone competent is looking after him.”

“I do care for him,” Jack replied. “That is why you are going to stay.”

N
ICOLA SIMPLY STARED AT HIM
.
“Excuse me? What did you just say?”

Jack turned toward Saunders and jerked his head toward the door. Saunders left without a word, and Jack turned back to Nicola. “I said that is why you will have to remain here. To nurse Perry.”

“You cannot be serious.” When he said nothing, just gazed back at her blandly, Nicola went on. “I cannot stay here. It’s impossible.”

“Of course you can. Nothing easier. There is an extra room down the hall. It even has a lock—in case you doubt my intentions. You and I can take turns keeping watch. And you will be here to change the bandage and give him whatever medicine he needs.”

Nicola cut in on his words. “Now I am certain of it—you are indeed mad. I am
not
remaining here.”

“Why? Because it will damage your reputation?” he asked sarcastically. “Does your reputation matter more to you than a man’s life?”

“Of course not. I was not thinking about my reputation. But I cannot simply disappear. Have you forgotten that I am staying with my sister and her husband? Do you think they will not notice when I don’t come downstairs tomorrow morning? That no one will wonder what happened to me or where I am? My sister’s health is precarious and my disappearance might aggravate her condition. Also, I might point out that you will be the first person Richard blames when I turn up missing. He already would love to have your head on a platter, and he will be more than happy to add kidnapping to your list of crimes.”

“I am sure he will. But it cannot be helped. It is more important that Perry have the proper care.”

“If you are so concerned for your friend, perhaps you should have thought of his welfare before you pulled him in on this escapade of yours,” Nicola retorted. “Exmoor hates you, but I can promise that his efforts to find you so far are nothing compared to what he will do when he realizes that you have abducted me.”

“Oh, I am certain that he will move heaven and hell to find
you,
” Jack spat back, his mouth twisting bitterly.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Nicola asked, indignation rising in her at his tone.

“Why, that the Earl if very fond of you, of course,” he replied. “Any man would be.”

“I must say that you work very hard at being insulting. Whatever you are implying about Exmoor and me, I can assure you that it is not true. However, I am his wife’s sister. Abducting me out of his very house is tantamount to spitting in his face. He will not rest or spare any expense until he finds me. Nor, I think, will you find the people in the village quite as reluctant to talk about you when he tells them that you have kidnapped me. For all any of them will know, you could have killed me. And, however much
you
may despise me, I can tell you that I am not without friends in the village.”

“They may tell him all they want, but none of them knows where we are. I have taken great pains not to let them know the location of my home. None of the villagers has been here. And I have made sure that this house is very difficult to find.”

Nicola crossed her arms and looked at him. “You are a reckless man, but heretofore you had not struck me as a fool. Do you think they will not comb these woods? Do you think that no one will remember the existence of this house? Someone built it. Someone used to live in it. You may think that you have hidden yourself from everyone, but I’ll warrant there are one or two people in the village who have some idea where you live. It may take them a few days, but I can assure you that eventually they will find it. With Exmoor and my cousin offering rewards—as they are sure to do—they will make the effort.”

He faced her silently, arms crossed over his chest. After a long moment, he said, “In that case, you will simply have to write a note to your sister and her husband. Tell them that you have gone to visit a friend.”

“In the middle of the night?”

“Your friend is ill. She sent for you to come posthaste.”

“And exactly why did I barricade my door and leave by my window?” Nicola shook her head. “No one would believe that, even if my door were not locked. I would have awakened someone and told them I was leaving. Indeed, the person who brought the message would have had to awaken someone to gain admittance to the house.”

“I can get around all that,” he told her confidently. “I shall return to your room and leave it as if you had been called away suddenly. And I will see to it that one of the servants will say that they opened the door to the messenger.”

“You have the Earl’s servants in your employ?” Nicola asked, amazed.

“Not in my employ. But I do have connections. Exmoor is not a popular employer—nor a very generous one.”

“You are serious, aren’t you?” Nicola studied him. “You are willing to risk everything so that I will stay here and take care of your friend?”

The highwayman shrugged. “He has been a good friend to me for many years. More than that, he showed me that not everyone is treacherous.”

“This is absurd. You will never be able to pull the wool over their eyes.” Nicola sighed and turned away from him, gazing down at the man in the bed. Finally, she said, “All right. What if I agree to look after him? But first, you take me back to Tidings, where I will tell my sister that I am going…somewhere for a few days. Perhaps my aunt’s. That would be reasonable, and Deborah won’t want to go over there in her condition…although she might not want me to leave her for that long.”

“There is always the friend-in-need story,” Jack suggested wryly.

“I suppose I could invent something—no, wait, I’ve got it. I will tell her I’m going to fetch Nurse. Aunt Adelaide was supposed to write her, but I can say that I have decided to go in person to convince her. Instead, I shall come here. No, wait—” Nicola frowned. “Exmoor will probably insist on sending somebody with me for protection, thanks to your stopping me the other day. And he will make me take the carriage and coachman. I cannot do that.”

“Then I will do what I intended in the first place.”

“Don’t be so hasty. I have it. I will tell them that I am going to visit Aunt Adelaide. That way the Earl’s carriage and coachman can take me over there and leave me, then return and get me. I can ride from Buckminster on one of Aunt Adelaide’s horses. I shall tell her I am going to get our nurse.
She
won’t think twice about my riding there on horseback, and she will gladly lie to cover my absence, should anyone ask. I will tell Deborah the same thing, but I shall explain that I am leaving from my aunt’s because I don’t want Richard making me take the coachman and a groom for protection. She knows me well enough to know that I would not like that at all. So she will be happy, knowing I am going to get Nurse, Richard will be satisfied because I will take the coach to Aunt Adelaide, and Aunt Adelaide will be blissfully unaware. It should all work out fine as long as you do your part and bring our nurse back.”

“There is one further problem,” Jack pointed out.

“What?”

“How do I have any assurance that you are actually going to do this? Suppose I take you back tonight? Who is to say that you will come riding in here tomorrow? Or that if I tell you how to get here, you won’t tell your brother-in-law?”

Nicola cocked her eyebrow and regarded him coolly. “If you are afraid that I will reveal the location of this house, then I will meet you somewhere and you can blindfold me again and lead me here. You can wait for me on the road from Buckminster to the village.”

“Too crowded. I will meet you on the path that runs from Buckminster to Lady Falls. Do you know it?”

“Yes. I know it,” Nicola replied evenly. “Where would you like to meet?”

“There is a large rock, about seven feet tall, looks like three rocks stacked together, a few yards from the path. It comes along not long after the group of three oak trees.”

“I know the rock,” Nicola replied shortly. That was the spot where she and Gil used to part when they had spent time at the Falls. “I will be there tomorrow afternoon. It will take some time to go to Aunt Adelaide’s, then get away. I doubt I will be there before midafternoon. As for whether I will show up…I don’t know how I can convince you that I will, except to say that I came here tonight to help your friend.”

“You knew I would have carried you here if you had refused.”

“I could have screamed. I could have kicked. I could have made it much more difficult.”

“I would have simply tied you up and gagged you, and your journey would have been a good bit more uncomfortable. I imagine you were aware of that.”

“Actually, I didn’t think about it. But since you are determined to see only the worst in me…Yes, you could have forced me to come here. But you could not have forced me to use my knowledge and my skill. I could have dissolved into hysterics and been unable to pull out the ball. I could have refused to give him anything. Or given him the wrong thing. Would you have known if I did not give him the right remedy? I could have given him something that would kill him instead of help him. I still could, for that matter. So you see, you simply have to trust me about some things. This is one of them. I will meet you tomorrow afternoon where we said.”

The highwayman looked at her with a long, unblinking gaze. “I appear to have little choice, don’t I?” he said finally. “If I keep you here, I will, as you explained, increase the danger to my men and myself. And, as you so smoothly implied, you could kill Perry in retaliation rather than heal him.”

“I didn’t say that!” Nicola protested.

“Not in so many words. But there was a clear message in what you said.” Jack’s eyes were dark and unreadable. Nicola wished that she could rip aside the mask so that she could see his expression.

“You are the most suspicious man I have ever met!” Nicola exclaimed.

“I have good reason to be. I learned long ago the perfidy of women.”

“Oh, that’s right. Blame it on a female. That is always the easiest thing, isn’t it? ‘A woman made me sin.’ The truth is, you are suspicious because it is your nature,” Nicola retorted. “No doubt you suspect everyone else because you yourself are so full of secrets. It is you whom no one knows, whose face is never revealed, who lets no one learn his hiding place or true name.”

“It is safer for everyone that way.”

“It seems to me a hideous way to live—trusting no one, confiding in no one….”

“I am accustomed to it.”

“Accustomed? I think not. What you are is embittered and hardened.”

“You’re awfully cocksure in your opinions, given the fact that you know me not at all.”

“It does not take more than meeting you to see your bitterness,” Nicola shot back. “It comes oozing out of your every pore. I would have to be deaf, dumb and blind
not
to be aware of it.”

“Well, that is very edifying, Miss Falcourt,” the highwayman began dismissively. “However, it—”

He was stopped by a groan from the man on the bed. Both he and Nicola whirled around to look at Perry. He turned his head on the pillow, letting out another groan. They waited anxiously, watching him, but he did not move or make more noise. Nicola moved closer to the bed and laid her hand upon his forehead.

“No fever yet.” She looked at Jack. They both knew that the odds were that there would be a fever later.

“We had better leave. The sooner you get home, the better. You will need some sleep if you are to carry out your plan tomorrow. I will get Saunders to come watch over him while I’m gone.”

Nicola nodded and started toward the door. As she passed him, the highwayman reached out and wrapped his hand around her wrist, pulling her to a halt. She looked at him in cool inquiry.

“Should you think about not following through with your plan…remember how easily I got into your room tonight.”

A tremor ran through Nicola, more at the touch of his hand upon her bare skin than from any fear. “If you think threatening me will cause me to do what you want, you are sadly mistaken, sir,” she said, returning his gaze unblinkingly. “I will do as I said because I told you I would. It is the concern for another human being that impels me, not your threats. And if I were you, I don’t think I would try entering my room that way again.”

She waited, gazing at him in the same icily unconcerned way until finally he released her wrist and stepped back, allowing her to walk past him to the door. He followed her down the stairs.

Saunders came from the kitchen into the entryway at the sound of their footsteps, and Jack tersely told him to watch Perry while he was gone. “Don’t let him move around and reopen that wound. And for God’s sake, don’t entrust his care to Diane. She’s a fool. I will take over when I get back.”

The other man nodded his understanding and, with one quick glance at Nicola, turned and ran lightly up the stairs. Jack pulled the black scarf from his pocket and came toward Nicola, folding the scarf into a blindfold. Nicola grimaced, but closed her eyes and stood passively as he tied the thing around her head, annoyed by the way her pulse sped up at his nearness. The man was infuriating, and there should be nothing that stirred her about his tying the scarf over her eyes.

After all, she reminded herself, she resented it; it was humiliating and unnerving. Yet she could not keep from recalling, as the soft silk settled upon her skin, the sensuality of the ride over here this evening—the heightening of all her senses, the feel of the cool night air against her skin, the rougher touch of his jacket, the smell of leather and horse and the man whose arms encircled her, the warmth of his body and the deep rumble of his voice, which she both heard and felt as she leaned against his chest, the sexual suggestion of her position between his legs, the unmistakable quickening of his manhood against her buttocks, the rhythmic rocking of the horse. Her nipples tightened at the memory, and she realized with a small jolt of shock that she was looking forward to the upcoming ride with a kind of excitement, even pleasure.