Reluctantly he turned back toward her, making his face cold as dead ash. London to Sydney.
Sydney? she replied with mock excitement. Oh, yes, Queen Victorias Great Circle Race. I read about it in the paper some time back. How patriotic of you. Her brittle smile belied the sentiment of her words. And how utterly convenient to find yet another voyage that goes so far afield.
Derek couldnt disagree.
She studied his face. There and back should take you how long?
Half a year. Then, seeing the disappointment in her flinty gray eyes, eyes so like his own, hed once again turned toward the door.
As expected, nothing had been resolved. But her parting shot kept running through his mind: I often wonder if you go to sea because you love it or because you are a base coward.
Christ, he needed a drink.
What did that woman want him to do? And his brother Grant, whod regarded him with awkward commiseration as Derek stormed past him and out the door? Everyone involved knew he could find no out, no possible redemption. He understood it, and damn it, he behaved accordingly.
He wondered vaguely what his mother and brother would say if they learned that something had finally pierced through the weary anger that clung to him. That a young dockside whore with soulful, dark eyes had provoked the earl to a pulse. A whore in boys clothing working the Mermaid, of all places
Several shrieks coming from ahead interrupted his thoughts. Curious to see what had unhinged the mob tonight, he made his way to a row of canvas-wrapped crates at the side of the walk and stepped up to get a better view. Under a canopy of large, cheaply milled hats and gathered heads, a small lad sped down the quay, running clumsily into several outraged women loitering about. With a quick lift of his chin, Derek made out two rough men beyond, plowing through the crowd after him.
Derek jumped down lightly and, with a brush of his hands, continued on his way. That boy had riled the wrong people, he mused indifferently. Those men were cutthroatsthe kid didnt have a chance against one of them, let alone two. Even knowing this, he vowed to look the other way, as every other person on the docks would. He was no different from the worst sorts out here on this night.
He would just keep walking. Forget about interfering.
But when the boy barreled right past him, Derek spun around to see him get tangled in an old hempen rope coiled on the walk. The lad sailed forward, arms careening uselessly, before plunging to a stop on the slushy ground. Shaking his head, as if he couldnt quite believe hed fallen, the boy raised himself on his arms but couldnt seem to manage his legs.
What was left of Dereks withered conscience demanded a rescue, but he easily quelled the thought. He wasnt the man he used to be. Besides, he could already see the sign of the tavern where hed been heading. So close to a night of mind-numbing vice
Judging by the sounds coming from ahead, the men were closing in.
Watch yerself, ye bastard! a flamboyantly dressed woman wailed as she swung her cloth bag against one of the mens heads. When he turned around to face her, she grew silent, frozen, then loped off into the night. Derek understood whythe man looked as if he were fresh from a nightmare.
Before he could stop himself, Derek turned to catch another look at the kid. Still valiantly trying to pull himself up, to get his little boots to catch a foothold on the grimy walk. Strangely, Derek had to fight the feeling of pity, a feeling increasingly unfamiliar to him.
He stalled for only a second more. The boy was probably a cutpurse and deserved whatever punishment those men handed out. Determined to turn away, he shook his head and walked on.
An affirmation, he knew, of just how big a bastard he had become.
Like a separate thing living in her, Nicoles fear grew, choking her throat. She strained to scramble up, but in her heart, she didnt know how much longer she could go on. Every movement shot pain through her exhausted limbs. Every choppy breath made her lungs burn as though she inhaled fire.
This wasnt how she wanted to go outnot sinking into the filth of a London street waiting to be plucked up by Clive.
I want to go down swinging. She bit back tears of pain and frustration, but before she was even conscious of it, a sob arose and spilled forth on a breath.
Bloody hell, a deep-voiced man grated from just behind her. A string of imaginative cursing followed; all at once she was lifted up and tucked into the side of some exasperated, angry giant. As he started toward a forgotten crack between two tea warehouses, shock rose up to claim her again; she couldnt even tell herself to fight because he wasnt one of those men.
Had she found a savior from the docks? Not likely, yet the man held her gently.
Dont be afraid, he advised sharply. I wont hurt you.
The man holding her had the clipped, precise speech of a gentleman, and her own instincts werent screaming danger in his presence. She was strangely unafraid, especially considering that shed just been shot at, and barely escaped with her life.Shot at . On her own ship, a bullet whizzing past her ear. Splinters exploding all around her head
That memory crystallized her thoughts. She had little apprehension of this man, but didnt want to be a sitting duck. No time to explain to him whyshe needed to keep herself safe. She twisted in his arm and began kicking, drumming her boots against the backs of his legs.
Im trying to help you. Son of awill you stop?
Her blows had no effect. Thinking her attack would enrage him, she hunched her head between her shoulders to prepare for a slap or worse.
Yet he calmly redoubled his efforts to restrain her. He was easily twice her weight, huge, with unbudgeable arms. He could subdue her with laughable effort. But even as she fought, she got the strange impression that he tried very hard not to hurt her.
Calm down! Damn it, youre like a greased cat, he uttered in a low, aggravated voice.
As she twisted to get free, she managed a fleeting look at her would-be protector. Recognition hammered past her disbelief. Even as she clawed and squirmed, her foggy mind grasped that the man holding her was none other than Captain Derek Sutherland.
If she werent sure she was about to be killed, she might have laughed. Out of the frying pan, and I dive for the fire.
He struggled to rein her in, almost methodically attempting and rejecting hold after hold. It would only be a matter of time before he bested her, but she fought on. Until unexpectedly, he shifted her in his arms, one hand groping for some means of holding her.
And then the unthinkable.
His hand slipped through her open cloak and up her shirt until it landed on her breast.
Aside from her heavy breaths, she grew perfectly still. She didnt know why: Because he had stilled? Or because she couldnt think of anything but hishand?