The Captain and His Innocent by Lucy Ashford

Author:Lucy Ashford
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-01-22T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Sixteen

The room was very quiet once Luke had gone. Ellie sat by the fire and gazed into the flames. She’d thought he was her enemy—an enemy who was all the more dangerous because of the effect he had on her, whenever she saw him.

But she wanted, so badly, to help him.

Was she going mad? Had he cast a spell on her? Certainly, she couldn’t forget how her breath had stopped in her throat when he’d suddenly appeared on the road to Bircham. How every instinct still told her he was possibly the most dangerous man she had ever met.

Yet Monique had said that she felt safe with him—and Ellie could well believe that if Luke was on your side, then you might indeed feel like the safest person in the world.

And now he was back, his shadow looming in the doorway. She found herself moistening her dry throat as he pulled up a chair to the fire. And she knew that, above all, she must fight down on the sudden, desperate yearning to trust him. The longing to be held once again in his strong arms.

He sat down opposite her—and smiled. Oh, his smile. It sent heat swirling through all her nerve endings; it reminded her of how his lips had felt, caressing hers...

‘Mrs Bartlett,’ he said, ‘is happily preparing toast and soup in quantities sufficient for a troop of soldiers. I must thank you again, Ellie.’

‘As I said, it was nothing. Luke, how long do you expect Monique and Harry to stay with you?’

‘For as long as they wish,’ he said simply. ‘For my brother’s sake, I’ll do everything—absolutely everything—that I can for them.’

‘Of course.’ She’d clasped her hands in her lap. ‘And I’m so glad I was able to help. But I wanted to come to you anyway.’

‘Lord Franklin’s library,’ he said.

‘Yes! I got into the library as you asked. And I’ve not been able to actually bring you anything—but there are things you must be told...’

He was on his feet, rubbing a hand across his temples. She suddenly realised how tired he looked and wondered if he had slept these last few nights. ‘I had no right,’ he said almost bitterly, ‘to order you to do such a thing. No right to put you in danger.’

‘Danger...?’ she breathed. ‘Danger, Luke? Who from?’

‘You’re cold. You’re shivering.’ He stood up. ‘Wait a moment, while I put another log on the fire.’

‘No, I’m all right! And I need to tell you—’

‘Wait,’ he repeated. ‘The fire.’

And then something happened. Afterwards, Ellie tried to remember it but could never quite recall, because his back was to her. She knew that he’d gone over to the basket of logs to place a fresh one on to the fire using his left hand, but then—because the log rolled a little—he picked up the heavy metal poker that lay on the hearth—with his right hand.

Why his right hand? She didn’t know. Did he forget it was injured? Whatever the reason for his mistake, he dropped the poker and the metal clattered harshly against the stone slab of the hearth.

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