Harlequin Historical February 2015 - Box Set 1 of 2: Salvation in the Sheriff's Kiss\The Lost Gentleman\Secrets Behind Locked Doors by Kelly Boyce

Author:Kelly Boyce
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2015-10-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

‘I did not mean to interrupt,’ said Gunner once the door closed behind Kate.

Kit eased himself up to a sitting position. ‘You did not interrupt.’

‘She saved your life, Kit. I could not have got the bullet out.’

‘I know.’

‘And she has not left your side.’

He knew that, too. He thought of the fatigue shadowed beneath her eyes. He thought of the sight of her there, sleeping, overcome by exhaustion. He thought of the feel of her hand within his own. Of all that she was and all that she made him feel.

There was a silence while Kit ate, the pig blood replacing some of his own which had been lost.

‘That shot Lafitte’s man fired. His aim was true. The bullet was meant for Kate Medhurst.’

‘It was.’

‘It does not make any sense.’

‘Quite the reverse,’ said Kit. It made perfect sense, once one rid oneself of the blinkers. The truth was glaringly obvious and had been right from the start.

‘Care to enlighten me?’

‘Not yet.’ Not until he had got his own head around it.

He finished the oatmeal and the grog, then, ignoring the protests his body made, swung his legs over the side of the bed.

* * *

Kate poured the water from the jug into the little basin in the washstand and sponged away the rusty stains from her naked skin. Her face, her neck and décolletage, her hands and forearms. Her feet and shins. Even her thighs where the blood had soaked through the layers of black muslin. She washed her hair, too. At the end of it, her skin was white again and the water in the basin crimson. She rolled the muslin to a tight ball and stowed it beneath the bunk where her holsters and weapons had been hidden, remembering that it had once been her intention to put a bullet in Kit North’s chest herself. Now everything, and nothing, had changed.

He was still North the Pirate Hunter. She was still Le Voile. And he knew. Even though he had not spoken the words. It was there in his eyes when he looked at her. She could feel it in the very air between them.

He knew. And he had still taken that bullet for her. Jean Lafitte had come, but not to rescue her.

She was confused, so confused. Everything in her life had been so simple before. Everything made perfect sense. But not now. Now, she did not know what to think any more. All that she had believed had been turned on its head. Friend and foe. Betrayal and loyalty. Love and hate.

She lay down on the cot and closed her eyes. But no matter how long she lay there she could not sleep. And she could not stop the thoughts that twisted and spun in her head. So, after a while, she rose and dressed herself in the black silk from the Antiguan wardrobe. Black stockings tied in place with black tapes. The matching black slippers upon her feet. She combed out her wet hair, leaving it long and loose to dry.

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