Chapter Eleven
The room was warm despite the wide-open window and it was a relief when Lina was able to slip out of her dress and let her body breathe. She was clad in a variety of petticoats and a thin chemise, which Georgina had assured her were absolutely necessary under her dress. Although she was tired, and a part of her just wanted to flop down on to the bed, she felt unusually restless and knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep.
Bending down to slip off the silky petticoats, Lina heard a creak behind her and spun quickly, her arms flying up to protect herself.
‘Hush,’ Uncle Tom said as he advanced from the shadows.
Lina backed away. Tom was a relative, her father’s uncle, but that didn’t mean he’d ever been kind or sentimental about their bond. He was here now for a reason and by the cruel glint in his eyes Lina didn’t think it was anything positive.
‘You’ve been a very naughty girl, Lina,’ Tom said, stalking towards her, his hand hovering just above his waistband as if suggesting he had a weapon tucked away just out of sight.
‘I’ve still got two weeks to get you your money,’ Lina protested.
‘You have.’
The hard plaster of the wall behind her pressed against her back and Lina glanced around the room, searching for something to protect herself with.
‘But you have broken the second part of our deal.’
Lina knew very well she was supposed to have let Tom know when the house was empty. The country dance was just the opportunity her uncle was waiting for to strike and she’d deliberately let the occasion slip by.
‘I wasn’t sure if Mr Pentworthy was going to accompany us all to the dance or stay here until the very last moment,’ Lina said with a shrug, trying to project a bravado that she didn’t feel. ‘Anyway, you’ve got in here without my help, you could easily be helping yourself to the valuables downstairs now instead of threatening me.’
‘There’s one slight problem with that,’ Tom said, stepping closer so there was now only a foot between them. Lina refused to cower backwards, but couldn’t help but flinch as Tom’s breath hit her face. ‘I need money, not goods.’
Lina frowned. Tom had never been particular before about what he stole: money, valuables, jewellery—it was all the same to him.
‘Why?’
‘What does it matter to you why? You need to find out where your toff keeps his money and then inform me when the house will be empty.’
It didn’t make sense. Tom could have stolen a few silver candlesticks in the time he’d been up here threatening her. Understanding slowly dawned.
‘You’ve been caught, haven’t you?’ Lina asked. ‘The magistrates have got their eye on you and if they find you with any more stolen goods, you’ll hang. Money can’t be easily traced.’
‘Never you mind,’ Tom said, but Lina could tell she had come to the correct conclusion. No wonder Tom had been pushing Raul to move on to a different county—he wanted to be somewhere he wouldn’t be known. ‘I’m giving you one last chance, Lina. Find out where he keeps the money and sort out an opportunity for me to get my hands on it.’
There was a desperation in Tom’s eyes and Lina wondered what other trouble Tom had got himself into. He’d always been a greedy, thieving scoundrel, but he wouldn’t normally risk breaking into a titled gentleman’s house to make a little money.
‘Is it worth the risk?’ Lina asked softly.
Fury flashed in Tom’s eyes. ‘I don’t need any judgement from a whore like you.’
Holding her hands out in a placating manner, Lina tried to move farther away, but she was hemmed in by furniture and her back was firmly up against the cold wall.
‘I need some payment for your debt now,’ he said, his voice low.
‘I’ve got two more weeks until the deadline.’
‘The deadline has changed.’
Quickly Lina whipped the silver comb from her hair. It wasn’t expensive enough to cover all her debt, but it was a start.
‘Take this.’ She offered the comb.
Tom hesitated. ‘It’s not enough and I need money, not trinkets,’ he said eventually.
Without hesitation Lina launched herself forward, screamed as loud as her lungs would allow and plunged the teeth of the comb into Tom’s arm. Raul had taught her to act fast and never look back if being attacked, and it had served Lina well over the years.
Tom shouted in pain and anger, lashing out, but Lina was too quick for him, ducking under his swinging arms and rushing for the door. Footsteps in the corridor made Tom falter, but as the door crashed open he dived for the window and threw himself out.
Lina kept running, her body careening into Alex’s solid form, and immediately she felt his arms around her.
‘What happened? Are you hurt?’ Alex asked, tilting her chin up so he could examine her face.
‘There was a man,’ Lina said breathlessly. ‘He jumped out of the window.’
Alex darted over to the window and peered out.
‘Is he there?’ Lina asked.
‘Across the lawn,’ Alex shouted, directing the two footmen who had just arrived in the room to chase after the intruder. Turning back to Lina, he took her in his arms. ‘Did he hurt you?’
She shook her head. The sensible thing to do would be to tell Alex everything: Uncle Tom’s identity, his plans to involve her in his scheme to steal Alex’s money, the hold he had over her. But looking up at the concern etched on Alex’s face, she knew she couldn’t. He’d throw her out, assume she was just the same as her criminally minded relative and Lina wasn’t ready to leave yet. Soon it would be time to bid Alex and this life goodbye, but she would do anything she could to have a few more weeks, a few more days even.
It was almost laughable, given her views on the aristocracy before she’d met Alex. She hated their superiority, their customs, the need for everything to be ordered and structured. She hated the way they used and discarded the lower classes, hated how not everyone was created equal. Alex was doing the same with her. He was using her to win a wager, just as he might a horse, and after he had won she would be discarded. She knew all this, but still she didn’t want her time in Whitemore House to end.
For the first time in ten years she was starting to understand how her father had felt. There was something captivating about Alex that made her wish for one more dance, one more ride together. Even though Lina knew nothing could ever happen between them, nothing meaningful anyway, she couldn’t stop the fantasy building in her mind.
‘What did he want?’ Alex asked.
‘I don’t know. He just appeared.’
Carefully, as if she were made of delicate silk, Alex led her to the bed and sat her down, positioning himself beside her and taking her hand. He didn’t seem to be aware of her state of undress, but the concern in his eyes made her heart leap. Behind the wall he had erected to shield his heart from any further pain was a caring and loving man. She loved how he had stayed to check she was safe instead of chasing after the intruder as many men would. He recognised the comfort she got from his presence and quietly gave her exactly what she needed in that moment. It was hard not to find herself falling for him, just a little.
‘You’re safe now,’ he reassured her. ‘No one will hurt you.’
‘Stay with me,’ Lina whispered as she closed her eyes and laid her head on Alex’s shoulder.
‘I’m not going anywhere.’
* * *
It was funny how something could be pure torture and pure bliss all at the same time, Alex mused. The light was just starting to filter through the gap in the curtains, heralding the start of another beautiful summer’s day. Alex hadn’t slept all night after Lina had alerted him to the intruder in her bedroom, then asked him to stay with her. For a while they had just sat in silence, Alex’s arm draped around her shoulders, her head resting in the crook of his elbow. Their positioning was too close and there was an intimacy between them as they sat propped together on the bed, but Alex could see nothing was further from Lina’s mind than seduction.
It was just him who found the warmth from her skin and the gentle, sleepy movements of her body against his almost too much to bear.
‘Good morning,’ Alex murmured as Lina opened her eyes and looked up at him with a sleepy smile.
The fact that she did not leap to her feet and start spouting some nonsense about the impropriety of them spending the night together highlighted the difference between Lina and most women of his acquaintance. Lina could acknowledge nothing scandalous had happened between them and for her that was enough.
‘I’m sorry I fell asleep on you.’
‘I didn’t mind.’ To his surprise Alex found it was the truth. He hadn’t slept at all, his muscles were stiff and his arms aching from holding Lina upright all night, but he realised he wouldn’t swap a good night’s sleep for the time he had spent with Lina.
Careful, he told himself. Georgina was right, nothing of substance could happen between him and Lina. It would be better not to let the desire he felt deep inside creep up to the surface. Even worse was the tenderness he was experiencing as he watched Lina stretch and wake up. Desire was one thing, but a deeper connection was an entirely other matter, one that he needed to shut down immediately. Already in the past few days he had caught himself smiling whenever Lina came into a room, seeking her out to ask her opinion on something he had just read or saying something controversial to prolong a conversation and hear the passion in her voice as she spoke. Every day he found out something new about her that he admired: her inquisitive nature, her ability to laugh at herself, her shrewd understanding of how far she could delve into the details of his past. Right now he didn’t want to contemplate the time when the wager was over and Lina would leave his house and his life for good.
‘I’ve been thinking about the intruder,’ Alex said, trying to steer himself on to a safer subject. He noticed how Lina dropped her gaze and scrunched her hands into the bedsheets as he brought up the subject of the mysterious intruder. ‘It seems strange he was in this part of the house and not downstairs, where most of the valuables are kept. Are you sure he didn’t say anything to you?’
Last night he hadn’t pushed her too hard with questions—he’d seen she was upset and reasoned she wouldn’t have much information to give anyway, but in the long hours he’d spent mulling over the events of the night before, he had realised that a few things didn’t make sense.
Lina shook her head. ‘He just appeared from the shadows and rushed at me. I had just taken my comb from my hair so I stabbed at him with that and screamed. That’s when he dived for the window.’
It was exactly the same story, exactly the same words she’d used as the night before.
‘And you didn’t recognise him?’
Again Lina glanced away as she shook her head and fiddled with the sheets. There was something she wasn’t telling him, but he couldn’t work out what.
He could interrogate her, but what would be the point? Whoever it was had made his escape and pressing Lina for information she did not want to give would just jeopardise his relationship with her. He’d find out eventually what had happened. It was just a case of letting the dust settle before he asked the more probing questions.
‘I will tell the servants to be vigilant and ensure there is always someone downstairs, even at night.’
‘Thank you.’
‘I’ll leave you to rise and see you at breakfast. It is Georgina’s last morning with us, she’s leaving at midday to return home.’
‘I will join you downstairs shortly,’ Lina said.
Alex glanced back as he reached the door. She looked so small and forlorn sitting on the bed, hugging her knees, that he had the urge to return and sweep her into his arms, but reason won and instead he walked out of the room and closed the door firmly behind him.