Page 31 of The Rebellious Countess
It was even more obvious now that Astley was worthmoreto Elias’s wife, and that made him want to hit someone. He swallowed the anger he shouldn’t feel and replied with the controlled command of a captain. “Yes, and I’ve been sent to recover him.”
“But how will you rescue him from the French?” She looked around the room, seeing it for the first time as the foreign land at war with England. She eyed Hag and Tomás with even more uncertainty before saying, “It’s not as if they will open their doors and say, ‘Come, take your English comrade back to England.’”
He grabbed the drink Hag had poured. “By any means necessary.” He downed the contents.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
He let the alcohol settle and replied, “It means I will bring the earl home to English soil regardless of the cost.”
The spark in her eyes fluttered. The glow dimming like the stars in the morning light. “You mean you would stoop low enough as to marry a desperate debutante?”
He nodded his head, not letting the fingers around his glass inadvertently smash it to bits. There was enough broken glass on the floor, and he’d certainly done enough injury to her ego, if not her heart.
Her question was barely audible. “Why?”
He frowned. “Why what?”
“Why choose me as a means to an end? What made you choose me as part of your ruse?”
“Astley is a peer that I had been tasked to recover. To obtain information as to his whereabouts, I had to obtain some Scottish whisky. In order to obtain the whisky, I had to be married to a Scottish lady.”
“And you chose me as your target.”
He nodded, knowing he would hurt her all over again with his acknowledgment. He didn’t say she’d captured his attention the moment he laid eyes on her. Everything about his growing feelings toward her were irrelevant.
“And you are…what? A mere knight tasked to recover him at all costs—even if you destroy my reputation? My virtue? My sisters’ chances at good marriages? How much am I to sacrifice in the name of your mission?” Her voice became shrill as a laugh which held no mirth, escaped her lips.
“I would not sacrifice you. I would not?—”
“That’s exactly what you did! I was forced upon a ship without my knowledge, nearly died as we sailed to God knows where in France. I nearly lost my virtue right there—” Her finger jutted out in the direction of a table in a corner near the door. “—in a tavern on the floor.” A flicker of the horror she’d endured flashed in the depths of her eyes as she accused him of being the worst sort of man.
“That man died lying next to me. His blood stained my wedding gown…my wedding gown.” Her voice broke, and he wanted to take her into his arms and comfort her. Apologize for all the pain she’d endured. He knew she wouldn’t allow it. She would fight him. Bite him. Kick and scratch and do everything to him that he deserved for taking her from the comfort of her family. He looked away, too ashamed of what he’d inflicted upon an innocent.
“And yet, do you want to know the funny thing, dear Husband?”
No, he didn’t, because he knew there was absolutely nothing funny about the pain he’d inflicted upon her.
“If you had asked me to do all of that to save Simon, I would not have hesitated. I would have stood at my family church in front of God and my loved ones and said, ‘I do.’ Swearing my reputation, my virtue, my life to save Simon, because he is a better man than you could possibly hope to become, a better person than I will ever be.”
He did not flinch at her words despite the gaping hole she left in his chest. What she spoke was nothing but the truth—about him. He deserved her wrath and so much more. She, however, deserve none of her self-deprecation.
“I will get him back for you.”
“What if you can’t?”
“I will.”
“How do you know you will?”
He ground his teeth. She could question his character, he had no qualms with that. His ability to complete his mission, however, was backed by a perfect record. Since the day he’d shown up at his uncle’s doorstep with a letter from his mother, his uncle had questioned everything he had ever learned. He’d questioned his ability to saddle a damned horse, earn his commission in the navy, and eventually command his own ship, but Elias had proven his worth as a military man, if not a gentleman.
“Because I was tasked to do so,” he bit out, with more irritation than he’d meant to show. What he didn’t say was,because you wish to have Astley back.
“That doesn’t mean you can do it. There are some situations you won’t be able to overcome. What if he’s in Bagne of Toulon?” She asked.
He looked at her in disbelief. Her beautiful, innocent, mistrusting face that he adored despite knowing he shouldn’t.He had created her wariness of him and his abilities. Yet he couldn’t understand how she had so little faith in him rescuing her precious earl. He had sent his ship into the worst squall he’d seen in a decade at sea to avoid the British warship that had somehow seen them leaving Dumfries in the middle of the night and had chased them relentlessly off the coast of Scotland until he’d done the one thing they would never do, enter a damned storm that would swallow a lesser ship commanded by a lesser man. He wasn’t being arrogant. It was the damned truth. He’d had little doubt they’d survive.
Then he’d sent theMaribelleand his crew back into the same storm when the French had attempted to hunt them down as well. It was as if their mission had been reported to someone who did not want him to rescue her earl. Or perhaps her brother-in-law had discovered his duplicity and was attempting to stop him from stealing his sister. Either way, their short-day journey had taken multiple days, not hours and they had survived because of his ability to captain his ship in the worst of conditions. “Then I will rescue him from prison.”
