Page 109 of The Moonstone Pirate
He would not stop frowning at her. “I have to get you home.”
“You mustn’t worry about me. I’ll make my own way home.”
He held her back when she attempted to hand him the book of sketches and leave his side. “Not on your life.” He took gentle hold of her arm. “TheDroghedahas sailed into harbor and docked. I cannot leave you to walk around town searching for a ride home while the Irishman and his crew are walking about. Wait here. Let me see what I can arrange. Do not move a muscle. Parrot, guard her.”
Parrot trotted over, gave her hand a goopy lick, and then sat on her feet. “Good dog.” Draco ruffled the tuft of hair atop Parrot’s head. “Don’t let her move.”
Imogen tried to take a step forward as soon as Draco left her side.
Parrot surprised her by taking hold of her ankle between his jaws. His grip was light, but Imogen realized he meant to do exactly as Draco commanded and keep her in place. As sweet as the dog was with her, if she took another step, his grip would tighten. “Fine, I won’t budge. But I do not appreciate being forced to remain by the tavern’s outhouse.”
Draco returned within a few minutes, his expression grim. “Too late,” he grumbled. “They are everywhere. When I went to the stable to arrange for a rig to take you back home, Matchett, the idiot, was already talking to one of theDroghedacrewmen.He noticed me and immediately asked if Lady Imogen had found me. Thaddius obviously blabbed that you were looking for me.”
“What is wrong with that?”
“Did you not hear what I just said? One of theDrogheda’s crewmen was standing right there and overheard. He left to report to the Irishman. They now know your name.”
“But they do not know me or what my connection is to you. I could be a sixty-year-old dowager looking to invite you to one of my teas.”
His frown deepened. “No one in this village knows how to keep their mouths shut. Within five minutes, the Irishman will know every detail of your life. He will have a complete description of you and will be told of the Walter incident.”
“And how you were with me and protected me?”
Draco nodded.
She nibbled her lip. “What are we going to do?”
“Stay here and keep you out of sight. I’ll see if any of the tavern’s guestrooms are empty and then sneak you into one of them.”
This was not at all what she had planned. “Oh, that is not a good idea. I had better get back to Westgate Hall before Aunt Phoebe notices I am missing. Take me to Fort Arundel and leave me in Fionn’s charge. He’ll get me safely home.”
“Imogen, we would have to walk past the harbor and more of theDrogheda’s crewmen.”
“Then let me walk to the fort on my own.”
“Are you mad? A dozen fishmongers will point you out as you stroll by.”
“So what? Your Irishman won’t dare abduct me. In broad daylight? In front of everyone? He would have an entire army regiment down on him and his crew if they tried anything untoward.”
“I am not willing to take that risk. They will have seen you, and that is enough to worry me.”
“Draco, I have to get back home or my uncle will never forgive me or trust me ever again.”
“You should have thought of that before you came tearing down here. Did you not hear what I just said? The Irishman and his crew are crawling all over Moonstone Landing. You’re to stay hidden in one of those upstairs chambers until I am done and can escort you home. Must I chain you to the bedpost? Because I will do whatever it takes to keep you out of trouble. Bind you. Gag you. Chain you.”
She blushed. “Ella and I once read a book about bondage. Secretly, of course. Our father would have had an apoplexy had he known about it. A friend of ours had a brother who—”
“Gad, I do not want to know,” he said with exasperation and a hot release of breath. “You already rouse improper thoughts in me. Do not even encourage my mind to… Forget it. Wait here. Don’t move. Don’t talk. And don’t breathe.”
He stalked off and returned not a minute later with a dark cloak that must have been a man’s, because it was much too big for her. He wrapped it around her shoulders and pulled the hood over her neatly fashioned hair. “My clips,” she cried softly as one caught on the wool of the hood. “I don’t want to lose them.”
“I’ll buy you more,” he replied, his voice tense as he ushered her through the tavern’s kitchen, up the narrow back stairs, and down an equally narrow hallway whose old wooden floorboards creaked with every step they took.
She would have tripped several times along the way, since the cloak was too long and she could not hold on to it and her book at the same time. But Draco’s strong arms came around her each time she faltered. He still smelled like fresh bay spices, and she probably smelled of stale ale because the stench had gotten into the wool, and she would now reek of it, too.
He opened the last door at the top of the stairs, drew her inside, and then shut the door and latched it while he remained in there with her. “Um, Draco?”
It was a small room. He was a big man, and seemed even bigger as he towered over her with that fine body of his oozing tension and danger.
