Page 6 of Lord of Fortune
A moment later, just as he grew uncomfortable because his body was beginning to respond to hers in a rather inappropriate manner, she lifted her head. Gripped in her teeth was the slender hilt of his knife.
Penn grinned. “Brilliant! Drop it behind you so that I can grab it and cut us free.”
She turned her body back to a more natural position, and he realized she might have incurred more than a bit of discomfort. After a moment, she turned her head, moving her chin to the edge of her shoulder. She dropped the knife.
“It’s in my hand,” she said.
“Well done.” He didn’t bother keeping the admiration from his tone. Thieving had clearly given her some useful skills.
“Where’s your hand so I can deliver it to you?”
“Let me find you so you don’t stab me,” he said. “I’m not wearing gloves.”
“You’re taking the fun out of this.”
He smiled in spite of himself. She was skillfulandbrave. And witty. Also beautiful. She was, in a word, dangerous.
Penn sobered as he searched for her hand. His fingers grazed her sleeve. Moving down, he encountered her glove. A few more inches and he clasped the knife.
“Egg, give me your hands.”
“What about mine?” Mrs. Forrest asked.
“I won’t risk cutting you,” Penn said.
“Iamwearing gloves. And neither of you are. It makes sense that you should cut my restraints first.”
It did, in fact, make sense. Nevertheless, he wasn’t going to. “Egg?”
“Here.” The assistant thrust his hands into Penn’s.
Sweat dappled Penn’s brow as he worked at Egg’s bindings. It took a few minutes of blind navigation and several minutes more of awkward sawing, but Egg’s hands soon came free of the ropes. He exhaled. “Thank you, sir.”
Mrs. Forrest made a sound of irritation.
Egg quickly untied his feet, then set about freeing Penn’s hands.
“What happened to helping ladies first?” Mrs. Forrest demanded.
“Areyou a lady?” Egg asked. “I’m not sure.”
She let out a distinctly unladylike expletive under her breath, but Penn caught it.
As soon as Penn’s hands were free, he shook them vigorously to restore feeling, then leaned forward to untie his feet. When he was finished, he turned to Mrs. Forrest.
Her eyes narrowed when he didn’t immediately release her. “What are you waiting for?”
“I’m contemplating whether I ought to untie you.”
“You’re as beastly as they were.”
“No, I’m not.” He moved to her back and untied her hands. He lowered his head and spoke next to her ear. “I may be a scoundrel from time to time, but I amnotlike them. If you get to know me, you’ll find that out for yourself.”
As soon as her hands were loose, she scooted away from him and untied her own feet. “I have no plans to do either.”
Penn climbed to his feet. “Pity. I was hoping you might tell me how you knew about the dagger.”
Her shoulders crumpled, and her face lost a bit of color. “The dagger.”
