Page 40 of Taken by the Rake (The Scarlet Chronicle 3)

She wanted to wait until he had reached the bottom as she was uncertain how much weight the pipe could support, but she heard the guards moving around above her and was afraid if she waited too long, she would be discovered.

Just as Montagne had, she hugged the wall. It took enormous effort to release it with one hand, and she fumbled until she locked it on the drainpipe. Her wobbling leg was next, rattling against the pipe. Now the last step. She must release the wall with her other hand and grasp the pipe. She tried to let go, but her hand refused to move. Beneath the hand and foot clutching the pipe, the slim tube vibrated with Montagne’s movements.

Honoria closed her eyes again. She could not do this. She should just climb on the ledge and hope the Guard did not see her.

Her eyes snapped open. And then she’d be responsible for the marquis’s death as well because he was just daft enough to come after her.

“Bloody hell,” she whispered and let go of the wall.

***

FOR A MOMENT SHE DANGLED. As he watched, the wind seemed to blow her this way and that before she finally grasped the pipe with the other hand. He hadn’t thought she would do it. He’d thought the Guard would capture her for certain. But she was braver than he’d given her credit for. Hell,hewas braver than he’d given himself credit for. But it was easy to brave death when your only other option was...death.

He glanced down. A few more feet and he’d be on the ground. The side yard was surrounded by a tall brick wall that extended around the rear of the property and intersected with the house in the back. They could scale the wall and sneak away while the guards continued to search for them inside.

He slid down a little farther and then lurched. The motion was so violent, he looked up to see if Honoria had jumped back off, but she was staring down at him, eyes all but purple in her too-white face.

And then he saw the cause of her concern. The pipe had come loose from its mooring. Small brackets secured by nails held the pipe to the wall of the house, but the brackets weren’t built to sustain the weight of two people. Above her, the pipe was slowly bending down.

She shimmied down quickly now, but it wasn’t fast enough. Another bracket broke, and the pipe bent farther away from the wall of the building. Laurent wasn’t as close to the ground as he would have liked, but he had to remove some weight from the pipe. He jumped, landing on his good shoulder with a grunt. Now both hurt like hell.

“Honoria!” he called softly. “Hurry. I’ll catch you.”

She didn’t have to climb the whole way. She just had to climb low enough for him to catch her, although with two injured shoulders he wasn’t sure he would be able to hold her if she dropped from any height.

She tried to lower herself faster, but she was no experienced climber. Her movements were clumsy and slow, and the longer she took, the more the pipe bent toward the ground. If it snapped, she’d fall three floors and at best break a bone on impact.

“Hurry!” he called quietly. The pipe creaked loudly and pulled away from the wall altogether, the brackets popping like lit gunpowder. Suddenly her feet came loose and she held onto the pipe with only her hands. She dangled high above him, far too high for him to reach.

“Merde!”Laurent raced to the wall and climbed the pipe, putting his weight on it.

Above him, Honoria hissed, “What are you doing?”

But a moment later another bracket came loose and the pipe dipped. Laurent held his breath. The closer to the ground the pipe bent, the lower Honoria would be to the ground. Unless the pipe simply snapped, and then the fall would probably kill her. Laurent grabbed the pipe and pulled again, facilitating the bending. The amount of pressure was hard to judge, but he heard another creak from the metal and stepped back.

Honoria still swung above him, but the pipe had lowered her closer to the ground. “A little more,” he murmured, glancing up at the roof to make certain they hadn’t been seen. In one of the windows, a white cat sat on the sill and watched them placidly, but none of the Guard had yet spotted them.

Slowly, the pipe bent again, and Laurent tried to move under Honoria. For a brief moment he thought it might lower her gently into his arms, and then it snapped, and he stumbled to catch her.

The impact of her body hitting his was more than he had expected, and they both tumbled to the ground. The pipe came down, threatening to land on top of them, but Laurent grabbed her and rolled away. With a loud crash, the pipe landed mere inches from them. Laurent looked up and into the startled face of Honoria.

Her color was high and her breathing fast. “You said you would not allow me to fall.”

He couldn’t stop a grin. “If I may, an amendment—I will always catch you should you fall.”

“I knew I shouldn’t trust you.”

Before she could say more, he pulled her to her feet. It was a mistake as the motion reminded him of the pain in his shoulder. He hissed in a breath.

“Are you injured?” she asked.

“A trifle. We need to climb over the wall and find somewhere to hide. We can’t go farther until your disguise is repaired.”

She pushed her hair off her shoulders.

“And how will we climb over that wall? You are hurt, and I’m a Roman antiquities expert, not a mountain climber.”

“Really? Roman antiquities?” He cocked his head in interest. She was proving to be more of an onion than he’d thought. Every new layer was more fascinating than the last. “What period?”

---