Drake arched a brow. “Not the worst idea.”
“Drake!” she hissed. “This is serious!”
She was right about that part. “I know.” He pushed up onto his knees, allowing her to scramble from beneath him, propping herself against the wall, flinching when pain flared from his wound, reaching in all directions. “Christ, this has never happened to me before.”
“What? Being found by the enemy? I find that hard to believe.”
No. The seed in his trousers. The only time that had ever happened was in his sleep, when he had no command at all. He only prayed the proof would not leave a mark in the form of a wet spot to damn him.
The boards above groaned under several boots.
Damn it. “No one knows about the dungeon. If we ignore them, they’ll go away.”
“That’s your plan? Ignore them and they’ll go away? Has that ever worked? Don’t you have pistols down here or something?”
“No need. It’s just my brothers.”
She blinked. “Your brothers? How do you know?”
Drake grinned. “Are you going to repeat everything I say?” He crawled over to her, chuckling when she pressed deeper into the wall. He stopped. “Like I said, we all have our secrets, but they must have tailed us since we left and finally gotten tired of waiting. Also, I’d recognize my brothers’ voices anywhere. Their steps. The way they move as one.”
She slapped his shoulder. “You could have led with that! Do you know how worried I was?”
“With me here?” he murmured.
“I know you have a serious bone in your body, so you should use it!”
Balanced on one hand, he lifted the other and pressed a finger to her lips. “You can scold me, but do it in a whisper.”
She slapped his finger away, lowering her voice. “Are you always this impossible?”
“I’m not sure,” Drake teased. “I don’t find myself impossible.”
Her gaze narrowed on him.
At least any worry had left their depths.
“Well, you are,” she said. “And why can’t your brothers know about this place? I mean, I understand we all have our secrets, but you are wounded. They could help.”
“With my wound? You already helped me.” Though he was pretty sure it had reopened.
“The men after you—”
“Should be gone since they are here.”
She stared at him for a heartbeat before puffing out a breath, shaking her head, reprimanding. “They must be worried about you and still you’d hide from them?”
“I wouldn’t call this hiding.”
“Oh, and what would you call it?”
His lips twitched. “Keeping my brothers from finding us in this compromising situation.”
“Is that so? We aren’t even touching.”
“But we were touching plenty moments ago.” He returned to his former position on his knees. “I imagine we both look well-spent.”
“You truly are a brute.”
