Page 19 of The Smuggler’s Escape

“Stop talking nonsense,” Richard said. “I regret staying away for so long, but you were mine then, you continue to be mine, and you always will be.”

How dare he act as if nothing had happened since the day he’d left Sussex for years?

“You regret it, do you?” she snapped. “Then why did you do it? Why did you leave?”

He shrugged. “If you weren’t trying to lure me back to Sussex, why did you kiss those other men?”

This was going nowhere. She couldn’t possibly confess her disaster plan, and he didn’t seem inclined to explain himself either—because he’d had no excuse at all.

“Listen to me.” She jabbed him with her crop. “Everything has changed. I have told you several times that I will not marry you. If you think offering to help me move the goods gives you the right to kiss and maul me without my consent, then think again.”

A deathly silence hung between them.

Richard broke it with a voice of ice. “My apologies, ma’am. There will be no more kissing.”

No more kissing.

“And definitely no more mauling.”

Ah, mon Dieu.

“Until you ask for it,” Richard said.

~ ~ ~

For a ghastly second, Richard’s confidence faltered, but he retrieved it immediately. She had almost given in to that kiss, and now her palpable dismay at the prospect of no more kissing and mauling reassured him.

Mauling, though! How that rankled.

He mustn’t let her see how much.

He’d been an idiot to make such a promise. Unfortunately, he couldn’t unsay his hasty words.

“I shan’t ask for it,” said his love, nose in the air. “I shall tell my uncle tomorrow that I have decided not to marry you.” She trotted ahead. “As for moving the goods, I’ll be fine on my own.”

“Don’t be stupid,” Richard said. “Even if I weren’t engaged to marry you, I wouldn’t stand aside and let you run into danger.”

“We are not engaged to be married.”

By now he was trotting alongside her, and through a gap in the trees the moon lit up her features: the pert nose, the kissable lips, a tear—well, well!—glistening on her cheek.

“Indeed we are, since I refuse to accept your rejection of my suit.”

She glared. “You can’t do that!”

Richard choked back a chuckle. “I not only can, but do. Let’s not waste time bickering about it.” He put out a hand and slowed Snowflake to a walk once again. “I must say, love, that I can’t quite see why you don’t leave the job to the local men. They are cunning enough to avoid capture, and if you lose a few guineas because some of the contraband is seized, it’s hardly a tragedy.”

Noelle said nothing for a long moment, while Richard watched her through narrowed eyes. “They won’t move it quickly enough. I need to be paid, and paid soon. Let go of my horse.”

“Gaming debts?”

“Of course not! My uncle disapproves of card-playing, and apart from piquet for farthing points with Lady Ariadne Luttrow, I can’t afford to indulge in games of chance.”

“Piquet with Lady Ariadne?” Although this revelation interested him, he didn’t pursue it. He would ponder espionage in the morning.

He let go of Snowflake’s rein. “For farthing points, no less. What an appalling life you lead. Some other kind of debt? I should be happy to advance you the funds.”

“No!”