Page 36 of Bella Darcy is on the Run

"Do not dare apologise to me, Captain George Harwood. I was an equal participant in this particular venture." Her voice softened. "Although perhaps we should focus on more present concerns."

"What is between us… we must discuss… I will of course speak to your…"

"We must, and we will," she said warmly, coming towards him and taking his hand before leading him back to the corner of the room that had unconsciously become hers. "But before we enjoy more of those earthly delights..."

George let out a startled chuckle.

"...we must first find a way out of this room. And for that, we need a plan."

Chapter Eighteen

Bella took George's cool fingers in her own and led him to sit on the ground beside her. She was getting heartily sick of sitting on the ground and would have given her eye teeth for a shabby old wooden chair, but for now it would have to do.

He looked slightly dazed, and she could not help feeling much the same, although she was trying very hard to give the impression of being a woman who was not affected by something as pedestrian as a little physical affection. It would not do to collapse into a puddle merely because Captain George Harwood had kissed her senseless. If she were being honest with herself, she had come close.

She did not dare think too deeply about the feelings he stirred within her. This handsome captain with hair like spun sunshine, even if it was presently thick with grime and dust, and those changeable eyes that shifted from blue to green like seawater beneath the sun. She was beginning to learn that he was kind and funny and gentle, and whatever it was that leapt between them, he felt it just as deeply as she did.

When he had kissed her, and when she had kissed him, she had lost all sense of time and place. They were being held captive in a dirty room by a despicable man, but when George's mouth had been upon hers, she would not have noticed if a herd of elephants had passed through. She wanted time to untangle her own feelings. More than that, she wanted to understand his. But she could not do any of that while they were trapped here.

Bella pasted on a pleasant, businesslike smile of the sort she employed when visiting the dressmaker or supporting one of the local charitable causes around Pemberley. "George, we must have a plan."

"Yes," he said, nodding, although he still appeared rather thunderstruck.

"We cannot stay here, however well we may... comfort one another. We must have a plan."

That seemed to snap him back to himself. George straightened slightly and glanced towards the door. "From what I observed on the way here, and from the position of the light and the sound of the sea outside, I believe we are in one of the warehouses at the far eastern end of the harbour. There is not much around here, which is probably why it suits Trevethan's purposes so well. It will be guarded, Princess. Escaping this room is only the beginning. We would still need to get out of the building and far enough away that his men could not simply drag us back again."

He reached out and took her hand. The simple gesture caused Bella's stomach to flip alarmingly.

"I do not want to put you in harm's way."

"George, I am already in harm's way. And I shall be more in harm's way if we do not remove ourselves from our present jeopardy. I do not even want to think about what may happen if my father discovers us. He will rip men’s heads off to get to me if he must."

"Do you mean that very literally?" George asked, looking slightly discomposed as his thumb traced nervous circles over the skin of her hand.

Bella went quiet for a long moment. "Have you read The Pirate?" she asked conversationally.

George turned to look at her. "I have not, Princess. Is now a particularly good time to be discussing literature?"

"I was only thinking that the hidden passage Norna of the Fitful-head leads Cleveland through would be extremely useful right about now."

George stared at her. "I do not understand half of that sentence, but I am not sure we will be lucky enough to stumble upon a hidden passage."

"No," Bella admitted. "Probably not." She looked towards the door again, considering it for several moments. "Then perhaps we need to make them come to us. The men who bring the food, I mean. There are three of them each time?"

"So far. One carries the tray and the other two remain close by. If we could somehow incapacitate them and conceal them in here, we might have enough time to get out of the building before anyone noticed they were missing. The difficulty will be persuading them into an enclosed space, oh, and incapacitating them one to three."

Bella frowned and shifted a little closer to him, their hands still joined. "Two to three," she said with a sniff and they would come in if they thought you could not fight them."

George glanced at her. "Meaning?"

The idea formed as she spoke. "If you were lying on the floor and appeared to be ill, or unconscious perhaps, they would have to come close enough to see what was wrong with you. They may be criminals, but I cannot imagine Mr Trevethan would be pleased if they allowed you to die before he had decided what to do with you."

"One of them might come in," George said. "The others could remain at the door."

"Then I shall have to give them a reason not to." Bella's expression brightened as the rest of the idea came together in her mind. "I could be very distressed. Crying, perhaps. Shouting that you have stopped breathing and begging them to help. They have already decided I am a useless, pampered young woman whose only value is her rich father. I will live up to their expectations."

He laughed. "You have a devious mind, Princess."