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“I don’t know,” Alex said. “They’re looking for someone or something. Iknewyou would be trouble.”
“There was an incident at the cemetery,” Ramsey said.
Alex narrowed her eyes. “Define incident.”
“The guard appeared at the ball. Most of the attendees escaped, but not all.”
“We hid in a mausoleum,” Gabrielle told her.
“After we shot a soldier,” Ramsey added. Gabrielle glanced at him, and he saw the gratitude in her eyes. She didn’t want anyone to know it was she who’d killed the man.
Alex put her head on the table and banged her forehead three times. “Why? Why? Why?” She looked up at them. “Let me see your papers. If they aren’t good, we’ll need to hide you.”
Dutifully, Gabrielle produced her papers. After Alex perused them, Ramsey handed his over. “These will do,” Alex pronounced. “Do you think the soldiers saw you? Would they recognize you?”
“It was dark,” Ramsey said. “Gabrielle had the hood of her mantle over her face.”
Alex nodded. “I have a good hiding place, but I don’t want to use it unless I have to. And these could just be rumors. I’d hate to have you crouch in the drawing room fireplace all night without reason.”
“The fireplace?” Gabrielle asked.
Alex waved a hand. “You both look exhausted. Go to bed, but keep your papers close by. I’ll wake you if there’s trouble.”
Gabrielle rose and Ramsey followed her up the stairs to their room. She glanced back at him once or twice, but he could have told her that he was far too tired to think of seducing her. Well, that wasn’t exactly true, but she needed rest.
“I’ll sleep on the floor,” he announced when they entered the chamber.
“I…that’s not necessary,” she said.
He raised a brow. “Then you want me to sleep with you?” He gestured to the bed.
The small bed.
“No, I…” She took a breath. “I meant I could sleep on the floor.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” He walked to the bed and took a pillow. “You need your rest.” Turning his back to her, he fumbled with his coat, pulling it off his shoulders. He didn’t hear her moving. Presumably, she would wait until the candle was doused before undressing.
Good God. How was he supposed to lie within reach of her, knowing she was warm and sweet and half naked, and not touch her? He needed more wine.
A lot more.
He reached down to pull his boots off when he heard rapid footsteps on the stairs. The door burst open, and Alex stood wide-eyed before them. “They’re here!”
Ramsey dropped his boot and Gabrielle jumped. “What should we do? The fireplace?” she asked.
“No time!” Alex said. “Get undressed and get in bed. Together. You’ve been here all night. You’d better make the bed and yourselves look like it’s been a fulfilling night.”
She rushed out, closing the door behind her.
A moment later, she flung it open again. She pointed at Gabrielle. “When the soldiers come in here, show some skin. That always helps. And if you can be…in flagrante delicto, all the better.” She was already unfastening her own gown as she closed the door a second time.
A moment later, they heard the pounding below. Ramsey raised a brow. “Do you need help removing your gown?”
Chapter 10
Gabrielle wanted to burst into tears. Every time they eluded danger, it caught up with them around the next corner. But she wouldn’t cry. A fit of hysterics solved nothing, and it certainly didn’t save either her or Sedgwick.
What would save them was removing this gown and climbing into bed with the man. Ridiculous as it sounded in her head, she realized Alex had a point. If the soldiers were looking for them, Sedgwick and she needed to appear as though they had been here all night. And Gabrielle had been a married woman. She understood something about men. A little flesh couldn’t hurt matters.
