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He shook his head. “I’ll sit up with you.”
Dewhurst gave her another look full of meaning and when she merely smiled at him, he climbed the ladder. “Call me if you need me.” He disappeared into the loft.
Alex sat with her back against one of the beams supporting the hayloft, her gaze on the barn’s door. She glanced at the lamp, judging the amount of oil and how much would burn away by the end of her watch.
Chevalier sat beside her.
“Aren’t you tired?” she asked without looking at him.
“Exhausted,” he answered. “But if I lie down, I’ll toss and turn. I might as well sit up with you.”
He sounded so innocent, but she wasn’t fooled. “This wouldn’t be a ploy to escape, would it?”
“You mean wait until the others are sleeping, overpower you, take the pistol, and head for the nearest town and the local governor?”
She gave him a sidelong look. “I hadn’t thought it out in that much detail.”
“No. I won’t try to escape, although I was under the impression I was a confederate, not a prisoner.”
Now she shrugged. “I suppose you are a bit of both.”
“Your big, dark friend wants to kill me.”
She laughed quietly. “He wants to kill everyone. Don’t take it personally.”
“And your Lord Hastings, he did not want to sit up with you? To keep watch with you?”
She pointed a finger at the hayloft. “Do you hear that snoring? I believe that’s him.”
“Then he is not a protective man?”
Hastings would have given his life for any one of them in a moment, but he knew she’d do the same and trusted her implicitly. “Not particularly. Why?”
“Because you were his lover.”
“Oh, that. Yes, well.” She didn’t know what else to say.
She listened to the sound of crickets and frogs outside and the rustling from the hayloft and the stalls. The countryside was quiet, and she should be able to hear approaching hoofbeats in plenty of time to warn the men.
“He was never your lover, was he?” Chevalier asked.
She might have lied, but to what end? “No. He was in France during the revolution to look after his family’s interests. When he had done all he could, he needed a reason to stay and so he played the role of my lover. But it was as much a ruse as my case of smallpox earlier tonight,” she said.
“Then he isn’t in love with you?”
Alex laughed. Hastings in love with her? He was more of a brother than a man to her. She might have been interested in Dewhurst at one point, but he was too angry, too tortured a soul for her taste. She liked the tragedy in her life to remain on the stage. “No. He isn’t in love with me, although I am certain he would be most aggrieved if you hurt me or attempted to kill me. I say attempted because you should know I am quite capable of defending myself.” She lifted the pistol from her skirts. “Even without this.”
“I noticed that at the gate. But I have no intention of hurting you. I only wanted to be certain he would not retaliate if I did this.”
And to her complete amazement, he took her chin between two fingers, turned her head toward his, and placed his lips gently on hers.
It was a far different kiss than he had given her in the carriage before he’d gone into the Conciergerie, but the effect was the same. Warmth spread throughout her body, from her lips to the tips of her toes. She had the urge to lean into him and deepen the kiss. Instead, she pulled back.
He looked down at her with those beautiful eyes, his hand still cupping her chin.
“Why do you keep kissing me?” she whispered, eyes narrowed.
“Why do you not kiss me back?”
