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“At the academy,” Lucinda echoed. “The pleasure was all mine.”
If McCrae grew any stiffer, he would lose the ability to bend his limbs. Poking her arm through the crook of his elbow, as though threading a needle, he positively dragged her away. “If you ever do that again,” he started.
“I could say the same! Fine courtship we are having. No word, no contact, no inkling of where you were. I thought you might be dead. Then as soon as I take a pleasant walk with a helpful man, you swoop in like some avenging angel and drag me away.”
He pulled her along so quickly she had to almost run to keep up the pace. She tried to slip her hand out from his arm, but he had his hand twined around her forearm and clamped on her wrist. The only way to escape his grasp would be to block his leg then throw him which would cause something of a scene in the middle of the street. “You are hurting my arm.”
“Then I am losing my touch. It is your pride I intended to hurt.”
“How…how dare you. My pride? Now that is a great jest. I am not the one dragging his ‘intended’ by the arm in a pique of jealous rage. Where are we going?”
“Jealous? That is your assessment. I dragged you away to save your skin.” After making this assertion he refused to say anything further. The harder she prodded the more he pulled her along. From the route they took she had a pretty good idea where they were headed. Her theory on their destination was soon confirmed when they stopped outside the apartment with the hidden staircase to John Dee’s rooms.
“Are you taking me to see him?”
“I am taking you somewhere we can have a conversation in private. What I have to tell you cannot go further than this room,” he said as he pulled a key from under his doublet, checked if they were being observed, unlocked the door and pulled her through it by the wrist. He locked the door behind them while she paced the room and fumed.
“So now I am a prisoner and locked in a room with you as my jailer. Oh fortunate me.”
Pocketing the key he stood and glowered at her. “More fortunate than you will ever know. You must stay away from DeGuerra. He is a dangerous man.”
“Ha,” she scoffed, “the only danger I faced was death by flattery. I found him to be most charming. You have no right to dictate whom I may speak to or walk with.”
“You are my betrothed.”
“That does not mean you own me, and we are not betrothed. The courtship is a sham.”
“Not to me it wasn’t. I told you I fully intend to pursue it.”
“What if I do not wish to be pursued, nor owned, nor ordered about?” While she argued, he stepped in closer suddenly grasping her around the waist and kissing her. She pulled her head away and raised her hand to strike him, but he blocked her hand and laughed at her.
“Oh how I have missed you lassie.”
“What was that for?”
“It was the only way to keep you quiet.” The wretched twinkle was back in his eyes. “Now before you assault me again, could you please listen for a moment?”
“Do you promise not to kiss me?”
“If that is your wish.” She nodded a grudging assent, facing him with arms folded and foot tapping which seemed to cause him great mirth. The smile in his eyes suddenly dimmed and his manner grew serious. “I took you away because DeGuerra is not what he seems.”
“A handsome charming flirt?”
“He is that as well. Do you remember when we discussed that tune Rosalind hummed, the one I recognized from the masque?”
“I do.”
“We checked on the guest list. There were only three Spaniards present. The ambassador De Tassis, his wife…and DeGuerra. I trust you noticed his thumb. He kissed you often enough?”
Before he had even finished talking, she had arrived at the point where his argument was leading. It could not be right. She was hit with a queasy feeling and looked around the room for somewhere to sit down, but the room was devoid of furnishings, so she made her way to a wall and leaned her back against it. She looked up at the ceiling, thoughts whirling through her head. “It cannot be him. I refuse to believe it. He is so warm and charming.”
“And dangerous. So do you now see why I intervened?”
“Hold on a moment, you said he kissed me often enough. You only saw him kiss me on the hand once. Or did you?” His silence was enough to condemn. “You were following me, weren’t you?”
“No, no. I assure you, I was not following you.”
Pushing off from the wall she drew herself up to her full height, walking in a slow circle behind him, forcing him to turn to keep her in his sights. “No. I was wrong. You weren’t following me. You were following him!”
