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“Yes?”
“You and I both know that I cannot stay indoors forever.” She spoke slowly, not wanting to upset him. “We will need another plan than to have me stay here forever more.”
“I know. You are right.” He smiled a little. “We need to find the man that threatened you, and I have an idea as to how to do just that.”
CHAPTER17
Keep your mind on the job.
Despite his attempt at discipline, James was finding it hard. The one thing he and Marina had agreed on was that she could accompany him to the gambling hall. He had so many men here, they knew it must be safe, and Marina stayed constantly at his side on his arm. She was there now as they walked around the gambling hall.
James usually used these moments of circling the hall to check for cheaters and to keep an eye on debtors who weren’t paying up. Not tonight though. No matter how many times his usual discipline tried to step in and urged him to focus on the job at hand, his eyes would slip back to Marina at his side.
He thought of those large green eyes that were darting around the gambling hall in wonder. The night before as he had made love to her, those green eyes had stared up at him, mixed with a pure look of pleasure. God, how he wanted to experience such a look again. He longed for all of it, to make love to Marina, to have her moaning his name, and to spend an entire night with such pleasures.
What has become of me?
He snatched his gaze away from her. In the past, one night alone with a woman had been enough to satisfy his lusts, but not Marina. He thought of so many other things he wanted to try with her, different positions, ways to give her more pleasure. After they had made love the night before, they had stayed up for hours, talking, never leaving the bedchamber. They’d even had their dinner served to the chamber though Mr. Pitt-Rivers was good enough not to comment on it.
“James, you seem distracted,” Marina said at his side as they circled the gambling room.
“I am a little. Perhaps I should show you why.” He led her to the nearest door, taking her into the corridor that led to the back rooms. The moment they were out of view of anyone else, he pressed her to the wall. She smiled as his lips came to meet her own, and they kissed, indulging in one another when there were so many people just on the other side of that door.
“We should be working,” she whispered teasingly between kisses.
“The hell with work.” James never used to say such things. Work always came first, above everything else, but not now.
He stepped back from her, taking her hand, and moved toward the stairs. He intended to make use of that bedchamber once more above the stairs, to show her more ways to feel pleasure, when something caught his attention.
“What’s that?” Marina pulled on his hand, seeming to sense it at the same time. He turned toward her, his nose wrinkling.
“It’s smoke,” he murmured before his body acted on instinct. Still clutching Marina’s hand, he ran to this office, following the scent of smoke. From under the door, he saw a thin trail of smoke in the candlelight from the sconces of the room. The smoke wound a path in the air then dissipated.
“Careful!” Marina called as he pushed her back away from the door and flung it open.
The shock of bright light had him stumbling away, covering his face with his arm. The office was on fire with such vast flames taking up the room it would be impossible to put out with a bucket of water. His desk was gone, the papers adding to the tinder of the room.
Across the office, he could see one of his fine paintings, a Constable, hanging on the wall, the paint beginning to peel in the heat and bubble before the painting was lost forever.
“It’s spreading!” Marina called, grabbing his arm and pulling him back.
James hurried to close the door and grabbed her arm, hurrying her through the corridor and back to the gambling hall.
“We have to get everyone out, now!” he called and burst through the door. “Everyone! Out!” His voice boomed across the room.
Drunken men lifted their heads, others took no notice, too busy staring at their cards to even hear him.
“Do you hear me?” James released Marina’s hand and jumped up to stand on a table. “The building is on fire. Take your money, your drinks, for all I care, and get out!”
This time, his words caused a reaction, and people sprinted for the door, but not everyone did. One or two were still so drunk at the tables that they continued to sit there. James caught sight of one man with his lips still hanging on the rim of his glass, and another adding a chip to the table to continue his game of loo.
“Marina, this way.” James jumped down from the table and took her arm. It was now so packed by the double door entrance to the hall that they couldn’t get out easily that way.
He reached for a window instead and lifted it high, determined to get her out. Taking her waist, he lifted her, so she could get out first. She scrambled through before reaching for him, helping him through too. He had to bend his tall frame awkwardly to fit through the gap before he landed on the cobbled road the other side and took Marina’s hand.
The two of them ran to the front of the gambling hall, just as a massive crack sounded from within the building.
“Get back!” James took hold of Marina and thrust her behind him, looking at the building as one of the windows overhead burst open, the glass shattering into the street. Flames jumped into the air through the window.
