The Courtesan's Book of Secrets

‘I don’t need your assistance.’

His hand tightened on her arm, not threatening, but steadying. ‘Then simply enjoy the pleasure of my company.’

He started forward again. Pride told her to pull away, to make an exit worthy of a Comtesse, but instead she followed his lead, his gentle coaxing a relief after Edgemont’s bullying.

He opened the hackney door and helped her in, the firmness of his fingers missed as she settled against the worn squabs.

‘Where do you live?’

She hesitated, not wanting to reveal her address. He’d know it wasn’t a fashionable enough area for a rich Comtesse. However, with him standing in the open doorway, she couldn’t sit there like a stone and say nothing. ‘Number Eighteen, Golden Square.’

Whatever his thoughts on her residence, his face didn’t reveal them as he stepped back to call instructions up to the driver.

She waited for him to bid her goodbye, to close the door and leave her to the privacy of the carriage. The tight darkness might weigh on her as it had during the many lonely nights as a child, and again at Ch?teau de Vane, but it was preferable to the embarrassment of appearing so vulnerable in front of Rafe.

To her dismay, he climbed in and settled across from her, his knee tapping hers as the vehicle rocked into motion. She jerked away from him, tucking herself as far as she could into the corner. Rafe said nothing, but the rhythm of his breathing punctuated the steady clop of hooves on the cobblestones.

He sat with his long body curved to keep from hitting his head on the low ceiling and she smiled to herself. The world was not accommodating for a man of his height.

‘Do you still have your duelling pistols?’ she asked, more afraid of her own thoughts than Rafe’s overwhelming presence.

He picked at a spot on his breeches. ‘Alas, no.’

‘Pawned?’

‘But Edgemont needn’t know that.’ He flashed a wide smile, as if all the cares of the world never troubled him. It warmed some of the cold creeping through her. If only she could be so optimistic in the face of adversity. It was his gift, the light which had first drawn her to him, the thing she’d missed the most after she’d married the Comte.