Regency Rogues: Rakes' Redemption: Return of the Runaway (The Infamous Arrandales) / The Outcast's Redemption (The Infamous Arrandales)

Merimon looked as if he would argue, but at last he took the coins and went grudgingly from the room.

‘But that is all I have,’ Cassie protested.

‘If you are indeed in league with Doulevant you will find yourself in prison soon enough and will have no need of money.’

‘And when you discover I am telling the truth, that I am innocent?’

Valerin’s glance was sceptical.

‘If you are innocent, madame, I shall personally escort you to the mayor and you may throw yourself upon his mercy.’

‘Thank you,’ she said coldly. ‘I will ask him to write to my grandmother, the Marchioness of Hune. She will send funds for my passage home. Your First Consul himself has decreed that the wives of the English détenus are free to leave.’

‘Providing they have not shown themselves to be enemies of France,’ said Valerin, adding sharply, ‘Do not go near the window, madame. I would not have you warn your lover.’

‘He is not my lover.’

‘No?’ Valerin got up and came closer. ‘Then he is a fool.’

Before she could guess his intention he put his hand around her neck and dragged her close to kiss her. Cassie struggled against him and when he finally let her go she brought her hand up to his cheek with such force that it left her palm stinging. His eyes narrowed.

‘A mistake, madame, to strike a government officer.’ Holding her prisoner with one hand he drew a length of cord from his pocket and bound her wrists together. ‘There,’ he regarded her with an unpleasant smile. ‘That should stop you scratching my eyes out while I show you—’

The door crashed open and one of the gendarmes burst in.

‘Sir, we have him! The pot-boy says the deserter is in the taproom.’

Cassie’s heart was hammering hard. Relief that she had been spared a loathsome groping was replaced by fear for Raoul. She saw the leap of triumph in Valerin’s eyes.

‘Very well,’ he barked, ‘arrest him. I will follow you.’ He turned back to Cassie. ‘What shall I do with you while I make my arrest?’

He glanced around the room, his eyes alighting on a stout peg sticking out high in the wall behind the door. He picked her up. Cassie kicked wildly but it was useless. He lifted her hands and hooked the cord over the peg. She was suspended, facing the wall, with the cord biting painfully into her wrists and her toes barely reaching the floor.

‘Perfect. That should keep you safe until I return.’ His hand squeezed her bottom through the thick folds of her skirts and Cassie shivered. She knew it was a promise of what he had in store for her.

Valerin went out, Cassie heard him clattering down the stairs, then there was silence. In addition to worries for her own safety Cassandra felt the chill of dread clutching at her insides. Had they caught Raoul? Had they hurt him? She tried to concentrate on her own predicament. Her toes just touched the ground, barely enough to relieve the pull on her wrists and stop the thin cord from biting deeper into the flesh. The wooden peg was angled upwards and strain as she might she could not reach high enough to lift her bound wrists free of it. The light was fading, soon it would be dark. In despair Cassie rested her forehead against the wall. Valerin would return for her and there was nothing she could do about it.

Her ears caught the faint sounds outside the door and she quickly blinked away her tears. This was no time for self-pity; she needed all her wits about her if she was to get through this. She heard the door open and close again. He was in the room. She turned her head, but the scathing remark on her lips died when she saw Raoul standing behind her.

Relief flooded through Cassie. She wanted to cry but would not give in to a weakness she despised and instead she took refuge in anger.

‘Well, do not stand there like an idiot, get me down!’

Raoul had not known what to expect when he entered the room. His imagination had rioted and his blood had gone cold as he considered what Valerin might have done to Cassie. To find her apparently unhurt was a relief and it increased tenfold when she addressed him in her usual haughty manner. He could not stop himself from grinning, although the effect was like pouring oil on hot coals. Her eyes positively flamed with wrath.

‘Get me down, this instant!’

He put his hands on her waist and lifted her so she could unhook herself from the peg. He lowered her gently to the ground and she turned, her arms still raised. Despite their perilous situation he could not resist the temptation to slide his hands up quickly from her tiny waist and pull her bound wrists over his head. He held her arms against his shoulders.

‘Shall I steal a kiss, as my reward for rescuing you?’

His pulse raced even faster when he recognised the gleam of excitement that mixed with the anger in her eyes, a gleam that told him she was not averse to kissing him. It was gone in an instant, but he knew he had not been mistaken and it both thrilled and alarmed him; he could no more stop flirting with her than a moth could ignore a flame.

She shook her head at him. ‘This is no time for funning, Raoul! We must go, quickly.’

Reluctantly Raoul released her.

‘You are right,’ he said, untying her wrists. ‘I have bought us a little time, but not much.’

‘How—?’

He put a finger to her lips.

‘No time to explain now. Come.’

‘Not so fast.’

At the words Raoul whipped about to find Valerin standing in the doorway. He pushed Cassie behind him, putting his body between her and the deadly pistol Valerin was holding. The sneering smile on that thin face made Raoul’s blood boil, but he knew he must not lose his head.

‘She said you had gone, but I knew you would not abandon your whore.’

‘She is a lady, Valerin, as you would know if you had any intelligence.’

‘Indeed? If that is so what is she doing here, with you?’ His lip curled. ‘Do you think any lady would look to you for protection? Why, you are not even a Frenchman.’

‘And that is where I have the advantage of you,’ Raoul drawled insolently.

The sallow face flushed with anger and hatred.

‘You are nothing but a damned deserter. The scum of the earth! I find you here, dressed like a gentleman—aping your betters, Doulevant! Men such as you should be whipped at the cart’s tail.’

Raoul knew Valerin was goading him. He did not need Cassandra’s warning hand on his arm to tell him Valerin was trying to make him attack, so that he would have an excuse to shoot. He must act and quickly. The hubbub of noise and confusion from below drifted in through the open door. At any moment Valerin’s lackeys might return and then all would be lost.

He smiled and shifted his gaze to look over the man’s shoulder.

‘You would be wise to give me the pistol, Valerin. I have an accomplice behind you.’

‘Do you think I am fool enough to believe that?’

Raoul’s smile turned into a full grin.

‘You are a fool if you do not. Any moment now you will feel my friend’s pistol against your ribs.’

Raoul saw Valerin’s certainty waver. There was a lull in the noise below that made the sudden creak of boards on the landing sound like a pistol shot. Valerin look around.

It was enough. Raoul launched himself at his opponent, one hand reaching for the pistol, the other connecting with the man’s jaw in a sickening thud. Valerin fell back, catching his head on the doorpost and collapsing, unconscious, in the doorway.

Cassie had not realised she had stopped breathing, but now she dragged in air with a gasp and felt her heart begin to thud heavily as relief surged through her. On the landing stood the pot-boy, grinning.