Courtesan's Kiss (9 page)

It felt as though the curtain had dropped on the play before the last act. The air was charged with the same energy he felt racing through him.

He swung himself down from the driver’s box and with a quick glance at the horses, which appeared winded but fine, gave his attention to Miss Castellano.

Kicking the door open, she jumped into his outstretched arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he swung her in a circle before setting her down. David did not release her and Mia did not move away.

“What an adventure, my lord! Trapped in a runaway carriage. Rescued by a handsome man. It would make a wonderful scene for a theatrical vignette.”

“You are amazing. I cannot imagine any other woman
reacting with enthusiasm to this debacle. Tears and swoons would be more like it.”

She smiled at him, flattered if not thrilled by his praise.

William had found his match, David thought, a female who loved adventure. The viscount had been a fool not to give her what she needed and never let her go.

D
AVID SAW THE MOMENT
her jubilation disappeared, the moment she realized the closeness of their embrace or read his thoughts. No wonder Lord Arthur had given in to temptation. One kiss was a poor substitute for what he wanted from her. He wanted this excitement next to him in bed, her sense of adventure explored with her legs wrapped around him and him deep inside her, that look of wonder when she understood what a man and woman could truly share. A kiss was nothing by comparison.

Her expression changed from elation to intrigue, an expression so close to temptation that it sobered him immediately.

Damnation, he was her protector for the next twenty-four hours. Surely he could reach Sandleton and their chaperone without compromising both of them. He set
her away from him. She raised a hand to her hair and continued on as if nothing had passed between them.

“What good fortune Janina insisted I take the umbrella. Why didn’t John Coachman have one?”

“One can hardly drive a coach while holding an umbrella.” He turned away. The horses were winded and in need of some water and rest, and he had to see to the others.

As if she read his mind, Miss Castellano’s grin disappeared and she raised a hand to her mouth. “John Coachman! I hope he is not badly injured. I will go back while you tend to the horses.” Without waiting for his agreement she ran off. The coachman and the grooms were out of sight but still she began to hurry back toward them.

By the time David turned the carriage and headed back down the road, she, too, had passed from sight. When he reached the group he saw a tableau he had not expected.

One of the grooms sat on a log, his head in his hands. The other groom had the coachman propped up against a tree, but now stood around like a girl with nothing to do but wring her hands.

Blood seeped from a wound on the coachman’s forehead. Miss Castellano worked at staunching the flow with a white cloth he suspected she had ripped from her petticoat.

She glanced at the grooms. “What is the matter with you two? Don’t just stand there. Bring me the water flask from the coach. Don’t sit on that log. Go help Lord David!”

One of the grooms scrambled to obey as David observed her command of the situation. In his experience, when faced with an emergency women fell into two classes, those who wailed and worried and those who took direction well. He could not think of a time when a woman had taken charge.

He left his horse and the team in the shade and walked over to the gathering. Miss Castellano looked up at him and continued her ministrations as she spoke.

“John Coachman has come to his senses, my lord. But he is feverish and complains of headache and has been sick to his stomach.” She added the last in a conspiratorial whisper. She stood up, faced him, and spoke quietly. “The same complaint that Janina made.”

David nodded, aware of what she suggested. She wondered if some kind of pestilence had settled among them.

“Leave me alone!” the groom who sat on the log shouted to his partner. “My head spins like I drank five nights running.”

The healthy groom stood up and stepped back from his compatriot, who leaned over the log he sat on and made a terrible retching sound.

“I think we have added one more to our list of sick and injured.” God help them, illness had claimed a third member of their party. Concern replaced his earlier annoyance.

“We are close to Sandleton,” Mia said, not taking her eyes from the groom, who kept on complaining about his stomachache, the heat, and his “bleedin’ eyes.”

“We have about five miles left to travel,” Lord David said.

She nodded and continued to attend to the coachman.

“Let me, Miss Castellano. You will ruin your dress.”

“All the excuse I need to buy a new one.” She brushed at the dirty fabric as she spoke. “I will check and see if the groom is feverish.”

“Listen to me, Miss Castellano; go no closer to him.”

She did as he asked despite the rudeness of his command. “If it is some kind of disease then I have already been exposed to it.”

“Climb up into the coach box. I will join you shortly.”

She wanted to argue; he could tell by the way she opened her mouth and then pressed her lips together. He never would have guessed that Mia Castellano would be so well behaved in an emergency.

Once again she tried to brush the dirt and blood from her already ruined dress, and, with a curt nod, she went over to the coach. He would have had to be a eunuch not to enjoy watching her climb onto the top. She had the makings of a fine acrobat, if all else failed her in this world.

The grooms, both of them, helped the coachman into the traveling chaise. The sick one traveled inside with him, while the healthy one rode Cruces.

David climbed up beside Miss Castellano, taking up the reins. He could practically see her mind working as she conjured up one deadly illness after another. One that would scar her for life, one that would cripple her, one that left her an invalid.

He knew her thoughts because his mind was hell-bent on the same course. They needed a distraction, both of them. It did no good to create disaster before it befell them. “I thought I heard you say that you have jumped from a carriage before.”

“What?” Her puzzlement lasted only a moment. “Oh yes, once, when William agreed to a race to Richmond with me as his passenger. The reins snapped and we both had to jump. I had watched the acrobats at Astley’s Circus and had a fair idea of how to drop and roll. William twisted his ankle quite badly but I did no more than dirty my fingernails.”

“That sounds like a singularly stupid thing to do. You were both very lucky.” There, that should irritate her, though David did wonder exactly why she watched those female acrobats so carefully.

“Poor Janina,” Mia began, ignoring his comment. “I wish I had been more kind. She really is ill.”

They rode in silence until the village came into sight, then Miss Castellano found her voice again. “I will do whatever you want me to do, my lord.”

This was exactly the kind of person he wanted as second in command on a ship, he thought. Calm, able to act when necessary, but willing to take orders from a superior. He found it rare and impressive in a man, much more so in a woman. The woman whose favorite word was
no
had disappeared.

“We will not drive up to the house. I will send the healthy groom for the surgeon and have him meet us at the gate to Sandleton. We will wait there so he can give us
his medical insight regarding the coachman and the groom. After he has made his observations I will decide what to do.”

“Then you think it may be something serious?” She did not wait for him to answer but gave her own suggestion in a whisper. “Smallpox.”

He did not answer her.

D
IO MIO,
SMALLPOX
,
Mia thought. Panic flooded through her. She wanted to scream and run away as far and as fast as she could. Instead, she folded her hands together to still their shaking and prayed that when they found the surgeon, he would ease her worst fears. It did not have to be smallpox. It could be something else, anything else that would not scar her for life.

“Please tell me you have had Jenner’s vaccination,” Lord David said, undermining that small bit of hope.

“Well, during the war in Italy, but my father thought it might be no more than a ruse. The smallpox destroyed whole villages and everyone felt panic. It seemed a miracle that the process should be made available.”

“It might have been a placebo.”

“Placebo? That is an English word I do not know.”

“A placebo is something that is used to soothe while not necessarily effective as medicine.”

“Yes, yes, exactly. It could have been a placebo.”

“Then there is the word
reconnaissance
.”

“It sounds French, but I am not familiar with that word either.” All of a sudden Lord David could not stop talking.

“Yes, reconnaissance is another word from my brother Gabriel. It came into use during the war. It means to survey an area before taking action.”

“You mean the way one might examine the boxes at the theater before deciding whom to visit?”

“I suppose you could use it that way. What about the word—”

“Stop!” She put a hand on his arm. “I do not want an English lesson right now, and if you are trying to distract me it is not working.” She would not apologize for her barely civil tone. Mia raised her hand to her lips. “If I could just scream at the top of my voice then I might stay sane for the next hour.”

“Yes.” Lord David nodded. “I understand.”

They were the kindest words he had ever said to her and calmed her more than his annoying attempt to distract her.

They arrived at Sandleton and Lord David jumped down from the driver’s box. He did not offer to help her down and Mia knew why. As much as she liked the feel of being in his arms, the look on his face the last time he’d touched her told her it was a dangerous business. They
may have shared a certain physical awareness, but they were mismatched in every other way.

Before she could tread down the wayward path of wondering what it would be like to make love to a man she did not otherwise care for, she saw the groom approaching, accompanied by a very young man. Mia could hardly credit that one so young could be an experienced surgeon.

She would not panic. At least not out loud. It would do no good, would not keep her healthy.

The surgeon did not actually examine the groom or the coachman and maintained a healthy distance from Lord David. Despite that, they spoke so quietly she could not hear what they were saying to each other.

She wanted to hear every word they exchanged but she stayed in the driver’s box, knowing that her presence would make them more circumspect, as if the truth would send her into hysterics.

Mia waited with as much patience as God had given her and distracted herself by studying what she could see of Sandleton from the gates. She made mental notes, intending to write to Janina that night. She would describe it to her, let her know that it would be the ideal place to recuperate when she was well enough to travel, and she would reassure her that it was no more than a half day’s trip from the inn in Worcester.

Daylight remained strong, the air still as early evening settled around them. The house appeared rather small for a ducal estate, but the elegance of the architecture made up for the scale. The symmetry of the façade reminded
Mia of the Pennistan house in Richmond, which Janina had especially liked.

It was redbrick, with a windowed brick pediment at the crown of the top floor. There were four windows, three large and one small, on either side of the front door, which was reached by five shallow steps. Mia preferred a more dramatic entry but she knew Janina liked as few steps as possible since she carried the bundles.

The floor above the ground floor had windows that echoed the ones below, with two over the door that made for a pleasing line. The two chimneys on either end of the house framed it lovingly and rose to an impressive height above the roof.