This week’s theme is mistaken identity.
Excerpt from No Recourse.
Jack stared at the unconscious woman in his arms. Her presence had taken him by surprise. Before lightning struck the tree, he was unaware that anyone else had been nearby. Who the hell was she?
I should have stayed on the ship, he thought, not for the first time tonight.
Taking in the strange appearance of the woman, he wondered why she would be out alone on such a treacherous night and dressed in male clothing. He pondered whether she could be part of the smuggling ring suspected to be operating in this area.
Alex, the Marquis of Dorset and his good friend, had written several months ago discussing his concerns about light signals he had observed off the coast. Alex had heard there was a group of smugglers at work and, although smuggling wasn’t new to these parts, he had been concerned by rumors that it wasn’t goods being brought in, but people.
With the end of the war against Napoleon, there was still a fear that some of the French weren’t happy with the return of their king and would like nothing more than to punish England for its unwanted interference. If French spies were trying to enter the country, Dover would be the perfect place to land. Its close proximity to the French shoreline and many secluded beaches made it an accessible port for such dissidents.
However, it wasn’t the possibility of French spies, but Lady Julia’s disappearance that prompted him to travel to Fernwood Grange at the moment. He’d spent the better part of the last three months aboard one of the ships in his shipping company, traveling to Spain and Italy, then back again, only to return home to discover Julia Parker, a friend and ward of his uncle, Robert Campbell, the Earl of Wilshire, was missing.
If he’d taken the time to think about his actions he would never have made such an ill-advised trek at such a poorly chosen time, but he was anxious to discover Julia’s whereabouts. She’d already been missing for two days. The Grange, Alex’s home, bordered his uncle’s land, and determined to remain in the area until Julia was found, he thought it was the perfect place to begin his search.
Driven by his anger toward his uncle and desperation to see Julia safely recovered, he had traveled first to his uncle’s estate, the Homestead. The journey there had proved to be an unproductive waste of time as his mad uncle uttered inane threats, and Jack had left in a furor. Even though Fernwood Grange was only ten miles away from the Homestead, the trip had taken three times as long as normal due to the unnatural darkness, then the pounding wind and rain.
Regardless of whom this odd-looking woman in his arms was, no gently bred lady would be out on a night such as this doing anything honorable. No one at Fernwood Grange expected him–especially not in the middle of the night. Looking down again at her still form, he came to a quick decision as her unnaturally pale face stirred him to take immediate action. Carefully, he lifted her onto his horse and then hoisted himself into the saddle. Adjusting her to a secure position, he rode off back through the woods; the way he had just come. There was a small hunting cabin not too far away, deep in the copse. He would take the woman there and question her, as he couldn’t see any reason to wake up the entire Grange household.
If she were involved with the smuggling of French spies, he would get the answers he was seeking and then personally deliver her to Alex in the morning. If the woman could give him names of others involved, he and Alex could contact the local magistrate and put an end to the criminal activity at once. Perhaps these smugglers knew of Julia’s whereabouts. That thought alone prompted him to quicken the pace of his horse, anxious to put the nightmare of these past two days to rest.
Slowed by the continuing storm, they arrived at the cabin a quarter of an hour later. He dismounted carefully and carried the woman through the rain to the shelter. Using the occasional flashes of lightning as his guide, he picked his way across the room and deposited her on a straw pallet. Immediately, he went back out into the storm and led Lancelot to a crude stable behind the cabin.
As he cared for the horse, he wondered again who the woman was. Why was she out on such a terrible night by herself? He decided her presence could not be a coincidence. Had the lightning not struck the tree she was standing behind, he would never have known she was there. The god-awful weather had taken away most of the senses he relied on. He hadn’t heard her over the thunder, and the rain was coming down so hard he could barely see a few feet before him. It was evident she was as shocked by his sudden appearance as he was by hers. The suspicious way she regarded him immediately clued him into the fact that she clearly had something to hide.
Returning to the cabin, he threw his saddlebag on a nearby table and used the flint by the fireplace. Fortunately, the last occupant had left a large load of dry firewood inside the cabin. It would last through the night, he thought thankfully, as the room was extremely cold due to the howling winds.
After a few minutes, Jack had a large fire blazing and two candles lit. From his saddlebag, he produced a dry shirt and breeches. He had packed only a single change of clothing as he’d been anxious to make his way to the Homestead. His valet was to meet him at the Grange with his belongings tomorrow. Glancing quickly at the bed, he confirmed that the woman was still asleep, and he started to peel off his wet things. Once dressed in dry clothes, he tried to decide how best to question her when she awoke.
Rifling through a battered trunk at the end of the straw pallet, he pulled out three thin, wool blankets. With the light from the candles and fire, he stood at the end of the bed and studied the unconscious woman. She was definitely a stranger to these parts. He’d grown up in this area and had spent many holidays with Alex at the Grange as a youth. He’d never lain eyes on this woman, of that he was certain.
Jack studied her unusual outfit more closely. Her breeches were not those of a man, but tailor-made for a female figure. Cut low on her waist, they enhanced the curves of her shapely legs and bottom. Her damp green shirt clung to her body, revealing firm, full breasts. She had no coat, leaving him to wonder if perhaps her late night adventure was unplanned. No woman would venture out on a night like this dressed in such inappropriate clothing. As he ran his eyes over her exquisite form, undeniable desire passed through his body.
Shaking off his lustful thoughts, he turned his attention to her face. Her fiery red tresses were unpinned and cut so that they just brushed her shoulders. The mass of spiral curls lay loose over the pillow. Before he could stop himself, he walked to the side of the bed and bent down to brush a stray curl away from her face.
From this angle, he suspected her pale complexion was not natural, but a result of the intense pain she suffered under the tree. If he hadn’t seen her walking toward him after the lightning strike, he would have suspected the lightning had struck her. However, she didn’t scream in pain until she approached him, or rather until she approached the tree and he didn’t question that the pain had been truly intense. He had seen men wounded in battle too often not to recognize the real thing.
For now, the pain seemed to have waned as she rested peacefully. Long lashes hid her deep-set eyes and he felt vaguely curious about their color, though he expected with hair that color, they would be an emerald green or perhaps hazel. She had a few freckles, obviously placed there by the sun, on her delicate nose and cheeks that he found endearing. Although her features were not what conventional society would consider beauty, he thought she was one of the loveliest women he had ever seen.
Enough! He was disgusted with the direction his thoughts were heading. This woman could be a spy. No doubt his lustful musings were from the lack of female company endured these past few months. While he loved sailing the open seas, it certainly left a man lonely for the comforts of home and a soft, willing woman.
He realized any soft thoughts about this woman would not help him discover her identity. Picking up one of the threadbare blankets, he cut it into strips. Testing the strength of the material, he put it to the side lest he need to restrain her later. He didn’t want to harm her, but he was determined to get the answers he was seeking. With smugglers in the area and Julia missing, too much was at stake.
She shivered slightly and he noticed a blue tinge around her lips. The fire was not producing much heat in the drafty cabin, and her clothing was still wet. Grabbing the two remaining blankets, he covered her and then pulled a chair over to the corner of the room. He needed a plan and found he couldn’t concentrate when he was so close to this beautiful stranger.
No Recourse is available from Liquid Silver and Amazon.
