Reckless - By Anne Stuart Page 0,109

off the air. Fire and brimstone. She must be in the blasphemous chapel of the Heavenly Host. The Church of Perpetual Erection, Lina had told her. Wishful thinking on someone's part.

She turned her head back, her eyes settling on Etienne de Giverney's bulky form. She glared at him.

but he merely watched her, unmoved, one leg swinging negligently as he perched on the edge of a table. Names for him swirled inside her head, and her inability to spit them out at him was almost worse than being tied up.

"Don't worry, mademoiselle. You won't be in this deplorable condition for long. Your noble knight will be rushing to your rescue momentarily, and you will have the chance to die in his arms like a true heroine. Just be patient, or I'll be forced to hit you again."

She ignored him to look around her, her vision somewhat encumbered by her restraints. The chapel was a new construction, made of wood. Ecclesiastical-type hangings lay across the low-slung altar, blasphemous ones, and she wandered what Simon Pagett would say if he saw this place.

There were piles of wood set at intervals around the sides of the small church, and she could smell the resin scent of pitch. The place was set to go up in flames, and there was a certain poetic justice to it. A chapel dedicated to the fires of hell succumbing to a conflagration.

Her eyes met de Giverney's expressionless ones, but his smile was eerily affable. "Yes, mademoiselle, there will be a sad accident. You and your lover will die in afire. It will be a very great tragedy, do you not think? No? You look as if you were quite desperate to tell me something, but I think I will leave the gag in place for the time being. I'm afraid I have a very hard heart, and your tears and pleading will leave me completely unmoved. They will only annoy me."

She'd been frightened and angry, now her fury overwhelmed any lingering fear. As if she was so poor-spirited as to beg for mercy! She glared at him, trying to put all her anger and contempt into her gaze, but he remained completely unmoved. "It won't be long, mademoiselle. I expect him to come charging up on a white horse—oh, no, he won't be able to do that, will he? He'll have to use the ornamental canal to get here, which will cut the drama. But I expect him to make any number of heroic declarations before I kill him. In fad, I think I hear him coming now."

Charlotte's fear escalated, and she began to struggle anew, to warn him, when de Giverney's low, eerie laugh sent chills along her spine, and he called out, "We're here, dear boy. Your lady love awaits."

She half expected Adrian to charge in, as he had into her bedroom earlier in the day, full of rage and demands, and she braced herself, ready for rescue.

Instead he pushed the door open and strolled in, seemingly at ease. "Etienne," he said in a charming voice. "What is all this?"

The comte laughed, amused. "Oh, I think you know, dear boy," he replied. "It should come as no surprise lo you. If you'd listened to your father's warnings you'd know that I never give up on what I want. But then, what headstrong young man ever

listens to their elders? I suggest you put that pistol down on the chair. I have one trained on Mademoiselle Spenser, and she would be dead before you managed to get off a shot."

Adrian's wry smile was all charm as he removed the dueling pistol from inside his riding coat and set it down carefully. "Of course, you knew I would have to try."

"Of course," Etienne said with equal courtesy.

"So how can I convince you to let Miss Spenser go? She has nothing to do with what lies between your family and mine."

"Ah, but she does. You think I don't know that she's carrying a possible heir? The moment you became infatuated with her I knew she was a potential problem, and I tried to dispense with her earlier. If I let her go now, not only would your father contrive to have your child inherit, but it would leave a witness. And they're much more likely to believe a silly English girl than a despised Frenchman, don't you think?"

Silly English girl, Charlotte thought, fuming. Now she was truly angry.

Adrian must have sensed her rage because he glanced over at her. "You've already