Run Wild (Escape with a Scoundrel) - By Shelly Thacker Page 0,106
men has he brought with him?” He drew his pistol, aimed it in her direction. “What’s his plan?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
He stepped toward her with a look of fury. For a moment, she feared he would actually shoot her from sheer frustration.
But when she didn’t flinch, he backed off, lowering the pistol, looking down at her with astonishment.
Which rapidly turned to amusement. “You really don’t know, do you?” He laughed. “After all these years, the old blackguard must have become skilled at keeping his secret.”
“His name,” she insisted, “is Nick James.”
“Of course it is. Why not. A perfectly bland, ordinary name. One he no doubt picked for exactly that reason.” He stalked toward her, leaned down until his face was level with hers. “Let me tell you exactly whom you’ve been spending time with, lady. The real name of the man who’s been nibbling on your neck is Nicholas Brogan. Captain Nicholas Brogan.”
Samantha stared at him in horror, her voice scarcely a whisper. “You’re lying.”
“Why would I lie? You think I’m lying about that brand? I can even tell you exactly where he is at the moment. He’s in York.”
She felt all the breath leave her body. It all made a horrible kind of sense.
Someone you’re better off not knowing.
Oh, dear God!
And the lash marks on his back, the way he had navigated by the stars—she had guessed that he was a seafaring man. Even that he was a captain.
No wonder he had refused to tell her the truth about his past!
The room started spinning around her, became a whirl of darkness and light until the broken furnishings on the floor seemed to go skidding across the rug. Pieces of Nicholas Brogan’s infamous reputation cartwheeled across her mind. It was said that he had been driven by greed. That he would sink any ship without regard for human life.
She had thought of Nick as dangerous—but she had never truly known just how dangerous he was.
And here was young Joseph Foster standing in front of her, telling her that Nick—Nicholas—was responsible for his lost arm.
That was the man she had fallen in love with? A man who would heedlessly kill and maim? That was the man she had shared her heart, body, and soul with?
She shook her head in denial. “No! No, it’s not true. It can’t be true! Nicholas Brogan died years ago. He went down with his ship, burned to death in a fire. The authorities held a great celebration when it happened. I-I was in London then. They had a procession, a victory parade—”
“Yes, he fooled everyone. Almost everyone,” Foster said angrily. “The admiralty couldn’t exactly check that sunken hulk for his charred remains, could they? But they wanted the public to believe that they had done their job, wanted to reassure the citizenry that the last notorious menace had been removed from the high seas.” Pulling up his chair, Foster sat down again. “The truth is, he’s alive and well. And he’s very good at fooling people.”
The truth of those words hit Sam with the impact of a bullet. She fell forward, feeling as if her heart had just been blown to bits. She had been such a fool! He had misled her completely. And she had believed him, fallen right into his hands, accepted every lie. Cared about him.
Loved him.
“He and I are old... acquaintances,” Foster continued, unmoved by her pain. “And we had an arrangement. A business arrangement. But apparently he decided to change the rules.” He reached out and grabbed her chin, tilting her head up. “But if he can change the rules, so can I. I’ve decided on a new plan, Miss Delafield. There’s a certain package I need picked up, and I believe I’m going to send a courier to fetch it for me. Someone expendable.”
She jerked her chin from his grasp. “You don’t expect me to—”
“Yes, I do. And I’ll accompany you, because frankly, lady, I don’t trust you. It seems to me that Brogan worked his charms on you and turned that pretty head of yours completely to fluff. In case you get it into your mind to try and warn him, I’ll be right there with this pointed your way.” He brandished the pistol. “And even if Brogan has men with him, no one will be able to recognize me. No one knows who I am, not even Brogan himself. It’s the person collecting the package who’ll be in jeopardy.”