Scoundrel of My Heart (Once Upon a Dukedom #1) - Lorraine Heath Page 0,65

bed. Marcus insisted they at least allow us to dress. Carrying a courtesy title as an earl, his words held more weight than my protests. So we were at least allowed to make ourselves presentable. Still, they carted us away with no explanation.

“They put us together in a room in the Tower. They came for me first, and I thought, They’re going to chop off my head. Ridiculous thought, really. But it seemed the place for it. As they marched me down the corridor, terror gripped me. I didn’t want to continue to put one foot in front of the other. I wanted to rail, and scream, and run. How had Anne Boleyn, a mere slip of a woman, done it, walked to her death? Maybe she pretended she was merely going for a stroll. I don’t know.

“But I stopped thinking about what I was presently enduring and the future that I assumed awaited me, and I focused instead on the past, on things that were worth remembering one last time: the unraveling of a woman’s hair, a waltz, the last kiss I’d had, would ever have.”

She’d paused in her ministrations, and he lowered his gaze, capturing and holding hers. “You, Kathryn, you were there with me and helped me walk down that stone corridor with some dignity.”

Tears welled in her eyes, and he realized he shouldn’t have confessed something so personal that involved her. But during the two weeks he was in the Tower and the months following when his life had gone to hell, memories of her had sustained him.

“Hand me the linen. I can finish up here,” he said brusquely, probably too briskly, because she seemed to snap into action.

“I’ll do it.”

It was torture to have her winding the cloth around him. Every time she carried the cloth to his back, she leaned in so close that he could have easily captured her mouth, kissed her throat—and every time he thought of doing both, was so damned tempted, he’d remind himself he was the son of a traitor, was familiar with London’s darker corners, had hunted in them, had been responsible for a death. He now ran a club that encouraged sin. Not exactly the sort of gent in whom a woman could take pride. Certainly not the sort for which a lady should give up an inheritance.

“But, thankfully, they didn’t take you to the chopping block,” she said, finally finished with the tortuous wrapping and sitting back on her heels.

“No. They took me into a room where they sat me in a wooden chair and started asking me questions about my father. It was the first hint I had that the arrest might be a result of something he’d done. I could offer very little insight into his actions, was stunned by the revelation regarding his plans.” He glanced toward the window. “When do you think we’ll be able to leave?”

“It depends how long the rain continues, but based on how hard it’s coming down, probably not until tomorrow.”

He bit back a curse, not wanting her to know how desperately he needed to get away from her. Resisting her was becoming more challenging by the minute. When she looked at him with those sultry eyes or when tears gathered or when she touched him—

She’d touched him last night. He remembered it now: it had been as he was drifting off to sleep. He’d luxuriated in her caresses, had taken them into his dreams where he’d returned the favor to her in the wickedest of ways. He wanted to transform the fantasy into reality.

But she was not for him. And he would not risk her losing what she longed to possess. Especially now that he’d seen her here, seen how perfectly it suited her. The innocence of the place where she was free to frolic on the beach, a world so different from the one in which he now lived. An ugliness from his past had touched her, and he intended to ensure it never touched her again. Never had a chance to even come close. He couldn’t swear that he’d escaped it completely, that if Marcus sent word to him, he wouldn’t answer and return to his brother’s side. “I’ve grown weary. I should sleep for a bit.”

“Of course.” She rose. “You’re healing. You should rest while you’re here. I doubt you’ll get to do that very much when you’ve returned to your club.”

After gathering up the bowl, the old linens, and the salve, she headed