to trust me." Daniel tilted her chin up until their eyes met. "I love you, Miss Merry. Can you trust me just a little bit?"
"After I kill you," she managed to get out with enough vigor to be heard.
Daniel grinned. "I'll make it easy for you. I'll loan you my gun just as soon as I'm finished with what I'm going to do."
Her eyes darkened, but he didn't give her time to question. Without a word of warning, he swept her into his arms again and started for the door. There was one advantage to having a small woman for a wife—she was easy to sweep off her feet.
Blucher looked up in relief as Daniel emerged from the shadows and deposited Georgina in the carriage. She was too weak to protest and sank into the cushions with another spasm of coughing. With a few words of caution and a command to find her a physician, Daniel sent her driver and the carriage off. He thought he saw Georgina watch him through the window, but he didn't dare follow. Not yet.
Picking up a cap lying discarded in the street, Daniel slid it down over his forehead and worked his way into the crowd. It was time to find out what this fire was all about.
* * *
Georgina lay propped against the pillows of her bed the next morning, still coughing but not so badly after a night of rest. She sipped carefully at the medicine the doctor—Dr. Phelps and not her father's treacherous Dr. Ralph—had provided and tried to remember the horrible nightmare of the night before.
She was certain she had dreamed Daniel was there, a penitent Daniel who declared he loved her. An almost penitent Daniel, she amended, vaguely remembering some of his words. He had laughed at her, she remembered, and she had tried to hit him, but he'd said he loved her. And if her memory wasn't all askew, he had rescued her from the burning factory.
That part was almost certainly true. It would be typical of Daniel to play the hero rather than wait for help. The declaration of love she wasn't so certain about. That could have been wishful dreaming. It didn't seem nearly as likely as Daniel playing hero. And she didn't see him here worrying over her bedside, either. She could very well have imagined that part.
Peter arrived as Georgina sipped at her breakfast. She didn't have much stomach for toast, but the juice felt good going down. She threw Peter a look of disdain and reached for her coffee.
"I suppose you're going to blame me for the fire, too." He flung his hat at the nearest chair and ignored it when it bounced to the floor. "My mother is in hysterics, your precious husband seems to have disappeared, and my father has been incommunicado for days. Those are probably good enough reasons for burning down one of the best garment factories in the country. I sent for your father, by the way."
"How thoughtful. I'd better eat and drink while I can. When he comes home, I won't dare touch food."
Peter stared at her. "Maybe my father was right and you are touched in the head."
Georgina smiled sweetly at him, but a coughing fit diminished the effect. Peter continued to watch her warily, but he held out the glass of juice. After she took the glass, he picked up the bottle of medicine on the bedside table.
"This didn't come from Dr. Ralph. Maybe you better have him come over. That cough doesn't sound good."
The sound Georgina made was vaguely like a laugh. "Good. Dr. Ralph and my father, my saviors. Get out of here, Peter. I'm going to get dressed and go hide before I end up in the Shady Rest Retiring Home with my mother."
Peter set the bottle down and contemplated her carefully. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb for my benefit." Georgina set her juice aside and pulled herself straighter in the bed. "Your father and Dr. Ralph are probably playing the same game with your mother. I'd inspect her medicines if I were you. Now leave, Peter, I need to dress."
"Your maid said you were supposed to rest. I practically had to beat her over the head to get in here. Now lie there and explain things a little more coherently or I'll be here all day."
Georgina scowled. "How plain do I need to be? Dr. Ralph gives my mother laudanum to keep her quiet. He gave it to me