The Beauty and the Spy Read Free Page B

an opportunity to escape.
    She paid attention to every detail as she was slung up and deposited on a bench. By the way everything shifted beneath her, she could tell that both men got in opposite her, and someone else drove the carriage away. Hours passed and she assumed she wasn’t in London anymore. Where were they taking her? she thought as her heart beat wildly in her chest. When they stopped to change horses, her mystery man made sure she knew he sat at her side, the threat of his presence oppressing. If she made a sound, she understood that he would use force to stop her.
    After the second change of horses, some of the tension waned between her captors.
    â€œSo what happened?” asked the second man, the one who’d caught her.
    â€œI found her eavesdropping from inside a wardrobe.”
    Were they going to talk all night and just leave her like this? She started to struggle, and to her relief, someone pulled the blanket off her. She took a deep, cool breath.
    â€œYou used a blanket and a blindfold?” asked the second man in an amazed voice.
    Her captor didn’t answer. He was close now, just above her, tugging at the knot in her blindfold. The material fell away, and she was left blinking up at her mystery man, able to see because of the small, rocking lantern hung opposite the door. All the window shutters were closed.
    He rested his hands on either side of her, looming over her, a weighty presence that frightened her to death. She tried to glare at him, but she was certain her teary eyes spoiled the effect.
    He grinned, startling her with the sight of white teeth on swarthy skin. His hair hung disheveled near his cheeks, and if he had an eye patch he’d look like the perfect pirate. Sometime in the last several hours he had changed out of his evening clothes and into a plain brown coat and trousers, striped waistcoat, and shirt. And she’d been sitting right there when he’d done so!
    â€œYou’re a lively one,” he said, then turned her head aside to undo her gag.
    When it was gone, Charlotte moistened her mouth and croaked, “You’ve made a terrible mistake.”
    The other man leaned forward and peered at her. “I’m thinking the same thing.” He had dark auburn hair and a lean, masculine face, which if viewed at a dinner party would probably be attractive.
    But she was alone in a carriage with two strangers. She gaped down at her body, where her ball gown was now skewed dangerously low. She couldn’t even take a deep breath. Staring from one man to the other, she felt terror welling up inside her again.
    â€œI can see what you’re thinking,” the second man said soothingly. “Get back in your corner, Nick. You’re scaring her like you do all the ladies.”
    Nick. That was the name of her mystery man. She watched as his dark head bent over her and plucked at the ragged strips holding her wrists together.
    Now she knew his name. Another reason for them to kill her.
    As her bonds loosened, blood rushed painfully back into her numb fingers, and she wiggled them. She had hoped her long gloves would have offered some protection, but they were too finely made.
    â€œCould you have tied them any tighter?” the second man asked.
    â€œShe was struggling,” her kidnapper said impassively. He gripped both her hands in his one giant hand and gazed meaningfully at her. “If you want to be comfortable, you will obey me. Do I have your word?”
    â€œWhat does a man like you care about my word?” she asked with scorn.
    â€œI don’t, of course, but you, as a lady of quality, obviously do. Now do I have your word?”
    â€œYou have my word that I will not try to escape…for now.” She tilted her chin and tried to boldly stare him down.
    He glanced at his cohort. “Sam, she means to cause us trouble.”
    Sam , she repeated to herself. Aloud she said, “You told that other man you’d kill