“Tempting,” he agreed. “But I intend to pretend I’m putting you on a train. You will sneak off further down the cars while I stand there idiotically waving at strangers in the windows. The Royal hotel is just down the block. Do you think you can slip in a back door as if you’re part of the staff?”
“Give me your cloak. I’ll put it in my bag and wear it when I get off. It’s not much, but it will hide me and the bag. I should be able to find a crowd of people to walk with.” She was still breathing too fast, and her pulse was racing. That had been much too close an encounter.
She prayed Mortimer knew nothing of her twin’s hiding place. There were strange workmen all over the grounds at the castle. She’d have to send a telegram and caution Isobel to stay inside.
Without warning, the earl leaned over, placed his mouth over hers, and captured her breath.
The unimaginable sweetness of his kiss filled her head and drove away any lingering fear.
This was where she belonged.
And she could never have him.
Nineteen
All the fury and confusion of the morning melted away while Gerard held Iona in his arms. Her kiss soothed the savage beast that had unexpectedly awakened when he’d seen her attacked. Her breasts pressing into him caused his racing heart to send blood to more intimate places than his fists. The world almost made sense when she snuggled into his embrace.
And then the carriage stopped and she pushed away and looked like a wide-eyed doe. Not frightened, thankfully, but definitely startled. He had to remember that, despite her confidence, she was young and inexperienced.
Still unbalanced but recovering his usual composure, he handed her the borrowed cloak he carried over his arm as if their embrace was an everyday occurrence. “Hold the hood over your head after you don it. Changing your hair does not disguise you. And put those horrible spectacles back on.”
She took a breath and nodded, pulling out the spectacles and fumbling with them. “You’ll be in the hotel lobby?”
“Probably hiding behind a newspaper,” he agreed, trying to sound whatever in hell normal might be when his blood raced and his mind swirled. He climbed out and held out his hand to help her down.
“I will find you.” She took his hand and clung to it a little longer than necessary, as if needing to steady herself.
He knew the feeling. Thank all that was holy, there was a train already in the station. She climbed on, leaving him standing there like an idiot, watching the packed car and waving as it pulled away from the platform.
He prayed she wouldn’t stay on the train, leaving him behind. He noted its destination, just in case.
Then crossing the track, he climbed up to Princes Street and strode hurriedly for the hotel. He didn’t see any sign of a cloaked female in the scattering of passengers ahead, but she’d had several minutes to run ahead of him.
In the lobby, Gerard stopped at the desk to let Rainford know he was there, and to take a room, ostensibly for his sister. The clerk couldn’t give him a second room nearby. That fretted at him, but he couldn’t endanger friends and family by taking Iona back to Dare’s. A large, anonymous hotel somehow seemed safer than a residence Mortimer might recognize as a refuge.
They had to act soon, faster than he liked.
He settled in a chair with a newspaper, watching over the top of it. To his dismay, Lady Alice sailed down the grand staircase. Of course, as long as she was in the north, she’d be visiting her father. Gerard yanked his newspaper up and peered from the side until he saw the lady gliding out the door in a flurry of ruffles and petticoats.
When he glanced at the lobby again, Iona was serenely arranging a bouquet of flowers on a table. She wore her spectacles and a white cap, and in her too-short dress, she looked as if she worked for the hotel.
A wave of relief rolled over him. She’d put him through so many ups and downs this morning that he finally recognized that his habitual detachment was as much a pose as hers—at least where Iona was concerned. He needed to send her off before the pressure of emotions he hadn’t known he possessed burst his tightly-bound seams.
Folding his paper, he stood up and stopped near the bouquet to check his watch. “Room 110.” He left the key on the table and took the stairs up.
He almost had a heart attack when she didn’t immediately follow. He paced the hall, caught Rainford loping down the stairs, told him to wait in the tavern, and had almost worn a rut before he saw Iona hurrying from a hidden door at the end of the hall.
She was carrying the cloak, walking stick, and her bag this time and had discarded the little white cap.
“That was a most edifying adventure,” she announced as she held out the key to him. “I could take a position here arranging flowers, I think.”
Refraining from rolling his eyes, Gerard unlocked the room and shoved her in before anyone could see them.
He resisted the urge to wrap her in his arms again and watched as she perused the small chamber.
“Very nice,” she declared. “I cannot stay here, of course. I really should go to the room I’ve paid for.”
“For the moment, no one knows where you are. Let me talk to Rainford to see if he’s discovered anything new. I’ll have tea and sandwiches sent up. Dash off a note to Azmin and Dare letting them know you’re safe. I still need to file that police report, so I won’t be back as quickly as I’d like.”
“Will you send a telegram to Isobel warning her to stay inside?” She folded her hands at her waist and watched him anxiously.
“Of course, good
