Her breath was coming in sharp rasps, and she had a stitch in her side, so she began to slow her headlong pace, pressing her hand against her ribs. A light mist had started falling, and she stopped to look around her, into the deep shrouds of darkness. These streets were not well-lit, and they were deserted. She’d thought she was heading toward her home, but nothing looked familiar, everything looked dark and dangerous.
And then she heard the footsteps, slow and steady, behind her, and she turned, certain it was Rafferty come to rescue her from her foolishness once again, only to falter at the sight of the giant who approached her.
He was bigger than Rafferty’s impressive height, broader, none of which mattered. What mattered was the huge knife he carried in his hand as he came directly at her.
She turned to run, not daring to waste time in screaming for help, but she was only a few feet away from him, and she felt his hand reach out, the knife slash through her beautiful dress, slowing her. She did scream then, racing down the street with a sudden burst of speed, and for a moment she thought there was a chance she might outrun him. Until a beefy hand came out and caught her arm, yanking her around to drive that vicious knife into her, when suddenly she was free, sprawling on the wet pavement, going down hard.
Two men were locked in a battle—she could see the fierce grimace on the giant who’d followed her, and Rafferty could be no match for him. She wanted to scream again, but she had no intention of distracting him.
“Run!” he panted as he knocked the monster to the ground.
But Georgie wasn’t going anywhere. Either Rafferty would win, and protect her, or he would die, and she wouldn’t want to live. She could only lie there in the rain and watch them, brutal, savage, horrible, the grunts and the groans shocking in the still night air.
She saw the flash of the knife, carving upward, and she buried her face, unable to watch any longer, sobbing into her hands, when a sudden silence descended. The only sounds were one man’s tortured breathing, the noise of a body falling to the pavement, the sigh that could mean nothing less than death.
She braced herself for the hands that caught her arms, letting herself be hauled upright, to face Rafferty’s blazing eyes. “I told you to run!” he shouted at her, shaking her, hard.
“I couldn’t,” she managed to say through chattering teeth. “I couldn’t leave you.”
At that moment, the sky opened, pouring down on them in sheets of icy rain, and Rafferty swore, something new and peculiar, and scooped her up in his arms. “We have to get out of this,” he shouted at her over the noise of the downfall. “And then I’m going to beat you.”
She managed a small, weak smile. He did love her. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t be so angry with her. Burying her face against his chest, she held on, safe for the first time in what seemed like days.
She had no sense of where they were, how long he carried her, and when he suddenly ducked in out of the rain, the surroundings were as dark as the night sky. She felt him lower her to her feet, and she was entirely ready to stand still and be chastised, or even beaten if he really wanted to, but her knees gave way, and she sank to the floor in her ruined gown, feeling the rough wood beneath her.
Rafferty swore, leaving her there, and a moment later, she heard a door slam, and she wondered if he’d abandoned her. It would serve her right, for being such a feckless ninny, but she knew he wouldn’t leave her.
She sank down in a little heap, resting her head on her arms, her loose wet hair all about her. Her heart was beating too rapidly, her breath was coming in short, quick bursts as she struggled to catch it, and her limbs felt cold, prickly. She’d seen a man die. She’d almost died herself, and she was in the middle of nowhere with a very angry man. Not that he would hurt her. But she couldn’t stop the harsh rasp of her breathing.
And then he was suddenly down beside her, pulling her into his arms, across his lap, cradling her as she gasped for breath and trembled, cold and hot at the same time. “Hush, love,” he whispered in her ear, stroking her wet hair away from her face. “Just hush. You’re safe now.”
But she was frozen, unable to calm, unable to speak, unable to do anything but lie there in his arms and tremble, until he cupped her face in his big, strong hands and kissed her eyelids. “You’re safe,” he said again, and her breath lurched into a hiccupping sob.
Men hated it when women cried, and yet she couldn’t help herself. She let out a wail, and buried her face against his wet shirt, sobbing as he held her, his strong hands stroking her back, calming her as she wept. “He won’t hurt you anymore,” he murmured against her temple. “He’s dead now—he won’t hurt anyone.”
“I...d...don’t want to cry,” she stammered. “I don’t know why I’m crying so much—I never cry. And I’ve cried so many times recently, ever since you told me you were leaving.”
“I have to leave, Georgie,” he said, holding her close. She could feel his heart beating against her face, and she wanted to press closer, to feel him, skin to skin. “You know I can’t stay.”
“Yes, you can,” she wailed. “You can marry me. They won’t mind—even Andrew Salton didn’t really want me. He’s in love with Norah.”
“Is that why you ran?”
“It was stupid. I didn’t love him. But he lied to me. He pretended he wanted me, when all the time he just wanted to get close to Norah. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“You couldn’t hurt me,” she said. “You love me.”
“Georgie...!” he began, and there was no missing the weary impatience in his voice.
“You do. You wouldn’t have come after me if you didn’t. You wouldn’t have killed that man!”
“That man deserved killing for a hundred reasons that have nothing to do with you. And, of course I came after you. I’m your servant—it’s what I do.”
She laughed then, a small, rusty sound. “Does that mean I can tell you what to do?”
He was too smart for her. “No. It means I’ll protect you, even with my life. But I’m not in love with you, and you’re smart enough to know that. You have a crush on me, because you’re a child and I keep getting you out of scrapes. As soon as you find the right man, you’ll forget all about me.”
