Richard was gazing out a window, but he turned when she came back. “From what I can see on the skyline, there are several large fires burning in other parts of the city. Probably government buildings, but despite the attack from your house, General Ross is apparently leaving most private homes untouched.”
She sighed. “Why was I so lucky as to be chosen by the American attackers when there are so many houses empty?”
“If I was a sniper, I’d look for a house that is solid, right on the route where my enemy will be marching, and preferably unoccupied. They might have thought the house was empty if you were lying low, so you were just very unlucky,” he said sympathetically.
It was a day of both bad and good luck, actually. She studied Richard as he stood with his back to the window. He was achingly familiar, but at the same time a stranger. The lantern light sketched his height, the breadth of his shoulders, his lean powerful build. His hair had darkened a little, but he was still strikingly blond, and the softer features of youth had become refined to sculpted male beauty.
Like her, Richard had stripped down as far as he could, which meant drawers and a loosened shirt falling over his hips, and bare feet. Barely decent. She tried not to stare at the triangle of bare skin at his throat. Blond hairs glinted golden in the lamplight.
Now that they’d settled into the cottage and eaten, she was uneasily aware of his unnerving masculinity. Though her friend Richard would never have hurt her, she wasn’t as sure about Lord George Audley, who had been busy with the king’s business and had cowed a mob of angry soldiers by sheer force of personality.
Deciding it was best to tackle the issue head on, she said, “It’s odd. On the one hand, I feel that I know you as well as myself, yet at the same time, you are a stranger. It’s easy to understand how you terrified those soldiers with just a few words.”
He shrugged. “It’s a knack one acquires when commanding men, which I’ve done as needed.” He leaned against the frame of the window and crossed his arms across his chest. “I feel the same. Here is the person who was once my best friend, whom I haven’t seen in half a lifetime. Which of us shall speak first about all the years since we last saw each other?”
“We’ll take turns because there is so much ground to cover. First and most important, I’m really curious about how you came to be alive. I still don’t quite believe it.” Callie started brushing the ends of her hair, working her way up carefully in case she hit more tangles.
“What did you hear that made you believe I was dead?” he asked curiously.
“Not long after I reached Jamaica, my father wrote that you’d died of some horrid disease on the prison ship carrying you to Botany Bay.” She’d wept bitter tears of grief and guilt. Those feelings had subsided in time, but never disappeared.
“Such a charming man, your father.” Richard unbuttoned his cuffs and rolled the sleeves up. His forearms were powerful and also lightly dusted with gold.
Wishing she wasn’t so aware of his physicality, she resumed brushing her hair, which gave her an excuse to drop her gaze. “He took great pleasure in telling me that lie.”
“He might have thought he was telling the truth. Transportation ships are only a cut above slavers,” he said dispassionately. “Disease swept through the vessel I was on and many sailors were casualties. Because I stayed healthy and had some sailing experience, the captain drafted me as a seaman. I proved useful and he developed a certain fondness for me.” He grinned. “My good manners, you know.”
Her brows arched. “So you convinced him you were an innocent young gentleman who had been tragically transported by an enemy?”
“I told him the truth, which wasn’t far from that,” Richard replied. “I don’t know if you ever heard, but I was convicted of kidnapping you and stealing my own horse, which technically belonged to my father. So the charges were trumped up to get rid of me, but not entirely wrong.”
“I can see my father taking pleasure in concocting the charges,” she said, feeling sickened. “Your father didn’t object?”
“I don’t know how fond my father was of any of his five sons, but he considered an heir necessary and didn’t mind having a few spares. But me he hated,” Richard said bluntly. “I look just like my mother, whom he first loved, then detested. As long as I was around, I was a reminder of her unfaithfulness. He wanted me dead.”
“How dreadful!” Callie closed her eyes, feeling the pain that he wouldn’t allow into his voice. “Back then, I didn’t realize how complicated your situation was.”
“I couldn’t talk about it then, not even to you,” he said calmly. “But it was a lifetime ago. I knew Lord Kingston hated me, so his behavior was no great shock. I decided I had to stay alive just to spite him. When the transportation ship reached Sydney Harbor, the captain looked the other way while I dived overboard and swam to shore. He must have listed my name among the casualties with burial at sea. No further explanations were needed.”
She tried to imagine all he wasn’t saying. The voyage must have been appalling. “How did you survive and make your way back to England?”
“That’s a long and complicated story that can wait for another day. Suffice it to say that I worked my way around the globe, which took much time and many detours. And here I am.” He smiled wryly. “Could either of us have imagined such a scene fifteen years ago?”
“My imagination is good, but not that good!” She hadn’t fully registered the improbability of his timely appearance because amazement that he was alive had filled her mind. But the timing was equally amazing. “By what miracle did you gallop up on a white horse here and now?”
“I was hired to rescue the widowed Mrs. Audley and bring her back to England.”
“Hired?” She dropped her brush and stared at him. “By whom? When I left Jamaica, I cut off communication with everyone back in Britain.”
“Maybe that’s why someone wanted you to be found and rescued if necessary,” he explained. “A fellow called Sir Andrew Harding made the request of a gentleman who is good at getting things done, and that gentleman asked me if I’d undertake the task.”
“So you agreed to cross an ocean and enter a war zone to rescue a complete stranger? You’ve become a bold and dangerous adventurer, I see.” Certainly he looked dangerous in a quietly lethal way.
“Not really,” he said peaceably. “I consider myself more of a problem solver willing to do what’s needed. This was an extreme request, but the money was good.”
She frowned. “You had my address. I wonder how that happened. I did my best to vanish when I came here.”
“You’ve never heard of Sir Andrew Harding? I was told Mrs. Audley was a connection of Sir Andrew’s wife, so perhaps he’s married to one of your sisters.”
