A Wedding by Dawn (3 page)

He didn’t. Instead, he hauled her to her feet and hooked her around the shoulders— “Wait!” But it was too late, and she struggled uselessly in arms that disproved her assertions of his frailty.

“Your antics will get you nothing but imprisonment under lock and key,” he told her sharply. “Where you will remain until you—”

Stop behaving like a spoiled child.

“—stop behaving like a spoiled child.”

Panic made a grab for her lungs. He was exactly like Father. Exactly. And why shouldn’t he be? Hadn’t Father been the one to choose him?
Breathe.
Breathe.
But when she did, there were only lungfuls of
him—
that expensive cologne emanating off warm, male skin that badly needed a shave.

“Oh, Mr. Warre,” she managed, resting her cheek against his shoulder, “what a romantic you are.” She pressed a palm against that same stony chest she’d been unable to budge in the alleyway. Beneath her hand, his muscles flinched.

Pain?

“I do hope you’re not so battered from your tavern brawl that it hurts you to carry me.” She shifted a little, curled one arm around his back, slid the other higher on his chest and squeezed. She felt his fingers splay across the side of her thigh. “Not at all, Lady India.”

Her breath caught, and she snatched her hand away from his chest.

Now the church loomed just ahead, and she could make out William and—thank heavens—Millie, standing by the door.

If she were going to escape, she would have to think—
think!
Could they really be married if she refused to say the words? She could appeal to William’s conscience. Behave calmly inside the church, waiting for any kind of opportunity.

There was still hope.

That hope died when she saw William’s battered face. His turban was gone, and even in the shadow of night she could see his left eye was dark red. He had one hand locked around Millie’s arm. “God’s blood, you’re a thrice-over fool,” he said to India. “We could have been killed.”

“Open the door,” Nicholas Warre bit out at William, and transported India across the threshold. Inside the cavernous sanctuary, he deposited her on a pew near the front.

“India...?” Millie’s anguished tone said she feared the worst—that Nicholas Warre had pressed his advantage since leaving the tavern.

“I’m all right, Millie. My dearest betrothed has been most solicitous, haven’t you, darling?” Nicholas Warre wasn’t paying any attention. He was scowling toward the front of the church looking for a priest. India sat up and looked dreamily around the shadowed church. “It’s lovely. Everything I always hoped my wedding would be. Isn’t it perfect, Millie?”

She waited for Millie to tell William to go to the devil, to unhand her, but Millie only stood woodenly in his grasp, gripping and regripping her own wrist. And now India was too aware of William’s hold on Millie’s arm, the possibility that he might be angry enough to thoughtlessly hurt Millie even knowing what she’d suffered in London. He would show no mercy—they may have been shipmates once, but Katherine was William’s closest friend in the world, and he would not easily forgive India and Millie for taking her ship.

She looked pointedly at his hand on Millie’s arm. “I
am
the bride, William—at least allow Millie to attend me.”

William didn’t budge.

Millie’s eyes darted about the church for a possible means of escape, already dulled with the conclusion that there would be none.

India dragged in a breath. “So far this day has been everything a wedding day should be. In fact, even had I dreamed it I could never have hoped for something this unsurpassed in beauty and...” Nicholas Warre stalked off toward the church’s recesses. “And splendor.”

She tried to stop herself from shaking, but her whole body trembled. Millie’s silent conclusion was correct: there was no chance for escape now. Nicholas Warre would offer the priest money, and they would be wed in a sham ceremony. And then they would return to that inn—

“William,” she hissed the moment Mr. Warre was out of earshot, standing up, abandoning all pretense. “You cannot possibly be a party to this. After what he did to Katherine? Do I mean nothing to you at all?” The dark tomblike church swallowed her plea. It was deathly quiet, with the eerie flicker of candles sputtering in small banks next to a dozen shrines.

William forced Millie onto the pew. “At least he tried to take from Katherine in broad daylight—unlike the two of you, who sneaked away under cover of night.”

“She wasn’t using the ship.”

“That didn’t make it yours to steal,” he bit out.

“At least give us a fair hearing!”

“The kind of hearing you’d receive if I hauled you back to England and accused you of piracy? You’d be hanged.” William may have laughed in the tavern—William
always
laughed—but he wasn’t laughing now, which was worse than anything he could have done. “You have a fine way of showing your thanks to Katherine. Would have expected more loyalty from you, under the circumstances.” He looked at Millie. “Especially you.”

Millie stared up at him, still working her fingers mechanically around her wrist. “I won’t return to England,” she said. “I can’t. You know I can’t.”

“Millie and I apologize about the tavern,” India said, more desperately now. From somewhere in the dark recesses of the church came the sound of Nicholas Warre knocking on doors and calling out. “Don’t we, Millie. We never meant to put you in danger. And we know taking the ship was wrong—” depending on one’s point of view “—but you’ve secured it once more—” unless she and Millie could somehow find their way back on board “—and this goes too far. You can’t possibly approve of this marriage, William. You can’t possibly. And it can’t be what my father intended.” But it could be, and it probably was.

What she wouldn’t give to know what that contract said. If only she weren’t such a muttonhead. If only those books in the
Possession’
s great cabin had done her any good. But she was, and they hadn’t. Some people were easy to fool—Nicholas Warre would not be. She would have pretended to read the contract, understanding nothing, and he would have understood very clearly how stupid she was.

“Past time someone took you in hand,” William said. “Daresay Warre is better than having the crows peck the rotting flesh from your bones at the mouth of the Thames.”

“You would never allow that.”

“Not here on my own behalf, and the law is the law.”

For a split second the image of a stinking, crowded room at Marshalsea paralyzed her lungs. “I won’t say the vows,” she warned, trembling harder now.

“You’ll say them, or you’ll suffer the consequences.”

“Dear God—” Millie made a sudden dive to exit the pew, but William caught her by the shoulder.

“Sit.”

“I’d rather you kill me now than return me to England,” Millie seethed at him.

“And I shall kill Nicholas Warre if you do not stop this wedding,” India warned. From the back of the church there was another knock, another call. “You know I shall.” She would not be taken to England and locked away again—not in prison, and not by Nicholas Warre.

“You’re a pair of fools,” William barked. “Millicent—” He struggled against her.
“Enough.”

Millie kicked him. “Let
go
of me.”

India scooted out of the pew. William snatched her arm but imperiled his grip on Millie. “Warre!” he shouted.

Almost immediately Nicholas Warre was there, pulling her away from William, who now held a wild, struggling Millie by both arms. “Where’s the bloody priest?” William barked.

“There’s nobody here.”

“Got to be. Devil take it—” He turned Millie’s arms behind her back and held her head down, immobilizing her.

“Let me go!”
Millie shrieked.

“William, you’re hurting her,” India cried.

“I’m not bloody hurting her.”

“Anyone would have heard us long before now,” Nicholas Warre said, holding India tightly against his body. “There are other churches—”

“Can’t drag this one through the streets like this. I’ve got to get her to the ship.”

“I’ve got my bag at the inn, and I’ll be damned before I’ll leave this island unwed,” Nicholas Warre snapped.

“Listen here,” William said. “I’m— Millicent, cease!” He adjusted his grip on her. “I’m taking this one to the ship. You want to be wed? Then stay and take care of the bloody business yourself.”

CHAPTER FOUR

O
H
,
YES
.
N
ICK
would take care of this bloody business, and he would do it just as soon as dawn broke and a priest could be found.

“What a shame our wedding did not turn out as you hoped,” Lady India was saying as he steered her back to the inn. “But you mustn’t be too disappointed. Sometimes one’s best-laid plans are put asunder for reasons much higher than mortal understanding can grasp. It seems clear—we did just leave a house of worship, after all—that Someone is attempting to keep you on the straight and narrow path, Mr. Warre.”

“Indeed. The straight and narrow path to an early morning wedding.”

“A
morning
wedding.” He could hear the gears turning inside that lamentably pretty head. “Excellent idea. I always did think a morning wedding would be so charming.”

To think, he’d imagined saying the vows, sending Lady India to the ship with William and devoting a few motion-free hours in that lumpy bed.

“You’ll secure me a room of my own tonight, naturally. It isn’t proper for a bride and groom to pass the night together before the wedding.”

He ignored her.

“I’m sure my father will want to know that everything was done as it should. Nothing unseemly—Father has always been dedicated to making sure one does what ought to be done.” She missed a step, and he tightened his grip to keep her from falling. “I would hate for you to produce me as your wife, only to find your reward withheld because you overlooked a bit of common propriety.”

The word
propriety
falling from her lips might have been laughable if anything had been laughable, which at this moment it was not.

“I shall be very well behaved, of course. In my own chamber. You needn’t worry about a thing.”

Yet for some unfathomable reason, Nick bypassed the desk clerk and hauled India once more up the stairs to his room.

At the first ray of dawn, he would rouse a pair of sailors and pay them to spend a few minutes in the church as witnesses. But until then, he was going to rest. Not sleep—he wasn’t a fool, no matter how exhausted he was—but rest. It would have to do.

He pointed at a chair. “Sit.”

“I am not a dog, Mr. Warre.”

An hour—perhaps less—and he was already dreading the rest of his life married to her. “Sit
down,
Lady India,” he repeated.

She flashed him a smile that—devil take it—shot raw lust straight through him. She put her hands on her hips and stared at him. “What are you going to do to me if I don’t, Mr. Warre? Shout at me? Beat me? Or heaven forbid—no. You wouldn’t.” She widened her eyes at him in mock horror and put her hand on her heart. “You wouldn’t
call off
our
wedding,
would you, Mr. Warre?”

He went to the bureau, intent on ignoring her, but she was having none of it.

“It would be so disappointing if you changed your mind about our nuptials. My thoughts are already filled with plans for our life together in London—soirées, card parties, dining with
all
of my friends. And of course there will be the theater, the opera, musical performances of every variety and I shall expect you to accompany me for a long and romantic walk in the park at
least
four times each week.” She clapped her hands together. “Oh, Mr. Warre, I daresay I am half in love with you already.”

He saw those lips smirking at him in the glass. If he survived the night locked away with her in this hellhole, it would be a miracle.

He pulled at his neckcloth, loosening it, and turned. “Are you.”

“Once we are wed, I shall never leave your side. Not even for a moment.”

“How intimate that will be.”

And how mistaken. He would endure the voyage to England, collect his money and once the mortgage on Taggart had been lifted, he would lock her away where she could not injure his person or his reputation.

“Let me make one thing very clear,” he said, turning now. “You have been apprehended. And unless you’d care to be tied up, you will sit. In. That. Chair.” He pointed at it. “And I shall sit in the other. We shall pass what remains of the night, and in the morning you will become my wife. Depend on it.”

* * *

T
HERE
WAS
A
time and a place for defiance, and that time and place ended when he threatened to tie her up.

And so she sat.

Minutes ticked into an hour. More than an hour, though it was impossible to tell for sure, except for the candles slowly, slowly shrinking.

India fixed her eyes on Nicholas Warre, barely daring to breathe. It couldn’t be possible. After all his threats, his manhandling, his confident declarations—

She sat perfectly still and watched. Yes, he was falling asleep.

From somewhere in the distance, a drunken sailor song lilted through the open window across the room. She didn’t dare glance at the window.

His eyes drifted shut, only to open again and fix on her. “Go to sleep,” he said. In that hard face with its purpling bruises, those eyes were like chips of green winter ice.

Very fatigued winter ice.

“I’m trying,” she murmured, and shifted in the lumpy armchair. She let her own lids droop closed and flutter open, exactly as his had, so he might assume she, too, was drifting off.

If there was one thing that could be learned from a childhood spent locked away until the impossible was accomplished, it was how to wait.

After a moment she shut her eyes completely. The street below was silent. The only sound was the distant swoosh of waves coming ashore in the harbor. His scent came to her on a puff of breeze.

Falling asleep! Could he really be that foolish?

No. Which meant either he was pretending, or he was as tired as he seemed.

Her hands tightened in her lap. A glance out the window earlier had revealed a drainpipe not two feet from their room. It hadn’t seemed possible that the opportunity would present itself.

Until now.

She opened her eyes just a little and found his still closed. Dark lashes lay against sun-kissed skin, and his lips had relaxed into a less grim shape. A moment passed, then another, but those eyes did not reopen. Small creases at their corners testified that he was no mere youth, but with a face like that... No,
ancient
was hardly accurate.

Fascinating.

He was incredibly handsome. There was no denying it.

But she’d spent too much time locked away in rooms, too many years at the mercy of a man who showed no mercy. She would not exchange Father’s unyielding lack of compassion for a husband’s—not now, not when she was finally mistress of her own life.

Her toes curled restlessly inside her shoes while his chest rose and fell, rose and fell, a little more deeply with each breath.
Wait. Just wait.

Minutes passed.

More minutes

Slowly, carefully, India sat forward. A fresh puff of night air was just cool enough to make her shiver.

Silently she rose to her feet, tensing, fighting off a sudden nervous tremor as she fixed her eyes on Nicholas Warre.

His hands lay slack on his lap. No movement. Nothing.

She crept toward the window. It was torture knowing her pistol was tucked into his breeches, but there was no help for it. She paused at the window and stared at the back of his head, willing him to stay asleep. Between them, the bed sat untouched. Whatever might have happened on that shoddy bed behind him wasn’t going to happen tonight. Or ever.

Slowly, quietly, she stuck one leg outside.

Listened.

Swung the other leg around.

Listened.

The only thing she heard was her own heart thundering in her ears.
Hurry!

She sprang into action, reaching for the drainpipe, gripping it with both hands as she swung out of the window and landed with both feet against the building. Through the window she could see his arm and the top of his head.

She willed him to stay asleep and began her descent. The distance to the ground was nothing compared to a ship’s crow’s nest. Every scrape of her feet against the building sounded like the drag of twenty saws, but already she was near the next floor. The guests in the room directly below theirs had left the window open. She prayed the sound of her feet would not wake them.

One more floor and she would be on the ground.

And then, from above, a shout.

“India!”

Nicholas Warre’s angry bark shot into the night from inside the room.

No!

She glanced up but he hadn’t come to the window—not yet. There were only seconds to spare.

“Lady India!”

There was only one escape. She dived toward the open window to her left and clambered through it just as Nicholas Warre’s voice came more clearly from above.

“Lady India!”

She tumbled through the window and onto the floor, bruising her elbow. A woman screamed. A man shouted. A large form leaped from the bed just as India scrambled to her feet and darted half-blindly toward the door.

“Arretez!”
the man shouted.

“Excuse me!” No—French!
“Pardonnez!”
India stumbled over an open trunk. The woman in the bed screamed loud enough to wake the entire city.

A pistol shot exploded in the darkness. India screamed and dropped to the floor just as the ball whizzed past her head and slammed into the door. “Don’t shoot!
Don’t shoot!
”

“Henri!”
the woman shrieked.
“Tirez! Tirez!”

“No!
Don’t
shoot!” Thank heaven she could speak French—thank heaven she hadn’t needed to read to learn it. There were shouts from other parts of the hotel. Doors slamming.

A match flared.
“Ne bougez pas!”
the man ordered.

“I won’t—I won’t move!” She kept her head buried and her faced pressed to the floorboards. Footsteps pounded upstairs, outside the room, and she needed to leave
now
or the chance would be lost. “It’s a mistake,” she told him in French. “You must let me go. Please—quickly! I must
go!
”

Candlelight sputtered to life.
“Un voleur, eh?”
He snorted.
“Vous allez le regretter.”

“I’m not a thief. And I
am
sorry—very sorry. But I must go!” She started to sit up.

“Henri, idiot! Tirez!”

“Tais-toi!”
There was a mad rustling as though he were struggling into his clothes. Footsteps thundered outside the room. A crescendo of voices poured through the paper-thin walls. Someone pounded on the door.

“What is going on in there?” came an angry voice in Italian.

“Please—you must let me leave by the window. There is a man trying to abduct me, and I was only trying to escape—”

“
Silence!
The authorities will make quick work of you.”

The authorities! “No, you must listen. I am not a thief—ouch!” He yanked her to her feet, not listening at all. “I am staying upstairs with a man who is trying to abduct me!”

He dragged her to the door.

“I am not a thief!” If he summoned the authorities, she could end up in gaol.

He wrenched the door open. Nicholas Warre burst into the room followed closely by a man who could only be the innkeeper. There was a commotion of angry voices—the innkeeper furious over the damaged door, the Frenchman outraged by India’s invasion, the woman screaming and huddling beneath the covers, the onlookers exclaiming from the hallway.

“I must ask you to release my wife,” Nicholas Warre told the man in French.

“Your wife!” the man exclaimed.

Faced with a choice between being mistaken for a thief or being mistaken for Nicholas Warre’s wife, she broke away from the Frenchman and launched herself at Mr. Warre.

“Oh, Nicholas!” India cried, clinging to him. “Tell this man I’m not a thief.”

He offered the Frenchman a grim smile. “You have my deepest apologies. I am discovering that my bride has unconventional ways of showing her displeasure with me. The lady was not nearly so eager for our nuptials as her father, I’m afraid.”

“Nicholas, how can you
say
such a thing? I was perfectly eager until you brought that...that
awful woman
into our room and tried to make me— Oh!” His grip tightened painfully. “Would not any bride climb out the window under such circumstances?”

“You can imagine that whatever justice you might hope to exact, she exacts from me tenfold daily,” he told the Frenchman grimly, and gestured toward the pistol. “In fact, perhaps I ought to beg a favor and ask you to put me out of my misery.”

The Frenchman made a noise.

“Shame on you, Nicholas. Sir, perhaps you would be so good as to explain to my husband that a wedding night is meant to be a private evening involving only
two
people.”

Laughter erupted in the crowd, and India silently thanked Auntie Phil for being a bit too free in describing her friends’ amorous liaisons.

Nicholas Warre reached into his pocket and held out a sovereign. “For your trouble—again, with my deepest apologies and my sincerest request that you not summon the authorities.”

India held her breath.

The Frenchman narrowed his eyes at the coin, and finally lowered his pistol, stalked forward and snatched it. “
Bien.
Take her away.” He gestured as if India was a pile of refuse in Nicholas Warre’s arms and turned his anger on the crowd. “All of you,
allez! Allez!
”

Nicholas Warre dragged her mercilessly into the crowded hallway.

“If you would rather be shot than marry me,” she told him under her breath, “I would be happy to arrange it.”

“If you can find a way to escape your cell aboard the ship,” he growled into her ear, “I invite you to try.”