The Tantalizing Miss Coale (The Notorious Coale Brothers) (3 page)

He breathed deep and slow as her arms slid around him. Dear
heaven, he must find her a horse of her own or he would explode!

A mile down the road they reached a village and although the
inn was much smaller and clearly did not hold a contract for the mail coaches,
the landlord was able to furnish them with a horse and a lady’s saddle, which
could be hired for what Sally considered an exorbitant fee.

‘I hope you haven’t forgotten how to ride,’ muttered Ben.

It was a struggle to reply. Her heart was still racing from the
feel of his hands about her waist when he threw her up into the saddle.

‘Of course not, although I doubt this nag will keep pace with
you.’

‘We shall see.’

They set off across the fields, Sally cantering behind Ben and
keeping slightly to one side to avoid the clods of mud kicked up by Morgan’s
great hooves. When they slowed to rest the horses she came up beside him.

‘You seem to know your way very well.’

‘I should do. I have travelled here often.’

‘Oh?’ she looked up at him. ‘Do you have property in the
area?’

‘No.’ He hesitated. ‘I have been working for the
government.’

‘A spy?’

‘No, no, nothing so exciting, but the French are trying to turn
our Scottish friends against us. I just help to make sure they don’t
succeed.’

‘So am I keeping you from your duty? I beg your pardon, only I
heard you say you were on your way to York...’

‘I
am
on my way to York, and you
are not keeping me from my duty,’ he said. ‘My current mission is ended and as
soon as I have made my report I am taking leave, and much-deserved it is.’

She remembered when she had seen him in the taproom, with his
wild hair and that thick growth of beard. She said slowly, ‘Is your work
dangerous, Ben? I know you always craved adventure. I thought you would one day
be a soldier, like Dominic.’

‘My father was very much against it, and certainly would not
buy me a commission. If he had been willing I would have accepted eagerly.
Especially after you gave me my
congé.
’

Sally sank her teeth into her lower lip and kept her eyes fixed
at some spot between the horse’s ears. She had apologised, there was nothing
more to say.

It seemed Ben agreed with her, for after a short silence he
asked her what she intended to do once they reached York.

‘I shall take the stage to Murton. I have friends there who
will take me in.’

‘What I don’t understand is why you ran off with Henry in the
first place.’

Sitting on the hired nag with a chill wind blowing, Sally felt
very alone and disinclined to explain, she did not want to think of the
consequences if Henry or her father should catch up with her.

‘It was necessary,’ she said shortly, casting an anxious look
around her. ‘Shall we press on?’

* * *

Ben touched his heels to Morgan’s flanks and they were
off again, galloping across the open country. He kept a steady pace, slower than
he was wont to travel since the hired mare was struggling to keep up. He thought
back to those far-away school holidays he had spent with Sally’s brothers,
Jasper and Dominic, at Markham. Then Sally’s mount had been a spirited beast,
capable of showing the way over the roughest ground. She was a fearless rider
and he had been anxious for her safety, but also proud of her ability to master
any horse in her father’s stable. He remembered the pleasure of racing neck and
neck with her across the open ground, recalled her delight when she won by a
nose, and his own happiness when she smiled at him....

With a silent curse he dragged his thoughts back to the
present. She had tricked him cruelly. Her brothers had been in London, setting
the town alight and making a reputation for themselves as wicked flirts. He
should have realised their sister would be no different. Whatever scrape she was
in now she had brought on herself. When they reached York he would go his own
way and forget her.

You have not done so, thus far.

The insidious voice in his head taunted him and with a growl of
frustration he urged Morgan on, finding some relief in a headlong gallop.
However, it meant that when he reached the small copse where they must leave the
open ground and join the road into York, he was obliged to wait for Sally to
catch up with him. Memories crowded him, the easy way she handled the horse, the
added sparkle the exertion brought to her dark eyes. He pushed the thoughts
away; he would not allow her to bewitch him again. As soon as she was close he
turned Morgan toward the road.

‘We should take a more sedate pace from here if we are not to
attract attention.’ He kept his eyes fixed ahead. ‘I will escort you to the
booking office and then find the inn where that rascally landlord said I was to
leave his mare.’

‘Thank you. You are very good.’

Her tone was subdued. Was she anxious about taking the stage?
He reminded himself it was not his concern.

* * *

‘The booking office is over there. I will get you
down.’

Sally was quite capable of alighting unaided from the little
mare, but she waited for Ben to help her. For a moment he held her, suspended in
mid-air. She was at his mercy, helpless, aware of his hands spanning her waist,
his face slightly below hers. Suddenly she was back in the stables at Markham,
sliding into his arms, putting her hands on his shoulders as he lowered her
slowly so that she could kiss his mouth. Did he still taste of salt and fresh
air?

She saw the spark of recognition in Ben’s eyes and her heart
leapt—with fear or desire she could not be sure—but the next moment she was on
the ground and he was turning away. Disappointment shook her to the core. She
wanted to reach out for him, but what good would that do? It could only result
in another rejection. Besides, they must part at some time. The longer they were
together the harder that would be.

Ben cleared his throat. ‘Would you like me to wait...’

‘No, thank you. You have done enough for me already.’ She
summoned a bright smile. ‘You have an appointment, I believe. I must detain you
no longer, but perhaps...’ The temptation for one last touch was irresistible.
‘Perhaps we might shake hands before you go?’

He gazed for a long time at her outstretched hand.

‘That is a gesture between friends,’ he said at last. ‘And we
could never be that.’

Her smile froze and her heart splintered at his cold words, but
she was a viscount’s daughter, she had been bred to withstand such knocks.
Summoning every ounce of resolve she could muster she said coolly, ‘Of course.
How foolish of me.’

She walked to the booking office, her head held high, even
though she had to blink rapidly to see her way. Dealing with the clerk, who was
singularly uninterested, helped her to regain some of her composure. There was a
wait of several hours, which was disappointing. The clerk roused himself
sufficiently to point out that there was a coffee room close by, but she decided
against it and sat down on a bench in the booking office to wait for the Murton
stage.

* * *

Ben rode off down the busy street, leading the hired
mare behind him. After the way she had treated him he should not care what
happened to Serena Coale, but he did. He had not dared to take her hand, fearing
if he did so he would not be able to let her go. He had seen the forlorn look in
her eyes as they parted, despite the brave smile. Or was it all an act, to make
him think better of her?

For the past eighteen months he had worked undercover as an
intelligence officer, risking his life, facing death with a devil-may-care
defiance, all because of this woman, who had dismissed him as a nonentity. Any
number of villains had tried and failed to get the better of him. He had hoped
the constant danger and excitement of his occupation would cool his blood, but
as soon as he had seen the Honourable Serena Coale with her ink-dark eyes and
thick, lustrous hair he had fallen once more under her spell. Two years ago she
had scorned his love and done her utmost to make him hate her, but in the
orchard last night he had realised how much he still wanted her. Madness. Ben
shook his head, trying to dispel the memories. The sooner he concluded his
business here and moved on the better.

His contact in York was a government official, painstakingly
slow and very thorough. Ben made his report and answered all his questions, but
never before had he chafed so much at the fellow’s unhurried manner of
proceeding. At last matters were concluded. Ben refused an invitation to stay
and dine. He looked at his watch. It was not yet five o’clock. There were a few
hours of daylight left; he could make good progress south if he went on now and
possibly save himself another day on the road. But as he strode through the
narrow, crowded thoroughfares he thought of Sally. Perhaps she was on her way to
Murton even now. Or was she still waiting for the stage to set off? Spirited as
she was, he did not like the idea of her travelling unescorted. And if these
friends of hers were not at home? Sal would be alone in a village where she knew
no one. And she had no baggage with her save her reticule—what would a
respectable landlord make of that?

‘Hell and damnation!’ Ben stopped abruptly, causing a gentleman
following to cannon into him and he was obliged to apologise before he could
move on, this time toward the booking office. He would merely ascertain whether
or not the stage had left. He told himself he was worrying unnecessarily, but as
he turned the corner he stopped and quickly drew back into a doorway. Sally was
walking away from the booking office on the arm of Sir Henry Nettleton.

* * *

Sally pulled her hand free, saying in a furious
undertone, ‘Let me go. You may force me to accompany you, but I will not hold
your arm.’

‘Very well, but do not think of running off, my dear,’ Henry
patted his pocket. ‘With the information I have here, you can expect no help
from any honest citizens you meet. Your actions would only serve to confirm
your, ah, condition.’

‘I have changed my mind. I no longer want to marry you.’

‘Your wishes are of no importance. Your father is not one to be
complaisant if his plans are thwarted, so for your sake and mine we must be
married before we return to Markham. But to prevent your running off again, I
mean to make sure of you tonight. My coachman tells me there is a fine inn at
Shipham, just six miles from here and I have sent a rider on ahead to book our
room there. Note I say
room
, my dear. By the morning
you will no longer be a maid.’

A cold chill ran through Sally. Marrying a bumbling
well-meaning Henry had been something she was prepared to endure, rather than
face the alternative, but learning that he had planned all this with her father
made the thought of marriage to him unbearable.

He hustled her into the waiting carriage and they set off
through the narrow, crowded streets of the city. Sir Henry, pleased with his
success, was inclined to be talkative.

‘I had a notion there was something wrong this morning,’ he
told her, settling himself back in one corner. ‘You were so restless. Different,
somehow—you see what an attentive husband I shall be?’ He laughed when she
hunched her shoulder and turned away to look out of the window. ‘I noticed your
absence as soon as I returned from my walk.’

‘That does not explain how you found me.’

‘I made enquiries at the stables. They told me only one man had
left that morning, a traveller bound for York. I have known you so long I was
sure you would have no compunction in persuading a perfect stranger to take you
with him.’

She kept silent, determined not to tell him that Ben Hensley
was anything but a stranger.

‘No,’ Henry continued in a smug tone that made her grit her
teeth. ‘Once here, it was merely a question of finding out if you had booked a
place on the mail or the stage.’

The carriage rattled on. Henry dozed in one corner but Sally
stared out at the passing landscape. Perhaps she might be able to get away when
they stopped. She wondered where Ben was now, if he was thinking of her.
Probably not. She blinked. As he had said, she had made her bed and it seemed
increasingly likely that she would have to lie in it.

At that moment there were shouts from outside and the carriage
stopped. Yawning, Henry let down the window and put out his head.

‘What the devil!’

‘Devil indeed, ‘ called a familiar voice that set Sally’s heart
racing. ‘Perhaps you and your companion would be good enough to step out.’

Ben was at the side of the road, Morgan standing patiently
while his master levelled a horse pistol at the carriage.

‘I’ll be damned if I will!’

‘You will certainly be damned if you don’t,’ retorted Ben
cheerfully. ‘I have more than one pistol, my friend, so it would be no bother
for me to put one bullet into your coachman and another into you.’

‘This is what comes of travelling without servants,’ Henry
grumbled as he helped Sally out of the coach. ‘I should never have listened to
you.’ He raised his voice and addressed Ben.

‘So what do you want? My purse, my watch? Damned scoundrel,
I’ll have you hunted down for this.’

‘No, no you may keep your goods, sir. I have come to relieve
you of your pretty companion.’

‘What? You would abduct her? You, you...’

‘It’s not abduction if the lady is willing,’ Ben interrupted
him. ‘Well, madam?’

Sally started forward, then stopped.

‘There is a letter, in his pocket. I need to have it.’

‘Then take it, ma’am, but pray be careful, do not stand between
us. If the gentleman objects, I may need to put a bullet in him.’

Quickly she found the letter and stuffed it into her reticule.
She ran across to join Ben who was gazing at Henry, a heavy frown creasing his
brow.