Page 42 of How the Earl Entices

“Thank you.” Grace blew out a tired sigh and gave a relieved sag of her shoulders as she placed her hand over her abdomen and arched her back in exaggeration to jut out her belly. “Especially a woman in my condition.” She lowered her voice as she clarified in a whisper. “Enceinte.”

She saw a flash of amused surprise glint in Ross’s eyes, but his well-trained expression never changed.

“Aye, ma’am. The scare must’ve startled ye.”

“Terrified me, more like.” Her eyes never left Ross’s as she touched his cheek. “Don’t ever do anything like that again, Christopher, you understand?”

Then, because she couldn’t help herself, she rose up on tiptoes and kissed him again.

As she pulled away, her eyes locked with his. She only half pretended when she murmured, “What would we do if we lost you?”

His lips twisted with amusement, not catching her deeper meaning. “Yes, Mrs. Thomas. Next time I’ll let the boy be trampled, shall I?”

“Impertinent,” she scolded, falling back into her role of irritated wife.

“And on that,” he muttered, giving the long-suffering sigh of a beleaguered husband as he took her arm and led her forward, “we’ll depart. Gentlemen, I wish you a good night’s rest away from your wives.” He cast a roll of his eyes at them and muttered, “Lucky devils.”

The three soldiers laughed. Grace’s cheeks grew redder with peevishness that she’d been the butt of his joke, which only added to their disguise of a bickering married couple.

They crossed the courtyard to the inn, and Ross held the door open for her.

“Do you really think those soldiers only wanted to find out if we were all right?” she whispered as she started past him.

“No.” He reached for her arm, stopping her close to him in the small doorway. “Did you really kiss me just to throw them off?”

She didn’t dare answer. The truth would undo her.

His eyes fixed on her mouth for a long moment, as if he were contemplating kissing her again, right there in the doorway. And not a peck like she’d given him, but one that would have left her begging to be ravished.

Hearing his explanation of the papers and why he’d done what he had, and then seeing him risk his life to save that child, she couldn’t remain furious at him. He was proving himself to be the selfless, courageous hero she’d suspected him to be.

Although trusting him again would take more time.

As if recognizing the conflict he spun inside her, he mercifully looked away from her mouth and dropped his gaze to her belly. “Enceinte?”

“It seemed a good disguise at the time.”

He drawled dryly, “Is it mine?”

She flashed him the most mischievous smile she could summon. “I’ll never tell.”

Then she stepped past him into the inn.

Chapter 12

The soldiers were moving again.

Ross stood beside the window in their dark room and watched the activity in the yard below. Not because he worried that the men would realize that he and Grace had lied to them, but because he couldn’t sleep.

He raked frustrated fingers through his hair. It was official now. England had declared him a traitor, when all he’d ever done was fight to protect his country. Even now he was risking his life for it. Yet everyone who saw those bills posted across the countryside or read the reports in the London papers would believe he’d turned his back on England, when that was the very last thing he’d ever do. But if he couldn’t convince the Court of the truth, he’d go to his grave marked as a traitor.

To think that he’d once wanted nothing more than to be an ambassador, that he’d admired Wentworth and considered him a mentor—lies.Nothing but lies now, leaving the taste of ashes in his mouth.

And Grace…Christ!He’d wanted to punch his fist through the coach wall that afternoon. Not because those two gossipy old women had identified him, but because of the terrified look Grace had given him.

As if he were some kind of monster.

He bit back a curse. He shouldn’t have revealed the truth about the pages and how they fit together. Telling her put her life at risk. Yet he needed her to trust him, and he couldn’t bear the cold accusation he’d seen in her eyes, the fear and doubt. He’d wanted her to trust him—