Page 79 of How the Earl Entices
A loud smashing of glass and splintering of wood shattered the quiet morning, followed by the shouts and running strides of men rushing into the studio below.
Christ. They’d been found.
Grace’s eyes widened in terror. “Ross—”
“Hide!” He grabbed her by the shoulders as the men came closer. “Go into the other room. I’ll keep them busy here.”
She shook her head adamantly, grabbing for his arm. “I won’t leave you!”
At that moment he knew—she loved him.
And he loved her too much to let her be harmed because of him.
He pushed her toward the door. “As soon as it’s safe, go to St James’s Street, to any of the clubs there. Ask for Kit. He’ll take care of you.”
“But I don’t want—”
His mouth swooped down to capture hers. She gasped beneath his desperation, but his kiss silenced her, making it clear that he’d brook no arguments about this. He said he would protect her, and that’s exactly what he was doing.
“Go,now.”
He pushed her into the room and closed the door after her, then turned to face the men who were storming upstairs.
When the first soldier reached the top of the stairs, Ross swung, his fist catching the man in the chin and snapping his head aside as he stumbled back.
Three more men came after, and he let fly punch after punch, ducking when the men fought back. He couldn’t win against them, not when he was so outnumbered, but he fought as hard as he could to distract them from finding Grace.
A fist landed on his jaw, and he staggered back. Another struck in his stomach. He doubled over in pain. A slam to the middle of his back knocked him to his knees. But the kick to his already wounded ribs did him in, and he sank to the floor, this time unable to find the strength to stand back up.
“Ross Carlisle, you’re under arrest.” The same officer he’d first punched when the soldiers rushed up the stairs jabbed his knee into the middle of his back to keep him pressed against the floor, then yanked his arms behind his back. Iron manacles clamped tightly around his wrists. “For treason.”
Ross remained still as the men grabbed his arms and jerked him to his feet. A trickle of blood seeped from the cut at the corner of his mouth, and his side hurt like hell, the pain so fierce that each ragged breath came with an agonizing shudder. But he smiled grimly, pleased with himself, when he saw the damage he’d done to the three men.
“And this one?” another soldier demanded from behind him.
His stomach plummeting, Ross turned—
Grace stood in the doorway. Behind her, one of the soldiers gripped her arms so hard to keep her from escaping that she winced. His teeth clenched in fury. If that man hurt her, he would kill the bastard.
“Arrest her,” the captain ordered. “Same charge.”
“She had nothing to do with this!” Ross protested quickly, desperate to save her. “She’s only a woman I tricked into helping me. Nothing more.”
“Ross,” she whispered. For once, stunned by the confusion and surprise of the arrest, she was unable to hide behind pretense, and the shock and hurt showed on her face.
Good.He needed to make the soldiers see that raw emotion and pain on her face, to convince them that she wasn’t part of his crimes.
“She’s no one,” he told the men. Then he spat out the blood from his cut lip, but he couldn’t purge the awful taste from his mouth that he’d put her into danger.
The hurt that flashed across her face nearly undid him. But he held her gaze fixed beneath his, praying she comprehended what he was doing, why he had to hurt her so brutally. Because he would do anything to protect her.
“Go,” the captain ordered, shoving Ross toward the stairs. Then he called out over his shoulder, “Arrest her.”
Ross glanced back as the men dragged him down the stairs and out to the waiting wagon in the alley. The last glimpse he had of her was of the soldier placing irons on her wrists.
Chapter 24
Her head falling back in exhaustion, Grace looked up from the cold floor where she sat shivering in the damp darkness as the sound of metal scraping on metal echoed off the stone walls of her prison cell.
