Page 57 of A Problem Princess

“Tell me.” Cordelia slipped off the bed and approached him. “Any news of the others?”

“A footman and two guards were killed, but all the peers and MPs escaped with their lives.”

She placed her hand on his arm. “And the comtesse?”

He looked down at her hand, sorely tempted to take it and claim what little solace he could in her touch, even such an innocent one. “She’s safe at the palace with your uncle. She’s shaken but fine.”

“Oh, thank God,” she breathed out. “Thank God!” The fear she’d worn for the past few hours visibly left her in a rush. She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly in relief. “They’re safe…all safe!”

Not even close.He gently took her arms and stiffly set her away.

Her joy at the news vanished, and she frowned with fresh worry. “What’s wrong?” She looked at the note in his hand. “What else does it say?”

He could tell her, forceherto make the decision about how to proceed. Hell, that was exactly what he should do. He’d done his duty to England and saved her life, and now he could deposit her safely back at the palace where the captain of the guards would be responsible for her. He owed her nothing more.

But when she slowly took his hand in hers and laced their fingers together with all the trust in the world that he would protect her even from what was inside that message, he knew he was lost.

He would protect her with his life. Allof it. He released her hand, crossed to the fireplace, and tossed the note onto the coals.

“Nothing for you to worry about,” he told her, watching the flames brighten as they devoured the letter. “Just Home Office business.”

“So we can return to the palace?”

The soft question ripped through him. He didn’t dare look over his shoulder at her. “Not quite yet.”

With that, he’d sealed his fate.

“Then you need to rest.” She came up behind him and turned him toward her. Her concern seeped into him when she placed her hand against his cheek. “Take the bed. You need sleep more than I do.”

He knew her touch was meant to soothe, but it only wound tighter the coiling frustration in his gut.

He took her hand and gently moved it away. “I’ll be fine there.” He gestured at the rug in front of the fire. “In the wars, I slept in far worse places than on a brothel floor.” He paused thoughtfully. “Although sometimes itwasa brothel floor.”

Unfortunately, he didn’t draw so much as a faint smile from her. Even in the short time they’d been together, she’d come to know him too well to let him deflect the seriousness of their situation with teasing.

“You’re a princess,” he explained quietly. “I’m only a soldier. The bed is yours.”

“Then as a soldier, you serve at the pleasure of the princess, correct?” She took his hand and led him toward the bed. “And tonight, it would give me great pleasure if you rest.” She stopped by the side of the bed. “After all, I need your strength to save me.”

For a long while, he didn’t move. He simply gazed down at her in the soft shadows of the fire, knowing she meant far more than what those simple words implied.

“And where will you spend the night?” he asked.

She shrugged. “Plain, old, average Jane Smith can sleep on the chair.”

Nothing about her was plain, certainly not old, and not at all average. No, right then, in the glow of the firelight, she looked like an angel.Almost.Because an angel wouldn’t be tempting him like this.Go to bed? Certainly…with you.

She stilled as he reached up to slowly run his hand through her chestnut locks and brush them softly around her shoulders. He bit down a groan as she parted her lips in surprise, then lowered her gaze to his mouth in invitation to be kissed.

He dropped his hand away. She might have taken his life, but he wouldn’t yet surrender his soul.

Without a word, he turned away, yanked off his cravat, and stripped out of his waistcoat. He could feel the heat of her eyes on him as she watched him undress, which only intensified the sweet torture. He didn’t dare look at her as he pulled off his boots and set them on the floor beside the bed, then lowered his braces to dangle them around his hips. When he crawled into bed, he stretched out his long legs, tucked his arm behind his head, and closed his eyes, yet he didn’t expect to sleep a wink.

Only the sound of her slippers against the floorboards told him that Cordelia had found her way to the chair.

Most likely, she’d never seen a man undress before, never seen one stretched out across a bed.Good.Maybe the sight would frighten her enough to make her keep her distance.

But that wish dissolved into the shadows when, less than an hour later, he heard the soft rustle of her skirts as she rose from the chair and the pad of her feet as she crossed the room. He didn’t open his eyes, letting her think he was deep asleep. The mattress moved beneath her weight as she carefully sat on the side of the bed and then lay down. In her exhaustion, the soft bed had undoubtedly proved too much temptation, even with an undressed man already in it.