Page 87 of A Game of Scandal

“What’s you?” Ash was already stepping forward, apprehension in his face, but I held my hand out to stop him.

“The fabric in the warehouse,” I said dully. “Mother said there was a problem with my gown and it had to be altered.”

“What are you talking about?” Ash took another step towards me, and again I kept him at bay. “I don’t understand. You look frightened. Will you tell me what the hell is going on?”

“It’s me,” I said. “I’m the second bomb.”

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

“This isn’t exactly how I thought I’d be getting you out of your skirts.” Ash’s muffled voice was playful, yet I heard the tension underneath his words, the fear. I heard it in his voice and I felt it moving through me, in endless tiny shock waves.

We had removed my veil and train first, checking every inch of them together, but I had known all along that it would come to this.

“It’s in the gown,” I said, resigned. “I know it is. This would never have been possible if women weren’t forced to wear such stupid, impractical get-ups.”

“It turns out it’s extremely practical for smuggling explosives,” Ash said, emerging from under my skirts. “I think there’s something sewn into the lining, but you’ll need to remove the dress.”

My teeth were chattering. “The presentation has almost finished,” I said. “The timer could run out any moment. You should leave. Evacuate the ballroom and get out of here.” I couldn’t bear it, that he was here and that I was the one who had put him in such danger.

Ash took my hand, stroked his fingers down and along my palm in a soothing gesture.

“Neither of us is going anywhere. So, instead of wasting time we might not have” – Ash’s deliberately cool voice managed to penetrate my panic – “why don’t we accept the situation and get on with it? The sooner we disarm the device, the sooner I can go and punch Laing in the face.”

“So long as I can punch him first,” I managed, forcing myself to give a weak smile.

“That’s the spirit.” Ash touched my cheek. “You’ve been saying you wanted out of that dress all day, love. Let’s make it happen.”

I nodded as he went round to my back and began the work to undo the hundreds of tiny buttons that held the gown together.

“Say something to distract me,” I said as Ash’s fingers gently brushed the nape of my neck.

“Remember when I told Laetitia I was half in love with you?” he asked.

Colour hit my cheeks. “Yes, I do.”

“That was a lie.” I heard the smile in his voice. “I was already the whole way in.”

“Oh,” I exhaled. “Me too.”

“Now that is convenient.” Ash kept his voice mild as I felt the glide of his touch along my spine. He seemed suspiciously competent at getting ladies out of their gowns. “When this is over,” he carried on, “I think we should make some plans for our future. What do you want?”

“I want to see your tattoo,” I said, blurting the first thing that came into my head.

Ash’s fingers stilled for a second, and then he went back to work on my buttons. “That can be arranged. But I was also thinking maybe we sail off into the sunset.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well, you have had the good fortune to fall in love with a pirate. What if we took a tour of some far-flung places before you settle down to your studies?”

“You’d take me with you?” I said, and it felt as though my poor torn-up heart was stitching itself back together. “On an adventure?”

“We are the adventure, Felicity.” Ash stepped away from my back and moved round so that he was in front of me once more.

His thumb caught the tear on my cheek I didn’t know had fallen.

It was at that moment that Sylla burst through the door. She took in the sight of me and Ash alone in a room in Buckingham Palace, me half out of my ballgown, and closed the door behind her with a firm snick of the latch.

“I take it there’s been a complication?” she said.