Page 127 of Outrageous

Out in the courtyard stood a magnificent traveling coach, certainly not that of a man strapped for money. But who knew? Some men believed they had to puff off their wealth in order to attract more.

“Let’s see what he has to offer before we start asking questions,” Eva whispered as they crossed the courtyard. “I’d like to take my measure of him.”

“I think that’s a brilliant idea,” James said with almost giddy enthusiasm.

She grinned up at him as they approached the carriage, which had heavily draped windows. “I think you’re more excited about this than I am.”

“I think it’s safe to say that’s true,” James muttered as a slight servant in handsome navy and silver livery hopped off the back and came forward to open the door.

Just then Eva realized she’d never asked the gentleman’s name. She turned to James to ask him just as he lurched down and seized her around the waist. “Up you go, my lady.”

“James! What—”

“Hush,” he advised in the same voice he used to soothe horses. “It’ll be just fine. I hope.”

Too stunned to struggle, Eva found herself being lowered gently onto a plush seat in the darkened interior, the door snapping shut a second later, and the carriage lurching forward.

“James!” she shouted, but the well-sprung coach was barreling down the drive.

Eva scrabbled at the heavy drapes that covered the window and ripped them open, exposing the interior of the carriage to the light.

She turned to the other occupant and gasped. “You!”

Chapter 26

Godric thought it was touch and go as to whether she would decide to remove the gag on his mouth.

Her eyes were like midnight-blue marbles and her fine, slender nostrils flared just like the beasts she so adored.

“You!”

Godric couldn’t help grinning around the gag, even though he suspected it was a gruesome—and likely provoking—sight.

She used her fist to pound on the roof of the carriage. “James! James! You’d better turn this carriage around or you shall be very, very sorry.” Nothing but the sound of carriage wheels and wind answered her threat and she turned back to Godric.

“This was your idea, wasn’t it? Some sort of perverse punishment.”

Godric waited for her anger to settle down. And also for her to remove the bloody gag.

She opened her mouth—no doubt to scold—and then seemed to notice his appearance.

“What’s going on?” she asked, her dark blue gaze flickering over his wrinkled coat, flattened, stained cravat, and the rope tied around his boots at the ankles.

When her gaze made the journey back up again, he saw her delicious lips were parted in shock. Godric raised both his eyebrows, the only form of communication left to him.

She closed her mouth and swallowed, her eyebrows lowering as if she were faced with a particularly sticky and unappealing problem.

Finally—finally, she huffed out an irritated sigh and leaned forward, her hands going to the thick cotton cloth they’d tied behind his head. The position brought them close, intimately close, but she refused to meet his gaze while her hands worked blind behind him.

Godric thought she’d lost weight, the lovely bones of her face more pronounced, making her look like a tragedienne. She pulled off the gag and tossed it to the floor.

“Thank you,” he said, his voice hoarse from the yelling he’d done—the first day.

“Turn sideways and I’ll untie your wrists.”

He obliged.

“Lord. Who tied these?” she asked in a tone of respect mingled with horror.