My Runaway Heart by Miriam Minger Read Free Book Online Page A

the clamorous throng, most dressed
quite shabbily, unlike the stylish courtesans on the street, but laughing and
smiling just as boldly. Lindsay tried to smile, too, but she felt her
enthusiasm flagging as she scanned the plainly furnished room, the long trestle
tables and side booths filled with drunken revelers, the feeble light cast from
three iron chandeliers suspended from rustic beams making her surroundings
appear fuzzy and indistinct.
    "Come. I see an empty box near the back."
    Jared had shouted, startling her, but she accompanied
him with as much eagerness as she could muster, grateful for his guiding hand
at her arm.
    He seemed very much at ease no matter the bedlam, and
she reminded herself that he had said Tom's Cellar was one of his favorite
places. Perhaps as a military spy, his life constantly fraught with danger, he
felt he could drop his guard amidst such pandemonium. Either that or it suited
his adventurous nature, which made her resolve to relax and enjoy herself as
well.
    Actually, Tom's was little different from Oliver and
Rebecca Trelawny's quayside inn in Porthleven . Perhaps not as rowdy, Lindsay told herself as
she slid onto a bench Jared pulled out for her, but she had been there with Corisande on nights when the village fishermen had
celebrated a record catch of pilchards.
    Sea chanteys and lively conversation had drowned out
talk of the next smuggling run from France, Lindsay always listening silently
while Captain Trelawny and Corisande plotted where it might be safest to land his ship, the Fair Betty. Of course,
she couldn't tell Jared about how she'd sometimes helped with the landings—at
least not until they knew each other better. He worked for King and country,
after all, and fair trading couldn't be more illegal.
    "What do you think?"
    Lindsay smiled brightly as Jared sat down beside her, a
pretty serving woman plunking two brimming mugs of ale on the table in front of
them. In this far corner the singing seemed not half so loud, so she didn't
have to shout.
    "It's lovely—everyone is so merry. I can see why
you enjoy it so much." Gamely she took a sip of ale, trying not to
grimace. "Oh, this is very good. You should try yours."
    He did, but his sip—more a draught—lasted much longer
than hers. And when he set the mug down with a thunk ,
Jared looked so displeased that Lindsay wondered if it was something she had
said. "Is the ale not to your liking?"
    "It's fine. Perfect."
    "Yes, mine, too." Wondering at the irritation
in his voice, Lindsay took another small sip, her cheeks heating under his
close scrutiny. Lord, had a man's eyes ever been so blue? "If the truth be
known, I've never tasted the drink before—oh!"
    She had nearly dropped her mug, Jared moving so close
to her on the bench that his thigh pressed into her leg . . . a hard, wholly
masculine thigh, the heat of him burning through her cloak. Suddenly feeling as
light-headed as she had at the ball, Lindsay glanced around them, her laughter
a shade too bright. "Heavens, look up there! Do you see them? Two little
boys peering down from the beams?"
    She pointed, and thankfully Jared's gaze followed her
finger, which presented a chance for her to ease away from him, if only to
relieve the fierce beating of her heart. Yet his low chuckle distracted her;
truly, she couldn't recall hearing him laugh before.
    "Pickpockets, I'd wager, keeping a sharp lookout
over the room. Watch."
    She did, her eyes widening as one of the boys pointed
wildly at an inebriated gentleman who had just toppled off his chair, a flurry
of hands reaching out to help him. Meanwhile, a third boy, no more than seven
or eight and wearing the dirty rags of a street urchin, scurried as if out of
nowhere and availed himself of the commotion by fleecing the pockets of all
those bending to help the drunken fellow back to his seat. In a flash the young
thief was gone, slipping into the throng.
    "Shouldn't we do something? Say something?"
Lindsay began to rise, but Jared