The Pirate's Duchess: A Regent's Revenge Novella by Katherine Bone Read Free Book Online Page B

Trewman’s Exeter Flying Post report an INDEFATIGABLE exertion by the Fury ’s crew, who prevented a DISASTER off the coast of Sidmouth, SAVING revenue cutters who’d given chase.
    ~ Trewman’s Exeter Flying Post , 14 October 1808
     
     
    Even the sun conspired against her. It had disappeared behind the clouds, allowing a bitter cold wind and rain to defile what should have been her wedding day.
    Prudence trembled in Tobias’s arms as he guided Manfred to Jones and Lucy Denny’s rock-and-timber stable two hundred yards from their main cottage. Once there, Tobias dismounted slowly, careful not to unseat her. He tied Manfred’s reins to a post before turning back to Prudence with outstretched arms. Frightened, exhausted, and still simmering from his lies, she leaned down toward him as he grabbed her waist. Her teeth were chattering so fast, she practically fell against him. She grabbed on to his lapels as he scooped her up in his arms, and she burrowed her face into his coat to brace against the midday chill saturating her body. It helped little to shield her from the brutal wind, but she didn’t care. Tobias only seemed real when she was in his arms.
    “Not so timid now, eh?” Tobias asked as raindrops landed on her face and rolled down her neck.
    She blinked back the moisture and gazed into his eyes, completely aware she must look a fright. She didn’t care. She’d never been vain. What concerned her now were her conflicting emotions. She’d fought hard to live without Tobias, to gain her independence. Now, as she looked up at his dripping-wet face, she didn’t want to let him go again. With that admission, the network of ramparts she’d built around her heart collapsed. Air filled her lungs, and she felt like she could soar on eagles’ wings. Cradled in his arms, close to his beating heart, she didn’t want this beautiful ceasefire to wash away like the clay beneath their feet. But it would. All good things came to an end.
    “You’ll soon be warm, my dove,” he promised.
    Thank goodness they’d arrived at the Dennys’ front door. The couple was kind and would take them in without question. She had hired them on the recommendation of Lords Thaddeus Standeford and Algernon Barrett, Tobias’s old friends.
    “I am not your d-dove.” But oh, how she wanted to turn back time, to be his in every way. “And I insist on not b-being treated like a child.”
    A pained expression flattened his lips. He readjusted his hold on her person and staggered slightly. “If that is your wish.”
    Carillons vibrated inside her. Heaven help her, she couldn’t bear his indifference any more than she could the frantic beating of her heart. “What is it?” she asked. Something wasn’t right. He’d agreed too easily and without sarcasm. “What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing.”
    He grinned sheepishly, then started to slosh his way through the muck to the Dennys’ front door. She held on to him as he stopped, groaned, and shuffled sideways, borrowing the side of the cottage for support.
    “I must get you to the house.” He moved again, this time favoring one leg.
    “Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt?” She struggled to slide down to her feet. “Where?”
    “Come,” he said, refusing to let her go, putting one foot in front of the other as he limped to the cottage steps. “I will not have you ruining your slippers.”
    “I don’t care about my slippers.” She splayed her hands over his chest. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
    “I’ve been shot.”
    Shot? The word rifled through her brain. No, no, no. Who would have shot him? Surely they weren’t being targeted. No one in their right mind hunts in a thunderstorm. “How? Why didn’t you let me know?”
    Thunder rumbled loudly, frightening her half to death. His gaze flickered over the countryside, then slanted to the door. “We need to get out of sight.”
    “Someone is still out there?” She swallowed thickly. “We were followed?”
    He lowered her until