A Daring Passion

“Have you?” Raine tugged the blanket closer about her. “What sort of things?”

“I have traveled the world, for one thing.”

“Traveled the world? You are, indeed, fortunate.”

“More than fortunate.” He began an unsteady pacing as his gaunt hands waved about with wild gestures. “I have been to the most exotic and remote places a gentleman could dare to travel. I have lived with natives and was allowed to see sights that no white man has ever seen. I have uncovered treasures that would make your heart weep with joy, and learned secrets that have been hidden for centuries.” His hands abruptly lifted to clutch at his head, as if were being tortured by a sudden pain. Or perhaps it was the sudden voice of the demons that obviously plagued him. “And it was taken away from me. Destroyed by Gautier.”

Raine wrapped the blanket more tightly around her chilled body. She could tangibly feel the overwhelming fervor that was like a poison searing through his body. He was a zealot. A man consumed with his dreams.

It was no wonder he had devoted the past thirty years to his need for revenge.

Louis Gautier had taken his life.

Or at least that was how Seurat would consider the betrayal.

“Surely Monsieur Gautier cannot keep you from continuing your travels?” she softly demanded.

Seurat’s hands curled at his sides as his brows drew together into a dark frown. “Are you blind? How can I be a guide if I am crippled? There is no one who would hire me, and even if they did, I would be incapable of performing my duties. Gautier left me nothing.”

A horrible notion made Raine’s heart give an unpleasant lurch. “It was Monsieur Gautier who…hurt your leg?”

He gave a short, wild laugh. “Not personally, of course. He would never soil his lily-white hands upon a mere servant. Non, he hired others to do his dirty work.”

“But why?”

“Because I would not allow him to steal what was rightfully mine.

I discovered the tomb, I spent my nights digging through the sand, I was the one to be blessed by the gods.”

“So you threatened Monsieur Gautier?”

“I was not going to be robbed of what I earned.”

Raine hesitated, a warning voice in the back of her mind urging her to halt her prying. After all, whatever happened in Egypt two decades ago had nothing to do with her, did it? She was nothing more than a hapless pawn in this ridiculous game. And all that mattered was finding the means to escape.

Deep in her heart, however, she knew that her growing unease had more to do with Louis Gautier and just what she might discover.

Swallowing heavily, Raine found her gaze straying toward the malformed leg.

“What did they do to you?” she forced herself to ask.

A muscle in Seurat’s jaw twitched as he met her wary gaze. “Three men took me far from the tent. I suppose Gautier did not wish to be disturbed by my screams. He need not have bothered. I fainted after they had broken my legs.”

A wave of sickness rolled through her stomach. “You were beaten?”

“Non, ma petite, I was murdered. When Gautier left Egypt he thought I was dead and left buried in the sand. As did I until I was discovered by a wandering tribe three days later.”

Raine pressed a hand to her mouth. “Dear God.”

“Not God.” The lean features twisted with an expression of pure hatred. “This is the work of a devil. And his devil spawn must pay.”

PHILIPPE AWOKE TO DISCOVER himself stretched upon the small sofa in the drawing room. He was not certain how long he had been out. An hour? Two hours? Ever since he had ended the hellish search for Raine through the dark streets of Paris.

Or more precisely, ever since Carlos had ended their search.

Despite their best efforts they had managed to uncover precious little. Carlos had found the stables that confessed that they had rented a carriage to a gentleman that fit Seurat’s description. He had also discovered that Seurat had returned it only an hour before Carlos arrived. But none of the employees had been able to reveal anything more of the man than that he occasionally used their stables and that he frequented the local markets.

Philippe had been grimly set to remain in the shabby neighborhood and begin searching each building. He did not give a bloody hell if the local citizens were all tucked in their beds and that his intrusion might very well have him hauled away by the King’s Guard. Raine was missing and he would do whatever necessary to bring her home.