A Daring Passion

Madame LaSalle gave a nod, her hands on her hips as if quite prepared to use brute force to keep Raine abed.

Certain that Raine was out of harm’s way for the moment, Philippe left the chamber and made his way to the narrow kitchen. As Madame LaSalle had promised he found Carlos at the table eating a large bowl of stew.

“Did you discover anything?” he asked as he leaned against the wall.

“Very little.” Carlos took a deep drink of his wine. “The rooms held few possessions. Certainly none that would lead us to where Seurat has fled.”

Philippe had not dared to hope that Seurat would be so careless as to lead them to his latest lair. And in truth, it was not his swift disappearance that was currently troubling him.

“He could not have gone far. Belfleur’s lads are searching every street and alley. I have offered enough reward to make sure they do not allow so much as a mouse to slip past them.”

Carlos polished off the last of his stew and leaned back in his chair. “I do not believe he intends to try to slip past them. For the moment I sense he intends to find a dark corner to hide in while he plots how to punish you. He will not be pleased you interfered in his revenge.”

“I hope you are right, my friend.” Philippe smiled with cold anticipation. “On this occasion I intend to be prepared.”

Carlos nodded, his fingers tapping restlessly on the table. “How is Raine?”

“Remarkably well and already lecturing me on my wish to punish her captor,” he said dryly.

“She was not—” the muscles in Carlos’s neck worked as he struggled against a blaze of emotion “—harmed?”

Philippe had no need to inquire to his companion’s meaning. Neither had spoken of their appalling fear that Seurat might force himself on the vulnerable woman, but it had been a heavy burden that they had both endured. A woman could recover from bruises and scrapes. To be raped was a wound that did not heal.

“No,” he said in emphatic tones. “She assures me that Seurat behaved as a perfect gentleman.”

Carlos released a shaky sigh. “Thank God.”

“Indeed.”

There was a startled silence as Carlos narrowed his gaze. He had not missed Philippe’s distracted tone.

“Should you not be pleased Seurat did not harm her?”

“Of course I am relieved.” Philippe pushed from the wall to prowl across the flagstone floor. “Had he so much as laid a hand upon her…I would have pursued him to the gates of hell to destroy him.”

“Then what troubles you?”

Philippe came to an abrupt halt and shoved his fingers through his hair. “Why did Seurat release Raine?”

“He did not precisely release her. He merely left her behind.”

“But why? He could have forced her to go with him when he fled.”

Carlos shrugged. “Perhaps he feared she might endanger his escape. Hauling around a screaming woman does tend to attract attention.”

“Taking her from his rooms would have offered considerably less risk than taking her from this cottage. Once he had her in his grasp, she would be compelled to obey his commands,” Philippe pointed out.

Carlos gave a startled laugh. “Raine obeying commands? That would be a sight worth seeing.”

Philippe’s lips briefly twitched. It was true that Raine had an uncanny habit of ignoring even the most direct commands. Still, not even his stubborn beauty was proof against a gun pointed at her heart.

“Why did he not force her to go with him?” he repeated.

“It could be he thought that she had served her purpose,” Carlos suggested. “He proved he could slip beneath your nose and steal away something you value.”

Philippe frowned. If he had discovered nothing else about Seurat over the past few weeks it was that he was determined to have his full pound of flesh from the Gautier clan.

“But he must have realized she was the perfect means of gaining whatever he desired from my family,” he argued. “I would have done anything, given anything to have her returned.”