Hiding Rose (Saved By Desire 5)

“You have to come with me,” he growled. “Remember what just happened.”

Rose glanced frantically around the room, desperately seeking out a familiar face whose attention she could capture.

Now where is Mrs Axelby when you need her? Rose thought waspishly as she studied the sea of unfamiliar faces, none of which were paying her the slightest bit of attention still.

“My parents are over there,” Rose whispered urgently, pointing in the vague direction of where her parents had been sitting. “I will be perfectly safe with them.”

“No, you will not,” Barnaby argued. “If that man sees you, even with your parents, all three of you are going to end up dead. If you wish them to remain safe, you must come with me now.”

“I am not coming with you,” Rose protested.

“You must,” Barnaby growled. He slid an arm around her waist and practically carried her across the room toward the double doors that took them outside.

Pressed as tightly against his side as she was, Rose had little choice but to move her legs in a rough parody of a walk

. In reality, her toes barely touched the ground. She was solely reliant upon him to get her across the room, which he did. His strength astonished her, especially when he ploughed his way through the guests and reached the door in half the time it would have taken her. To her disgust, not one of the assembled guests attempted to stop them. Most of them were already in their cups. Those who weren’t were either too deep in conversation, or too busy eating to even bother to look at her. Because of that, Rose was swept out of the rooms without issue, and propelled out onto the street without a token protest from anyone. It was horrifying. It was mortifying. It was galling that it had been so simple to spirit her away right out from under the noses of so many people.

“I can’t do this,” she gasped.

“You must. There is no choice,” Barnaby snapped, hauling her forward when she slammed to a stop in the middle of the road.

“I am not coming with you,” she protested.

She glanced back at the rooms, shocked to see realise how far away they now were. The music had faded, and there was now just the two of them surrounded in darkness. A sense of vulnerable isolation settled around her that rendered her weakened and doubtful of everything. Determined not to allow the awful feeling to grow, Rose snatched her arm away from his when he tried to drag her further down the street.

“I said NO!” she shouted.

Barnaby ignored her and tried to push her into walking only for her to dig her dainty dancing slippers into the cobbles and rebel.

“Let me go,” she snapped loudly.

“Damn it all to Hell,” Barnaby growled in answer.

With no other option, he ducked down, swept her over his shoulder, and stalked down the street.

CHAPTER THREE

With few options available to her, Rose opened her mouth and screamed as loudly as she could.

“Will you shut up!” Barnaby commanded.

He was so coldly furious that he almost relished the prospect of Albert Chadwick appearing before them. As far as he was concerned, if the woman hadn’t just watched the man kill two men, Albert Chadwick was welcome to the stubborn wench. As it was, she was now the only witness, except for himself, that the Star Elite had to the murders of two men, both of whom it was suspected belonged to Sayers’ gang.

Rose gasped when she ran out of breath. It was difficult to refill her lungs when she was hanging upside down. Blood rushed to her head making her vision blurry and the world swim alarmingly. The stranger’s hard, heavily muscled shoulder bit painfully into her midriff, but that was of little consequence when it was so difficult to breathe. Her cheeks turned fiery, but that wasn’t because of his intimate hold on her posterior. Her corsets weren’t designed to confine what God gave her while pulling against the forces of gravity. Everything she had was now protected from prying eyes by nothing more than the delicate fabric of her lemon and lace gown, and it wasn’t enough to hide her ample cleavage. It was humiliating. Clamping one free hand over her chest to prevent any further escape, Rose pushed against the small of his back with her free hand. She tried to lever herself upright so she could at least clear the pounding in her head but she didn’t have the strength to maintain the position. In the end she flopped back down only to realise that her nose was now right against his backside.

“Put me down, you great oaf,” she protested.

She tried to look up to see where they were, but it was so very difficult in such an uncomfortable position. Determined to find out which way they were heading, she placed both of her hands in the small of his back and pushed herself upright once more with all of her might so she could see better.

“Will you stop that,” Barnaby growled, when her shifting weight made him stumble.

This was the first time Rose had ever placed her hands on any man’s hips but, given the way he was practically cuddling her rear-end, she didn’t see why she should be shy about it. She was never going to be able to look him in the eye again now anyway, especially given he now knew first-hand just how heavy she was. If the grunting and cursing noises he was emitting at the moment were any indication he was finding it increasingly difficult to carry her weight as well as his.

It serves him right, she thought with a hint of malice. While it was humiliating it also gave her a sense of satisfaction that she wasn’t making his attempt to kidnap her very easy, and she wasn’t even trying.

Well, good. I hope he suffers, she thought snidely, secretly wishing she was a little heavier.

“So heavy that you cannot lift me up at all,” she muttered with relish.