And suddenly he was there, in front of her, looming over her, smelling of the sea that had drenched his clothes and his hair, so close she could feel him, and she looked up, way up at him in mute despair.
“And are you ready to tell me exactly who you are, Mary Greaves?”
There were times when you fought. And times when you took the easy way out. Maddy opened her mouth to come up with a plausible lie, when it was suddenly all too much. She felt the swirling darkness come over her, the floor rushed up to meet her, and she collapsed in a perfectly gothic faint.
CHAPTER TWELVE
LUCA WAS SO STARTLED by her sudden descent that he barely had time to catch her before she hit the floor. He wasn’t used to women swooning, and the one time Gwendolyn had tried it he’d caught her, dumped her on a nearby settee, and called her mother to deal with it, taking his leave. She hadn’t tried it again.
But the girl in his arms was a different matter. She was a dead weight, though not a heavy one, and he could feel her ribs beneath his hands. And then he realized the fool girl was wearing a corset, and he let out a particularly vile curse. He looked around him, but every spare inch of furniture was covered with piles of his papers. He would have no secrets left from her prying eyes, he thought grimly. Not that he gave a damn. He didn’t have any particular secrets for her to find.
He carried her from the study, kicking the door shut behind him. He’d deal with that later—first he had to get this surprisingly lightweight creature in his arms settled.
“What have you got there, Sonny Jim?” Billy Quarrells loomed up out of the darkness, and Luca didn’t know whether to be relieved or annoyed. “Been bothering the servants again?”
“Mrs. Crozier and her useless husband are leaving.”
“Best watch the silver,” Quarrells advised. “What did they do, beat the poor little thing?”
“Starved her and worked her half to death, more like,” he said.
Billy laughed. “And you such a noble gentleman!” he mocked. “I never figured you much the sort for rescuing damsels in distress.” He came closer, looking down at the girl. “Damn, but she’s a pretty one. If you like that sort of thing. You sure she’s not faking to play on your sympathies?”
Luca snorted. “The fool girl is wearing a tight corset.”
“Not familiar with the contraptions. I thought all ladies wore tight corsets.”
“Ladies do. Maids don’t. Not if they need to breathe.”
Quarrells said nothing for a long moment. “And which one is she, a lady or a maid?”
Luca looked at her. He had no idea just how deep the girl’s faint was. “Look at her hands. I doubt she’s done a day’s work in her life before she got here.”
Quarrells picked up one of her limp hands, staring at the red, blistered palm. “And I suppose you’re going to be a gentleman and carry her up to bed and remove her corset? I don’t think your darling Gwendolyn is going to like that much.”
“I’m going to loosen her corset and leave her to recover. In fact, I think I’m going to ask Gwendolyn for help. She’s offered to send some of her staff over, and she’s always disliked Mrs. Crozier.”
“She’ll be rabid if she finds this one still here,” Billy pointed out.
“I can only hope so.”
“Seen the light, have you? Glad to hear it. So exactly who is this one?”
Luca looked down at the girl in his arms. Her face was pale, her eyelashes long and sooty against her smooth skin. “Heaven only knows,” he said. He usually shared everything with Billy, but for some reason he’d kept this particular truth to himself. For one thing, he didn’t want Miss Madeleine Russell to realize he knew who she was. He wanted her to tell him.
“And you’ve not got much acquaintance with heaven, now do you?” Billy said amiably. “What are you going to do with her?”
&nbs
p; Luca shifted her in his arms. She was just beginning to come around, and he wasn’t about to tip his hand. “Put her to bed.” He could feel the faint tension in her body. She was awake, all right.
“You watch out, Luca. You don’t want to get free of one woman just to get tied up with another. And this one a liar to boot. Then again, all women lie.”
“Everybody lies, Billy.” He started toward the stairs, then said over his shoulder, “Pour me a glass of whiskey, will you? This shouldn’t take long.”
Billy made a noise of mock disapproval. “Shouldn’t take you long? And here I’d always thought you were such a gift to the ladies.”
“Stuff it, old man.”