Tempting a Proper Lady by Debra Mullins Page B

a practical woman, Captain. You must have a reason for trying to stop the wedding when the odds are so clearly against you.”
    â€œI told you my reason. Raventhorpe.”
    â€œI can understand that— if Lord Raventhorpe did what you claim.”
    His jaw tightened. “He did.”
    â€œAnd Annabelle?”
    â€œOur engagement is at an end.”
    â€œYou seem to have accepted that rather well.”
    â€œWe are different people than we once were, but that doesn’t mean that I want to see her hurt. I will do whatever I can to stop that wedding.”
    â€œI am all admiration at your determination to protect your former fiancée. Which brings us to another question.” She folded her arms. “Explain the rumor I heard today where the mysterious American captain paid for his town house in gold.”
    He chuckled. “For a lady, you sure have no problem cutting right to the heart of the matter.”
    She shrugged, annoyed he had read her so easily. “Nonetheless, I do not follow anyone down a path blindly. Please answer me.”
    â€œYou’re all assuming I was after Annabelle’s fortune, is that it?”
    She gave a stiff nod.
    He laughed. “My dear Mrs. Burke, in a rather bizarre twist of fate, I find myself part owner in a pirate’s treasure.”
    She couldn’t help it—she gaped. “A what?”
    â€œA pirate’s treasure. ’Twas hidden on that blasted rock where I spent the better part of the past two years. I split it with the man who rescued me from the island.” He leaned forward, crowding close to her in a manner that made her extremely aware of his presence. “I can buy and sell Virgil Bailey several times over. So put your fears to rest. I don’t want hermoney. I just want to save her from Raventhorpe.”
    â€œI see.” Pirate’s treasure? Did she dare believe such a fantastical tale? “Captain, I do not see—”
    â€œCilla?” Her mother stepped out onto the terrace above them. “Are you out here?”
    Cilla clamped her mouth shut, grabbed Samuel’s sleeve, and dragged him off the lit path and into the shadows below the terrace.
    â€œAre you certain you saw her come out here?” a man asked.
    â€œPerhaps she is down in the gardens,” Helen said.
    â€œWe can check. I will escort you.”
    â€œThank you, Lieutenant.”
    Cilla closed her eyes. Lieutenant Allerton. Was her mother so desperate to see her married to a man her father would find acceptable that she would lead the poor lieutenant to the altar by the hand? The timing could not be worse. Should the lieutenant discover her lurking alone in the gardens with the notorious American captain…
    The gossips would destroy her.
    Samuel appeared to understand the situation without her uttering a word. He lowered his head until his mouth nearly touched her ear. “Come with me.”
    His breath tickled the flesh of her neck. A swift, powerful surge of delight swept through her, awakening parts of her body she thought long dormant. Praying he had not noticed her involuntary quiver, she nodded in response to his command.
    His large hand closed around hers. Willingly sheallowed him to lead her along the edge of the terrace and away from the lit walkway. She could hear her mother and Lieutenant Allerton walking down the stairs, chatting. Suddenly Samuel jerked her away from the terrace and led her through a barely visible opening between two large flowering bushes. The shrubs allowed them to remain concealed from Allerton and her mother, whose conversation echoed back as they strolled the garden path.
    As her mother’s voice faded into the distance, Cilla looked around. Samuel had led her into some kind of grotto with a stone bench standing between two Grecian columns—clearly meant to be a romantic corner for a rendezvous. Beside the faux ruins stood a quiet fountain with a Greco-Roman maiden pouring