Joanna Maitland - His Forbidden Liaison

Her inner voice reminded her that, when they first met, he had admired her for her strength and courage. His words then had beguiled her.Was she so very sure that she could be proof against his wiles?

Jack fastened his valise and straightened his back. He had paid his shot, and Ben’s. It only remained now to prepare the hired carriage for the invalid. He crossed to the window. No sign of his carriage yet. The only vehicle in the yard belonged to Marguerite Grolier.

Marguerite Grolier. She kept intruding when he least expected it. And just when he had been telling himself he had banished all thoughts of her. It was lust, of course. What else could it be? Even when he was surrounded by real danger, his confounded body refused to see beyond one beautiful, and very desirable, woman. He was becoming as bad as brother Leo!

No, he was worse. Leo might be a womaniser, but in the grim business of spying, Leo was always able to concentrate on his role in the Honours. He had spent months in Vienna without thought of a mistress. So why couldn’t Jack do the same? After all, Jack’s vice had always been gambling, not women.

It had to be something about Marguerite Grolier. But why should he lust after her, when he had been able to ignore so many other women?

He began to pace his empty room, pondering. She was quick-witted and courageous. She was a skilled weaver, and a practical business woman, which was quite a combination. She was resourceful, too, and she was certainly compassionate. Poor Ben probably owed his life to those qualities.

Jack stopped by the window and rested his elbows on the sill to look out. Marguerite Grolier was an extraordinary woman. He had never met her like. But he knew he was not lusting after her because she was admirable—though she was. She was also beautiful and unconsciously alluring. Lately, when she touched his hand or her breath caressed his skin, his body had responded instantly.

He told himself it could only be because she was innocent.And forbidden. They had been thrown together by unavoidable circumstance.As in the Garden of Eden, temptation was all the stronger because the fruit was forbidden. And the serpent of lust was twining itself around him, hissing its message of betrayal. He would not heed it. He would not betray Marguerite to satisfy a moment’s craving.

In a few minutes, once he had his body under control again, he would bid her farewell and thank her sincerely for what she had done. Then he would leave her without a single backward glance. He was the leader of this mission. Like a true leader, he would not allow himself to be diverted from his task.

They seemed to have reached an impasse. The charming boy she had glimpsed so often had been replaced by a grim, implacable man.

‘I shall hire a carriage for myself and Herr Benn, ma’am,’ he said again. ‘It would be the height of bad manners to inflict ourselves on you when we must travel so fast. Such a journey will be too uncomfortable for a lady.’

Marguerite refused to be beaten. She tried another tack. ‘I do understand your desire to join the Emperor as soon as possible,’ she said, smiling admiringly up at him. ‘I, too, long to see him. But there are grave risks along they, especially for Herr Benn. If royalist troops should come upon your carriage and find a wounded man, what then? Would you be able to convince them that you were not the enemy?’

‘I would tell them the truth, ma’am. That he was shot by footpads.’

She opened her eyes wide in disbelief. ‘And you are both racing north to Lyons, ventre à terre ? I think not, sir. A wounded man does not travel so. The only plausible reason for such haste is that you are going to join the Emperor. They will know it. And so do you.’

He drew himself up to his full height and looked down his nose at her. ‘I suppose you have a better plan?’

Marguerite alms to laugh. He was such an unpredictable mixture of frustrated schoolboy and decisive man. ‘Yes, I do,’ she said flatly. ‘I have barely had a chance to say a word since you entered the room, but I do have a much better plan. Better for all of us.’

He quirked an eyebrow and stared down at her in a way that was all adult male, and all dangerous.

‘My mother and sister are in Lyons. Guillaume is needed there to protect them while my father is away. The Emperor will be victorious, of course, but there may well be fighting first. We must get home with all speed.’

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