Naomi Rawlings - Falling for the Enemy

Yes. Of course she could. That’s what happened in war: people died if they were from the losing country. She raised her chin and swallowed thickly, meeting Halston’s eyes.

And then the entirely wrong words came out of her mouth: “ Oui . I’ll help.”

* * *

She would help? Had Gregory heard her right? Her eyes met his, no longer hard and determined but misty in the pale orange glow from the lantern. His knees nearly folded beneath him in relief. Perhaps all wasn’t lost. Perhaps he could get help for Westerfield and make it to the coast undetected. Perhaps—

“But I won’t let you tie me or my brother again. If we’re going to work together, you’ll have to trust us.”

The hope that had filled his chest deflated. “Trust you? What reason have I to trust you?”

“What reason have I to trust you’re who you claim and the sick man is really your brother? That you harbor no secrets of the state, or...”

He held up a hand. “All right. I agree. No more ropes.”

“Or torn blankets that act as ropes.”

He shoved a hand into his hair. “Or torn blankets.”

“Do you really mean it, Dani?” a voice piped up from the woods. “We’re going to help them after they tied us up like trussed pigs?”

Danielle whirled toward the voice. “I thought I told you to run. You should be halfway to a gendarmerie post by now.”

A loud, awkward rustling sounded to their left, and Serge clomped from the darkness into the dim circle of lantern light. “I couldn’t just leave you. What if he tried to hurt you?”

She rolled her eyes—a rather common habit, that. “And what would you have done if he’d hurt me?”

“I still have my knife, remember?”

Gregory frowned. “Is that how the two of you escaped? Farnsworth missed one of your knives?”

Serge turned to him and crossed his arms. “No. You missed the knife.”

Evidently he hadn’t searched the boy thoroughly enough before tying him. Then again, he hadn’t exactly searched the boy at all, had he? He’d simply assumed Farnsworth had seen to it. Yet another thing he’d failed at this day. Though truly, he might well suggest that the faculty add a class on how to properly manage an abduction when he next visited Cambridge. With the wars facing Britain these days, one never knew if alumni would end up abducting an enemy of the crown.

But how many knives Danielle and Serge Belanger had or where they were strapped mattered little so long as they planned to use those knives to help rather than thwart them.

Gregory raised his eyes to the heavens, darker than tar with a layer of clouds covering the stars and moon. Thank You, God, for bringing them to help us.

Because maybe now he could begin to undo the mess he’d started with that duel two years ago. Maybe now they’d be able to reach the coast safely. And maybe, just maybe, he could save his brother’s life.

Chapter Five

“Where are your ropes?”

Danielle propped an eye open and stared up into the gray light of dawn, partially covered by the silhouette of a rather irritated blond man towering over her.

“We left you tied,” Kessler added when she failed to reply.

She yawned. “Halston untied us.”

“Halston?”

She nodded and snuggled back into the blankets. Usually she’d little trouble getting up of a morn, but then, usually she didn’t stay awake into the wee hours of the night, either. And she had a long day ahead of her if she was going to lead this party of useless aristocrats through the countryside without any of them getting caught.

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