Read Online Gallant Match by Jennifer Blake - Free Book Online

around her to keep her from falling. It was like being surrounded by a wall of stone. His chest was solid, ridged with muscle; his arms had no give in their support. For a single instant, she felt sheltered, protected, safe from all possible harm. The need to lean into him, to rest within that strong haven, was so urgent that she felt light-headed with it.
    That lapse was more frightening than anything that had happened before. She shoved away with such revulsion that her back came up against the balcony pole behind her, rattling it in its supports. With a hand to her tight throat and her eyes narrowed to slits, she drew a knife-edged breath.
    â€œWhat now?” she demanded. “Will you ring the bell and hand me over to my father?”
    â€œWhy? So you can climb down again the minute his back is turned?”
    That had been her exact thought. It did nothing for her despairing resentment to have him guess it. “Youcould always recommend he tie me up until the Lime Rock sails. Only think what a lot of trouble that would save you. You could cart me off tomorrow like a pig to market.”
    â€œNow, there’s an idea,” he drawled.
    She had thought matters could not be worse. She was wrong.
    Bending toward her as if with some perverted bow, he grasped her wrist again and pulled her toward him. Her breath left her in an unladylike grunt as her solar plexus struck his hard shoulder. When he rose to his full height again, she dangled over it. He clamped a hard arm across her knees and swung around, heading off down the street in the direction of the river.
    A strangled cry was torn from her as fury beyond anything she’d ever known engulfed her. She jounced and swayed with his every long step. His arm was like an iron barrel hoop around her knees and his long fingers bit into one thigh above it. The blood pooled to her head so her temples pounded and she had to swallow her gorge. Her hat had been lost in her fall, and now her hairpins began to loosen their grip. They pinged down on the banquette so the heavy coil of hair slipped its moorings. She beat on his back with her fists but he seemed not to feel the blows. The movement made her slide on her precarious perch so she had to grasp handfuls of his coat to keep from falling headfirst.
    â€œWhat are you…doing?” she jerked out. “Put me…down. My father will…”
    â€œHe’ll what? Give me a medal?” He hefted her forward from where she had slipped, so the cheek of her bottom was pressed against the hard line of his jaw. “Scream for your papa, why don’t you? Unless you would rather not face him.”
    He was right. The last thing she wanted was for her father to see her like this, to learn what she intended before she could manage her escape. That knowledge was so devastating it left her throat too tight for sound.
    It was infuriating yet terrifying, the ease with which Kerr Wallace strode along with her. He was like some unstoppable force of nature. A shiver moved over her, becoming a trembling that shook her from her head to her toes. “You…you have to listen, monsieur. I can pay…pay you. My grandmother—”
    â€œThat where you were headed, to your grandmother’s?”
    â€œShe…she’ll take me in if I can get to her. She lives—” She stopped, fearful she was saying too much.
    â€œNot in New Orleans, I’ll be bound, else you’d have thrown yourself on her mercy before now. Besides that, you’d not need britches to get to her? Where then? Upriver, maybe? Natchez, Saint Francisville? Or maybe downriver toward Mobile?”
    She stiffened at his lucky guess; she couldn’t help herself. If she’d hoped he wouldn’t notice, she was soon disabused of the idea.
    â€œMobile, right. The packet for there arrived just before the Lime Rock and leaves tomorrow afternoon, now I think on it. Guess you were counting on that. Too bad.”
    Desolation