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‘Just start backing away. If you see me raise my pistol before you get out of range then shoot me, but I give you my word I will not harm you unless you make me.’
Rosa studied Lord Hunter’s calm demeanour and reassuring expression. It was hard not to trust him, she realised.
‘The money?’ Ernesto asked, but Rosa could tell his heart wasn’t in it.
‘No, Ernesto. We leave here with our money. You leave with your life.’
Ten seconds passed, then twenty. Rosa could hear a soft mumbling as Ernesto reasoned his options out to himself. After what seemed like an eternity his grip on her loosened.
‘Keep your pistols low,’ Ernesto said. ‘Or I’ll shoot.’
Slowly he began backing away down the road, his eyes fixed on Thomas. Thomas stood still, his arms relaxed by his side, watching the bandit calmly. Rosa couldn’t quite believe his heart wasn’t pounding or his hands slick with sweat, but he looked completely composed.
As Ernesto got to the bend in the road he stopped for a moment before turning and running. They could hear his heavy footsteps for at least thirty seconds after he’d disappeared.
Rosa felt her body begin to shake and immediately Lord Hunter was by her side.
‘Sit,’ he commanded. ‘Take deep breaths. You were very brave.’
As she attempted to limp back to the curricle Hunter gripped her gently and scooped her into his arms. The contact between their two bodies was a welcome comfort for Rosa and she held on tightly to his shoulders. As she felt his firm body pressed against hers Rosa glanced up and caught him looking down at her. He could feel it, too, she was sure of it. That need for physical touch, that desire for intimacy. She told herself it was just the shock, the stressful situation they’d been through together, but as he held her a little tighter Rosa wondered if that was all it was.
She half-expected her body to tense, to remember the last time a man had held her so closely, encircled her with his arms, but instead she felt her breathing become more steady and her racing heart slow as she was reassured by Lord Hunter’s touch.
‘You let him go,’ she said as he placed her gently on the seat of the curricle.
‘I gave my word.’
‘You let all of them go.’
Hunter shrugged, but Rosa could see there had been a reason behind his decision. Most men would have inflicted maximum pain on bandits who threatened them and Lord Hunter had disarmed and bested them all without much effort. Rosa wouldn’t have blamed him if there were four dead bodies strewn on the road right now.
‘They would have killed us.’
Hunter chuckled. ‘Bloodthirsty wench, aren’t you?’
Rosa managed to smile.
‘I don’t think they would have killed us,’ Thomas said simply. ‘They were desperate, driven to do something terrible.’
‘How do you know they were desperate?’
‘Did you see the way they were dressed? How gaunt they were? These weren’t successful criminals. And none of them knew how to fight.’
Rosa fell silent, contemplating what Hunter had just said.
‘Circumstances can drive decent human beings to do almost anything,’ Hunter said, looking off into the distance. ‘And I suppose hunger is a real motivator.’
‘Surely there have got to be better ways to make money than stealing, though?’
Hunter shrugged. ‘Of course. But if you’ve been turned away from work, unable to provide food for your family, who knows what you might do.’
He moved away from her and began checking over the horses, murmuring soft words to soothe the skittish animals.
As she sat and watched him Rosa felt a new respect blossoming for the man who had saved her twice now. He might be a little arrogant and unapologetic at times, but there was something more to Lord Hunter. Rosa knew most men would have either panicked at being surrounded by bandits or become so furious they showed no compassion or mercy. It was rather refreshing to see a man think with his heart and not his fists.
‘Where did you learn to fight like that?’ she asked.
‘Here and there.’
‘In India?’
‘Amongst other places.’
She wondered why he was so reticent talking about where he learned to defend himself so effortlessly.
‘Ready?’ he asked as he vaulted back up beside her.
Rosa nodded. Although they had come out unscathed she felt more than a little shaken by the encounter and was keen to be on their way.
Lord Hunter urged the horses forward and soon they were gliding through the country lanes. As Rosa felt her anxiety levels begin to drop she began to relax into the man beside her. It felt good to have even the slight physical contact of thigh against thigh after her months of isolation.
As her thoughts started to run away from her, tentative hopes spiralling out of control, Rosa forced herself to pull away. She’d lost her virtue and her future to one man, she would not lose anything else to another.
Chapter Five (#ubd57f08c-9d83-5f2f-9c3a-fa00c677f409)
‘Tell me about the father,’ Hunter said as he leaned back in his chair.
They were sitting on a terrace in the bustling village of Malcesine, sipping a rather delicious concoction of juices from tall glasses.
Rosa started in surprise at the bluntness of his question and coughed as the juice tickled her throat.
‘The father?’ she asked. She knew exactly what he was talking about, but she couldn’t believe he’d asked the question so directly.
Hunter gestured to her abdomen and Rosa quickly laid a protective hand on the growing bump beneath her dress.
‘The father of your baby. Who is he?’
‘No one you would know.’
‘An unsuitable suitor? A dastardly married man? A dashing young footman?’
‘Shall we set about our enquiries?’ Rosa asked.
‘Sit back, relax. You’ve had a stressful morning. We can ask about a passage to England in an hour, nothing will change between then and now.’
‘Except my desire to murder you,’ Rosa muttered under her breath.
‘What was that?’
She smiled sweetly and took another sip of her juice. It really was delicious. She could taste orange and a hint of lemon, but there was something else there, too.
Rosa tried to ignore Hunter’s intense gaze as she drummed her fingers on the table, shifted in her chair and traced the condensation as it ran down the edge of the glass. He didn’t ask the question again, just sat watching her, as if he knew she would crack and tell him eventually.
‘What beautiful trees,’ Rosa said, gesturing to a cluster of short trees near the water’s edge.
Still Hunter said nothing, but that lazy smile she had begun to know well danced across his lips. She wondered how she could find a man so irritating, but still so attractive. It was his eyes, she pondered, you couldn’t stay annoyed at a man whose eyes sparkled and glimmered with amusement all day long.
Again she shifted, trying to focus on watching the locals strolling arm in arm along the waterfront. It was unnerving, having someone watch you for such a length of time, and Rosa felt her composure slowly beginning to slip.
‘Do you come here often?’ she asked, trying to force a response out of Hunter.
‘No.’
‘You should. It truly is a beautiful spot.’
Silence again.
‘Have you always been this annoying?’ she asked with a sigh.
‘My mother tells me I’m persistent.’ Hunter gave a small shrug.
‘That’s a nice way of putting it.’
‘Tell me about the father.’
‘Why do you want to know?’
Hunter shrugged again. ‘I’m interested. And it’ll take your mind off our encounter today.’
That was true, Rosa hadn’t thought of the bandits for a whole five minutes.
‘He’s our neighbour, a boy I grew up with.’
‘Boy?’
Rosa grimaced. ‘Man. He must be twenty-seven or twenty-eight by now, I suppose.’
‘Old enough to behave better.’
‘You don’t know how he behaved.’
‘You’re here in exile in Italy rather than happily married in some country house in England.’
It was the truth, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. For a long time Rosa had imagined a life with David. A home of their own filled with beautiful children, the life she had been brought up to expect.
‘So what happened?’
Rosa shook her head. She really did not want to talk about this. Even uttering David’s name had the bile rising up in her throat and knots of tension forming across her shoulders.
‘How about you?’ she asked, desperate to change the subject. ‘Any great loves in your life.’
Hunter smiled and shook his head, ‘I’ve never found that special someone.’
‘But you’ve looked?’
‘Some people aren’t destined to settle down.’
It was an odd statement, one that made Rosa pause and study the man in front of her for a moment.
‘But you’re titled, you have an estate. Isn’t there a need for an heir?’
He shrugged. ‘The estate will pass to some distant relative when I die.’
Although it was said casually she could see the pain in his eyes at the idea. Whatever he might say, this was an uncomfortable subject for Hunter.
‘You wouldn’t rather it went to your son, your own flesh and blood?’
‘That is never going to happen so there is no point in mourning what never could be.’
‘Why—’ Rosa started, but a small hand tugging at her sleeve cut her off.
‘Please, miss, spare some money. I haven’t eaten for three days.’ A small girl stood looking up at her with large brown eyes in a skinny face.
Rosa hesitated and then reached for her coin purse. She might not have much money, and what she did have she needed for the passage home and her new life, but it was hard to ignore the real pleading in the young girl’s eyes.
‘Rosa, no,’ Hunter shouted, trying to grab her hand, but it was too late. As soon as the coin purse was out in the open an older boy swooped in and grabbed it from her palm. At high speed both he and the girl ran in different directions, weaving through the crowd.
‘No,’ Rosa whispered, her heart plummeting as she realised her whole future had just been ripped away from her.
Hunter was on his feet immediately, darting after the boy, but Rosa could see straight away he would never be able to catch him. Hunter might be fast, but the boy knew the streets and was small enough to slip between the crowds.
Gripping the edge of the table, Rosa felt her breathing become shallower and could hear a harsh rasping coming from her throat. Without any money she was doomed. She had the choice of life on the streets in a foreign country or crawling back to the Di Mercurios.
‘I can’t go back,’ she whispered. ‘I won’t go back.’
She looked down at the dress she was wearing, that would fetch her a small sum, but her modest jewellery had been taken from her by her grandmother when she had arrived at the villa. She owned nothing else in the world except the clothes she was wearing.
‘I’m sorry,’ Hunter said, returning to the table, his face flushed from exertion. ‘I lost him in the crowd.’
Rosa shook her head, unable to get any words out. She’d been so pleased when they had escaped the bandits with her purse intact, she’d never thought it might be at risk here in this idyllic village.
‘Was that all the money you had?’ he asked. Gone was his normal jovial tone, replaced by concern and compassion.
‘Everything.’
Hunter raked a hand through his short hair, causing tufts to stick up at the front.
‘I can’t go back to them,’ Rosa whispered again to herself.
