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Yes, she could run again. But how had he done it? Caught her in this place so easily?
Her heart sank as she realized her mistake. She had been so determined not to follow a clear trail that she had run in circles. He had realized her error and simply waited until she had come around through the trees.
She wouldn’t make that mistake again.
“Don’t do it. Such a waste of time and energy,” he told her.
“I’m so sorry. Am I being inconvenient?” she asked sarcastically.
He shrugged. “Actually, I had no other pressing engagements for the day.”
“You do realize that when the Earl of Carlyle realizes his carriage hasn’t arrived, he’ll begin searching?”
“Certainly…but not for a while yet, I don’t believe.”
“And why is that?”
“I suspect he’s in the city. There’s a celebration at Buckingham Palace today. Someone’s birthday. I don’t think he’ll be home until the evening.”
“You know so much about the Earl of Carlyle?” she asked, playing for time. She needed to catch her breath. She was certainly not going to tell him that he was mistaken as to the earl’s whereabouts.
“I read the newspapers, Miss…ah, yes, that’s right. You’ve not yet furnished me with your name.”
“I don’t remember you furnishing me with yours.”
“You don’t really want to know my name. That would make you dangerous to me, wouldn’t it?”
“Then I shan’t give you mine.”
He smiled. “Caught your breath yet?”
“I’m quite fine, thank you.”
“Don’t do it.”
“Do what?”
“Run again.”
“What else would you have me do?”
“I’ve told you that I don’t intend to hurt you.”
“And I should trust you?”
“If you run, I’ll merely have to catch you again.”
“But perhaps you cannot.”
He sighed, shaking his head. “I can. And you won’t like it when I do.”
“I don’t like being told what to do, I don’t like being held up, and I most certainly don’t like conversing with a bandit.”
He lifted his hands in a fatalistic gesture. “You must do what you must. And I must do the same.”
She lifted her chin again, trying to bring some semblance of order to the streams of tangled blond hair now falling down her back and into her face, impairing her vision. “You could abandon your life of crime. Walk away now. Become a legend. Find gainful employment. Turn over a new leaf.”
“I could….”
“Then you must do so,” she insisted urgently.
“I’m sorry. I think not.”
“Oh…” She let out a sigh of irritation. She saw his muscles beginning to tense, realized that in seconds he would be coming for her.
And so, with little other recourse, she ran again.
This time he caught her quickly.
She felt him behind her before he touched her. Felt the wind, the heat and the power of him.
Then his arms were around her.
The momentum of her desperate flight carried them both forward and down, onto the ground, into the dirt and pine-needle carpet of the forest floor. Her mouth seemed to fill with pine needles and the rich earth. Coughing, sputtering, she tried to turn, but he was on top of her. She managed to get faceup, but no further. He straddled her, still breathing easily and, the greatest insult, still merely amused.
She coughed, staring at him furiously. A greater fear seeped into her, for now she was truly caught.
She didn’t try to argue with him; didn’t urge him to get up. She simply slammed her fists against his chest with the greatest strength she could summon, twisting frantically at the same time. That managed only to bring forth his own temper at last. He caught her wrists and pinned them high above her head, leaning close as he did so.
His amused smile was gone at last, she was pleased to note.
Yet in that small victory, she realized, she herself was even more the loser.
“Would you stop?” he demanded.
She didn’t answer him, only lay perfectly still, looking to one side.
He eased up, still straddling her but no longer pinning her so tightly to the ground.
“I told you that you wouldn’t like it if I had to catch you,” he said softly.
“You truly are a cad,” she whispered.
“I’m a highwayman,” he said impatiently. “Hardly a proper escort.”
She became aware of his touch, the pressure of his thighs, the way he sat atop her without causing her pain.
Then he touched her.
He reached down, sweeping a wild strand of her hair from her face. His fingers seemed to linger ever so slightly on her cheek.
The touch was gentle, yet he had seized her with real power and did not intend to let up.
She didn’t look at him. “What now?” she demanded. “Where do we go from here?”
“You tell me your name and purpose, all I have wanted from the beginning,” he said.
She stared at him suddenly, brows knitting in a frown, fear seeping deeply into her again. She knew she should keep her mouth shut, but she could not.
“You’re not…one of the anti-monarchists?” she breathed.
She was startled when he smiled, his knuckles brushing her chin with an almost tender assurance.
“No, I’m not. God save the queen. I’m a good, traditional English rogue,” he swore softly.
She believed him. Flat on her back, totally his prisoner, completely at his mercy, she believed him. She let out a soft breath.
“And you’ve no intention of killing me…or anyone?”
“Never, lass.”
“Please stop calling me ‘lass.’”
“You won’t give me your name.”
She stared hard at him. Their position was intimate, and the thought brought a swift flush to her cheeks. He was a complete blackguard, and she loathed herself for thinking his voice was husky, alluring, his touch the most tender she had ever known.
“If you would be so kind as to get off me…?” she suggested.
He rose and reached a hand down to her, lifting her to her feet with no effort. His hand lingered, then dropped from hers.
“My name is Alexandra Grayson.”
“What?” he demanded sharply, frowning with such quick tension that she was momentarily taken aback, frightened once again.
Why?
There was nothing about her name, or herself, that should mean anything to anyone.
“I’m Alexandra Grayson, a nobody, I assure you. I have told you. I live in a cottage in the woods with several aunts. The Earl of Carlyle and his lady are like godparents to me. They, and others, have seen to my welfare for as long as I can remember.”
“You—you