Chapter Sixteen

Adrian shouldered his way through the crowded Reiss’s Tavern, Jamie a few steps behind him. The smoke-filled, low-ceilinged building sat in the northern section of the city in a rundown area at the edge of the Leopoldstadz, a place teeming with a gaudy mix of men, an assortment of Greeks, Turks, Poles, Jews, Croats, and Hungarians, all dressed in their bright, traditional clothes.

Adrian and Jamie were garbed far more somberly, in simple dark breeches, and full-sleeved homespun shirts. Reiss’s was the place the Falcon’s courier had been killed, but so far no one in the tavern even recalled the events of the night. Then the barkeep pointed toward a stout, bald-headed Turk sitting by himself in a corner.

“You might try him. If Janos cannot help, I am afraid no one can.”

Adrian tossed a coin on the bar and the barkeep, a rotund man with a thick, pointed beard and wary gray eyes, picked it up and slid it into the pocket of his leather apron. “I appreciate your help.”

He and Jamie strode toward the man in the corner, who tilted his chair back against the wall, stretching his short, muscular legs out in front of him.

“Your name Janos?”

“Who wants to know?”

“I do.” Adrian flipped a coin on the scarred wooden table. “I’m looking for a little information. There’s gold in it for the man who knows something. The barkeeper said you might be that man.”

“What is it you wish to know?”

“A couple of weeks ago, there was a man in here, black-haired, average in height, a lean, wiry build. He wound up dead in the alley. Were you here the night it happened?”

Janos sat up in his chair, the muscles flexing beneath his powerful shoulders. “I was here, but I didn’t kill him.”

“Do you know who he was?”

“I had seen him a couple of times. He was in here every once in a while but I had never spoken to him until that night. He said he had traveled a good ways that day.”

Adrian tossed another coin on the table, watched it roll into a deep groove whittled into the wood and flip over onto its side. “Could you make a guess where he might have come from?”

“He was Hungarian, by the look of him, dark and scowling, his eyes always darting around. If I remember, he mentioned he had come from Süssenbrunn, that is north and east of the city.”

“The barkeep said there was some sort of altercation. A card game or something.”

“Ya, that is so. He was drinking schnapps, downing it faster than that poor wench, Lissel, could carry it to the table. He wasn’t supposed to stop in Vienna, he said. He had more important things to do—that is what he said—but he was thirsty and he could make time for a game of cards.”

The bald Turk shook his head. “He should have minded his business. If he had, he would still be alive.”

“Why is that?” Jamie asked.

“He was cheating,” Janos said as if that made everything perfectly clear. “They found him in the alley that next morning, his throat cut and his purse gone. The men who play here don’t like to be cheated.”

Adrian added a last coin to those that had gone before. “Thank you, my friend.”

The burly man nodded and leaned back in his chair, took a long drink of the stout dark beer he was drinking, then set the empty mug back down on the table.

“Not much of a lead,” Jamie said as they walked out the door.

“Maybe more than you think. If the barkeep is telling the truth, the courier didn’t come here from Baden. That means the information didn’t come through any of the emperor’s people or the diplomats who were there for the negotiations, which eliminates both Steigler and Pettigru.”

“The archduke’s forces were assembling north and east of here just about the time of the murder. General Klammer was with them.”

“And Major Josef Becker.”

Jamie smiled. “Karl Tauber may have been right.”

“Elissa thinks so.”

“What’s your next step?”

“I need to talk to her, see if she knows anything else about her brother’s murder.”

“It’s been four days, she’ll be angry you haven’t gone to see her before this.”

Adrian scoffed. “I haven’t gone to see her because every time I do all I can think of is tearing off her clothes and dragging her beneath me. God’s blood, I get hard just watching her smile.”

Jamie smiled. “Maybe you’re in love with her.”

Adrian pierced him with a glare. “I’m in lust with her luscious little body. In love? Never. Love is for fools and dreamers. I am neither of those things.” An image of Miriam Springer rose unbidden into his mind, beautiful and tempting, but not for him. Never for him. “At least not anymore.”

Jamie said nothing, just followed him to the stable at the rear of the tavern where the horses were tied, and they swung up into their saddles.

It felt good to be mounted again. Adrian realized he had missed it, missed the freedom of riding with the wind in his face, the pleasure of being one with the powerful animal beneath him. He would always love horses and being out of doors, no matter where life carried him.

This last thought was oddly unnerving. He had never envisioned any sort of life beyond the military. Even the shadow of a different notion surprised him. Where had it come from? he wondered. Why had he thought it at all? He shoved the unsettling idea away.

“Tauber’s murder is next,” he said to Jamie as they rode along. “Perhaps someone saw something or heard something that will help.”

“And Elissa?”

“Will simply have to be patient.”

“But you are taking her with you when you go after Becker.”

Adrian pinned him with a cool green stare. “You heard the report this morning. With Napoleon bearing down on us, I can’t possibly take her along. The girl will have to stay here.”

Jamie hid a smile of amusement. He wondered how his friend intended to manage that.

*   *   *

Four days had passed with no word from Adrian. News of the war had come and it hadn’t been good. After the fighting at Abensberg, the archduke’s forces had been split, the larger wing falling back to Eckmuhl, a town to the east, while General Hiller and his army turned south over the Isar River to Lanshut.

The French general, Lannes, caught up with Hiller outside the town, and though the Austrians fought with valor and determination, Napoleon’s arrival on the battlefield had rallied his men and quickly sealed Hiller’s fate. Austrian casualties were reported as high as ten thousand men.

At Eckmuhl things hadn’t gone much better. The fighting started with the archduke in a superior position against the French and ended in defeat when Napoleon ordered Lannes and his troops to hasten northward from Lanshut. An army of thirty thousand arrived to aid Marshal Davout against the archduke and his army. Seven thousand Austrian men were lost and nearly five thousand were captured.

Charlie had withdrawn, retreating toward Ratisbon with Napoleon hot on his heels and everyone in Vienna anxiously awaiting word of what would happen next.

And yet, as Elissa sat in the Gold Drawing Room of the duchess’s palace it was a minor topic of conversation. Ladies didn’t belabor such things, and though Elissa knew she could discuss the war with the duchess, she refrained. The older woman looked even thinner than she had a few days ago, her eyes sunken and her face lined with worry.

Elissa was worried, too—worried about her brother, terrified he might be among those wounded or killed. She should have gone to him when she had first arrived in Austria. She should have told him how much she missed him, how much she and her mother wished he were safely back home.

But she had been too concerned with finding the traitor responsible for Karl’s murder.

If only Adrian would come. Perhaps he would bring news. He had promised to help her find the Falcon, but so far she hadn’t seen him. And with every passing hour, the need to stop the traitor grew more crucial.

The butler walked in through the open sliding doors, announcing the arrival of another guest to the intimate gathering of a few of the duchess’s friends.

“Good afternoon, Your Grace,” the woman said. “It was kind of you to allow me to call.”

“Nonsense,” said the duchess. “You know you are always welcome here.”

The viscountess smiled and started in the older woman’s direction, walking with a confident grace that drew the eye of every woman in the drawing room. Lady Cecily Kainz was beautiful and charming, her golden blond hair sweeping up in a crown above her head, her gown of embroidered cream silk falling over unmistakably feminine curves.

“Lady Kainz, I believe you know everyone here. Lady Ellen Hargrave, Lord Hargrave’s daughter; the Honorable Mrs. Robert Blackwell; General Oppelt’s wife, Berta; and of course the Countess von Langen.”

“Yes … I believe I’ve met them all. Good afternoon, ladies.” She was smiling, but the smile slipped a little when it came to rest on Elissa. Why, she wasn’t quite sure. She had met the viscountess once before. Elissa couldn’t say she had liked her. The woman was a bit overblown and full of herself as far as Elissa was concerned.

“Why don’t you sit down, Cecily?” the duchess suggested in that way of hers that was actually a command. “Tell us how you have been keeping yourself occupied while you’ve been away.”

The duchess signaled for a servant, who returned in moments with a delicate porcelain cup of coffee, a plate of miniature tortes, and a slice of delicious Viennese sponge cake called Guglhupf, which he set on the table next to where the viscountess perched in an overstuffed chair.

“It has certainly been a trial,” Lady Kainz was saying, flashing a sensual smile as she launched into a tale of her days in the country with her rapidly failing husband. “I just don’t know what I would do,” she said a few minutes later, “if my poor, dear Walter should die. I can’t imagine life without him.”

Even the duchess looked askance at this, and she seemed willing to indulge Lady Kainz in nearly any of her fantasies. As for herself, Elissa imagined the woman would do just fine without a husband, as she had been doing all along. Adrian could certainly attest to that.

Adrian. The thought of him with Cecily Kainz sent a hot stab of jealousy slicing through her. It was easy to imagine them together—Adrian handsome, powerful, and charming; Cecily beautiful, sensual, and exciting.

It was obvious why they would be drawn to each other, yet the image did not seem to fit. She couldn’t envision Adrian looking at the viscountess the way he looked at her, couldn’t image the searing green of eyes that seemed to burn right through her, the smile that melted her heart. She couldn’t convince herself he would make love to the woman with such unquenchable passion.

She knew it was a lie. Adrian was a virile, masculine man, one who satisfied his needs with whomever he was enamored of at the time. For now it was Elissa. Or at least it had been. Her stomach clenched to think of the pointed way Adrian had been avoiding her. Perhaps he no longer wanted her. Perhaps after seeing her with Steigler, she repulsed him. Perhaps the fascination was simply gone.

She wondered at the truth even as the viscountess ended her story on a note of laughter, excused herself from the others, and made her way over to where Elissa stood beside the hearth.

“Lady von Langen. I am surprised to find you are still in Vienna.”

Elissa glanced up. “Oh? Why is that?”

“With the war so close, I would have thought you would have gone home.”

“Austria is my home. It was my … husband’s. Therefore it is mine.”

“And you aren’t afraid?”

“I have faith that the army will protect us. Besides, I have business here.”

“Business…? You are referring to Colonel Kingsland, perhaps.”

Elissa’s hand trembled. Her coffee cup clinked as she set it down in its saucer. “Colonel Kingsland and I are merely friends.”

“Friends … yes, I believe that is what he said the last time I saw him. That you and he were merely friends.”

An uneasy tension gripped her. Something tightened in the pit of her stomach. “The last … the last time you saw him? When was that?”

“He was staying in Baden, I believe, but he had business here in Vienna. There was a dinner party at the Belevedere Palace. Adrian was kind enough to … escort me home.”

The words fell like a blow. Her stomach clenched then rolled over. Elissa remembered the trips Adrian had made from Baden to Vienna, and the woman’s meaning couldn’t have been more clear.

“I have seen him several times since, of course,” the viscountess was saying. “We understand each other, you see. I make no demands on him, and I know how to please him, since we have been … friends far longer than the two of you.”

Elissa felt sick. Her heart was squeezing, crumbling inside her chest. Dear God, had she meant so little to him then? She had thought that he cared for her at least in some fashion. She fought to hide the ache welling up inside her, the tightness that was gripping her chest. Instead she lifted her chin, facing the woman as if she found the news only remotely interesting.

“I’m glad the colonel found a way to amuse himself while he was away. The next time you see him, give him my regards, won’t you? From one friend to another.” She set her cup and saucer on the table. “In the meantime, if you will excuse me, Lady Kainz, I have some letters to finish upstairs.”

With a casualness that was the last thing she felt, Elissa walked away, pausing only long enough to make her excuses to the duchess and her friends. Once she was safely in her bedchamber, the mask she wore crumbled away. She thought of Adrian, of the way he had saved her from Steigler, of the tender care he had shown her, and collapsed into tears on the bench at the foot of the bed.

If what the viscountess said was true, if Adrian had sought out Lady Kainz when he had made her believe he wanted her, cared for her, everything she believed about him was a lie. He had used her. He was as callous and unfeeling as he often appeared to be. He took what he wanted and gave nothing of himself in return.

And there was so much that she had wanted to give him. She was in love with him. The pain she was feeling made the depth of that love abundantly clear. More than anything, she wanted him to love her in return.

It wasn’t going to happen. He wasn’t the sort of man to feel love for only one woman. She had known that from the start. Pressing her cheek against the bedpost, Elissa felt the ache of loss sweeping over her. She closed her eyes and gave in to her tears.

*   *   *

Adrian paid a call on her the following evening. By then she had finished crying and pulled herself together. She was insane to let her feelings get the best of her, a naïve, silly fool to believe a man like Adrian cared more for her than he did for any other of his women.

From the start, she had known the kind of man he was—even the duchess had warned her—but she had refused to listen. If anyone was to blame, it was she and not he. And in truth, she was the one who had seduced him, practically begged him to take her that night in the tiny stone cottage. What happened after, the demands he had made, perhaps that was partly her fault as well. He had blackmailed her, true, but she had wanted him to make love to her. His outrageous demands had merely given her an excuse.

But things were different now. The viscountess’s words had tempered her feelings for him. She had to guard her heart now, or suffer a good deal more pain.

She waited for him in a small salon she favored at the back of the house, tension running through her even as she worked to steel herself. The room overlooked the formal gardens, whose pathways this time of night were lit by flaming torches. A marble fountain crowned by a cherubic angel spouted a shower of water into a mossy reflecting bowl.

Staring out the window, she heard his heavy footfalls and turned at his approach, saw the worry on his face and the rigid set of his shoulders as he walked in her direction. His face looked as hard as granite, and his eyes were cloudy and dark. Something was wrong, she knew, and as dangerous as it was to care, as much as she wanted to ignore it, worry for him slid into her stomach. She fought an urge to go to him, slide her arms around his neck and give him comfort from whatever it was.

“What’s happened?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”

A muscle jumped in his cheek. “Charlie’s been routed at Ratisbon. He was escaping north across the Danube, leaving a rear guard to defend the city. The cavalry went in. At first the French were repulsed, but Napoleon ordered Lannes to storm the walls. By the end of the day, the entire city and its nine battalions of defenders had fallen into French hands.”

“The cavalry?” she whispered, her heart constricting with worry for her brother, her chest aching with fear. “What regiments were involved?” Dear God, he could have been there in the fighting, could have been among those killed!

“I don’t know yet. There’s only been the briefest word.”

“What … what were the casualties?”

“Not good. Perhaps a thousand men. But Charlie made good his escape. He’s crossed the Danube. He’ll find someplace to rest and re-form his troops.”

Her fear began to spread, making her insides churn. “Is there no way to discover if Kinsky’s Chevauxlegers were involved in the fighting?”

“Not yet, but soon we’ll know more.”

Elissa’s head drooped forward. Burning tears collected and began to slip down her cheeks. “I’ve been worried. But until now it all seemed so very far away. My brother might be dead and I have been downstairs sipping coffee, chattering with a bunch of women about which gown to wear.” She pressed her fist against her mouth. “I can’t bear it, Adrian. I’ve lost one brother. I cannot bear to lose another.”

Adrian pulled her into his arms and she let him, knowing she should protest, that it would only make things harder. She rested her cheek against his chest, comforted by the rough wool of his coat.

“You aren’t going to lose him,” he said gently. “There is no reason to think he is dead. If I had thought this would upset you so badly, I wouldn’t have told you.”

Elissa shook her head. “I would have found out soon enough. The duchess has a network of people who are paid to carry such news.”

“He’ll be all right, Elissa. You must believe that.”

She nodded, knowing he was right, that it wasn’t fair to Peter to imagine the worst. She drew herself away, and he brushed the tears from her cheeks with the pad of his thumb.

“I’m sorry,” she said, accepting the handkerchief he gave her. She dabbed it against her eyes. “I’m just so afraid for Peter.” Lifting her gaze to his face, she saw the strength there, the driving purpose, and it gave her strength as well. “We have to get to Becker. God only knows what part the Falcon may have played in all of this. There is no more time to lose.”

Adrian caught her shoulders. “Listen to me, Elissa. Napoleon is marching toward Vienna. At this point we don’t know if Charlie will be able to stop him. If you leave here now, head south into Italy, you can still get safely back to England.”

“I told you I’m not leaving.”

“Dammit, it’s not safe for you to stay here.”

“It isn’t safe for my brother. It isn’t safe for you.”

“That is different.”

“Why, because I’m a woman? I can help stop a traitor. It is what I came here to do. I’m going to find Becker—whether you come with me or not!”

He straightened to his full, imposing height, looking furious and dangerous and so incredibly handsome her heart turned over.

“And just how, if I may ask, do you plan to reach Becker? He is traveling with the archduke, moving from place to place with the rest of the Austrian Army. You can’t just appear outside his tent.”

For the past week she had been thinking exactly that same thing and she had come up with a plan. “There are women who travel with the army. Wives of the soldiers, women who wash their clothes and cook for them, mend the holes in their uniforms.”

“A camp follower?” His expression turned incredulous. “You want to travel with the army as a camp follower?”

She glanced away from him, refusing to be intimidated by the hard look in his eyes. “I’ll admit it would be easier if you were with me. If I posed as your … as the woman who takes care of you. I could pretend an interest in Becker without worrying about being set upon by the rest of the men.”

“This is insane.”

“It isn’t insane. You have probably traveled with a woman before, many of the officers do.” His cheekbones flushed a bit and she knew it was true. She forced herself not to think of how many women he had been with, but it wasn’t easy to do. “We have to do something. This is as good a plan as any.”

Adrian paced away from her then returned. “I came here tonight for two reasons. Aside from the news I carried, I came to ask if there was anything else you could tell me about the death of your brother. Where it happened. What he might have been doing at the time.”

“I know nothing else. His commanding officer would probably know the details. A colonel named Shultz wrote the letter informing us of Karl’s death, but most likely he’s campaigning with the army. If we go there, we can talk to him, see what he might know.” And I can find Peter, be certain that he is safe.

“I don’t like this, Elissa. A woman has no business in the middle of a war.”

“I’m not asking you to like it. I’m asking you to do the most expedient thing.”

His eyes bored into her, hostile eyes that demanded she retreat. Elissa’s gaze did not waver. Another silent moment, and Adrian released a slow breath of air. His posture shifted, and resignation altered his features.

“It won’t be easy. Living out of a tent is hardly the same as living in a duchess’s palace.”

“I lived a simple life at home. I am tougher than I look, and I am not afraid of hard work. I can cook and wash and mend—”

“All right—you can go. Again, you leave me no choice.”

“You are saying you’ll come with me?”

“I’m saying that since I had already made plans to seek out Becker and you are so damned stubborn, you may come along. I can hardly let you go off on your own.”

Why not? she wanted to ask. Because you care about me? If he did, he didn’t care enough. She thought of Cecily Kainz and her chin went up a notch. “I’ll cook and clean for you, but I’m not sleeping with you.”

A muscle tightened in his cheek. “I didn’t expect you to.” A cynical twist moved his lips. “After all, I’ve nothing to blackmail you with now.” There was a bitterness in his tone she hadn’t expected, and perhaps a tinge of regret. She started to tell him the truth, that his threats had never been the reason she had given herself to him. She had done it because she was in love with him, though she hadn’t realized it at the time. She had done it because she wanted him as much as he had seemed to want her.

She bit back the words. He had too strong a hold on her already, and there must have been dozens of women who had loved him. He would only think her weak for becoming another one of them.

“How will you explain your arrival?” she asked. “A British soldier in the midst of the Austrian Army.”

His mouth curved faintly. “Ravenscroft has seen to that. Since England is still in the process of forging an alliance, I have orders to report to the archduke in an advisory position, to show our support for his cause.”

“When do we leave?”

“Tomorrow morning.” A hint of mockery touched the corners of his mouth. “As you said, there is no time to lose.”

*   *   *

Dawn broke crisp and clear over a cloudless blue sky. Adrian arrived with the sun, riding up to the duchess’s front door on his magnificent black stallion, leading a dapple gray mare sporting a worn leather saddle.

Elissa joined him in the foyer, dressed in a plum velvet riding habit trimmed with white lace, carrying a small tapestry traveling satchel.

Adrian scowled at her appearance, surveying her expensive riding clothes with a look of disdain. “I hope you’ve brought something more practical. Marching behind an army of men is hardly the place for fashion.”

Her chin hiked up. “I’ve purchased some simple garments from one of the maids. She is about my size and the clothes are quite sturdy. I prefer my habit for riding, but if it doesn’t suit you—”

“It’ll do for the present. We won’t reach our destination for at least several days. What you wear now doesn’t really matter.” He seemed remote and impatient, yet his eyes followed each of her movements as a footman cupped his hands and gave her a lift up onto the saddle. Riding astride as she was her stockings showed nearly to her knees, but she forced herself to ignore it.

“You’re sure you are up to this?” he asked. “I haven’t time to coddle you, and I mean to push hard.”

“Worry about yourself, Colonel Kingsland. I assure you I shall be fine.”

He hadn’t lied about the pace. They rode the horses till both animals were lathered and sweating beneath the fierce May sun and Elissa was hot, dusty, and exhausted. She hadn’t ridden this hard since she was a girl, racing across the moors with her brothers, and she ached from neck to ankle.

The colonel glanced at her several times, but she didn’t ask for quarter and he gave her none, stopping only briefly to rest and water the horses, then moving on. It wasn’t until the sky turned to shades of dusky orange that he finally reined up in front of a small, well-appointed inn. Griensteidl Haus read the red-painted sign out in front.

The little dappled mare hung its head and blew out its sides with fatigue, apparently as tired as Elissa. She watched Adrian dismount, wishing she had half the energy he still seemed to have, and gathered her strength to do the same, praying her aching limbs wouldn’t be too shaky to hold her up. She sighed and leaned forward, her hand trembling on the pommel, then felt Adrian’s hands at her waist, lifting her from the saddle more gently than she would have expected, setting her carefully on her feet.

“Are you all right?”

She smiled with weary gratitude. “Just tired is all. I’ll be fine once I’ve rested.”

“You did well,” he said a bit gruffly, glancing away when she looked into his face. “We’ll get a good night’s sleep and perhaps by tomorrow your body will be more accustomed to the saddle.”

She only nodded, grateful for the hand he kept at her waist as he guided her on unsteady legs through the inn’s heavy door. He surprised her by ordering two rooms instead of one, and she felt an unexpected twinge of disappointment. It was silly, considering his recent liaison with Cecily Kainz, but the unwelcome feeling remained.

“I thought I was supposed to be your mistress,” she said so that no one could hear.

“Nothing so fancy as that. Not out here. Here you are merely my woman. It is as simple as that.”

“Then why—”

“We’ll be confined together soon enough. Perhaps this way we’ll both be able to get some sleep.”

She wasn’t sure what he meant, but she forced a smile and accepted the key he gave her, then they followed the innkeeper up the steep wooden stairs to their second-story rooms.

“I can have your supper sent up,” the innkeeper offered, a thin little mustached man with round eyes and spectacles that gave him a constant look of surprise. “But you will be charged for it. Otherwise you must eat in the taproom.”

Adrian took one look at her wan, pale face, the fatigue that darkened patches beneath her eyes, and ordered the man to send their supper upstairs.

Elissa flashed him a tired, grateful smile. “Thank you.”

“It’s been a long, dusty day. I’ll have a bath sent up, then you can eat and go straight to bed.”

She simply nodded, wanting only to put her head down on the pillow and drown herself in sleep. Adrian opened the door and tossed her satchel on the ladderback chair against the wall. She walked in behind him on legs that trembled beneath her riding skirt and stood there swaying on her feet. Adrian left and she sat down on the bed. She must have lain down and drifted to sleep, for the next thing she knew, he had reappeared in the room and was muttering a curse at her bedside.

“Dammit, I told you this would be hard but you wouldn’t listen. Now you’re so exhausted you didn’t even wake up when your bathwater arrived.”

She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and sat up on the bed, her muscles screaming at the torture of that simple movement. Her dusty velvet riding habit was ruched up around her knees, rumpled and stained with perspiration.

“I’ll be fine in the morning,” she said, knowing it was a bald-faced lie. “But thank you for waking me.”

“Come here and turn around,” he grumbled. She started to tell him she didn’t need his help, but she was too tired to argue. Adrian worked the buttons at the back of her dress with the same skill she recalled from the night they made love in the bathhouse. It unsettled her to think of his expertise with women, yet her thoughts wandered back to that evening, to the intimate things they had done and the thrill she had felt when he had been inside her.

She forced the unwanted images away, hoping he wouldn’t notice the tinge of color that had crept into her cheeks.

“Tomorrow wear something more comfortable,” he said, stripping the gown off her shoulders with quick, purposeful motions. When she stood in front of him in only her thin chemise, his eyes shifted away and focused on a spot on the wall.

“Get into the tub,” he said with authority. “And don’t fall asleep. I’ll be back to check on you before I go to bed.”

With a weary sigh, Elissa watched him walk away, his wide shoulders perfectly straight, his narrow hips moving with the strong sense of purpose that always seemed to surround him. He was such a virile man. Too arrogant by half, too stubborn, too demanding, yet in Adrian she found those very qualities appealing. It was insane to love that sort of man, yet the feeling doggedly remained.

Sighing at the thought, Elissa stripped off her chemise, sank into the warmth of the tub, and leaned her head back. She wouldn’t stay long, she told herself, but it did feel good to wash away the dust; and the heat of the water soothed the ache in her back and thighs.

She was out of the tub, in bed, and drifting off to sleep when the colonel stuck his head through the door to make certain that she was all right. Whatever he felt for her, he meant to keep her safe. The knowledge brought the faintest touch of a smile.