Masterful Trickery

XII. A Guard's Welcome

Three years ago...

Although she was in love with her ball gown, Alex was growing increasingly uncomfortable. She was feeling quite hot, beyond warm. It must be the bloody breeches she chose to wear underneath her heavy skirts.

Or perhaps it was the fact that Ralph Everard, the Lord of Beechworth, the Town Guard amongst the Everards, was slowly inching toward her.

She did manage to escape him, but it seemed that this time it would prove to be impossible. She was trapped in a corner. There were at least three groups keeping her away from the nearest escape route.

Her friends were in the middle of the ballroom, dancing an odd dance they called a quadrille.

And where were Barto and Ned?

She craned her neck and found her cousins enjoying the refreshment table across the ballroom. They must have loosened their initial anxiety and thought the wedding ball was actually safer than the three of them.

Alex looked about. She could see from the corner of her eye that Ralph Everard was on his way toward her.

Bloody hell!

*****

Ralph looked at her for a long time before he scoffed, shaking his head in both disbelief and hidden awe. "Of course. You lot would know every inch of the Dark Forest."

Alex merely shrugged.

His eyes did not leave her as he considered her offer. He blinked. No, he could not let her be involved in this as much as she already was. There had been too many casualties in this fight against Osegod. "No."

"Why the bleedin' hell not?" she exclaimed. "I said I'd take ye, guv. Ye would'na survive the forest alone, see. Bandits are everywhere in that place."

He reconsidered it. Bloody hell, he was a Town Guard! He could take care of bandits.

But not alone. Not when there would be a herd of them.

"I'll take ye if ye pay me, of 'cors," Alex said.

Ralph closed his eyes and sighed. He still wondered how the woman standing before him was the same as the one who enchanted him three years ago. If he were to close his eyes and not see her face, he would never think that Alex was Lady in Blue.

"I've never robbed an Everard, guv, but 'tis time I demand a pay."

Ah, bloody hell, but her voice was still the same. She may not be speaking the way she did in that party, but it was the same voice that awakened him many nights three years ago.

Ralph shook his head. She was a bandit and he was a Town Guard. He must remember those two important details for now.

When he opened his eyes, her dark gray ones were keenly staring at him, brows fused with impatience. "Bad men are chasin' me 'cos of ye, Guard. Ye can't leave me te die in this bleedin' place."

Ralph slowly drew in a breath and slowly let it out, his mind reeling. "If I were to pay you, that will mean you will be under my orders."

Alex shook her head. "Nae, guv. That'll mean I'll do whatever I believe te be covered by me pay."

He scowled.

"Ye could bleedin' order me te water yer horse, guv. I would'na do it. Or ye could tell me te strip me clothes off and lay with ye in bed. I would'na do it. D'ye see what I mean, guv? I'll do only what I believe will be covered by me pay."

Ralph's jaw dropped open in disbelief. Not that he would not consider bedding her—as a matter of fact he had already dreamed of her covered by naught but his body—but to actually hear her speak of it in such an easy fashion, without her face growing scarlet, was quite fascinating and incredible.