Once buttoned and tucked and reasonably decent, he rinsed the handkerchief and carried it back to the gazebo, only to see that Dany apparently had fallen asleep.
So much for any niggling worries he might have harbored about tears, uncomfortable questions or recriminations.
He lifted the throw and bent over her, kissing her awake, whispering into her ear, even as he slipped the wet handkerchief into her hand and then took himself off again, only returning when she asked his assistance in rebuttoning her gown, standing behind her to secure the buttons, kissing her shoulder, smiling as she tipped back her head against his chest.
“We have to go,” he told her as she busied herself folding the throw and replacing it on the back of the chaise.
“I know. We have to go back to the world, and all our problems. Including the fact that I doubt I will be able to look Darby, or Harry, for that matter, in the face ever again.”
“Harry was trained to be discreet, having been in my mother’s employ since he was out of leading strings, and Darby has what he terms a selective memory. At least he won’t tease. Well, he won’t tease you. I don’t think I’ll be so fortunate.”
Together, stealing kisses across the expanse of the blanket, they gathered up the remnants of their uneaten meal before Coop took her hand and led her back toward the cottage.
Harry was already waiting with the curricle, holding one of the bay’s heads, a bit of residue from what had probably been a cherry tart clinging to his chin and a wide smile on his face.
Once they were away from the estate and heading back to Portman Square, Coop felt the world slipping back into his consciousness, doing its best to crowd out more recent, definitely more pleasant memories.
Dany appeared to be suffering from the same depressing letdown.
“Have you decided how you’re going to approach this Ferdie person? You more than hinted that finding something with which to turn the tables on him is no longer possible now that he knows he’s been found out. But then what do you do? What can any of us do? To stop the publication of another chapbook destroying you, of retrieving Mari’s foolish letters?”
“Some plans are in motion, but they won’t suffice on their own. Ferdie attempted to coerce Geoff into killing me. I doubt that having Geoff conveniently sidelined by injury will stop Ferdie for long, once he discovers that Geoff did a flit.”
He turned to look at her, sure he was about to set off their very first verbal fight, and not a half hour after they’d made love. “In any event, until he’s taken care of, you are confined to Portman Square.”
“I will not!”
He needed to be direct, and firm. “Dany, don’t I have enough on my mind?”
She faced front, her arms crossed, and pouted.
“Dany?”
“Yes, yes, I was going to answer you. Reluctantly. You’re right,” she said at last, sighing rather theatrically. “But I expect Rigby and Darby to have your back. They will, won’t they?”
“Yes.” But Coop was far from relaxing. Dany obeyed when she wanted to obey. He’d learned that well enough in only these few days. “I’d move you to the duchess’s mansion, but you need to remain with your sister. What if Oliver were to return before we have the letters? She’d need you.”
“Again, I have to agree. Will you at least tell me what these other plans are that you have set in motion?”
He attempted to hold back a smile, but failed. “Minerva and the duchess are involved, along with an eager-to-help Clarice Goodfellow. And believe it or not, the whole thing was Rigby’s idea. I only had to agree to not interfere and ‘Get on with it,’ as Minerva told Darby and me to...”
The shot came from the trees to their left, and Harry cried out in pain.
Coop reacted with a soldier’s quickness, never slowing the curricle.
“Harry!”
“Here, sir. It’s m’leg, sir.”
“Hold on! Dany, can you take the reins?”
She already had her hands out to accept them. “We all need to learn sometime. Grab him, Coop, before he tumbles off.”
Coop didn’t have time to worry about her inexperience. The roadway was far from crowded, and straight as far ahead as he could see. He turned on the bench seat, snagged Harry by the front of his shirt, lifted him clear of the seat and pulled him forward so that he landed facedown between them, then managed to right him on the seat before taking back the reins.
The time—from the sound of the shot, to Harry’s yelp of pain, to taking back the reins while Dany cradled the tiger tightly against her—had been no more than a few seconds.
Seconds that had seemed like a lifetime.
“Holding on?”
“Holding on,” Dany replied. “Ferdie heard the news about that Geoff person sooner than you thought?”
“And made other plans, also sooner than I thought. Are you certain you’re all right?”
“I am, at least as all right as anyone would be in similar circumstances, I suppose. But Harry’s bleeding.”
“Jist a nick, ma’am,” the boy said cheekily, his head against Dany’s breast as he smiled up at her in some adoration. “Jist a wee dizzy, that’s all.” He then wound both arms around Dany’s waist.
“I’ll pull to the side of the road, once I’m certain nobody’s in pursuit.”
“That sounds reasonable,” Dany told him. “From the look of his trousers, he was only grazed by the ball. Mostly, it ripped them. Um, could you spring the horses a little more? This may sound silly, but I think my back itches.”
He grinned at her. “Mine, too. We’re already seeing more traffic on the road. I’ll soon have to slow down in any case.”
“Then do that, and I’ll tend to poor Harry here as we keep moving.”
“Poor Harry, m’mum’s only baby,” the boy said on a sigh, snuggling even closer, until Coop was tempted to give the boy a clap on the ear. Except that the lad had taken a shot clearly intended for him, a shot that could just as easily have found Dany.
They’d put a good mile between themselves and the failed assassin, and now there were two coaches riding behind them, and an empty farm wagon in front of them. They were slowed to a near walk.
“You can let go now, Harry, unless you think you might faint?”
“Yes, m’lord.”
“Close your eyes, Harry,” Dany told him as she bent forward, lifted her skirt and proceeded to tear a strip off her petticoat. “There. Now let’s just wrap this around your leg, all right?”
“Yes, ma’am. Should I...should I be droppin’ m’drawers?”
“No!”
“Honestly, Coop, there’s no need to shout,” Dany told him, laughing. “Thank you, Harry, but that won’t be necessary. I only want to put pressure against your wound. That’s what my papa did for my brother the day he thought it would be fun to see if he could toss his new knife in the air and catch it.”
“Don’t have no brother,” Harry said. “No papa, neither. Jist me and m’ma, and she’s still on the baron’s estate, all alone an’ lonely like.”
Dany finished wrapping the leg and tying the ends. “You’ll see her soon enough. Won’t he, my lord? And with a nice new set of livery. He’s been so brave, hasn’t he?”
They were entering the outskirts of London. “Anything