Page 97 of Claiming the Princess
“Stop.”
“What do you mean, ‘stop’?” he demanded. “Stop making sense? Stop protecting you and your future? There is no scenario in which I parade my wife in front of the French sadist who keelhauled my crew and who’s held an old man captive for a year, Danielle—none!”
“It was your original plan.”
“As I’ve said, that was not a plan, it was a revenge-fueled nightmare. And it was before I knew you! Now I know you—and, what’s more, I bloodyloveyou. If you’ll have me, I have every intention of returning to storybook Kent with you, of making a go of life at Eastwell.No partof this plan involves you spending one second more in this bloody castle. And by no means are you to go anywhere near Vincent Surcouf.”
“Fine,” she said, “we’ll leave here and go to the meeting point. You, and Marie, and me. The others will find their way to the stream and together we’ll collect your friend at the abandoned lodge.”
Luke was shaking his head. “I’ve unfinished business, Danielle. Please, do not fight me on this, it’s not revenge so much as justice, and I must see it through. I’m confident in my ultimate success. It won’t take long. A half hour behind you, as I’ve said.”
“No.”
“Yes,”he said. Then he snatched her hand and jerked her against him. He kissed her hard and deep and pulled away. He reached for the door and eased it open, peeking out.
“Ready?” whispered Marie from the corridor.
“Aye,” said Luke. “There’s a servants’ door to a small garden at the end of this corridor. Can you and Danielle make your way there, slip into the garden, and climb the wall? She’s told me your rendezvous point. She’s described you as a warrior and, after seeing the condition of the two guards, I’m inclined to believe her. Do you think you can make it to the rendezvous point at the stream?”
There was a pause. “Highness?” Marie asked Dani.
Dani’s mouth fell open. She’d not expected such loyalty. “It’s alright, Marie,” Dani told her. “Arguing with Luke only wastes precious time. He’s made up his mind to stay back.” Silently she added,We will find another way.
“Yes,” Luke was saying. “It would be imprudent for me to escort you myself, our trio makes no sense. A musician, a princess, and a nun? Instead, I’ll follow behind and make sure you clear the garden. When you’re safely over the wall, I’ll finish my work here and then meet you at the stream.”
“Yes, alright,” Marie said, “if the princess agrees.”
“The princess,” Luke ground out, “agrees.”
Danielle eyed him, saying nothing. He crushed her to him once more, and she fused her body to his, breathing his smell, absorbing the strength of his arms. Then he set her away from him, ducked out the door, and looked right and left. When he saw no one, he ushered Danielle out.
“Go,” he said.
“Are you well, Highness?” asked Sister Marie.
“So very well,” Dani said, catching herself with a hand to the door facing. “To the garden wall. I believe that’s where we’ve been dispatched.”
“After you,” the nun said lowly, not looking back.
Chapter 27
What am I doing?Luke asked himself. The question was rhetorical, but it felt very pressing, indeed.
He stopped walking and said the words out loud. “What the bloody hell am I doing?”
The clatter of the busy corridor absorbed the sound. Footmen raced to and fro with heavy platters of food and drink. Guards smoked, loitering on break. The service passage was as tightly populated as the ballroom. There was a glaring lack of band members, and Luke looked down at his musician’s suit and knew he could not linger. His motives did not matter if he was taken prisoner.
And his motive, to answer his own question, was to kill Vincent Surcouf. For his crew. For his father. For revenge. An eye for an eye. Even if Surcouf had fifty eyes, even if Luke gouged them all, justice would not be served. Revenge had seemed very sweet indeed—nay, necessary—for the better part of a year. It had been essential to his very breath. But that was before this bloody castle had delivered the two people about whom he cared most. Something about embracing Linus in the dungeon, miraculously alive; and kissing his wife, miraculouslyhere.
So why in God’s name would he remain here and put himself at risk? For what? For pride? To gloat? For revenge?
I have everything I ever wanted,he thought,more than I deserve, waiting for me.
Revenge will improve nothing. It’s not worth the risk.
No risk that jeopardizes my life with Danielle is worth it.
Luke stepped from the bustle of the passage into the shadows, rethinking his strategy. He looked down. The musician’s suit had served him well enough. If he walked slowly, and kept his head down, if he chose his route carefully, he should be able to wind his way to a service door and slip into the night, free and clear. His heart pounded. His chest filled with something shimmering and buoyant—hope, and relief, and love expanding like a cloud. He wanted to run from this place. He turned and—
