Page 8 of The Winter Rogue
The two of them were alone.
As Drew looked at her face in the well-lit room, he drew in a sharp breath.It couldn't be.He looked closer.No, it had to be her.It could only Charlie—or Charlene, as she preferred to be called.But it had been years, years since he had last seen her.What was she doing here, at this time, in this weather?Of all the doorsteps she had to collapse on, why his?
Smothering a curse, Drew bent to stoke the fire.She needed warmth right now, not unkind thoughts, or so he tried to remind himself.After all, their last parting had hardly been friendly.As he remembered it, she had punched him in the stomach and then skipped away.
He stiffened when she moaned softly.Dear God, the sound had his cock twitching in his trousers.Drew gasped a quick inhale and willed his body to cease such nonsense.This was not a time to be thinking about bedding a woman—and most certainly notthiswoman.He sighed.
Clearly, he had been too long without female companionship.
Behind him, a soft voice broke over the crackle and pop of the fire.“Huh…hello?Where am I?”
Drew gritted his teeth as his body's traitorous behavior continued.He turned around, hoping the shadows might help hide his inappropriate response.“Charlene.Welcome to Glenn Ivy Manor.”
Her face froze.“Bloody hell, you're home.”
His mirthless laugh was more of a bark.“My thoughts exactly.”
She sighed.“Oh…oh, my apologies.I didn't mean to say that aloud.”
He chuckled softly, almost to himself.“I'm sure you didn't.Although the girl I remember might have.”
Charlene frowned and sat up, letting the blanket covering her fall to her lap.“Yes, well.I am neither a girl, nor the one you remember.I've grown up.”
He bit the inside of his cheek.She had indeed grown up, rather nicely.Opting not to voice his enthusiastic agreement aloud, he focused on the issue at hand.“What in the blazes are you doing out in a snowstorm?”
Her face suddenly went as pale as the snow on the ground.“John!I can't believe I forgot about John!Bloody hell!”She tossed the blanket aside and stood up but she swayed on her feet before collapsing back on the sofa as she moaned again.
Damn his unruly cock.The bloody thing twitched again.
“John?Who's John?”Her lover?Her husband?Drew gritted his teeth as both ideas sparked the desire to punch something.What the hell was wrong with him?This girl had been the absolute bane of his existence as a boy.But now…
“John—he’s my driver.I was trying to get home to Brookhaven when the storm came upon us.There was nowhere to stop, John insisted we press on, but a few miles from here we had a…a misadventure.John was thrown from the driver's bench and he was injured.I took the horses to go for help.”
“Bloody hell indeed!Let me go get Polly and Billy—and you, you stay put.”Drew ran out of the study.There was a man in the snow somewhere depending on him to rescue him.
Drewreturnedtothestudy to find the obstinate woman doing exactly the opposite of what he'd instructed.
No surprises there.
Charlene was wandering around the room looking at his books.She at least had the blanket wrapped around her, he noted, and had stayed near the fire.But still.
“I told you to stay put,” he snapped as he walked in, followed by Polly.
“I'm still here.”Charlene waved an arm at the room they were in as she glared at him in equal measure.
“I meant for you to stay on the sofa.You nearly fainted again when you stood up the last time.”His glare was just as fierce as her own.
Polly was notably silent as they bickered.
“I simply stood too fast.I went much slower this time without you hovering over me and growling.”Charlene stepped closer to the fire.“I'm sorry, you must be Polly.Lady Charlene.”
Polly smiled and stepped compassionately over to her.“A pleasure to meet you, my lady, despite these circumstances.I'm this crusty old sailor's housekeeper.Don't mind him, he's always grumpy when he's first back from a trip.In fact, I rather believe he’s a grump by nature.”Polly slipped an arm around Charlie and gently ushered her back toward the sofa in a subtle move Drew recognized and approved of, even if he disagreed with what she was saying.“I think he misses the sea and doesn't know how to cope with being on land again.He always grows sweeter as his next trip approaches.”With a gentle movement, she urged Charlie to sit back down.
Drew snorted at such a description.He was never sweet.
Charlie looked around the room.“Did you send someone to John?”She pushed the blanket off her shoulders again.“I can’t stay here—I should go with him.I need to show him where John is.”
Polly tutted.“Absolutely not, my lady!You cannot go back out in that weather.”
