Free Courtesan's Kiss by Mary Blayney Page B

his partner. “My head spins like I drank five nights running.”
    The healthy groom stood up and stepped back from his compatriot, who leaned over the log he sat on and made a terrible retching sound.
    “I think we have added one more to our list of sick and injured.” God help them, illness had claimed a third member of their party. Concern replaced his earlier annoyance.
    “We are close to Sandleton,” Mia said, not taking her eyes from the groom, who kept on complaining about his stomachache, the heat, and his “bleedin’ eyes.”
    “We have about five miles left to travel,” Lord David said.
    She nodded and continued to attend to the coachman.
    “Let me, Miss Castellano. You will ruin your dress.”
    “All the excuse I need to buy a new one.” She brushed at the dirty fabric as she spoke. “I will check and see if the groom is feverish.”
    “Listen to me, Miss Castellano; go no closer to him.”
    She did as he asked despite the rudeness of his command. “If it is some kind of disease then I have already been exposed to it.”
    “Climb up into the coach box. I will join you shortly.”
    She wanted to argue; he could tell by the way she opened her mouth and then pressed her lips together. He never would have guessed that Mia Castellano would be so well behaved in an emergency.
    Once again she tried to brush the dirt and blood from her already ruined dress, and, with a curt nod, she went over to the coach. He would have had to be a eunuch not to enjoy watching her climb onto the top. She had the makings of a fine acrobat, if all else failed her in this world.
    The grooms, both of them, helped the coachman into the traveling chaise. The sick one traveled inside with him, while the healthy one rode Cruces.
    David climbed up beside Miss Castellano, taking up the reins. He could practically see her mind working as she conjured up one deadly illness after another. One that would scar her for life, one that would cripple her, one that left her an invalid.
    He knew her thoughts because his mind was hell-bent on the same course. They needed a distraction, both of them. It did no good to create disaster before it befell them. “I thought I heard you say that you have jumped from a carriage before.”
    “What?” Her puzzlement lasted only a moment. “Oh yes, once, when William agreed to a race to Richmond with me as his passenger. The reins snapped and we both had to jump. I had watched the acrobats at Astley’s Circus and had a fair idea of how to drop and roll. William twisted his ankle quite badly but I did no more than dirty my fingernails.”
    “That sounds like a singularly stupid thing to do. You were both very lucky.” There, that should irritate her, though David did wonder exactly why she watched those female acrobats so carefully.
    “Poor Janina,” Mia began, ignoring his comment. “I wish I had been more kind. She really is ill.”
    They rode in silence until the village came into sight, then Miss Castellano found her voice again. “I will do whatever you want me to do, my lord.”
    This was exactly the kind of person he wanted as second in command on a ship, he thought. Calm, able to act when necessary, but willing to take orders from a superior. He found it rare and impressive in a man, much more so in a woman. The woman whose favorite word was
no
had disappeared.
    “We will not drive up to the house. I will send the healthy groom for the surgeon and have him meet us at the gate to Sandleton. We will wait there so he can give ushis medical insight regarding the coachman and the groom. After he has made his observations I will decide what to do.”
    “Then you think it may be something serious?” She did not wait for him to answer but gave her own suggestion in a whisper. “Smallpox.”
    He did not answer her.

Chapter Nine

    D IO MIO,
SMALLPOX
, Mia thought. Panic flooded through her. She wanted to scream and run away as far and as fast as she could. Instead, she folded her hands together