Free Nicola Cornick, Margaret McPhee, et al by Christmas Wedding Belles

legs,
feeling his throat dry.
    ‘What the devil are you doing?’ he managed.
    Lucinda edged the sash window up.
    ‘If the guard comes in, hit him over the head with the chair,’
she instructed. ‘Only try not to hurt him too much. I do not wish to be accused
of murder as well as conspiracy!’
    Daniel raised his brows. ‘Lucinda—’
    She gave him a fierce frown. ‘Hush!’
    She tied the end of the makeshift rope to the desk and gave it an
experimental tug. Then, before Daniel could protest, she had thrown the other
end of the rope out of the window and climbed out. Forgetting his duty with the
chair, Daniel rushed to the window and looked down. Lucinda was standing in the
snow, her breast heaving slightly with the exertion of her climb down the rope,
her face upturned to his. Flakes of snow were settling on her eyelashes and she
brushed them away. Her impatient whisper floated up to him.
    ‘Do you intend to join me, or do you prefer to wait at His
Majesty’s pleasure?’
    The silk gave way when he was halfway to the ground, depositing
Daniel in the snow with a rather sharp bump. Before he knew what was happening,
Lucinda had grabbed his arm and hauled him to his feet, dusting him down with
brisk, impersonal hands. Daniel flinched.
    ‘Ouch! There is no need to be so rough.’ He looked her over. With
snowflakes in her blonde hair she looked entirely charming. ‘Clearly I have
underestimated you, Luce,’ he said. ‘You have a natural bent for criminality. I
should have invited you to join my crew years ago.’
    She gave him a glare from those glorious blue eyes. ‘Are we going
to stand here chatting whilst we await discovery? Or are we going to hire some
horses at the Bell around the corner?’
    ‘Surely you mean steal some horses?’ Daniel said mildly.
    She gave him another glare, holding her wrist up to show her
reticule, still dangling there. ‘I have some money. There is no need to make
matters worse by adding theft to our list of crimes.’
    ‘Absolutely,’ Daniel said. He grabbed her, gave her a brief, fierce
kiss. ‘Lucy, you are a wonderful girl.’
    For a moment she stood still in his embrace, and he thought he
felt her lips soften beneath his.
    ‘It astounds me that you have been at liberty as long as you
have, Daniel, given your lack of resourcefulness and your penchant for wasting
time,’ she said, a little breathlessly.
    She was shivering. Daniel shrugged out of his jacket and placed
it about her shoulders, watching as she drew it close with shaking fingers. For
all her bravado he knew that she was half-shocked, half-elated by what they had
done.
    ‘Wait in shelter whilst I get the horses,’ he began—but even as
he spoke Lucinda recoiled with a gasp and, looking past her, Daniel saw a
figure rear up out of the tumbling snow at the corner of the alleyway.
    He had already moved to place himself between her and this latest
threat when he recognised the man and saw that behind him was a carriage drawn
up in the snow. No, it was not a carriage—it was a covered horse-drawn sleigh.
    ‘Evening, sir—ma’am,’ Lieutenant Holroyd said, coming forward to
shake his hand. He grinned. ‘Good to see you again. Transport compliments of
the Duchess of Kestrel. What kept you, sir?’

Chapter 6
    I N THE sleigh, beneath the fur-lined rugs
that Sally Kestrel had so thoughtfully provided, Lucinda sat shivering and
shivering in her torn evening gown and petticoats. The sleigh was a splendid
affair—a little coach on runners, with a hood lashed down on all sides so that
it was very snug inside. Sally Kestrel could not have sent anything better
suited to their purpose, and the fact that she had sent it led Lucinda
to hope that matters might be all right, for if ever she needed help it was
now.
    Despite the thick furs and the cloaks that Holroyd had passed to
them, Lucinda was trembling as though she would never be warm again. She knew
that it was reaction to her situation, rather than cold, that was