Free Captured by a Gentleman (Regency Unlaced 6) by Carole Mortimer

remain here. Graves will be passing this way with the town carriage, either later today or tomorrow. He will recognize the broken landau instantly and no doubt set up a search for the two of us.”
    Her smile was tremulous. “I like that idea much better than the first.”
    He nodded. “In which case I need to go outside and bring in more wood for the fire. Food and water are not a problem, as I strapped the picnic basket to one of the horses and brought it with us.”
    “We shall be quite cozy.”
    Ranulf did not want to be cozy with Darcy. As he did not want to want her.
    The women he had taken to his bed these past eight months had been merely that, women he bedded but did not know in any other way. Women he did not wish to know in any other way.
    He already knew of Darcy’s courage from the way she had fled Cecil Sugdon’s home.
    From her inventiveness in having hidden herself away in one of his own carriages to make good her escape.
    Nor could he help but admire Darcy’s fortitude. Many women in her position would have been too numb to do either of those things.
    They would now be weeping and hysterical at the thought of spending a night in this small hut out in the woods, after the accident which had placed them in this position.
    Darcy had cried a little, yes, but that had been more out of relief at their lucky escape from serious injury than from hysteria at their present situation.
    Ranulf’s own emotions were far less ordered.
    The main one being his body still throbbed and clamored for release.
    A release Darcy did not seem averse to satisfying.
    It made him question whether or not she was a virgin still. She said she had never been in love, but she was aged almost one and twenty. There might have been some man in her life she had liked well enough to give her virginity to.
    Darcy had certainly responded easily enough to his kisses and caresses. She’d offered him the pleasuring of her breasts, her pussy, without hesitation or shyness.
    Not that it was any of Ranulf’s business what Darcy had done in the past. Or what she chose to do in the future. They were forced into each other’s company for now, but Ranulf intended to rectify that as soon as he was able.
    He did not intend enjoying Darcy Ambridge’s company a second longer than was absolutely necessary to ensure she was safe and settled, far away from Cecil Sugdon.

Chapter 6
    “You do not have to sit on that uncomfortable chair when there is room for both of us to lie on this cot.”
    Ranulf buried his chin more deeply into the topcoat he was wearing for warmth, as he continued to stare into the now-satisfying leaping flames of the fire, rather than turn and look at Darcy across the room lit by a single candle and the firelight, covered by the rough blanket he had found in a small cupboard beside the fireplace.
    He was too aware she wore only her nightgown beneath the cover of the blanket, having unpacked her night rail from her bag earlier before undressing modestly beneath the cover of the blanket. Her gown now lay across the table where they had eaten their picnic earlier, to prevent it from creasing any more than it already was. She had also removed the pins from her hair before retiring to the cot for the night, allowing those red-gold tresses to fall silkily on her shoulders and down the length of her spine.
    She had been asleep when Ranulf returned earlier from ensuring the horses’ comfort for the night. No doubt she was worn out by both the shock and injury from the accident and the lovemaking that had followed.
    A lovemaking Ranulf was determined not to allow his thoughts—or his engorged cock—to dwell on.
    Instead, he had gone about the business of ensuring their comfort for the rest of the night.
    He had discovered there was a river nearby, enabling him to bring back a bucket of water for the horses. Tethered outside, with the lean-to for shelter, they seemed content enough to graze on the grasses growing near the hut.
    Ranulf had