Chapter 6
Rune was just about to burst himself. His entire face was slick with her, and he wanted nothing more than to bury himself in her, getting that slick on his cock, too.
But he didn”t want to upset her. He had a feeling that relaxation—especially on this scale—was something that was hard won for her, and he didn”t want to disturb her.
But he definitely wanted to disturb her.
”Felisa?”
”Hmm?” she asked almost dreamily.
”I want to take you. I want to be inside you.”
He saw her eyes open wide with alarm. She tried to sit up, but he wouldn”t allow her to.
”I promise you, again, and I think I”ve always kept my promises to you—that it won”t hurt. I hope you know that I don”t want to hurt you.”
Her voice was tiny and hoarse from her screams. ”But it always hurt… before.”
”I am not him, Felisa. Have I lied to you about any of this?”
”No,” she answered truthfully, though a little reluctantly.
”It will not hurt. I”ll make sure of it.”
Finally, she nodded, but he knew by her demeanor and the tenseness he could feel creeping back into her body that she didn”t really believe him. She was probably just going along with it because it was what he wanted and she didn”t feel she had much choice, or, more likely, she felt obligated to do so.
And he was nowhere near a good enough man to turn her down, no matter what her motivation. Parts of him wished that he was that honorable, but the truth of the matter was that he definitely wasn”t. All he could do was to make sure that she enjoyed this part of lovemaking, too.
Once he”d freed his aching self, he reached into his top drawer to retrieve two things—one he applied to himself, and the other, he applied to her. She was quite wet already, but he knew that the prophylactic he was using would demand that there be something extra in order to keep her comfortable.
When Rune leaned forward and pressed himself against her notch, he realized that her body—that had not minutes earlier been in a nearly liquid state—was stiff, her muscles tensed as if to flee, small hands clenched into fists at her hips. Still, she hadn”t protested or tried to stop him. But it was plain to see she was anticipating that something hellish was going to happen to her.
So, he leaned down and picked her up, which surprised her—he could see it plainly on her face. Then he stretched out on the couch, guiding her to arrange herself over him.
”Here. This way, you control how far I go in. If it hurts you, stop. I know you don”t believe me, and I don”t blame you for that at all, but this can feel good to you, too. Maybe not quite as good as what I just did, but I”ve been told that it”s quite pleasant.”
Her eyes were like saucers. ”Really?”
Rune nodded, trying to keep himself as still as possible. Everything in him wanted to jam himself up inside her in one stroke, but he wouldn”t.
”You can touch me—I”m not as delicate as you are. Guide me to your opening, and then lower yourself onto me as quickly or slowly as you like. You”re slick, I”m slick—it”s going to go in very easily, I promise you.”
She still looked skeptical, and if he hadn”t been so hungry for her, he would have smiled at her.
Felisa did as he asked, looking as if she might cry if she felt so much as a slight pinch.
But she didn”t. He was right. They were both very wet, and as she allowed him inside her, lowering more and more of her weight onto him, he filled her up very easily.
She felt stretched, but there was nothing uncomfortable about it in the least.
In fact, it felt quite good.
When he was all the way inside her, she asked, ”Now what?”
He reached up and gathered her to him, so that she was stretched out on his chest. Then, slowly, so as not to startle her, he began to turn so that she was beneath him. It made her go a bit rigid again, but he took the time to soothe and settle her, until he could literally feel her relax around him.
”Okay?” he asked, desperate to begin moving but not willing to do so until he knew that she was all right.
Felisa was biting her lip, but she nodded anyway.
”I”ll start slow, but it will get fast. Still, it won”t hurt, I promise.”
”All right,” she said, and he knew she still had her doubts.
He almost grinned at that, saying, ”All right, my little skeptic.”
He began to move very slowly, watching her like a hawk the whole time as he did so, and he was very gratified to see that she seemed to be enjoying herself almost as much as he was. Within a very short time, she was meeting his thrusts—although he was deliberately not doing so full strength—and arching up into him. Her hands even found his chest at one point as she moaned softly when he filled her to the hilt.
”Wrap your legs around my waist, baby,” he encouraged, and she did exactly as he asked, barely believing it when his movements felt even better. He was hitting something inside her that made her feel very much as if she was going to explode again.
”Feel good?” he ground out.
”Y-yes!”
”Good. Just let it happen. It”s okay if it does, and it”s okay if it doesn”t.”
Felisa wasn”t at all sure if it was going to be okay with her if it didn”t happen, but she knew he was just trying to let her know that he didn”t want her to feel that there was any pressure about that coming from him.
It was an embarrassingly short amount of time before he could no longer control himself, and he was pretty much fucking her as fast and as hard as possible. But she didn”t look scared or as if she was in any kind of pain. In fact, she seemed to be striving for the same thing he was, and she even managed to achieve it—with her head thrown back and a glorious groan—mere seconds before he did.
Rune wished there wasn”t the barrier between them that he”d had to don, but then he didn”t want her to get pregnant, either. Even with that, though, he”d lost control much sooner than he would have preferred. He wanted to revel in her, to luxuriate in the feel of her around him, of her in his arms, beneath him, and most of all, coming around him. He vowed that, eventually, he would feel all of that with her. He wasn”t quite sure how he was going to achieve that, but he was definitely going to do it, somehow.
”Well, it”s probably about time we get to bed,” he announced regretfully. Rune really didn”t want to let her go. He wanted to take her to his bed—the same desire he”d had before, but only much more so this time. It was much harder to resist the idea of waking up to take her again if she was game, and he had a feeling she would be.
He regretted the words as soon as they were out of his mouth, because it was as if he”d thrown a switch, and she very much became his mother”s Miss Heath again, sliding off his lap and pulling her bloomers up, rearranging her skirts and, he suspected, deliberately not looking at him.
”Felisa,” he murmured, catching her hand just as she turned to leave and using it to tug her close to him again as he leaned against his desk, already having seen to his own clothing. ”Are you all right?”
Her face blazed brightly at that, even as she continued to stare at the ground.
”Fine, thank you, your lordship.” And her voice was back to that toneless neutrality he hated.
Rune stood, letting go of her hand to wrap his arm around her waist and pull her against him. His hand came up to lift her chin as their eyes met, hers slipping immediately away from his.
”Thank you, Felisa.”
That got her attention. She looked directly at him, asking almost accusatorily, ”For what?”
”For trusting me enough to let me do what we did here tonight.”
She didn”t want his apologies. She didn”t know what she wanted from him, if anything, but that was not it.
”You”re welcome,” came her stilted reply.
Sighing, he let go of her then walked to the door and peered out to make sure no one was about.
”I think it”s safe for you to go up to your room now.”
Felisa gave him a wide berth, which made Rune grit his teeth.
”Sleep well.”
She paused at the door, looking back at him as if she wanted to say something back, but then she simply left.
He found his own bed much later, his mind and body in turmoil over what he”d done to her and what he still wanted to do to her whenever he could manage the opportunity.
Perhaps the best thing for him to do was to move to their London house, but he balked at the idea of being forced off his own property, to say nothing of the fact that he didn”t want to leave her.
There was every possibility that he wouldn”t be able to pull them out of the financial morass they were in, too, and that she”d move on to a family who could actually pay her what she earned, and he”d lose her then for good.
As a result of the turmoil of his thoughts, he ended up stumbling into bed, drunker than he”d been in a very long time, spending the night having dreams about making her his in a much more permanent fashion than simply having her occasionally, which is what his mind knew he would be reduced to in this situation.
* * *
He awokethe next morning in a bad mood, and it continued for some time, mostly because of how Felisa was responding to him—or rather, wasn”t. She rarely met his eyes and avoided his touch as completely as was humanly possible without calling attention to herself. There were times when it couldn”t be avoided—such as when he handed her in and out of the coach as they attended dinners or balls together or when he pulled out her chair—deliberately and subtly caressing her back right under his mother”s nose.
But there was no repeat of their dance again and definitely no repeat of their coming together. She was utterly circumspect—the opposite of how she usually acted around him—deferring to him in everything and agreeing to everything he suggested.
Even his mother noticed, which was a bad signal for how noticeable their behavior was overall. Amelia Alderton was hardly known for noticing how much of anyone else felt. Empathy was not high on her most admirable qualities.
But as they were getting ready to leave for a dinner at the Bellevue”s, she had sent Felisa back to her room to retrieve a wrap, and as soon as the girl was out of earshot, she turned to her son.
”Have you and Miss Heath had a falling out, Rune?”
Her tone conveyed just how distasteful she found that idea, with no room for doubt.
Caught a bit off guard by her question, he answered, ”No, Mother, we have not.”
”She”s quite a bit more somber than she used to be, but only while you”re around. You haven”t made a nuisance of yourself to her, have you?”
He eyed her sharply. What that phrase meant to his mother was anyone”s guess. It could be anything from teasing her a bit too much to what he”d actually done to her, he knew. Not that he thought his mother had any idea that he and Felisa had been indiscreet, but the woman was very fond of her companion, and he knew that if she got any whiff that something of any consequence was wrong between them, she”d never let it go until she found out exactly what that was.
”You”re imagining things, Mama.”
”No, I am not,” she corrected sharply. ”She”s an entirely different person when you”re around, and I want it to stop. I don”t mind you two teasing back and forth—although I”m not all that fond of it, either—but if you”ve done anything to hurt her in any way?—”
”I haven”t, Mama,” he reassured.
”Well,” she sounded very doubtful, ”if you have, I do hope you”ll make it up to her however you need to, although with our finances the way they are, I”m not sure how you could do that. Normally, I”d suggest some kind of monetary bonus along with a sincere apology for whatever transgression you made against her, but that”s impossible at the moment. But I”m warning you, my boy, I do not want to lose her. So, do something—anything. I don”t want her looking like a whipped dog whenever you”re in the room. It”s unsettling and disconcerting, and it makes me wonder if you”ve done something that should make me think about whether you have some fatal character flaw that I have overlooked.”
Rune didn”t bother to get upset over the fact that she was laying all the blame for her companion”s unhappiness at his feet, because he knew very well that was exactly where it belonged.
”You didn”t… whip her, did you?” she leaned toward him and asked in a hushed whisper.
He frowned, not for the reason she would have thought, but because she was uncomfortably close to the truth, although he made certain that he sounded as affronted as she would have expected him to. ”Of course not, Mother.”
”Well, as I have said, I want things back to the way they were between the two of you. Your nattering at her was at least somewhat acceptable, but her current demeanor is not.”
”Yes, Mama,” he answered, wondering what it was that he could do to make things right.
The carriage ride took forever, made that much worse by the deafening silence among the three of them.
Dinner was excellent—the Bellevue”s always put on a very nice spread, and when everyone was done, they separated and he and the other men went to have cigars and brandy in the lounge, while the ladies sat around and gossiped in the drawing room.
When the men finally joined them, he noticed that Felisa was nowhere to be found. Trying to be as casual as possible, he asked his mother if there was anything he could get for her.
”I take it Miss Heath is not around?” he inquired on his way to get her the sherry she”d requested.
”No, she is upstairs with her friend, Miss Worth, who is Lady Bellevue”s companion. Apparently, the poor young woman is feeling under the weather, and I gave her leave to go see to her.”
”Ah.”
”It has been quite some time, though,” his mother fretted. ”Would you be a dear and go find her? I asked her not to take too much time, but they tend to forget themselves when they”re together.”
”Certainly,” he agreed quickly, to his mother”s surprise.
It wasn”t that Rune wasn”t helpful, but she had half expected him to suggest that she send a servant to do that little chore. Amelia”s eyes followed him as he made his way out the door.
”Second floor, right at the top of the stairs, last room on the left,” Lord Bellevue supplied helpfully.
Amelia didn”t miss the fact that Lady Bellevue had looked slightly flustered when she”d sent Felisa up to see her friend, who would normally have dined with them, as she did. And now that she”d dispatched Rune, she”d gotten up and begun pacing—although she was definitely trying to conceal the fact that that was what she was doing by circulating amongst her guests.
But the dowager could see how her gaze kept creeping back to the door, as if she expected someone—perhaps Felisa or Rune—to enter with very bad news any minute now.
Rune took the stairs of the elaborate, ornate grand staircase two and three at a time as he made his way toward Lady Bellevue”s companion”s room.
But he didn”t get very far from the top of the stairs before he saw Felisa coming down it.
His pace quickened even further when he realized that she was probably crying. Her hand was over her mouth, and she was slightly bent over, one hand wrapped around her stomach as she lurched unsteadily forward.
He had never seen her cry—not when she was spanked the first time, or the second, nor when he”d brought her to the ultimate in pleasure, which he knew that some women did, occasionally, as a part of the release that an orgasm afforded them.
”Felisa. Are you all right?” he asked, racing toward her.
Instead of falling into his arms, which he wanted her to do, she forced herself to straighten up, dry her tears, and face him staunchly.
”I-I”m all right.”
”I don”t believe you,” he replied, searching her tear dampened face. ”What is it? Whatever it is, I”ll help you with it. Please, tell me.”
She emitted a choked sob then squelched any further ones in favor of presenting him with a brave front, and he knew from the set look on her face that he wasn”t going to get anything more out of her.
”Nothing. I”m fine.”
Rune sighed, wishing she would trust him but understanding that she didn”t feel she could. ”All right then, I won”t badger you here and now. But I am going to want an explanation when we get home.” He offered her his arm and helped her down the stairs. When they were on the first floor, he pointed her toward the water closet.
”You should go in there and fix your face. You look as if you”ve been crying your heart out, and you know how my mother is. She sent me to look for you. I”ll head back and let her know that you”re indisposed at the moment, but that you”ll be right in.” He searched her face, wanting to pull her into a tight hug but knowing that that was impossible. ”All right?”
Felisa nodded slowly.
When he moved toward the door to the drawing room and she started toward the bathroom, he heard her say very quietly, ”Thank you.”
He turned back quickly, with a soft smile. ”You”re welcome.”
”There you are!” his mother exclaimed when she reappeared at her elbow. ”I was wondering if you two had run off and joined the circus.”
”No, we didn”t. Is there anything I can get you, Lady Sommerville?”
His mother sniffed. ”You”re too late. Rune got it for me. The next time, I shall be quite cross if you”re not here to do so, Felisa.”
It was on the tip of Rune”s tongue to take his mother to task for chiding her so, considering she was working for free, but he didn”t want to do that here. Lady Bellevue would enjoy that juice piece of information entirely too much, and it would be all over the country before they”d even left this evening.
So, he bit his tongue, watching Felisa as covertly as possible and watching his eagle-eyed mother watching her, too.
Felisa had done a pretty good job of repairing her face, and his mother didn”t seem to notice. At least, that was, until they were in the coach again, on the way home.
”Felisa, why were you crying at the Bellevue”s?”
Amelia felt her son”s and her companion”s eyes on her immediately. They both looked shocked.
”But, I wasn”t?—”
”Come now, girl. You can”t put that past me. I”ve seen entirely too many women”s faces after they”ve had a good cry. Now, out with it.”
Rune was biting the inside of his cheek to keep himself from telling his mother not to badger Felisa, but he watched—they both watched, he knew—as she straightened her back and met his mother”s eyes.
”All right. I was crying for personal reasons that I do not want to go into, Lady Sommerville,” she stated firmly but softly.
He wasn”t at all sure how his mother was going to take that. It could have gone either way.
But, because she had such a soft spot for this young woman, it went the way he preferred, which was a blessing.
She did sigh, as if terribly put upon, though. ”All right then, but I want to ask you something. Was it something my son did that caused your consternation?”
Felisa looked surprised and answered truthfully, ”Absolutely not.”
His mother paused for a moment, as if sizing up both the young woman and what she said, then came out with, ”Well then, if you are not willing to discuss it, I will let it go, although doing so goes badly against my grain.” Then she leaned forward and put her hand over where Felisa”s were laying in her lap. ”I hope you know, my dear, that if there”s ever anything I could help you with, you can come to me and I will do my best to resolve the situation for you.”
The young woman”s small smile at that very unexpected, very generous offer from her employer made his heart ache. ”Thank you, Lady Sommerville. That”s very kind of you.”
”No, it”s really not, my dear. I have only the most selfish of motives in wanting to see you happy, since seeing you sad these past few weeks has been most disagreeable to me.”
Rune chuckled quietly at that. How very like his mother to consider her companion”s melancholy only as an inconvenience to herself.
Later, when she”d finally gotten the dowager to sleep, Felisa headed to her own bed. However, she found, after several hours of tossing and turning, that she couldn”t get to sleep.
So, she headed down to the kitchen in her gown and robe to make herself some tea.
And, as he had developed a terrible habit of doing, he appeared there, too.
”I, like my mother, was beginning to wonder if you”d run away to join the circus,” he announced when he”d found her finally. ”Why didn”t you ring for a servant to bring you up some tea?”
If she”d felt better, Felisa might have laughed at that. ”I don”t ring for servants for myself, your lordship. I am a servant. I wait on your mother; others do not wait on me, nor would they be particularly happy to be expected to do so.
He frowned fiercely. ”I don”t care what they”d be happy to do. They shall do as they are told. As should you.”
Not in a mood to argue with him about much of anything, she let that provocative statement go. ”How did you find me here?
”I knocked on your door to check on you, and no one answered. I was worried, so I scoured the house to find you—this is the last place I looked. I didn”t expect to find you down here.”
”Well, I”m not nipping wine. I couldn”t sleep and thought I”d made myself a cup of tea. Would you like one?” she asked politely.
”No, thank you.” Rune Looked at her minutely. ”You don”t look ill, but I know you”ve had a hard evening. Why don”t you go upstairs and get into bed, and I”ll bring this up to you?”
She almost smiled at that, and he felt victorious at getting her that far toward normalcy around him. ”That would be highly improper, sir. Besides, I”m perfectly capable of making my own tea, but thank you very much for the offer.”
Rune stepped closer to her. ”I”d much rather hear you call me Rune, like you did that night.”
”That, too, was highly improper.”
”I know. I think that”s one of the things I liked best about it.”
She busied herself with her task, trying not to think about how close he was to her, even though she could feel the heat radiating off of him and the scent of his cologne that still clung to his jacket.
”Tell you what. When you”re done, bring your cuppa to my study. I want to talk to you.”
Felisa did not want to do that. ”But I”m trying to get to sleep, sir,” she attempted.
”I promise I won”t keep you long, but unlike my mother, I”m not going to let you get away with not telling me what upset you so at the Bellevue”s.”
With that, he left, giving her no further chance to argue with him.
When her tea was poured and she”d taken as long as she could in scrupulously cleaning up after herself, she sighed heavily and made her way to his study.
He was standing up when she came in.
”I was just about to come get you—again,” he grumbled, sitting back down on the couch.
”No one asked you to come get me the first time,” she retorted sharply, looking slightly abashed at the attitude she was giving him.
But he was grinning at her like a loon.
”Come here,” he said, patting his thigh.
She sat down in one of the wing backed chairs to one side of the couch, and his grin grew wider, although there was no trace of amusement in his tone when he warned, ”Felisa.”
”Yes?” she asked, as if butter wouldn”t melt in her mouth.
”I would invite you to think about what might happen to you if you make me come and get you.”
She was on his lap almost before he finished the sentence, but the starch in her spine let him know that she wasn”t at all happy to be there.
Rune ignored her rigid posture for the moment as he wrapped his arms around her. ”So. Tell me what happened to upset you this evening. Was one of the Bellevue”s servants rude to you?”
”No.”
”Was my mother rude to you?”
She looked at him incredulously then answered, ”No.”
Rune smiled. ”Don”t act as if it”s not within the realm of possibility,” and nearly got a smile out of her.
”Felisa.”
”Yes, sir?”
”Don”t make me drag it out of you, or you won”t like the method I employ to do so at all, I can promise you.”
Her eyes darted to his, then away as she bit her lip. ”I can”t tell you,” she whispered, fiddling nervously with the tie to her robe.
He had a sudden thought. ”Is it something to do with Miss Worth?”
Her body language told him that he was on the right track with that.
”Mother said that she wasn”t feeling well. Is she very ill? Is that it? You”re worried about her—concerned for her?”
Everything he was suggesting was quite true. It just wasn”t all of it.
Rune waited a minute for her to answer him, then he moved her inexorably so that she was over his lap.
This time, it was much easier than it had been before to bare her bottom—she wasn”t wearing very many layers at all!
As his hand came to rest on the swell of her backside, he gave her one last chance. ”I don”t want to spank you, Felisa, but I will. I want to know what is bothering you. You can trust me, you know?—”
”But I promised I wouldn”t tell anyone! I can”t!”
”So it is about Miss Worth?” he asked, keeping her in that vulnerable position since it seemed to work to loosen her tongue, even though it was also driving him crazy at the same time.
She didn”t respond verbally but nodded her head.
”Mother said she was sick, but is it something other than that?”
Felisa nodded reluctantly.
”Is she hurt?”
More nodding.
This was becoming more puzzling. If she was hurt, surely the Bellevues would have sent for a doctor to set her bone or address whatever it was.
”Badly?”
”Yes.”
”Are you concerned for her life?”
Vehement nodding.
”Did they not call a doctor to see her?”
Felisa shook her head at that, and that only confused him more.
”Did she have an accident?”
Another shake of her head.
”Let me say this back to you. Miss Worth is very badly hurt, perhaps even dying, but she didn”t have an accident and the doctor has not been called? Is that right?”
She nodded again.
Rune ran all of that information through his head and could only come up with one conclusion. ”Did—did someone in the family hurt Miss Worth deliberately?”
Instead of nodding or shaking her head, Felisa dissolved into tears, and Rune immediately took her into his arms, holding her tight and rocking her slightly. ”Oh, darling, I am so sorry about that! Was it Patrick?” He was the son and heir, a spoiled rotten brat if ever there was one. Rune hadn”t had anything to do with him since they were quite young because he couldn”t stand him.
”No,” she sniffled.
”Lord Bellevue?” he asked.
”N-no.”
Rune frowned. ”Surely, it wasn”t Lady Bellevue?”
Her eyes rested on his as she nodded slowly.
He leaned back and held her on his chest.
”Tell me everything, lovely, and I”ll see what I can do.”
When she”d entered her room, Penny had been a mess. Apparently, Lady Bellevue had flown into a rage—not liking how slowly Penny was at doing something. Felisa never gotten from her exactly what it was that she”d done to offend the older woman, and the cane hadn”t been handy, so the woman had taken a walking stick to her companion.
Penny”s face was bruised almost beyond recognition, her ribs were probably broken, and her back was a field of swollen, angry bruises.
”She couldn”t talk to me; she can barely eat. I don”t think she”s going to die from this, but if she stays there, she surely will!” she blubbered against his chest. ”But it”s a good position for her—like this one is for me—and she won”t leave.”
Rune was horrified to hear that the young lady was willing to stay in a place where she was so abused, but he supposed he shouldn”t be. Felisa was staying here, with him.
He knew it didn”t compare in some ways, but in others, it did—quite uncomfortably—and he was acutely aware of that.
Rune sighed then caught her eyes. ”Thank you, again, for trusting me. I hope I have never and will never give you cause to think that trust was misplaced.”
Her eyes flitted away from his at that, and even though he really didn”t want to, Rune stood and helped her to her feet. He would much prefer to tuck her beneath him and make her scream his name again as she had before.
But considering what they”d just been discussing, he—uncharacteristically—didn”t want to push whatever perceived advantage he had with her.
”I want you to know that no one will hear anything about Miss Worth”s plight from me, but I want to take a little while to come up with a plan to help her. I”ll do anything I can to help get her out of that situation.”
She shook her head. ”I didn”t tell you in hopes of you helping me.”
Rune took her hands in his. ”I know you didn”t. You didn”t want to tell me in the first place. I practically had to spank you to get it out of you.” He leaned down to kiss her still damp cheek then brushed the tears he found there away. ”You are a very good friend, and I know you care about her very much. I care about you, so I want to help her. Just give me a bit of time to find out what might be the best course of action.”
Felisa nodded.
”Now. Off to bed with you. Hopefully, you”ll be able to get some sleep now that you”ve unburdened yourself a bit.”
She made her way to the door then turned back to look at him. ”Thank you for offering to help, sir.”
”Rune,” he corrected. ”I think you can probably use my first name, considering, at least when we”re alone.”
”I-I don”t think so, sir. I don”t want to get used to it and then accidentally slip up.”
He hated that she was right, but she probably was.
”Good night, Miss Heath.”
”Good night, your lordship.”
* * *
It had been two days,and she”d barely seen him. His mother had hinted that he was working on some kind of scheme to save the family”s finances, and Felisa was certainly all for that. But she wasn”t going to wait forever for him to decide whether or not there was anything he could do to help her friend.
So, she decided to take matters into her own hands.
Penny was better—not fully recovered by any means, but more ambulatory than she had been—and she and Felisa had exchanged several notes, through which Felisa had laid out her plan. It wasn”t particularly elaborate—she had neither the head nor the funds to involve cabs or hotels. Instead, her idea was simple—remove her friend from under the Bellevue”s roof and bring her back to Fenton Hall.
When she had recovered, she could decide from there what she wanted to do.
She considered enlisting her ladyship”s help in accomplishing her goal but then decided against it, believing—from past experience—that the fewer people who knew what was going on, the better. Felisa had thought, though, that there might be some objection to Miss Worth being there, and at first, she had thought that she might try to hide her in her own room.
But she rejected that, too. It would be too hard to do, with her room being right next to Lady Alderton”s and there being a connecting door, plus the maids coming and going from both rooms every day. So, although getting her there would be a clandestine operation, she fully intended to confess to her ladyship what she”d done and then allay her fears about there being another mouth to feed and house by letting her know that she and Penny were used to sleeping together and she would have no problems at all sharing her meals with her friend. They were quite used to doing that, too.
She knew her employer wasn”t likely to be particularly happy about what she”d done and that her anger probably wouldn”t be a patch on her son”s, who would also inevitably either discover on her own what she”d done or have to be told.
Felisa wasn”t looking forward to that conversation in the least, but she would do whatever she needed, to keep her friend safe.
In the end, it was quite a bit easier than she had imagined it would be, although she had never been so frightened in her life. She”d borrowed a horse from the stables, as quietly and stealthily as she could, walking him until they were well away from the house, then riding him to near the Bellevue”s place, where she reversed the process.
Penny was waiting for her in the small courtyard outside the servants” entrance, and although she had to practically lift her friend onto the horse and walk all the way back, she thought they made good time.
When she”d quickly groomed the horse and put him away, along with his tack, hoping no one would be the wiser, she had to practically drag Penny to the servants” entrance of Fenton Hall, which she had left unlocked.
The longest—and hardest—part of this endeavor was undoubtedly trying to get Penny up the back stairs as quickly and quietly as possible. What little reserves of strength her friend had, had long since been used up, and Felisa was expending all of her own energy, nearly carrying her up the stairs to her room.
Finally, they arrived in that relatively safe place, and she propped her friend against her just long enough to light a candle. But then the bedroom door opened, and she didn”t have to look to know who was standing in the doorway.
”Miss Heath, you have a lot of explaining to do,” he hissed angrily.
Felisa sighed, but Penny chose that moment to crumble to the floor, and that worked nicely as a diversionary technique while he lifted her onto her bed and Felisa saw to making her friend as comfortable as possible. But it was impossible to forget the big man who was standing in the corner of the room, glowering at her while she moved about the room.
When Penny was relatively safe and warm, having recovered enough to be given a small swallow of her ladyship”s laudanum to help with her pain, Felisa found her wrist manacled and herself pulled out of the room.
They didn”t go to his study this time. Instead, he brought her to his room, which was a much more vulnerable spot.
He entered the room, lit a candle and turned to glare at her. ”What do you think you were doing, going out to get her at this time of night? Didn”t I tell you that I was going to think of a way to help her? You could have been robbed or attacked or worse!” Rune advanced on her and grabbed her arms, shaking the young woman hard. ”What were you thinking, to put yourself in such danger?” he hissed at her, not daring to yell, even though his room was quite a distance away from his mother”s.
He wasn”t wrong, she knew, and that made it that much harder for her to defend herself. But she tried. ”I-I wanted to help my friend. According to your mother, you were involved in other things that are very important to everyone in the house, and I wasn”t surprised that you hadn”t had time to come up with anything.” She was nervous. He”d never looked quite that angry at her before. But she met his eyes anyway. ”I didn”t want her to stay there any longer than she had to. What if she”d been beaten again while she was in that condition? She might have died! I couldn”t let that happen. I couldn”t. So, I went and got her myself,” she finished stubbornly, but her bravado deserted her in the face of his furious frown.
”And now, what are we supposed to do with her? You know that we”re in financial difficulties.”
”She won”t cost you a penny more than I do, I promise.”
”And I”m supposed to believe you? What if she”s sick and needs a doctor?”
Felisa”s posture straightened. ”I believed you.”
Rune snorted at that, running his hand through his hair. ”Touché, my dear.”
”I have a small amount of money saved that I will gladly give to you toward any expenses incurred by Penny while she”s staying here, at least until she is fully recovered.”
”Then what?” he rapped out.
Her hands came up and she fiddled with her fingers. ”I don”t know. I thought I”d figure that out when the time came.”
Rune sighed. ”All right. She can stay. But you get to tell my mother about this. I can”t think she”s going to be very happy to house a servant who was stolen from her friend.”
Her chin notched up a bit. ”I don”t think you know your mother that well. I think she”ll be glad to help her.”
”I think you”re the one who doesn”t know her as well as she thinks, little one. But she”s safe here, as you are.” He reached out to her but let his hand drop before he touched her. ”Are you all right?”
”I”m tired, but I”m fine. Thank you, sir.”
”Rune,” he corrected.
She couldn”t quite bring herself to say it as she headed for the door. Before she got there, he asked, ”Why is this friend so important to you? Will you tell me that?”
”She saved me, when it happened. He would have killed me. He”d done it before. Penny got me away from him and took care of me. This is the very least I can do to pay her back.”
Rune nodded. ”I”m sorry for the both of you, then. You”re a very good friend, Felisa. But it”s not going to save your pretty little hide from my belt in the very near future.”
She shivered at that idea. His hand was horrible—she didn”t want to think what the belt would be like, wielded by him.
”Go to bed. And I had better never find out that you”ve snuck out in the middle of the night again!”
She ducked out as quickly as she could, not daring to spend another second with him, lest he decide that ”the future” was now. Felisa wanted to ask him how he knew she”d been gone, but she wasn”t about to risk doing it at this moment.
When she got back to her bedroom, Penny was still asleep, and she climbed under the covers to spoon her, as they had almost every night while they were growing up.