Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
With aching toes and a heavy heart, Giselle threw herself down onto the beach.
“Invraisemblable,” she said in a matter of fact voice, staring out across the water. “It is impossible, I tell you. There is no other human being on this island, save for you and me.”
The sun was drifting down now, but it could only be about four o’clock in the afternoon.
Giselle bit her lip. All of her clever plans that would have enabled her to be there, in London for Christmas Day.
Where were they now? She was going to miss it, miss the spy connection, and where would that leave her?
She would not be able to pass on the papers, even if she had managed to retrieve them, and for that she would be punished.
“There is no boat on this island either,” she continued miserably. “No boat, no one around to help us. We are going to have to swim.”
A heavy thud sounded from her left, accompanied by a hearty laugh.
“You give up too easily, Giselle,” éduard said with a smile, dropping down beside her.
“And if you had listened to me and heeded my words, we would not have become lost on one side of this stupide island and gone around and around in a circle.”
Giselle wanted to frown, wanted to feel irritated at his laughter, but she could not help it. She joined him in giggles, despite herself. He was too charming a man to ignore completely.
“You are just fortunate that you have me here to look after you,” she countered, nudging him with her shoulder. “If I had not grabbed your arm before you fell into that stream when we circled around that bend, you would not be laughing now.”
éduard threw her a glance, and shook his head. “Ah, Giselle, you have so much to learn about me. There is always something to laugh about.”
Something stirred in her stomach. Something hot, and writhing. She ignored it.
“Non, it is impossible to laugh when one is caked in mud and freezing,” Giselle declared, breaking their gaze and looking once more out to sea, where the shores of England were easily visible.
“You do not know much about revolutionary life,” éduard said, his laughter still continuing. “Cold, damp, muddy, hungry? ‘Tis all in a day’s work, and when it becomes your norm, you hardly recall being dry, warm, and full of food!”
She laughed with him, and found it impossible not to turn her head slightly to look at him as they laughed together in the setting sun.
His handsome features were no less impressive in the dusk, as tiredness pulled slightly at the corners of his eyes.
Somehow the tension between them from that morning had gone; and so had the fear that she had felt when she had looked at him.
He was a prince, after all. How could he be against the Great Whisperer, truly, if he was of royal blood?
“Now, Aviroux, I must ask you a very serious question,” she said in mock sombreness.
éduard raised an eyebrow. “My word. Does it have anything to do with escaping from this island and finding our way back to shore?”
Giselle’s smile widened as she shook her head. For a brief moment, the thought of leaving him and the island had escaped her mind. “Non, pardon. I instead want to know whether I can gain any title by rescuing you. Rescuing a prince, you understand, generally comes with some sort of reward.”
He was very close to her, far closer than she had realised. He had chosen to sit this close to her, and she could feel her temperature rising at the very thought of it, even in the evening chill.
“I do not believe I was in that such peril to begin with,” éduard grinned at her, stretching out his legs and leaning back on his hands – hands very close to hers. “And is it not the woman who is typically rescued?”
Giselle shook her head. “Do not blame me if you are not able to look after yourself. I should have guessed that you were a prince from the very moment that you fell into my boat. You cannot look after yourself, mon liege, that is all there is to it.”
For a second, she thought that she had gone too far; the gentle ribbing and teasing had sparks flying through the air and into her heart, but at her last words something seemed to stop them. Her heart sped up and she could feel her pulse in her fingertips.
But then he smiled at her, with no mirth this time, just warmth. “If you can rescue me from the peril of starvation, that would be much appreciated. All the bread that I brought with me has been eaten – and not much of it, mark you, by me!”
Giselle returned the smile, but hesitated from speaking.
Could she trust him – should she? He was a stranger to her, that was true, and he was on the hunt for her, the Great Whisperer, although he did not know it.
He was her enemy, her mortal enemy…yet why did she trust him, almost without knowing why, without knowing him?
Her gaze slid from his delicious features and out to sea for a third time since they had returned to the beach.
It was too late in the day to attempt a swim to shore, even if the current had been going in the right direction, and in this cold weather it would surely mean death for them, even if they had made it.
“I have never fished before.” éduard’s voice broke into her thoughts, but there were more musings aloud than anything for her to reply to.
There was some sort of innocence in him – and yet tangled with a maturity and confidence that made her hot just to think of him. If only she had needed to seduce him, Giselle thought wickedly. What fun she could have had with him.
“How long do you think a person can last without food?”
His question seemed flippant, but Giselle could sense the genuine fear underneath his words. She sighed. She had no choice.
Pulling herself up from the sand and ignoring éduard’s questioning look, she strode over to the tree where she had left her belongings, and pulled out from a pocket that was secreted inside her cloak a large parcel. She returned to her place beside him, and opened it.
Inside was some dried meat, a few handfuls of dried fruit, and a stick of liquorice.
éduard began to laugh. “Where in God’s name did you get that from?”
Giselle tried not to return his smile with too much ardour. He was too easily getting under her skin, this one, and the last that she needed was to lose focus, to lose herself in him.
“You should not underestimate the power of a lady’s cloak, mon liege,” she said in a slightly mocking air. “There are more wonders inside there than you could ever imagine, and this is just a sample of it.”
“You do not happen to have roast chicken or any wine in there too, do you? It is Christmas Eve, after all, and I had hoped for something a little tastier for my meal.” éduard’s eyes were now transfixed on the food, and Giselle could not help but laugh at the hunger that she could see in his eyes.
She shook her head. “My apologies, my Prince,” and her eyes sparkled, “but this is all the kitchens could send up. What would you typically have on Christmas Eve, anyway?”
éduard shrugged, but continued to eye the food hungrily. “Whatever, I suppose. When I was young, it was always pheasant on Christmas Eve. My father said that anything else would ruin my appetite, as I hated pheasant, and so ate very little.”
Giselle laughed, and held out the meagre offering that they had.
“Well, ‘tis not fit for a prince’s table, especially not at Christmas, but as it is all that we have, and we have no table either, I am sure that it will do. I am afraid this is the last of it, so we should ensure that we ration ourselves. It has to last us two more meals.”
éduard hesitated, and then took a large handful of the proffered food. “Two meals? You think we will be rescued tomorrow?”
Giselle brought a handful of dried fruit to her mouth, and swallowed it gratefully, almost too quickly. “No, but the tide will be right for us tomorrow morning. That is when we will swim to shore.”
The sun touched the horizon, and a chill moved past them. Giselle shivered. Another cold night on this island was perilous indeed, but to wait without knowing when they could possibly be rescued was more perilous still. They would have to risk it. They had no choice.
“I cannot swim, Giselle, as you well know,” éduard reminded her through a mouthful of dried meat. “And why did you not you bring out this delicious meal earlier?”
His gaze was like fire on her flesh, and she welcomed it just as much as she feared it.
“I was not sure if I could trust you before,” she said simply. “After all, you did chase me into the ocean, and lose my boat and only way of returning.”
“Lose your – ”
But he stopped as her laughter escaped her, and he nudged her with his shoulder. “Well, I can at least thank you for this food. Merci beaucoup, Giselle.”
She did not know why his voice caused a shiver to go down her spine when he slipped back into French. English was a colder language, a safer language to speak with such a charmant man as this.
Another chilly breeze brushed past them, causing goosepimples to rise on Giselle’s hands.
“I just hope that it does not snow,” éduard said musingly, lifting his eyes to the sky where stars were beginning to appear. “We have no fire, no flame of any kind.”
Giselle rolled her eyes. How did this man manage to track her down, he could barely do anything!
It took her but two minutes to retrieve her tinder box, cut down some wood with her dagger, and light a fire.
éduard had watched her in silent astonishment, and when the crackling of the twigs and leaves started to smoke grey against the bright orange of the flame, he eventually spoke.
“You know, I have seen few men so well prepared as you, let alone a woman.”
Giselle would have bristled if the words had come from any other man, but for some reason, she did not mind éduard saying such a thing.