Chapter Eighteen
Bella took George's cool fingers in her own and led him to sit on the ground beside her. She was getting heartily sick of sitting on the ground and would have given her eye teeth for a shabby old wooden chair, but for now it would have to do.
He looked slightly dazed, and she could not help feeling much the same, although she was trying very hard to give the impression of being a woman who was not affected by something as pedestrian as a little physical affection.
It would not do to collapse into a puddle merely because Captain George Harwood had kissed her senseless.
If she were being honest with herself, she had come close.
She did not dare think too deeply about the feelings he stirred within her.
This handsome captain with hair like spun sunshine, even if it was presently thick with grime and dust, and those changeable eyes that shifted from blue to green like seawater beneath the sun.
She was beginning to learn that he was kind and funny and gentle, and whatever it was that leapt between them, he felt it just as deeply as she did.
When he had kissed her, and when she had kissed him, she had lost all sense of time and place.
They were being held captive in a dirty room by a despicable man, but when George's mouth had been upon hers, she would not have noticed if a herd of elephants had passed through.
She wanted time to untangle her own feelings.
More than that, she wanted to understand his.
But she could not do any of that while they were trapped here.
Bella pasted on a pleasant, businesslike smile of the sort she employed when visiting the dressmaker or supporting one of the local charitable causes around Pemberley. "George, we must have a plan."
"Yes," he said, nodding, although he still appeared rather thunderstruck.
"We cannot stay here, however well we may... comfort one another. We must have a plan."
That seemed to snap him back to himself.
George straightened slightly and glanced towards the door.
"From what I observed on the way here, and from the position of the light and the sound of the sea outside, I believe we are in one of the warehouses at the far eastern end of the harbour.
There is not much around here, which is probably why it suits Trevethan's purposes so well.
It will be guarded, Princess. Escaping this room is only the beginning.
We would still need to get out of the building and far enough away that his men could not simply drag us back again. "
He reached out and took her hand. The simple gesture caused Bella's stomach to flip alarmingly.
"I do not want to put you in harm's way."
"George, I am already in harm's way. And I shall be more in harm's way if we do not remove ourselves from our present jeopardy. I do not even want to think about what may happen if my father discovers us. He will rip men’s heads off to get to me if he must."
"Do you mean that very literally?" George asked, looking slightly discomposed as his thumb traced nervous circles over the skin of her hand.
Bella went quiet for a long moment. "Have you read The Pirate?" she asked conversationally.
George turned to look at her. "I have not, Princess. Is now a particularly good time to be discussing literature?"
"I was only thinking that the hidden passage Norna of the Fitful-head leads Cleveland through would be extremely useful right about now."
George stared at her. "I do not understand half of that sentence, but I am not sure we will be lucky enough to stumble upon a hidden passage."
"No," Bella admitted. "Probably not." She looked towards the door again, considering it for several moments. "Then perhaps we need to make them come to us. The men who bring the food, I mean. There are three of them each time?"
"So far. One carries the tray and the other two remain close by.
If we could somehow incapacitate them and conceal them in here, we might have enough time to get out of the building before anyone noticed they were missing.
The difficulty will be persuading them into an enclosed space, oh, and incapacitating them one to three. "
Bella frowned and shifted a little closer to him, their hands still joined. "Two to three," she said with a sniff and they would come in if they thought you could not fight them."
George glanced at her. "Meaning?"
The idea formed as she spoke. "If you were lying on the floor and appeared to be ill, or unconscious perhaps, they would have to come close enough to see what was wrong with you.
They may be criminals, but I cannot imagine Mr Trevethan would be pleased if they allowed you to die before he had decided what to do with you. "
"One of them might come in," George said. "The others could remain at the door."
"Then I shall have to give them a reason not to.
" Bella's expression brightened as the rest of the idea came together in her mind.
"I could be very distressed. Crying, perhaps.
Shouting that you have stopped breathing and begging them to help.
They have already decided I am a useless, pampered young woman whose only value is her rich father. I will live up to their expectations."
He laughed. "You have a devious mind, Princess."
"I intend to make myself sufficiently tiresome that they come inside to stop me making such a grand fuss. Once they are close enough, you can deal with the first one and I can help with the others."
His amusement disappeared. "Bella, no."
"Oh, do not start that again. I am not proposing to challenge a dockworker to a bout of fisticuffs. But if I can distract one of them or strike him with something while he is looking at you, surely that is better than standing in a corner and hoping for the best."
George looked around the room with an assessing eye, taking in the loose stones near the wall and a short length of broken timber that had been pushed into one corner.
"Possibly," he said at last. "But we would need to know exactly how they enter, where they stand and which one carries the keys.
The next time they bring food, we will watch them very closely. "
Bella nodded. "And after that?"
"If the same three men return, and if we can draw them far enough into the room, we try it.
Once we have the keys, we lock them in here and move as quickly as we can.
I do not know how many men are elsewhere in the warehouse, but Trevethan will be occupied with whatever business he intends to conduct once the ransom demand is delivered.
That may be the closest thing to an opportunity we are going to get. "
Bella squeezed his hand, feeling the first real stir of hope since they had been dragged into the room. "Then that is our plan."
George looked at her for a long moment before nodding. "It is the beginning of one."
???
The next few hours passed as pleasantly as they could in an airless room and they talked in gentle tones, both aware that something had shifted between them, but neither quite knowing how to put it into words.
They spoke of George's childhood, of the distance between himself and his father and of his career in the Navy, which had begun when he was so young that Bella could scarcely imagine being sent away from home at such an age.
In return, she spoke more openly than she ever had before about her own need for freedom and adventure, and about her fear that once she took on the burden of Pemberley there would be no part of her life that belonged entirely to herself.
She had thought he might laugh at her, or make light of her complaints about being trapped inside a golden cage when she had been born to every comfort and privilege, but he only smiled gently and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"That is quite a story, Princess. Do you feel you have now had sufficient adventure to declare the whole endeavour a success?"
"Quite," she said with a chuckle. "I feel that in the past two weeks I have had enough adventure to fill a lifetime. I shall now retire to my father's study, review estate books and discuss the price of grain for evermore."
"I am certain Mr Darcy will be delighted. Once he has the armed guards in place to ensure you keep to that promise."
She did not know how they had come to sit so close together, but at some point the small space between them had disappeared and their arms now touched from shoulder to elbow.
She could feel each one of his breaths and every small movement of his body, and it filled her with a strange contentment simply to be so close to him.
There was no repeat of their earlier passion, but neither did either of them attempt to move away until the door rattled again and the same rough man entered with a metal tray containing a hunk of bread and a sweating wedge of cheese that did little to arouse her appetite.
They shifted apart, but both fixed their attention on the man, who threw down their meal with a clatter and offered them a sarcastic "Bon appétit.
" There were two men at his back, although neither entered the room, and Bella noticed that they appeared more bored than watchful.
One picked at a loose thread on his cuff while the other kicked the heel of his boot against the rough floor.
When they had gone and the lock scraped back into place, George turned to her with a grin.
"I think your wild plan might just work, Princess. Now, let us enjoy this feast, although I suspect you are not quite used to food as fine as this."