Page 46 of Dangerous Exile

The man flailed for a second, trying to escape Talen’s hold on his arm to no avail. “Anything. Anything, sir.”

“You never saw me. You never saw her.” He yanked the man’s hand higher up his back. “Understand?”

He howled in pain. “Aye. Yes, yes, yes.”

Talen looked up at the other two men. “That goes for all of you. Understood?”

Both men nodded, their hands lifting, waving in surrender.

Talen shoved the man away, making the man stumble onto his knees.

His left arm swung out and he wrapped it around Ness’s shoulders, the grip on her upper left arm harsh and probably jostling the broken part of her forearm out of place. Not that he could help himself. Not when what he really wanted to do was throttle her.

Half picking her up, he stormed his way through the men scurrying about the pier moving barrels and crates onto ships, and then up through the streets.

The hack he’d jumped from still sat on the street and he dragged her toward it. Without even looking at the driver he flung the door open and tossed her into the interior—there was no other word for it and for the life of him he couldn’t find gentleness at the moment.

She landed in a heap, quickly trying to right herself on the bench.

He tossed a couple coins up at the driver, told him the address and jumped into the decrepit old coach, slamming the door shut behind him.

“Talen—”

“Don’t.” The one word was a bark, a command that vibrated the air around them. “Don’t speak another word.”

The one horse moved forth and the wheels of the coach started to roll.

He heaved breath after breath. Staring at her. Staring at her staring at the floor by his feet.

What the deuce had she been thinking? Did she think? Think at all?

Leaving the townhouse. No note. Nothing. Just gone.

A ghost that never was.

Blasted woman.

The silence sat so thick in the cab of the coach that she opened her mouth several times, sneaking a glance at him. Each time he shook his head slightly, his lip snarling.

She shut her mouth, time and again, her look skittering back to the floor.

A street away from his townhouse, he banged on the roof of the cab and the driver pulled the horse to a stop.

He jumped out of the carriage and didn’t pull the steps, instead grabbing Ness around the waist the second she’d half-stood from the bench, and he pulled her free of the coach.

Dropping her onto the ground, he gripped her upper right arm, a tight clamp that wasn’t about to let her escape, then pulled her along the streets, her feet not able to keep up with his long strides.

“Tal—”

“Not a word.”

“But.”

“Not. A. Word.”

She stumbled, but he paid no heed, dragging her through the mews and into the back of his townhouse. He didn’t release her until he had her upstairs and in her room where he spun her away from him at the doorway.

He needed to leave the room.