Closing her eyes instinctively, Prudence clutched at her drooping drawers and winced against the blow she felt sure was coming. She was spun on her feet to face her assailant.
"You!"
Opening one eye cautiously, Pru nearly groaned aloud- Lord Stockton. She silently cursed her luck. Then, deciding that bravado was her best option in the situation, she beamed at the man as if he were a dear friend she had run into unexpectedly in the middle of a crushingly overcrowded ballroom.
"Oh! Good evening, my lord! What a pleasant surprise. And how are you this evening?"
Watching the red suffuse his face, darken, then turn to purple as his mouth worked silently, Prudence considered that bravado might have been the wrong choice.
"You!" This time the word was not shocked so much as a long, drawn-out, frustrated and furious sound. Yes, she had definitely made the wrong choice with bravado. Perhaps throwing herself into his arms with relief and pretending to desire his protection from the mad horde around them would have been a better approach. She almost carried that thought through to action, but was denied the opportunity when a pair of struggling combatants suddenly rammed into her captor, sending him reeling. Prudence actually almost rushed forward to catch him and help him regain his balance, then realized that she would hardly be doing herself any favors and decided that fleeing was the better option.
She whirled away and started to try to fight her way through the crowd, only to quickly understand what the serving girl had meant. Not only were fists flying, but elbows were thrusting, and bodies were banging. It was almost impossible to get through the men on foot. Glancing over her shoulder in a purely panicky action to see that Stockton had regained his balance and was now fighting toward her, Prudence returned to her hands and knees and began to scramble past, around, and even sometimes through the pairs of legs shifting and stumbling around her, sometimes hopping along like a three-limbed dog as she was forced to yank at her damned breeches. Still, she was able to move much more swiftly like this, and she was just congratulating herself on the maneuver when she was collared again, dragged to her feet, then hustled through the crowd.
Stockton had pushed his way through the fighting men much more effectively than she had managed, she admitted unhappily as she was half pushed and half dragged through a door. Finding herself in the kitchens amidst the culinary staff and few servers who had managed to reach the relative safety there, she forced another smile to her face and tried to turn it on Lord Stockton. It was no easy task, with the way he still grasped her by the neck of her cape. She ended up smiling into her collar as she offered a cheerful "My goodness! I am forever in your debt, my lord. I was finding it nearly impossible to make my way through that mob."
She did not think it was a good sign when he merely ground his teeth a little harder than they had already been grinding and jerked her along, ushering her through the kitchens to another door. It turned out to lead to an office. His, she supposed as he pushed her inside and slammed the door.
She glanced briefly over the small, neat room with its sparse furnishings of a standing cupboard and a desk with one chair behind it and one in front, then turned to eye the man standing statue-still before the door. "I-"
"Do not say it!" he interrupted harshly, beginning to pace.
"But you do not even know what I was going to say!" Prudence protested.
"I do not care. Do not say anything. Anything at all," he snapped.
"Oh, now surely-" Her words ended on a startled gasp when he suddenly whirled and strode forward with an expression that did not bode well.
Alarm coursing through her, Prudence lurched back, only to come up against the chair before his desk. She opened her mouth desperately, ready to babble that she was sorry and would remain silent, only to have his mouth close down over hers as he paused before her. Eyes wide open, she stood completely still as his mouth moved over hers, her heart seemingly dead from shock in her chest. Then she felt the first smoky tendrils of passion stir to life within her and she softened under the kiss, only to be left gasping when he suddenly tore his lips away.
She started to lift one hand to her lips, but he had grabbed her by the upper arms and still held her.
"You kissed me," she said in a gasp. His mouth twitched at her startled announcement, then twisted when she added, "Why?"
"To silence you," he answered abruptly.
"Oh." She heard the disappointment in her voice and nearly winced at the softening it caused on Stockton 's face, positive he would now feel pity for her. Prudence wasn't left to worry over the possibility long. Despite his claim that he had kissed her to silence her, and the fact that she had finally fallen silent, he suddenly covered her lips again, his mouth moving warm and firm over hers. Pru tried to resist the feelings the kiss stirred in her. Well, all right, perhaps she didn't try very hard. It wasn't more than a moment before she gave in on a soft sigh and let her hands slide up around his neck as she kissed him back.
He had opened his mouth over hers, prodding gently at her lips with his tongue to urge them apart, turning the kiss into a terribly interesting experience for Prudence, when a knock at the door interrupted them. Breaking away, Lord Stockton moved a couple of steps away and turned to call out for the person to enter.
Pru sucked her lower lip into her mouth, tasting him on it as she watched the door open to reveal Plunkett.
"I put an end to the fighting, my lord, and-" The large man's words died as his gaze slid to Prudence. Seeing the shock on his face, Pru grimaced, knowing that the large man no doubt now recognized her and understood why she had seemed so familiar. But then Stephen frowned and followed the man's gaze, his expression changing to one of consternation. When he quickly stepped in front of her, sheltering her from view, she had the most horrendous idea that-
Glancing down, she cried out in horror. Her father's breeches were lying in a pool around her feet. She had given up her hold on them to put her arms around his neck, and apparently the kiss had been sufficiently distracting that she hadn't noticed when they glided down her legs. Only her father's overly large shirt was left to cover her where the cape was open, and that reached only partway down her thighs.
Her face burning with embarrassment, Prudence bent quickly to pull the trousers back up, not even hearing Stephen's babbling excuse. She pushed past both men and fled as fast as her feet would carry her.
Stephen took a step forward, intending to chase after Prudence, then caught himself with a sigh. The poor girl had been thoroughly humiliated. His chasing after her would achieve nothing more than to embarrass her further. Besides, he had already proven that he couldn't be trusted around her. He had been enraged when he had spotted her there in his gaming room, shocked that she would dare enter-dressed as a man no less-and furious that she would risk her reputation so. But all that shock and fury had quickly turned to a different sort of fire the moment he had gotten her alone. And hadn't that been a brilliant idea? He took a moment to berate himself for treating her so cavalierly. At the time, kissing her had seemed an acceptable alternative to the throttling she deserved. Obviously he hadn't been thinking very clearly. No lady deserved to be treated as thoughtlessly as he had just done.
Not that she had fought him off, he thought, enjoying the memory, then gave himself a shake. The girl was obviously as innocent as a babe. She had probably been overwhelmed by his attention. Hell, he had been overwhelmed himself. But his behavior had been simply unacceptable.
A quiet shuffling drew his attention. Plunkett still stood just inside the door, but his stunned expression at the sight of Prudence with her drawers on the floor had turned to grim disapproval that the man was directing straight at his employer. Stephen felt himself straighten defensively.