Amanda Scott - [Dangerous 02] Read Online Free Page A

from beneath her cloak. When the child shifted her weight off Charley, Charley felt as if she were beginning to slide again, but the sensation soon passed.
    “I’ve got my feet against your side,” Letty said. “This boulder seems stable. I am going to stand up.”
    Charley held her breath. A moment later, Letty dropped her cloak over her. Odd noises and movements followed, and even in the dim light, Charley could see the child doing something to her clothing. “What are you doing?”
    “Tucking up my skirt,” Letty said. “If I slip, I don’t want it getting tangled round my legs again. It’s all right,” she added, with amusement in her voice. “I’ve got on my dimity pantalets with the Swiss lace that Mama bought me just before we left Paris, so if anyone should chance to see me—”
    “You’ll shock them witless,” Charley murmured. “I brought a pair, myself, but I am not wearing them because my mama thinks—” She broke off, realizing the tense of the verb was probably wrong, then added with forced calm, “She thinks only men should wear pantaloons of any kind, but that’s only because of Lady Charlotte Lindsey’s having lost one leg of hers as she walked down Piccadilly, and causing such a stir. Mine are fashioned in such a way that one side cannot fall off by itself.”
    “Mine, too.” Letty fell silent for a long moment, then said on a note of satisfaction, “There. Now I’m holding the boulder with both hands, and it is as steady as can be. Just one more moment.”
    Charley felt loose pebbles sliding past her with each step Letty took, and kept tight hold of the base of the boulder with her left hand. Her arm was stretched to its full reach, however, and she knew that if she trusted her weight to that slight handhold, or tried to pull herself toward the boulder, she would lose her tenuous grip. Difficult as it was for a woman of her active nature, she knew she had to keep still until the child was as safe as she could make herself.
    Without warning, Letty’s cloak was whisked off her. “Now, Cousin Charley,” the child said. “I am sitting on my cloak, and my feet are pushing hard against the boulder. It hasn’t twitched. If I hold your hand with both of mine—”
    “No,” Charley said firmly. “You must hold the boulder or some other solid object with your right hand. If both of your hands are holding mine and I begin to slip, my weight could yank you right out of there. Reach out your left hand from near the base of the boulder. When you find my hand, grasp my wrist as tightly as you can. Then I’ll hold your wrist. Your mother taught—”
    “Oh, I know,” Letty exclaimed. “It’s the way she swings me up to ride pillion with her.”
    “Right,” Charley agreed.
    The little girl’s hand seemed very small, her wrist far too slender and fragile for the purpose, but her grip was tight and the slender arm steady when Charley grasped it. Charley’s legs were still tangled in her skirts, so she spent several long moments moving slowly and carefully, using her free hand to twitch them free. When she could use her heels to dig into the scree, she inched her way up, but a few moments later when she tried to sit, the unstable surface beneath her shifted. Only Letty’s tight grip kept her from sliding.
    “Cousin Charley, are you sure sound travels up more easily than down?”
    “I think so,” Charley said, willing her heart to stop pounding and forcing her breathing to slow down. “Why do you ask, darling?”
    “Because there are men and lights on the beach,” Letty said. “I don’t think they can see us, but a lot of loose rocks went over the edge just then.”
    “Do you think they can be the highwaymen?”
    “I don’t know. Most of them came in a boat, I think. I can just barely see a dark shape farther out on the water that might be a ship. The little boat is leaving again, but there are at least two men still on the beach!”
    “Hold tight, Letty. I’m going to