Chapter 2

JAMIE LAY ALONE IN BED, HIS HANDS CUPPED BEHIND HIS HEAD, HIS mouth curved into a grin as he listened to Bliss Stafford’s futile struggles with the door of her room. She was determined, he’d give her that.

With a chuckle and a shake of his head, he sat up. Not bothering to light the lamp first, he reached out for the tin packet of cheroots on his bedside stand. A flame rasped in the darkness, smelling of sulfur, as he struck a match. Next door, Bliss was still grappling hopelessly with the knob.

Jamie drew deeply of the smoke from his cheroot and listened in amused silence. The misnamed little chit was trying to kick down the door now, from the sounds of things.

“You’re a scoundrel and a bastard!” she shrieked suddenly, her shrill voice carrying. “Do you hear me, Mr. McKenna?”

Jamie sighed. A man would have to be deaf not to hear her, he thought, wondering why he didn’t just let her go and be done with the whole mess. The fact was that he couldn’t bear the thought of Bliss all alone in the world, making her bumbling way to far-off America. She needed a man, be he father or husband, to look out for her.

“Let—me—out!” The words were screamed, punctuated by wrenching rattles of the doorknob and furious kicks at the panel itself.

In another minute, Jamie reflected, she’d be knotting sheets together to climb out the window. He smiled and then snuffed out his cheroot and clambered out of bed, both in the same motion. Saints in heaven, it would be like her to try that—she hadn’t a brain in that beautiful little head of hers.

Hastily, he struggled into his pants and a woolen shirt. The silence from the room next door to his was unnerving. “Bliss?” he called out, in question, at the same time wrenching open his bedroom window.

The night wind was brisk and icy, taking away Jamie’s breath. Still, he managed to rasp a curse, for a twisted bit of sheet was just slithering out of Bliss’s window, like a fat white snake.

“You’ll break your fool neck!” he shouted, before slamming the window shut and whirling around. He wrenched his boots onto his bare feet and dashed down the rear stairway, stumbling once and nearly falling down the steps.

He didn’t bother with a coat, and the cold stung his face and hands and seeped through his clothes. Swearing under his breath, he rounded the large stone house to stand directly beneath Bliss’s window.

Sure enough, the little fool was halfway down the side of the house, nimble as a spider. And herself dressed in that evening gown, with no coat to cover her bare shoulders.

Jamie couldn’t remember being angrier—or more frightened. He stood perfectly still, watching as Bliss descended the makeshift rope, praying that she wouldn’t fall. The moment she was within reach, he grasped her by the waist. The motion sent them both toppling backward onto the frosted ground.