Then his lips were back on hers, and she matched the fierce tenderness of his kiss. Her chest ached with a sharp consciousness of how close she’d been to losing him, how fragile and precious life was. Tears threatened, but she choked them back, losing herself in the wildness of his kiss.

It seemed forever before he pulled back, and for a few moments they just stood there, swaying together. She pressed her forehead against his sternum and closed her eyes, sinking into his sheltering strength and absorbing his solidity, his integrity. He was as big as Pieter, but the Dutchman had never held her this way, as if he could shelter her from the whole world.

This man, her heart said.

She lifted her head. “I thought you were supposed to be at the docks catching Johnstone?”

“I was. Your cousin’s note arrived just as we were leaving.”

Her heart gave a little skip; he’d chosen to come for her over catching his foe, for which she would be eternally grateful.

A footfall outside made her jump, but Benedict merely smiled and released her. “Don’t worry. That’s Seb and Alex.”

“They came too?”

He nodded, and her amazement increased. The fact that two complete strangers had also abandoned their mission to come for her was humbling—although not entirely surprising. Benedict seemed to inspire ’til-death-do-us-part loyalty in almost everyone he encountered.

He produced a knife and made quick work of the ties at her wrists, then knelt on the dusty floor to cut the rope at her ankles. Georgie quelled a brief wistful pang as she took in the sight of him kneeling before her as if he were proposing marriage. She shook her head. Foolish yearnings. He’d come to her rescue because he was a good and honorable man. He would have come for Juliet or Mama too.

She glanced over at Josiah, who was still insensible on the floor. A trickle of blood marred the corner of his mouth and a livid purple bruise was already forming on his jaw. Served him right, the idiot.

“What are we going to do with him?”

Benedict sighed. “I don’t want to leave him here. What’s to stop him from trying something equally foolish again?”

A sharp whistle of warning sounded outside, quickly followed by the clatter of horses and the unmistakable creak of a carriage. Georgie looked through the cracked windowpane as a black-and-yellow traveling chaise rocked to a stop outside. By the time she reached the cottage door, the steps had been let down. She gasped as Juliet leapt down and barreled into her arms, hugging her tightly around the neck like some fragrant-smelling octopus.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re all right!” Juliet sobbed. “When we heard Josiah had taken you, we were so worried.”

Georgie disentangled herself from the embrace and eyed her sister suspiciously. “We? You mean Mother’s here too?”