“I was dreaming of you,” she confessed.
The silence between them suddenly danced with energy. “You were dreaming ofme?”
“Indeed.” She tucked the blankets about her as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. “Perhaps it was because you were here. How long have you been here?”
He sighed, “I have been here for the last two hours.”
“Watching me sleep?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said softly.
“Isn’t that a bit strange, Tom?”
“Some might think it very strange, indeed,” he agreed. “But if I’m honest with you, there is a reason for it. Perhaps I should have woken you right away, but you’ll need your strength, and I did not wish you to feel more concern than you needed.”
“What kind of concern, Tom?” she said, sitting up slowly, her hair tumbling over her shoulders. She shoved the locks back.
“Lord Turnbridge suggested he wished to take more forceful action. Something worthy of the lords of the previous centuries.”
“And what was that?” she whispered as a wave of dread crashed over her.
He was silent for a moment. “I’m sure you’re familiar with the histories given your intelligence. He mentioned the Earl of Rochester and how he’d abducted a girl from her coach one night, forcing her to his will before he married her.”
“You think he would try to kidnap me?” she gasped, “to ruin me?”
“Indeed, I do. As a matter of fact, I think he would climb the tree outside your window and make entrance into your room.” Tom was silent again before he gritted, “So I did it first.”
“You did it first?” she repeated. “I don’t understand.”
He blew out a weary breath. “You see, they all followed me here.”
“What?” she gasped.
“They were drunk.” His anger was almost visceral. “They were cheering each other on and Turnbridge suggested that he would climb the tree into your room and ruin you here and that his friends could watch from down below and that he would announce his triumph once it was complete.”
“You have not yet announced your triumph to them?” she replied, feeling sick but also feeling grateful that it was Tom in her room now.
“No,” he admitted. “But they know that I’ve come up here and the truth of it is, perhaps half the town will know that I’ve been in your chamber sometime tomorrow. I do not know if they will keep it to themselves, or not.”
“Am I free then?” she breathed, trying to make sense of what he was telling her.
“Free from them? Yes,” he said firmly. “I have won several thousand pounds just by climbing into your window to keep you safe, but… I have not protected your reputation.”
“I don’t care about my reputation, Tom,” she bit out. “I just care that none of them climbed through my window. Thank heaven it was you.”
He gave a tight nod. “I did not quite realize how nefarious they were. Of course, I know the lengths some gentlemen will go to win a wager or to ruin a young lady, but this seemed particularly beyond the pale. They’re a vicious group and I’m going to destroy every single one of them. Because I’ll tell you this right now, Elizabeth, the idea that one of them could’ve laid a finger on you, I would break every finger in that hand. I would break the hand, and then I would break the body it belonged to.”
She swallowed. Perhaps She should have been horrified. She wasn’t.
Those men deserved it, and she wanted Tom to do it so that they couldn’t harm anyone else. For if they were willing to do such to her, they would definitely do it to someone else.
“Good, Tom,” she said.
“Good,” he repeated softly, tense.
“Good,” she affirmed, proud to be his friend and subject of desire. “I do not want them to walk away from this without paying the price of such cruelty.”
His lips parted in a slow smile as his relief filled the room. “Whatever my lady commands.”