Sarah Gabriel by Keeping Kate

happened. You perhaps more than I.”
    “If you want truth, then you should recall that you seduced me ,” she snapped. “I had every intention of leaving that tent as fast as I could.” She turned her head away again, heart pounding.
    He had turned the tables on her that night, something she could not say aloud. Katie Hell had fallen, hard and fast and foolishly, for his kisses and his touch. And that dreadful mistake had resulted in her arrest.
    “Seduced you? My dear, I was barely conscious after you put whatever it was in my tea, but I do remember what we did, or most of it. No, do not look away again. You’re no prim lass, if rumor serves. And I am not prone to bedding laundresses…or ladies of the royal court either.” He lifted a brow.
    “Rumor does not serve.” She raised her chin. “And you are an insufferable cad.”
    “That was you, wasn’t it, in London, last March?”
    Her heart raced. “I don’t know what you mean.”
    “Perhaps you’ll remember soon.” He extended his open hand, the key upon his palm. “Sooner or later, Kate,” he murmured, “you must talk for even a chance at freedom. I do not mean now, from those chains. I mean…altogether.”
    She shook her head, glanced down. “I cannot.”
    “Then I presume you know something. Tell me,” he went on quietly. “I’ll listen. I promise not to use whatever it is against you.” His voice was soft, compelling.
    “I cannot trust you.” Crazily, she wanted to do so. She wanted to forget all this and go to him, feel his arms around her again. But that desire made no real sense to her—the world had gone topsy-turvy. He had arrested her. She did not know what he wanted of her. And yet, he made her feel good. Safe.
    Fraser slid the key back into his inside pocket and inclined his head to watch her in silence.
    Kate sighed. “I suppose you think I am a true wanton. But I am not. Nor am I a criminal in need of restraint.” She shook the cuffs and chains. “You could free me here, in this chaise, if nothing else out of plain courtesy.”
    “I would, if I believed that I could trust you .” He settled back. “I suggest you sleep. It will be a long ride.”
    “Please,” she said. “The cuffs are hurting me.”
    He tilted his head, relaxed and in control, an ease of manner rather than arrogance. She hated it all the same. “Just give me a little of the truth, Kate.”
    “The truth is you are a damnable beast.”
    “Ah. The lass needs a tongue-scrubbing.” He closed his eyes as if to sleep.
    She sighed. “What can I bargain other than my name?”
    “Do you really want an answer to that?” He opened an eye, closed it.
    She knew what he meant, knew her own reputation. Remembering deep, luscious kisses, Kate glanced at him, at his lips, his hands. Blushing furiously, she was glad of the darkness. “Very well. My name is Marie Katherine. I cannot tell you more than that. Please understand. It would endanger too many.”
    “Well, that’s more than we had.” He took the key out.
    She lifted her hands. “At least loosen the manacles.”
    “Iron cuffs cannot be loosened, darling. They are either on, or they are off.”
    “Off, then. Please,” she added. Darling—somehow it melted her, weakened her utterly. For an instant, she felt tears sting, but drew a breath against them.
    He played with the key. “Why were you in my quarters?”
    “Laundry,” she said.
    “What do you know about Spanish weapons?”
    She nearly gasped aloud. If she gave him any clue that she and her kinsmen and Ian Cameron were searching for those weapons, and if he then learned her name, everything that her brother and the others had struggled toward would be destroyed. They would all be arrested…perhaps executed. Unless she could trust Fraser to keep it to himself—and that thought was preposterous.
    “Spanish weapons?” She shrugged. “They are quite expensive, being imported from Spain. That’s all I know.”
    “Spanish weapons,” he said,