The Final Storm

22. Love Bird on the Hunt

Captain Carter leaned towards her. Out of the corner of her eye, Adaira saw the corner of his mouth twitch.

"Jealous?" he whispered.

"What gave you that idea?" she retorted, making sure to keep her expression blasé.

"The way you're fingering your gun like a pyromaniac would do with his favourite match box."

Adaira froze.

Crap. He was right.

Quickly stuffing away the gun, she felt her face flush. "I'm not!"

"Oh?"

"Yes!" Adaira gave him my best demure-maiden-look. "I would never raise a weapon against an innocent!"

"Is that so?"

"Absolutely."

"Then you should probably put the safety back on your gun. Especially if you don't want to shoot yourself in the leg."

Crap!

Paling abruptly, Adaira snatched the gun out of her pocket and fumbled to get the safety on. Only once she had made sure the thing wouldn't blow her toes off did she put it back again and breathed a sigh of relief, pretending not to notice the smirk on Captain Carter's face.

"Well then, what are you waiting for?" Pulling the front door fully open, the woman—who was still far too pretty for Adaira's taste—gestured towards the interior of the house. "Come inside. Any friend of Captain Carter's is welcome in our home."

Adaira opened her mouth, ready to say "Fiancée, not friend!"—until she felt a sudden pressure on her foot and glanced over at the aforementioned captain.

"You are still wearing trousers!" he whispered.

Adaira closed her mouth again.

Turning towards their soon-to-be hostess, Captain Carter gave a polite bow. "We would be delighted to." Glancing over his shoulder, he lowered his voice. "And I think we should get a move on."

"Why do—"

Adaira's words had hardly fallen when she heard it: the thudding of boots, heading quickly down a nearby street.

"Move!" the Indian lady hissed, and for the first time, Adaira couldn't find it within herself to disagree with her. "Into the house, now!"

Instinctively, Adaira started forward, but before she had even taken a single step, she felt two strong arms wrap around her and lift her up into the air. A moment later, she found herself in Captain Carter's embrace, flying towards the house at a dizzying speed.

"Inside, inside!"

Urged on by the whispered words of the Indian couple, the captain leapt through the doorway and ducked into a niche, out of sight of anyone who might pass by outside. Adaira held her breath as the door slammed shut behind them. Outside, the sound of heavy footsteps was now clearly audible, even through the thick wood of the door.

Please don't let them have seen us! Don't let them have seen us!

"Move!" The Indian lady suddenly appeared, her eyes filled with fear. "You can't stay here! What if they come in and want to search the house?"

Adaira swallowed. "That has happened before?"

Captain Carter's face was grim. "Once. Luckily, those rebels were decent men and didn't do any harm. But there's no guarantee..."

He didn't need to finish for her to understand. There's no guarantee that will be the case again. Especially if they find two British spies hiding in the house.