A Perfect Hero by Samantha James

how you feel tonight.”
    Manners again! Who would have expected such from a highwayman? She jerked when a hand came down to rest on her shoulder.
    “I’m fine,” she said raggedly.
    “Are you?” Lean fingers came up to graze her temple. “You’re looking rather pale, my dear. Are you sure you’re all right?”
    “Yes,” she said wildly. “No.”
    “Ah, I do so like a woman who knows her own mind.”
    Julianna wet her lips. “Well,” she said in a tiny, quavering voice, “my head does ache a bit.”
    “You’ll feel better in the morning. Try to sleep.”
    His manner was gruff, but there was a subtle softening in his tone. And his hands on her face ...his touch was unexpectedly gentle. But now he turned his back and laid his head down.
    Damn! The key was farther away than ever. There was no way she could retrieve it without waking him. Why, no doubt he slept with one eye open.
    Julianna’s mind was churning. Arguing had done no good. Pleading fared no better. She was clearly going to have to come up with another way to extricate herself from this dilemma, for she refused to spend another night lying next to this oaf! Oddly, she’d thought a man like him would be impervious to tears. Yet she had the strangest sensation he was discomfited at the thought of her weeping ...What would he do if she burst into sobs? Would he let her go? Or would it merely make him angry?
    Julianna was not quite willing to test the sup position ...or him.
    Time. She needed time to think. Time to plan her escape. She thought of her brother Sebastian, ever a great one for planning. There had to be a way out...
    Somehow...some way .

Four
    ane was puzzled. He was also worried. He could not help it. From the moment the chit woke that morning, she had been unaccountably quiet. Wan and subdued throughout the day. And so weak she could barely stand! Why, he’d had to help her to the table to eat. Naturally, he’d in sisted she remain in bed the rest of the day.
    Surprisingly, she hadn’t argued.
    He couldn’t help it. Her sudden frailty worried him. She’d sustained some lumps and bruises during the accident. But was it possible the bump on her head was worse than he’d thought?
    Riding away from the cottage that evening, he paused and looked back. Damnation! He couldn’t help but feel guilty over locking her in.
    Tomorrow, he decided cautiously. If she wasn’t better tomorrow, he would simply have to fetch a physician.
    Phillip wouldn’t be pleased at the turn of events. Alas, it couldn’t be helped.
    Ten o’clock the next evening found him miles away, riding into a deserted clearing. His lovely guest was still very much on his mind.
    Behind him, a twig snapped. Dane whirled.
    “Phillip!”
    His friend Phillip Talbot materialized from the shadows. “Either you’re growing careless,” he said, “or my skills are improving.”
    Dane merely raised a brow. He’d met Phillip shortly after returning from the battlefield, and it wasn’t long before friendship sprung up between them. Beneath Phillip’s affable manner and kindly features was a man of lightning-quick in tellect. Dane greatly admired his attention to de tail, his ability to foresee the unforeseeable.
    Most of all, he trusted him implicitly ...it was the same with Phillip.
    A most necessary commodity in the affairs they conducted.
    Phillip stared at his face. “What the devil hap pened to you?” he asked in astonishment.
    Dane cursed the moon, which chose to slide out from beneath a cloud a moment before. He’d forgotten his black eye. Devoid of his mask, no doubt he was quite a sight.
    “A slight accident,” he said lightly.
    Phillip wasn’t fooled.
    “Someone tried to darken your daylights. Who?”
    With an economy of words, Dane told him about the carriage accident two nights earlier. Phillip was quiet for a moment when he finished.
    “This is most unfortunate,” he said. “I’d hoped there would be no more forfeiture of life.”
    “You of all people