England's Perfect Hero (31 page)

"Geoffrey, what is going on?"

"Sit, please."

She complied, but he continued pacing back and forth in front of her. Until this point nothing, including her snapping at him, had elicited anything stronger than an apology from him. What could have upset him?

"Geoffrey, whatever it is, please tell me."

He came to a stop in front of her. "I followed you," he said.

Ice ran through her heart. "What?"

"I'm not blind, Lucinda. I've seen the way you look at that… at Robert Carroway. And since we argued this morning, I thought you might… go to see him. So I followed you to St. Aubyn's residence."

For a moment she thought her heart would pound right through her chest.
Oh, no
. If her father found out that she'd gone behind his back yet again, he would never forgive her. "I didn't know he would be th—"

"It doesn't matter. You're a female. I understand your kind's penchant for taking in stray dogs and wounded birds." He sat beside her, grasping her hand again. "I told your father I would wait until this mess is settled, but I find that I'm not that patient."

Lucinda fought the abrupt urge to run shrieking into the house. This was what she wanted, she reminded herself. This was why she'd selected Geoffrey for her lessons.
Be calm, be calm
.

He reached out with his free hand and slowly tilted up her chin. Leaning in, he touched his lips to hers. Back in the stable she could hear the low chatter of the grooms, while closer by, a phaeton rolled down the street and a pair of crows cawed at each other up on the roof.

After a moment he sat back, smiling and much more in control. "You see, we are suited for each other."

Lucinda studied his face, the confidence in his straight shoulders. How odd, that she'd felt more moved when her father had accepted her word correction on one of his manuscript pages than by handsome Geoffrey's kiss. If this was what Robert meant by an amiable existence, she wasn't certain she liked it all that much.

Geoffrey slid off the bench and sank to one knee. "Call me forward, or accuse me of impropriety, but I need to know, Lucinda—will you be my wife?"

"My friends are in trouble, Geoffrey. You can't expect me to forget about that in favor of something else."

"We don't need to marry tomorrow. I only want to know if you will do me the honor. When this is over, if you prefer."

All she had to do was say yes, and her father would be happy, she would have a secure, comfortable future, and Geoffrey would have his major's command in India. Heavens, if she wanted to, she could even join him there. The general would probably travel with them as well. Still, she couldn't rid herself of a vision of someone else's eyes, someone else's voice, someone else's touch. "I'm not certain yet," she said slowly. "My mind is… my concern is elsewhere right now."

He gazed at her for a moment. "I've just asked you to marry me, and you're telling me you're too busy to consider it?"

"No! For goodness' sake, no. It's just that you and I can have this discussion tomorrow, or next week, or next month. Robert Carroway needs help now, or it will be too late."

Geoffrey straightened. "I have to admit, I do admire your loyalty," he murmured, sitting beside her again. "For your own sake, though, I hope you've considered one very small possibility: that Robert Carroway might be lying to you."

"He's n—"

"If he took those papers, do you think he would admit to it? To you? You're General Barrett's daughter. Who better to have on his side than you? I would imagine that over the past week or so he's gone to great pains to ingratiate himself with you, Lucinda.
You
are his best, last, and only real hope."

"You shouldn't say such things," she said, dismayed that her voice was as shaky as her nerves. The problem was, she realized, that Geoffrey was right. Guilty or innocent, she
was
Robert's best chance of escape from this.

"I know I shouldn't, and I don't want to upset you." Taking a deep breath, he stood again, pulling her up after him. "I have asked you a question. Let it remain that way, while you consider. And I want you to know that whatever might happen with your friend,
I
will not abandon you."

"Thank you, Geoffrey." She forced a smile. "I do need to do some thinking."
What was wrong with her
? She'd been offered everything she wanted, and she needed to think about it? And people said Robert was mad.

"Take all the time you need, my dear."

•

With that, he took his leave, this time placing a more chaste kiss on her cheek. Lucinda sank back down onto the bench and lowered her head to her hands. What a mess. What a disaster. This was precisely what she'd wanted to avoid: entanglements, questioned loyalties, complications. All she needed to do was say yes to Geoffrey, and with the wave of a magic faerie wand, her life could be simple and amiable again.

She blew out her breath. At least she still had a little time.

When Geoffrey rounded the house, out of Lucinda's sight, he cracked his riding crop so hard across his thigh that the flimsy thing broken into two pieces. He cast it into the shrubbery and collected his horse. He hated complications. Nor was he very fond of Robert Carroway.

The front door of Carroway House opened. Before it could close again, Robert dashed out the library door.

Bradshaw and Andrew stood in the foyer, handing over their hats and coats to Dawkins. "Damnation," he muttered. Shaw looked over at him. "Hello to you, too." "Hello. Apologies. I'm waiting for Georgie." "Ah. And would you know anything about the pair of men hiding in the bushes across the way?" "They're spying on me," he answered. "Not very well, I have to say. Shall I go roust them?" Robert shook his head. "I'd rather they know where I am."

Bradshaw frowned as he dumped his gloves into his hat. "Well, I feel the need to thrash someone." He looked sideways at Andrew. "Up for a game of billiards?"

"Very amusing." Andrew snatched the stack of letters Dawkins handed him. "Fortunately, I still happen to have friends who don't know anything about what's going on in London." He glanced at Robert, a half-apologetic, half-angry look on his face. "I need to write them back, and see if I can keep it that way." He stalked toward Tristan's office.

"Andrew," Shaw snapped at him. "That was uncalled for."

"Leave him be," Robert said. "This affects him as much as it does you."

"Which would be about a quarter of how much it affects you," Shaw returned, climbing the stairs. "Play billiards with me."

Robert decided that he might as well, and followed his brother. He'd read the same page of
Frankenstein
nine times in a row, and still couldn't remember what it said. "It's funny," he said, pulling down a pair of cues and tossing one of them to Shaw, "now that I'm not supposed to go anywhere, I find myself wishing that I'd spent more time outside."

"You're not going to prison, Bit. I won't allow it."

"That's a little self-important of you, wouldn't you say?"

Shaw shook his head as he lined up the balls. "I don't know if you've realized it, but you've taken on a rather frightening resemblance to the Robert I used to know, say five years ago. I like having him around again." Leaning down, he aimed and took his shot. "And just to keep you informed of current events, my ship is about three days away from being finished with its refitting in Portsmouth."

Robert's heart lurched. "At least you'll be clear of this, then."

"You misunderstand me. I'm taking another few weeks' leave, until this idiocy is resolved. What I meant to say is that if it should prove necessary, I'll have clear sailing to the Americas, on a ship their President would no doubt be happy to add to his navy."

For a long moment Robert stared at his brother. "Bradshaw, you can't be serious."

"I'm deadly serious. No one's taking you to prison, Bit. Not after what you went through at Chateau Pagnon." He paused. "I ran into Tristan in Hyde Park. He told me about… what you told him this morning. But don't worry, Andrew and Edward don't know."

"No." Robert shook his head. "Promise me you won't throw your career away for me. No matter what happens."

"The Runt always said I should turn pirate, anyway." He grinned. "It's your shot."

Before he could decide whether Shaw had merely said that to throw off his billiards game or because he actually meant it, he heard female giggling coming from the stairs. Thank God. At least Georgie and Evelyn hadn't been arrested on his behalf. Everyone was going insane. And it was a sad state of affairs when, out of everyone in the group,
he
made the most sense.

"Bit?"

"We're in here," Shaw called.

The two ladies marched through the gaming room doorway and then collapsed on the chairs along the near wall. Both of them were laughing, and Lady St. Aubyn in particular seemed close to collapse.

"What have you two been up to?" Shaw asked, leaning on his billiards cue.

Sobering a little, Georgie glanced at Robert. "It's something of a secret," she chortled.

"You may as well include him," Robert said, indicating Shaw. He'd offered to turn criminal, after all, so he probably had a right to know what was going on. "Did you get it?"

"Get what?"

Georgiana cleared her throat. "Well, we went to the Horse Guards, and I asked—"

The cue hit the floor. "You did what?" Bradshaw asked, ashen-faced.

"Oh, it's all right. We had a plan."

"I need to sit down." Shaw sank into the chair beside Evelyn, but his glare was at Robert. "You knew about this?"

"Of course he did," Georgiana cut in. "And don't mistake; we know it's Robert's safety at risk here, not ours."

"I trust them," Robert said, leaning back against the billiards table and fighting the surprising urge to grin. If there was one thing he wasn't afraid of, he was beginning to realize, it was being killed. He'd been there once already. And it meant he didn't have to go to prison, no matter what happened.

"May we tell our story now?"

"Oh, please do," Bradshaw said weakly, gesturing with his hand for them to continue.

"We walked into the Horse Guards, and I demanded to see General Barrett. Evie tried to hold me back, but I was quite indignant, since the general had forbidden Lucinda to see me." She leaned against Evie's shoulder.

"And I'm quite irrational, being that my child is due any day now."

"Give or take five weeks," Evie added, chuckling.

"Of course the sentry became very flustered, and tried to tell me that the general wasn't at the office today, but I wouldn't listen."

"And then she shrieked and fainted right into the sentry's arms," Evelyn took up. "It was an amazing performance. You almost had
me
convinced that the poor man was going to have to deliver the baby."

"Oh, good God," Bradshaw muttered, lowering his face into his hands. "Dare is going to kill all of us. You realize that, don't you?"

"This is the best part," Georgiana said. "Evie became hysterical, and everyone started pouring out of their offices, trying to help. She grabbed the sign-in book and started fanning my face, and then after a minute or two I sat up and started crying that I needed to get home to Tristan. They tried to make us stay while they summoned an army surgeon, but when I insisted, they helped us to the coach and we drove off. And here we are."

"And?" Robert prompted. "This wasn't all just for fun, was it?"

"And," Evie repeated, reaching down the front of her dress to produce a crumpled paper, "here it is."

Robert took the pages from her and uncreased them. The two women had done this for him. And whatever they said about who truly faced the risk, there might have been consequences for either or both of them. Serious consequences. "Thank you."

Shaw stood to look over Robert's shoulder. "What is it?"

"The signatures of all of last week's guests to the Horse Guards," Robert answered, running his finger down the list.

Lucinda had been right. Dozens of visitors had been to call, at all hours and for varying lengths of time. Most of the names were at least familiar, though a few were little more than an illegible scrawl.