"I was told she slept alone."
"You were told." Oliver laughed at the ridiculousness of the entire situation. "Good God, Theodore. Are you a schoolboy with a crush or a man in pursuit of complete disgrace?"
"It was not meant to be her," Theodore asserted again, as though him saying that made the entire situation better.
"You thought you would conduct a midnight abduction without consequences? You were seen entering the Carter estate, you fool. Do you know what that means?"
Oliver had been informed of his brother's shenanigans through a member of the staff. One whom Oliver had chosen to keep an eyeout on his younger brother for, as he had a penchant for trouble. It was especially needed after what had happened at the ball.
"I understand how this may look to you, but my motives were pure and I had a cause."
"A cause?" Oliver challenged. If he was not so angry, he might have even laughed. "Pray tell, what cause explains the kidnapping of a young woman in the middle of the night?"
"I love her," Theodore said. "Joyce, that is. I have fallen in love with her."
His brother said the words so calmly that Oliver wondered if he had practiced them many times over in his head already. It was the surety behind them that made him pause.
"What did you say?"
"I love Joyce," Theodore repeated, lifting his chin. "We had an understanding amongst ourselves and I was going to marry her."
"Oh, well then," Oliver drawled, "That settles the whole thing then. All is forgiven."
Theodore did not appreciate the sarcasm in his brothers' tone.
"You don't understand."
"No," Oliver snapped. "I understand all too well. You made a spectacle of yourself at the ball last week, two unchaperoned dances, and now you've given enough fodder for the scandal sheets to remain in business for weeks."
"That is hardly my concern," Theodore argued, shrugging in a way that could only be expected of someone of his age, "I don't care what they say."
"Well, I do," Oliver said sharply. "Because they will not just say your name. They will say mine and our family's reputation will be at risk. And they will sayhers."
He pointed at the girl then, and it dawned on him that he did not know her name yet.
"Forgive me, my lady. No one has yet bothered to inform me of your name," Oliver said to her. It was then that he got the chance to look at her properly for the first time.
"Alethea Carter," she said.
Oliver had not heard the name before, but he took her word for it. It took him a moment before spoke again, and he realized that he stared at her a moment too long.
She was beautiful, he acknowledged to himself. Which somehow made her involvement in this entire mess even worse.
"I must apologize," he said to her, rubbing a hand across his face. "For the actions of my brother, which are as senseless as they are inexcusable. This should not have happened and you should not be here."
"It wasn't foolishness," Theodore protested. "It was simply a plan that did not go the way I intended. You cannot hold that against me, for surely even a duke like yourself is capable of making mistakes."
"What you have done is more than a simple mistake. I can forgo it, but what of theton?" Oliver said.
"Return me to my home," Alethea said abruptly. "If you have an ounce of decency left, you will return me at once."
Oliver looked at her, surprised. She stood tall despite the quiver in her hands she tried to hide. But he saw it.
"It's nearly morning," he said, not unkindly. "We won't make it to the Carter estate without being seen. You were taken in the middle of the night. If you are returned at dawn, you will be spotted. That is not up for debate."
"There must be a way," she insisted. "I cannot see the utility of me being kept here either."
"There was a way," Oliver said, turning his glare to Theodore. "That way involved not kidnapping the wrong woman. If youtruly wished to marry her, then you would have come to me first."
