She looked at the floor. “Behind the curtains.”
He paced the room. “And the trunk?”
“I waited for you to go in your dressing room and was crossing the room when your silly valet came back with some servants. I dived into the trunk and hid under the clothes, thinking I’d escape after they left, but they put more clothes on top of me and strapped it closed, then went to move it.” She looked up at him. “Only it—I—made it too heavy and they dropped the trunk down the stairs. The last thing I remember is tumbling over and over and then waking up on the bunk.”
He looked at her as if she had lost her mind. “So you didn’t do this on purpose?”
“On purpose? Why would I—” Then her hand slapped over her mouth. She shook her head, her eyes going wide.
He slowly sat down across from her again. “You know your brother is probably looking frantically for you. He’ll be out of his mind.”
“I don’t think so. He went north to Lord Hampton’s fox hunting party in Yorkshire this morning. He’s not due back for four weeks.”
“But surely the staff will send a missive when you don’t come home.”
She shook her head again, wanting him to stop looking at her as if she were the enemy. “Tiffany sent word to the house this morning that I’d become unwell with a cold and Mrs. Thompson who is paranoid about illness, readily agreed for me to stay with Lady Tiffany and Wolf. I even organized for a trunk to be sent there.” She didn’t tell Rockwell she’d done that in case she needed to flee from Lord Franklin. “So maybe no one is concerned. Can’t we send Wolf a note when you pull into the nearest port. Then I’ll simply take the stagecoach back to London.”
“No. We can’t send them a note. We’re not stopping until Dublin. By then, someone might notice you’re missing.”
She was starting to get cross. “But I can’t sail with you to Ireland.”
“Well, you should have thought about that before invading my room and hopping into my trunk.” He sighed and ran a hand over his face. “What a mess. You do realize that it doesn’t matter if I take you to Ireland, Portsmouth, or Timbuktu. You are utterly ruined. You wanted a scandal to scare off Franklin? Well, you’ve got it.”
“Could you drop me at Portsmouth? Maybe I can get back to London before anyone realizes I’ve been gone?”
“I’m not letting you go back to London unescorted and I don’t have time to accompany you. I must get to Ireland as soon as possible. I have a lead on where Lord Furoe might be. If I delay, he might—disappear again.”
“So, I’ll come with you to Ireland. I could tell my brother I was helping you.”
“The scandal will chase off Lord Franklin, I’m sure.”
Her eyes brightened. “That’s good, isn’t it?” At his look of disbelief, she added, “But Blackstone’s going to disown me.”
“He’ll do more than disown you. He’ll very likely challenge me.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Once you explain that it was all my fault…” She stopped speaking when she saw the look on his face and noted his hands had formed fists. “It is my fault.”
He sat back in his chair and she noted the tiredness around his eyes. “Oh, I’m highly aware of that, but it makes no difference. Your brother will have you marching down the aisle with me faster than you can blink.”
She put her hand to her head, suddenly feeling quite faint. “No. I won’t allow it.”
“Oh, so suddenly you can stand up to your brother without having to hide in a trunk and cause a scandal. What are you going to do to stop your brother demanding I marry you, cause another scandal?”
Yes,she wanted to scream.I’ll run away before I let you sacrifice yourself for me.“Can we get a message to Wolf? Perhaps he could cover for me until I return. They could say I’m indisposed. Then my brother and the rest of society stays unaware until we get back to England.”
“And Franklin? Won’t he demand to see you if you are unwell?”
She hadn’t thought about that. “It will have to be something contagious so he’ll stay away but nothing too serious to have to alert my brother.”
“Any illness should be reported to your brother. Franklin will probably send a note—unless it’s ladies’ problems.”
Heat invaded Farah’s face. “That could work. I’ll write a note to send with your missive to Wolf. It will be for Franklin. Thatought to ease his mind.” She sipped her tea. This was getting complicated.
Rockwell nodded. “And what am I to do with you while I’m in Ireland.”
She closed her eyes.Think.Then she smiled. “I could pretend to be Ashley. Your sister and I are both fair-haired. Who would know differently? What would be unusual about a brother and sister traveling together?”
Chapter Four
