“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“You say you won’t kill my brother, but what if he resists? Why shouldn’t he?”
“Phyllis will do as she’s told.”
“Will she?” Ariana met his eyes. “I don’t think you know her at all, Kynaston. But then, you’ve neglected her for so many years.”
“You harridan.”
“Truth stings, doesn’t it? I’ll come with you.”
“And be compromised? Oh, no.”
Heat flared in Ariana’s cheeks. “I never thought of such a thing. I assume you’ll use an open carriage for speed.”
“Yes, and thus you’ll be frozen.”
“Tender blossoms don’t have big feet.”
He was distracted by puzzlement, but only for a moment. “You’re not coming. And that is absolute.”
“Then I’ll follow on my own. I can drive.”
“You wouldn’t.”
She let silence speak. She didn’t at all relish driving at speed in icy weather, but she tried not to let that show. “Well?” she asked, sensing victory.
He seemed to become aware of the crushed note and turned to hurl it into the fire. “I know where I can borrow a curricle and a fast team.”
“A curricle!” That was a flimsy sporting vehicle and dangerous, but it was built for speed.
“Changed your mind?” he asked.
“Never!”
“I’ll return here. I suggest you dress warmly.”
“If you’re not back in a half hour, I set off on my own.”
His jaw was working, and when he strode by her and out of the house, she could only hope he believed her. Damn Norris for this stupidity! But then, Kynaston had given the lovers little choice.
Why had Ethel not come to warn her instead of abetting him in his folly?
She summoned her mother’s maid and ran up to her room to shed finery and put on a sturdy woolen gown over an extra flannel petticoat. She exchanged silk stockings for worsted and slippers for leather half boots. A simple hat, her hooded fur-lined cloak, gloves and a muff, and she was ready in twenty minutes.
She hurried downstairs and wrote an explanation for her mother, who would think both her children had run mad. She sealed it thoroughly and left it with the curious footman. As there was no good explanation to provide, she didn’t attempt it.
She watched the ticking longcase clock and Kynaston didn’t come.
Had he not believed her? Norris had a curricle and team stabled near there. She was going to have to pursue alone, but she deeply didn’t want to. She’d only ever tooled the sporting vehicle around the estate at Boxstall. She could do it if she must, and she must prevent bloodshed. Norris wouldn’t meekly turn back, and he’d be armed. Someone could get killed—her brother or the man she loved. She couldn’t stand by and do nothing!
But then the knocker was used—with some violence. When the door opened, Kynaston was there, glowering. There was no other way to describe it.
Chapter 15
Ariana managed to suppress a victorious smile as she hurried out to the curricle, drawn by a pair of matched blacks. A groom was at the horses’ heads, but once Ariana and Kynaston were in place and Kynaston had the horses under his command, the man stepped back. Some curricles had a seat for a groom at the back, but this did not, and in any case, Kynaston wouldn’t want the extra weight.
The horses were given leave to go, and Ariana was reassured by the horses’ even pace and Kynaston’s sure hands on the reins, but as yet they couldn’t travel at speed. They were weaving their way through Mayfair, and despite mourning, the ton was traveling from one entertainment to another. Hackneys and fine carriages, and even a few sedan chairs, went hither and thither. Yet even at a modest pace the wind of their travel combined with the cold night air to be sharply unpleasant.
