Lill opened it, gasping as she saw his face. Aubrey did not stop for excuses, barging his way in.
“Alfie’s going to rob the Jeffersons tonight,” he said, so angry and afraid he could hardly get the words out. “Don’t you dare bloody deny it!”
Far from denying it, Lill burst into tears.
Hell.
“Damnation, I’m sorry,” Aubrey said, belatedly realising that this was Alice’s closest friend, they were like family to one another. She must be worried to death too. “I ought not to have bellowed at you like that.”
Feeling like a brute, he guided her into the parlour and sat her down, though he only wanted to get after Alfie, now he knew what the wretched creature intended.
“It’s all r-right,” Lill sobbed. “I know you’re sweet on her, don’t blame you. It’s enough to turn your hair white.”
“It is,” he agreed grimly. “Is there anything you can tell me, Lill?”
Lill shook her head. “She was afraid to get you involved. Said if it went to hell, she wanted you to have no part in it. Besides, Alfie is the best there is,” she said, with more than a little pride.
Aubrey nodded, wanting to believe that more than ever. “I know that, Lill, but I can’t let Alfie do this alone. Let me help. Please.”
Lill shook her head. “I don’t see how you can. You’re no good at robbery, Alfie said so.”
Aubrey snorted. “No. I can’t say I am, but I am good at moving in polite society, I am accepted. What’s more, I’ve an invitation to that blasted party, so I have a reason to be there. I can help. If it goes to hell, I could say Alfie is with me. A young man who had had a bit too much to drink, perhaps. I can vouch for him. Don’t you see, Lill? I could make it work.”
Lill blinked. “You’d do that?”
“I’d do anything.”
The words hung in the air, utterly terrifying, the truth of them settling in his heart. Hewoulddo anything to see Alfie safe. What’s more, he was going to bully and coerce anybody else he needed to do anything, too.
“You’ve been invited to the party?”
Aubrey nodded. “I can get into the house, legitimately.”
Lill considered this. “Getting Alfie out might be tricky, but maybe Alice…”
Aubrey smiled, taking her meaning at once. “Hurry, Lill. I’ve a hell of a journey if I’m to make it to town in time.”
Hatherley Hall, Little Valentine, 19thJanuary 1816
“I need your help.”
Aubrey nerves jittered beneath his skin. Getting Hawkney involved was a terrible risk, but he was Aubrey’s insurance if things went badly. A duke was a good man to have on one’s side if one was in need of bribing officers of the law or making a nasty scandal go away. That was, if his top-lofty cousin didn’t simply lock him in one of the attic rooms until he returned to his senses.
Hawkney looked at Aubrey and sighed. Having interrupted his grace during a meeting with his steward and probably looking like he was at his wits' end after spending the last half hour preparing for his hasty departure, he could hardly blame Hawk for being irritable.
“I knew it,” Hawkney growled. “I knew you were involved with some unsuitable woman. How much does she want to go away?”
Aubrey bristled, about to rage that it had nothing to do with an unsuitable woman, before checking himself. He couldn’t really pretend that wasn’t true. “It’s not like that,” he said stiffly.
Hawkney snorted. “No, no. This one is different. She loves you. Only she urgently needs… what… two hundred pounds?”
“Lord, Hawk, if that were it, I’d deal with it myself. Stop treating me like I’m a snot-nosed boy. You’re not much older than I am, for all you act like you are of an age with my father.”
“I seem to remember you came to me for help,” the duke said coolly. “Insulting me does not seem to be in your best interests.”
“I wouldn’t need to insult you if you were not so damned insufferable. You’re my cousin, you unreasonable pillock. Your first words ought to be, ‘of course, Aubrey, old fellow, what can I do for you?’ Not glaring at me like I’m something you stepped in.”
The duke flinched at this description and Aubrey felt a twinge of remorse, for Hawk was not such a bad fellow, he just had a lot on his shoulders.
