She hoped that that would do it, that he wouldn’t direct his attention to Geordie now and start a scene that she would be forced to witness. She didn’t particularly want to see Anthony in the mood that could have brought about what he’d already done to Geordie. His level stare made her hold her breath. And then he directed that intense look to Geordie. Roslynn knew her cousin must be trembling in mortal fear.
“I’ll be gone wi’in the hour,” Geordie volunteered.
Anthony’s nerve-racking stare lasted a moment longer. Then he nodded curtly and led Roslynn out the door. His hand on her elbow was impossible to break loose from, so she gave up after one try. Outside, there was no carriage, just his horse being held by a street urchin.
Roslynn decided to attack before he could. “What were you doing back here?”
“Come to see you home, of course.”
“Making sure he was gone, you mean, since you couldn’t possibly know I’d be here.”
“That too.”
She gritted her teeth.“Didyou know?”
“Not until I heard you tearing into the poor man with all the vile, loathsome, and despicable names you never got around to calling him.”
So he had been outside the door from the beginning. Had she said anything he shouldn’t have heard? No, she didn’t think so—not this time. But she was still annoyed.
“You would have been better served to have ferreted out his men, who had still been watching the house—from the park, no doubt. They followed me to the bank and—”
“Yes, Jeremy did mention that was your destination. Imagine my surprise to find you here instead.”
He said it as if he didn’t believe her. “Hell’s teeth, Anthony! I didn’t know where he was, so how could I have found him even if I’d wanted to, which I didn’t? Those dolts he hired hadn’t been told yet that he’d given up.”
“Plausible,” was all he said as he tossed the youth a coin and mounted his stallion.
She glared at the hand he leaned over to offer her. Sitting next to him all the way home was not very enticing at the moment. She would have preferred to find a hack but saw none on the street.
She took his hand and found herself sitting between his legs, her own draped over his thigh. Color rose swiftly to her cheeks as she was forced to put her arms around him. It was a disconcerting ride, one that brought vividly to mind her main dilemma. Surrounded by his warmth, her nostrils filled with his scent, she could think only about how to get out of the bargain she had struck with him and back into his bed without any stipulations at all.
Chapter Thirty-nine
The ride to Piccadilly seemed to take forever, and yet it wasn’t nearly long enough. A hazy kind of euphoria had settled over Roslynn. With no words to distract her, just the steady gait of the horse, the steady beat of Anthony’s heart next to her ear, it was easy to forget reality and float in a cocoon of contentment.
So it was quite jarring to be placed on her feet and have her plaguey problems recalled. The suddenness of it left Roslynn disoriented for a moment. In fact, she stared at the crumpled envelope lying at her feet for a good fifteen seconds before she realized what it was and reached for it. Anthony’s hand came up the victor.
Roslynn groaned inwardly, having forgotten all about those stupid bills. To have one fall out of her skirt pocket was bad enough. To have Anthony retrieve it was the worst luck. And it was too much to hope he would just hand it back to her. He didn’t. He opened it!
“Anthony!”
He shot her a glance with one dark, winged brow arched. “It’s addressed to me,” was all he said.
She started to walk into the house, as if that would end the matter. His hand on her arm detained her while he still perused the paper in his other hand.
When he spoke, his voice sounded merely curious. “Might I ask what you’re doing with this?”
She could see no way out and turned to face him. “It’s for some of the furniture I bought.”
“I can see what it’s for, my dear. I asked what you’re doing with it.”
“I was going to pay it. That’s why…”
Her words trailed off as she saw his eyes drift down to her pocket. She followed his gaze and saw another envelope poking out. The bloody ride had worked them loose. And before she could say another word, Anthony’s hand was in her pocket and pulling out the rest of the bills.
“You were going to pay these too?”
She nodded, but he wasn’t looking at her, so she choked the word out. “Yes.”
