He turned back to face the road. “Yes. He can most definitely make it happen, but I’m sure he’ll require payment of some kind.”
Payment? Why would a brother pay another? Her brother and she never required payment from each other. “Your English ways will never make sense to me.” She shook her head, completely baffled.
“It’s not necessarily an English way, but more of a Taylour way of operating. My family is nothing if not creative.”
“Your family does not sound like any I’ve known before.”
He laughed. “That describes my family perfectly—not like any other.”
As they turned onto the lane before reaching the path to Silver Meadows, the sky turned a pale pink, signaling the setting of the sun. She was used to returning to the house in the early morning or in the dark of night. But with her maid’s clothing, she could simply walk in the side door and no one would be the wiser. She should have thought of the disguise long ago.
“Would you like to meet my brother?”
At the surprise invitation, she immediately questioned the motivation, but then again, this was Anthony. She could trust him. “Yes, I believe I would.”
“And I believe I would prefer to enter the lion’s den with you by my side, and maybe perhaps the duchess as well. After all, you’ll need a chaperone.”
“I will?”
“Yes. Be sure to wear your best day dress. Think of it as another disguise, preferably to intimidate.”
Ah, nowthatshe understood. “I’ll be looking forward to it.”
He stopped the horse so she could dismount.
She stepped to the horse’s head to look up at Anthony. With his coarse clothing and disheveled hair, he appeared rather handsome. She’d always thought him well made, but in the pink light, he practically glowed with vitality. That was what had made them friends from the start. “When should I expect you?”
“Two days hence. I’ll need to send an invitation to the duchess. She may choose to send a different chaperone, so if there is anything you can do to convince her to take this day journey with you, that would greatly aid our cause.”
Seeing an opportunity to press her advantage, she gave him a decisive nod. “I will as long as I can join you once you’re invited.”
He was obviously still not convinced, but he didn’t shake his head. “That is a weighty request. Allow me these two days to look at it from all sides.”
She didn’t see that there were many sides, but she would accept that he couldn’t make the decision so quickly. He liked to examine the ramifications of risky enterprises, but he almost always engaged in them anyway. “That is acceptable. I shall do what I can to entice the duchess to join us.” She grinned. “If your brother were to have a well-stocked library, it would be so much easier.”
“As it happens, he does, and I’m quite sure he rarely uses it.”
That was perfect. Lady Northwick was of the mind that any library not used for reading should be stripped from its owner. “Now I’m quite certain I can entice her.”
“Then I will see you in a couple of days. I shall wait here and watch that you make it inside un-accosted.”
She opened her mouth to object to such a waste of time, but he held his hand up.
“No, do not argue with me. While you are with me, I must be sure you’re safe.”
She chuckled as she remembered a particular night when it was she who had kept him safe. “As I did with you,mom ami?”
She couldn’t be sure in the fading light, but his face appeared to color. “Yes, we must keep each other safe.”
Having made her point, she nodded then turned and walked briskly across the field to the gardens. Anyone inside would think she’d been in the woods gathering mushrooms with her basket. Either that or she’d been trysting with her lover.
The memory of Anthony’s mouth on hers flared to life, causing her to walk faster. She wouldn’t deny she enjoyed every moment of being in his arms. Nor would she deny that she would like very much to be so again.
Heat filled her as she slipped in the side door and hurried up the servants’ stairs, myriad ideas crashing against each other as she reviewed the possibilities of attending Leighhall’s weekend of debauchery—not the least of which was seducing one Anthony Taylour.
Chapter Seven
Anthony, dressed inhis best maroon tailcoat, brown paisley waistcoat, and tan pantaloons, waited for a lull in the conversation between the women opposite him—Her Grace the Lady Northwick and Lissa.
