“No one would know,” Case pointed out.
“I would know.”
“Do you have a better plan, then?”
“No,” he finally admitted. “I don’t.”
“Then you’ll do it?”
“If Jillian will agree to it,” Justin replied.
“She has to,” Case said grimly. “She can’t chance remaining in London.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
“Absolutely not! Are you mad?” Jillian stared at the two brothers with an open mouth.
“Jilly, you aren’t safe here,” Case said. “Do you forget that someone was in your house just last night? That someone tried to kill you by tampering with your carriage?”
The blood drained from her face. “What?” Her voice cracked.
Justin gave Case a sharp look, and Case slapped his palm against his forehead.
She glanced between the two. “What aren’t you telling me?” she demanded. “Did someone do something to my carriage?”
Case nodded, looking miserable at having let it slip.
She slumped down in her chair, completely stunned by his admission. Her hands covered her face, cradling her throbbing head. She was not fully recovered from her ordeal of the previous day, and now this.
She had spent the night at Justin’s house, and both he and Case had approached her as soon as she awoke with their plan for her to leave London with Justin. She thought she couldn’t be more shocked, but then to find out someone had purposely caused her carriage accident. It didn’t bear thinking about.
“Jillian–” Justin’s husky voice sounded next to her ear.
She looked up to see him close–too close. “You can’t want this,” she said before he could continue.
“What I want isn’t as important as your safety.”
She threw up her hands and let them fall back to her lap. “Well, at least you didn’t try to offer me platitudes and say you were a willing party to this madness.”
“I think it’s safe to say that neither of us particularly wants to be in this situation, but I cannot come up with a better idea. Can you?” His voice was gentle and not at all resentful as she thought it might have been.
There was a long pause. “No, I think you know I can’t.”
“Then it is settled. You will travel to Whittington with me, and we shall make the best of our circumstances.”
She looked up at him and sighed in defeat. “I suppose I really do not have another alternative.”
“You needn’t sound so enthusiastic,” he said, raising an eyebrow in a joking manner.
She laughed then, breaking the awkward tension between them.
“I’ll send around a carriage for you at noon. In the meantime, Case will see you home so you can pack your things.”
“So soon?”
“Would you rather wait to see if your intruder pays another visit tonight?”
She gulped. “Very well then, I shall be ready at noon.”
