He studied her. “It would be sensible for both of us if I refused.” As he deliberated, Prue waited, her heart in her mouth. “I don’t have much time. Roland will be here soon.”
Lord Hereford gave a heavy sigh. “As you wish. It’s against my better judgment, but I’ll take you to your great-grandmother’s home. Joseph, my groom, languishes in London with a bad cold, so we must make do. You can continue wearing those clothes and hope no onesees through your disguise.” His gaze wandered the length of her, pausing for a moment on her heaving chest. “You don’t make a very convincing male.”
“I fooledyou,” Prue said tartly, crossing her arms.
“It was dark. But I thought you an odd fellow.” A slight smile quirked his lips. “Your flowery scent troubled me, however.” His hand on her arm, he urged her toward the curricle. “Best to put some distance between you and Mr. Stanton for now. Until matters are straightened out.”
Prue grinned with relief. This was a chance she had to take. “That is very good of you, my lord.”
“It’sdownright foolishof me,” he said, his tone sharp as he handed her up into the curricle. “No doubt I shall come to regret it sorely.”
She settled herself beside him and glanced at his handsome profile. “I trust you to behave like a gentleman.”
“Have no fear. In that getup, I don’t have the slightest interest in you.”
Prue wondered why that didn’t please her. Surely, she should have been relieved.
*
Jack had nottold Lady Prudence the truth. Dressing in men’s breeches revealed her long, shapely legs. Something a man didn’t get to enjoy outside a bedchamber. The perfection of her creamy skin, revealed by the open neck of her shirt, made him only too aware of how beguiling a woman she was. And very much unattainable. He must have been attracted to trouble, he admitted ruefully, as he loosened the reins and let the horses go. How else to explain why he would add complications to his already overburdened affairs?
The thoroughbreds increased their pace. The village, and hopefully, Stanton, because Jack itched to teach the bully a lesson, were soonleft behind as they advanced down the road.
Lady Prudence sat silently beside him. Was it true that Stanton intended to force her to marry him? Jack recalled how he’d witnessed the man chasing after her on horseback and forcing her back to the house. But suppose something else lay behind it? Had she spun him a fairy tale, and he’d fallen for it? Was he so susceptible to a pretty woman? There was something about Lady Prudence apart from the obvious, which drew him to her. Not merely her beauty, or even his sympathy for the tragic murder of her father. She had pluck, and it pleased him to help her, even if by this small act of depositing her safely with her great-grandmother.
Jack supposed he’d have the new earl accusing him of poking his nose into his business. Involving himself in messy family matters was unwise, to say the least. A man could get caught up that way and find himself leg-shackled before he knew it. And right now, he needed to focus. When the Home Office had been advised of a plot afoot by a group of radicals in London, Jack, along with others, had been engaged to investigate the matter. The revelry at the house party had revealed nothing of use to either him or Lord Bain. That some members of the government had been invited, and there were several who aroused suspicion, would let slip vital information while drunk, or while bedding one of the women carefully chosen to tease it from them, had proven a vain hope. Jack was on his way to the Home Office in Whitehall to discuss the latest developments, or the frustrating lack of them.
It wasn’t too far out of his way to stop first in Richmond. And it was still only eight o’clock. He’d left early so he could still arrive in Mayfair, change his clothes, and be at Lord Sidmouth’s office in Downing Street before nightfall. But he’d forgone breakfast and was hungry, and he suspected Lady Prudence would be too. The young woman had suffered such a lot in the last couple of days. When he glanced at her, wrapped in the absurd coat that must be her father’s,hunched beside him as if she’d run out of her last ounce of strength, a rush of sympathy for her made him tamp down a sigh. She looked chilled to the marrow.
He should wrap his arm around her and pull her against him. Merely to warm her and allow her to rest, he told himself. But if he did, she’d likely shriek with horror. It was clear she didn’t trust him. Not surprising, after the unfortunate kiss, which he should have regretted but didn’t because she was just so dashed appealing.
Lady Prudence was determined to get the better of Stanton, and he wished her well, although it seemed an impossible hope for a young woman who had only her great-grandmother to support her. But this was not his fight, and he could ill afford to become any more involved than he was already. He’d deposit her with her relative and leave. Put the matter to rest.
Lady Prudence suddenly slumped against him. Jack smiled and transferred the reins to his right hand. His arm around her, he pulled her gently closer. She didn’t stir. He enjoyed having her warm, sweetly perfumed body leaning against him. A fellow could get used to it if he wasn’t careful. He shook his head at his whimsy. There was no place in his life for a gently bred young woman, even one prone to dressing as a man and whisking off into the night on an adventure, and he needed to remember that fact.
Chapter Six
Prue found ithard to believe she was on her way to Gramma’s. When she’d first thought of this dangerous plan, she’d been more hopeful than confident it would succeed. But now that it might, the weight of exhaustion settled over her; her heavy eyelids couldn’t stay open. She was dimly aware of the strong, warm arm settling around her, holding her snugly against a hard chest, as the rhythmic pounding of the horses lulled her. She should protest, move away, but not having slept since this nightmare had begun, she had not an ounce of fight left in her. As seductive sleep claimed her, she breathed in the reassuring scents of wool, woody soap, and clean male and fought not to nestle closer.
She came awake with a start and opened her eyes to find Lord Hereford’s hand gently squeezing her arm. It was chilly when he moved away. “We’ve almost reached the coaching inn, where I’ll engage a private parlor. We can freshen up before we dine.”
How could she have slept? Her feeling of safety had fled. Embarrassed, she stiffened and edged away from him on the box. “‘A private parlor’?” Did he plan to seduce her? Was that to be her payment for him taking her to Richmond?
“Yes?”
“Can you always be sure of a private parlor?” she asked, wondering if this was his usual habit, or whether he wished to get her alone.
“I keep a change of horses there. On my way to Guilford, I ordered a parlor and a bedchamber.”
Prue swallowed. “‘A bedchamber’?”
His lips quirked. “We shan’t have need of it. We won’t stop there for the night.” The amusement in his eyes warmed his usually solemn gaze.
“Oh…good,” she murmured, distracted.
“Do you feel better after your rest?”
She flushed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
