She and Genevieve made their way up the stone stairs to the front door of her cousin’s town house and into the foyer. Genevieve quickly disappeared downstairs, while Regina handed her muff and hat to the butler and pulled her gloves from her hands.
The servant eyed her warily. “Are you quite all right, my lady?”
“No. I mean, yes. Quite.” She forced herself to hold still and allowed Abbott to help her remove her pelisse. Next, she calmly handed him her gloves while she forced herself to count to ten, stilling the racing of her heart. She had to find Nicole.
“Where is her ladyship?” she asked the butler.
“She is in the study with his lordship.”
Drat. Regina had hoped Nicole would be alone so she could talk to her about both the incident in the coach and her disastrous encounter with Daffin. Mark tended to be overprotective when it came to his cousin and his pregnant wife. He wouldn’t like to hear that Regina had been nearly run off the road twice now. As for the incident with Daffin, she hadn’t told Nicole about her plans to visit Bow Street, nor her proposal to rid herself of her virginity. She’d been afraid Nicole would talk her out of it. After the disastrous results today, she couldn’t keep it to herself. Mortification called for companionship.
She straightened her shoulders and made her way to the study. Perhaps she could catch Nicole’s eye and somehow indicate that she needed to talk without alerting Mark. The last thing she wanted was to allow Mark to find out what a complete fool she’d made of herself. The embarrassment ofthatmight well send her to an early grave. Daffin had promised not to mention it to anyone. She had no reason to doubthim. He had never proven to be anything other than a complete gentleman, which made her shameful proposal even more humiliating.
As she approached her cousin’s study door, raised voices drifted into the corridor.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner, Nicole?” Mark’s tone was stern and edged with something akin to anger mixed with fear.
“I didn’t think there was anything to tell, really,” Nicole’s bright voice returned.
“I want you to go to Uncle Edward’s estate in Surrey as soon as possible and stay until after Christmas.”
“But that’s hiding,” Nicole replied, her voice firm and resolute. “I refuse to hide.”
Regina furrowed her brow. What were her cousins talking about? Not wanting to eavesdrop any further, she promptly knocked on the frame of the open door.
Mark glanced up. He had a deep scowl on his face, which softened when he recognized Regina. “Come in.”
“Regina, there you are,” Nicole said. Her beautiful cousin was lounging on a dark leather sofa near the wall while Mark sat behind his desk. “Will you please tell my adoring husband that we will be perfectly fine staying in London until Christmastide? You look flushed, by the by.”
Mark opened his mouth obviously to retort, but Regina stopped him.
“Why wouldn’t we stay in London?” she asked, purposely ignoring Nicole’s remark about looking flushed. “I thought that had already been decided.” They’d all agreed to stay in London until Christmastide. Was Mark being overly solicitous because of the babe? If that was the case, why hadn’t he mentioned it before?
“Will you please tell my lady wife,” Mark replied, still staring at Nicole, his arms folded across his chest, “that there is no possible way I will allow her to remain in London if she’s in danger?”
“Danger?” Regina’s wide-eyed gaze met Nicole’s. “Whatever do you mean?”
Nicole rolled her eyes. “I made the mistake of telling Mark about our little carriage accident last week.”
“Yes, and I’m convinced it may not have been an accident,” Mark replied.
Regina bit her lip. There was no help for it. She should tell Mark about what had just happened to her. He would be angry if he found out she’d kept it from him.
Regina quickly made her way to Nicole’s side and perched on the sofa beside her, her hip resting near Nicole’s gently rounded belly. Regina took a deep breath. “I’m not entirely certain he’s wrong. Genevieve and I had another incident on our way home just now.”
“What’s that?” Mark’s head snapped to face her.
Regina related the incident as briefly and unemotionally as possible.
“You see?” Mark replied, slashing an arm through the air.
“Wait a moment. While it’s definitely disconcerting, it’s possible it’s nothing more than a coincidence, darling,” Nicole replied.
“That’s true,” Regina added, nodding, even though she didn’t quite believe it herself.
“There are no two ways about it,” Mark continued imperiously from behind his desk. “I must be out of town on business until Christmas Day, and I’m not about to leave you both here where I cannot keep you safe.”
“Carriage accidents happen all the time,” Nicole replied.
