Page 39 of Wicked Highland Heroes

Chapter Seven

Eve stared at Lord Halifax. "Gretna Green? I love a good joke, but this goes too far. I will not marry you simply to thwart Lord Rushton."

Lord Halifax gave a derisive laugh. "I have no intention of marrying you."

"Then why go to Scotland?" Several answers came to mind, each more insane than the last.

"Rushton will not be able to marry you if you elope to Scotland with another man," Lord Halifax answered.

"You have miscalculated, sir. His lordship has no wish to marry me. All you’re doing is providing him a reason to cry off."

"You obviously do not know Rushton."

"No," she began slowly, "but I do know that he doesn’t want marriage—to anyone."

"True," Lord Halifax agreed. "But the pompous bastard values his pride above all else. He would gladly use you, then discard you without thought. But he will not countenance you preferring marriage to another man."

"I feel certain he will not mistake my abduction for a desire to marry you."

The malice returned to his eyes. "I am not the first man with whom you eloped. Ruston will believe it."

Her cheeks burned with embarrassment.

“Word of our elopement will spread as quickly as did the fact you shot Rushton,” he said, “and everyone will believe that you will do anything to avoid marriage to him."

He was right. Society would gobble up the story with relish. Eve had known the scandal with Lord Rushton would force her from London Society, but a supposed elopement that ended without marriage would make her persona non grata in all polite circles.

“No offence, my lord, but why would anyone believe I was more predisposed to marry you than Lord Rushton? They will simply believe I had an affair."

"An affair?"

A shiver snaked down her spine at the purr in his voice.

"You may be right," he said.

"Good," she replied. "Then we can stop at the nearest inn and—"

"Stop at the nearest inn? Why, Miss Crenshaw, had I known you were so willing, I would have kidnapped you long ago."

Eve frowned. "I beg your pardon."

"You will have to be patient, my dear. I cannot chance anyone catching up with us before gossip has circulated through the ton."

"Gossip?" Eve repeated.

A slow smile spread across his face. "Never fear. I will give you as much of my cock as your sweet body can take before we are discovered."

*****

Erroll heard enough of the story to grow concerned. According to Oscar, a maid had almost caught him and Miss Crenshaw in the act of lugging Erroll, unconscious, from the gardens, which meant, the gardens was the last place anyone had seen her.

He sent Somerset to nose around for anyone who might have seen Miss Crenshaw, then headed for the balcony where he could slip around to the kitchen entrance and speak with the maid who had last seen her. Finding that maid without drawing attention to himself was going to be a magical feat worthy of Merlin’s talent. Over two hours had passed since she’d gone missing, so it would appear doubly odd that Erroll was searching for his future bride. But there was no help for it. As he neared the doors he caught sight of Paisley. The earl hurried to catch up with him and motioned him onto the balcony.

“Where the devil did you disappear to with Miss Crenshaw?” Montgomery demanded as they stopped several paces from the door. “I saw you with her earlier, then overheard Lady Crenshaw asking about her, and grew concerned.”

“You haven’t seen her?” Erroll asked.

Montgomery shook his head. “No. Is something wrong?”