Page 5 of How to Ruin a Rake

Mr. Lacock announced he was going back to work and that he would feed their horses. Mrs. Lacock said she needed to attend to the chickens and left Max alone with his female companion. He had to imagine that his friends had played a joke on him and that this woman, whoever she was, was involved.

“Look,” he said. “I don’t know who you are, but—”

“You don’t know whom you abducted?” Her eyebrows went up.

He hesitated as an unpleasant memory wiggled into his mind—her furious face as he took her arm and bundled her into his carriage.

“Hold on.” He tried desperately to remember. “There was a wager …” He frowned. “But you’re not who I thought you were.”

“I am well aware of that, sir.” She raised her chin, her gaze fulminating.

“Then why in damnation are you here?”

If ladies had been able to breathe fire, Max truly believed he would’ve been incinerated.

“Why am I here? You abducted me!” Her voice rose on every word, which did nothing for his headache.

“You were supposed to be someone else.”

“I suppose you expect me to apologize for being the wrong person, don’t you?”

“Well, you have to admit that it isn’t very helpful.”

“Helpful?” She rose to her feet, her hands clenched into fists. “You took me from my own front doorstop, told me to calm down, and then proceeded to let a lunatic drive your carriage right into a ditch in the middle of nowhere!”

He winced and pressed his fingers to his temple. “If you could just speak more quietly, I’d—”

“You are a rake, a scoundrel, and a drunkard, and I will never forgive you for landing me in this mess.” She came around the table and stood over him, visibly shaking.

“Never is a long time,” Max offered weakly. “Surely we can come to some agreement …”

“Oh, we will be doing that, Max Devereux,” she said. “I can’t wait for your father to find out what you’ve done now.”

“There’s no need to involve him,” Max protested, aware that he couldn’t afford another falling-out with his long-suffering father. “We can sort this out between us.”

“How?” she asked. “Everyone in town will know that I’ve disappeared. The authorities will be looking for me, and when they find me, I’m not going to lie to protect you.”

This was bad. Very bad. Max didn’t want his father anywhere near this brewing scandal. He’d have to think of something fast to placate the furious woman in front of him. If only he knew the full extent of what he was dealing with. …

“If you could just calm down a little, there’s something I’d like to ask you,” Max said in what he hoped were winning tones. “You obviously know who I am, but clearly, I have no idea who you are. Will you at least tell me your name?”

She sucked in a breath and let it out very slowly, her gaze fixed on his face. “You absolute bastard.”

“Probably. But you haven’t answered my question.”

“I’m Lady Allegra Musgrove, and you have just ruined my life.”

CHAPTER 2

The horrified expression on Max Devereux’s face would have been laughable if Allegra hadn’t been so personally involved in the reason for it being there.

“Lady Allegra?” He frowned. “I was after Lady Carenza.”

“You were attempting to kidnap my sister?”

“Not kidnap, just ‘borrow’ for an hour. There was a wager at my club to see if anyone could persuade her to show her face in society after what happened at the charity ball. I thought I’d take her out for a drive, and—”

“In a closed carriage?”