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?”
“I didn’t intend to keep her in there.” He raised his eyebrows. “Why does it matter, anyway? There was no intent to harm.”
“You think being taken off the street by a masked man isn’t terrifying?” Allegra asked. “You imagined my sister would think it amusing?”
He winced.
“And your partner in crime—the man who was driving the carriage—didn’t even stay in London, did he? Where exactly do you think he was heading?” Allegra demanded.
“On that I cannot comment.” He paused. “Do you know where we are?”
“We’re in Suffolk.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been to Suffolk before.”
“Probably not enough gaming hells and women of ill repute for you,” Allegra said.
“I see my reputation proceeds me.”
“Everyone knows who you are, my lord.” Allegra looked down her nose at him. “And none of it reflects well on you.”
He had the audacity to look hurt. “Surely, I have some attributes? I’m rich, I’m the heir to a duke, I’m devilishly handsome, and the ladies love me.”
“Only the ones you have to pay,” Allegra snapped.
“My, you are a little feisty, aren’t you? Is it a feature of the Musgrove women?”
“It absolutely is.” She smiled at him. “As you will soon find out.”
“Well, the sooner we can get back to London, the better,” Max said. “I’ll take you home and no one will be any the wiser.”
“You abducted me. Don’t you think my family will have raised the alarm and will already be looking for me?”
“Why? I think it would take at least a month of not hearing from me to make my father worry about where I was.”
Allegra held onto her temper with some difficulty. “Perhaps you don’t have experience with actual ladies, sir. But they are regarded as precious commodities, whose virtue must remain intact for them to have value in society. If a lady goes missing, she will immediately be considered soiled goods.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“But unfortunately, true. I have no intention of going back to London.”
“With me?” He nodded. “Fair enough. I’ll get you on a mail coach and you can return by yourself.”
“I’m not going to London with or without you.” Allegra held his amused blue gaze. He really was ridiculously handsome. “I intend to go to my family home in Norfolk.”
“From my elementary knowledge of the geography of this country, I believe Norfolk is next door to Suffolk, which makes things much easier.” Max nodded. “You’ll be home in no time, and no one need be any the wiser.”
“Except for that pesky matter of you abducting me in London,” Allegra said. “Do you seriously believe I will not have been missed?”
He opened his mouth as if to disagree and rapidly closed it again. “You might have a point.”
“I suppose you think that my family is in such disgrace that my disappearance will only add to our notoriety and provide gossip for the ton for weeks.” She waved her hands around. “Who will care that I was taken against my will when that is all the women in our family deserve?”
He leaned back in his chair and regarded her, the mocking expression disappearing from his face. “I do not think that.”
“That’s a surprise.” She walked back to her seat and sat down with something of a thump. “Now, I intend to finish my breakfast and then consult with Mrs. Lacock about the nearest inn where I can take the horses.”
Max sat up. “With respect, the horses aren’t yours.”
“Are you really going to argue semantics with me, Max Devereux, after all the harm you’ve done in the past twenty-four hours? I’m taking the horses to the nearest inn where they can be looked after, and then I’m going to get on a mail coach and go home. What you do is entirely up to you.”
“I will accompany you to the inn,” he announced grandly.
“Fine.” Allegra finished her mug of tea and set it down on the table. “And then hopefully I’ll never have to see your face again.”
Max prevailed upon Mrs. Lacock to lend him her husband’s shaving equipment while she pressed his sadly crumpled coat and cravat.
His only hope was that no one who knew him would see him in such a sorry state.
The last time he felt this grubby, he was a child running through the woods at Devereux castle pursued by his brothers.
That joy hadn’t lasted. As the heir, he’d been separated from his brothers and forced to apply to his lessons, watching wistfully through the window as they rode out without him.
He’d never been able to revive the carefree relationship they’d had as boys.
They regarded him warily, always sided with his father whenever he did something untoward, and generally went out of their way to avoid him.
Not that he blamed them. He’d spent the last few years raising hell, and no one with any sense of propriety wanted to be associated with him.
He raised his chin and carefully scraped away at the stubble with Mr. Lacock’s extremely sharp razor.
How he’d ended up in Suffolk with the furious Lady Allegra was still something of a mystery.
His original plan had been to drive Lady Carenza to the park, encourage her to promenade with him for a few minutes, and then take her home, thus winning the wager and supplementing his sadly depleted funds.
Why had Landon suddenly decided to drive out of town at some speed and abandon them in the middle of nowhere? And where had he gone?
Max rinsed the blade and stared at his reflection in the small mirror. Was it possible that Landon had injured himself in the crash and was lying helpless somewhere on the side of the road?
To his eternal discredit, Max didn’t actually care at the moment.
He set down the razor, rinsed his face, and wiped it clean.
Mrs. Lacock appeared with his pressed clothing, and he thanked her profusely, which made her blush.
Ready to face the world, or more specifically, Lady Allegra Musgrove, he went back into the kitchen to find her sitting by the fire petting a large tabby cat.
She looked up as he approached, her clear gray gaze still rather intimidating. She definitely wasn’t a beauty. She was too tall, had the Musgrove nose—which looked better on her father—and rather less curves than he generally appreciated.
“You look slightly improved.”
He swept her a grand bow. “I wish I could say the same for you. Did you even ask Mrs. Lacock to iron your dress?”
“What’s the point? It’ll be getting all crumpled again as soon as we leave this place.”
“For your own sense of self.” He took the seat opposite her, and the cat gave him a baleful stare.
“My sense of worth doesn’t come from my clothing, my lord.” Her gaze swept over him. “I’ve never had to rely on my looks for anything.”
“I can’t help being devilishly handsome.” He fluttered his long eyelashes at her. “I was just born like this.”
“I would refer you to your Bible—Proverbs, thirty-one—but I doubt you’d know the reference,” Lady Allegra retorted.
“Ah, but then you’d be wrong,” Max said. “I believe it says something to the effect that beauty is passing.”
“How on earth do you know that?”
“I received a classical education,” Max said. “It was beaten into me at a very early age.”
She sniffed. “Then I’m sure you’ve worked hard to make certain that your outer beauty is reflected in your inner soul.”
“Alas, I have not.” He pretended to sigh. “But thank you for admitting that you think I’m beautiful.”
“I—” She closed her mouth.
“Glad to see that you’re not a liar,” Max said. “Now, might we turn to other matters? Mr. Lacock said you’d paid him for disrupting his morning.”
“Yes, I did. What of it?”
He held out his hand. “Can you give me my purse back? I assume you took it from me when I was sleeping.”
“I didn’t take your purse.”
He frowned. “Then how did you pay him, and what the devil has happened to my money?”
“I used my own money, sir.” Lady Allegra looked down her magnificent nose at him. “I have no idea where your purse is, although it wouldn’t surprise me if, in your drunken state last night, you’d forgotten to bring it with you.”
“I’m sure I had it when I left for my club last night.” Max fruitlessly searched his pockets again.
“Perhaps it fell out in the coach?” Lady Allegra suggested. “We did get turned onto our side.”
“That bad, eh?” He regarded her quizzically for some moments. “How is it that I don’t remember a single thing about the accident?”
She looked down at her hands. “I have heard that sometimes after a blow to the head, one’s memories are somewhat confused.”
A rush of memory obligingly resurfaced, and Max glared at her. “You hit me.”
“I have no idea what you are referring to, sir.”
Her heightened color and inability to meet his gaze confirmed his suspicions. “You threw a bloody book at me!”
“Surely not.” She raised her eyebrows. “I distinctly remember someone telling me that women can’t throw.”
He raised his hand and gingerly touched the still prominent lump on his forehead. “You could’ve killed me.”
“With a skull as thick as yours?” she asked. “I sincerely doubt it. You were masked, and you were abducting me. I had a perfect right to defend myself.”
“No wonder we ended up in the middle of nowhere when I wasn’t able to tell … my friend to turn the coach around.”
“Oh, we’re back to blaming me now, are we?” Lady Allegra threw up her hands. “What a surprise.”
Mrs. Lacock cleared her throat as she entered the room. “Excuse me, sir? My husband says he’s ready to take you to where you believe the carriage accident happened.”
“That’s very good of him, ma’am.” Max smiled at their hostess and rose to his feet.
“You’re not going by yourself.” Lady Allegra stood up. “I want to come, too.”