Page 16 of Escape of the Scoundrel (Escape #1)

H arriet felt slightly numb, no doubt with the speed of events, and curiously lost without Sanderly’s hand in hers. Even though she could still see him. The men walked together, making sure Randolph was surrounded. Her cousin would have to resort to the law now to get them back in his house and she doubted he would do that. Sanderly was right. He had always been up to more than penny pinching and petty cruelty.

Lady Bab walked beside her, eventually taking her arm, probably to get her attention since it was quite possible Harriet had not heard her speak.

“You are really going to marry Snake?” Bab said. “You could have knocked me down with a feather! But truly, it sounds an excellent thing, and you won’t let him go to Africa, will you

“I...I don’t know. I think he said it to spike Randolph’s guns, but I don’t... You got my note then? I’m sorry, I couldn’t risk waking you earlier in case Mr. Martindale was with you.”

“I did get it, and flew straight here after bullying poor Lady G. into telling me where the duel was to be held. Sadly, I could not be the witness you sought, but I don’t really understand anything! What on earth happened at the duel?”

“I don’t know either. I was distracted at just the wrong moment, when Randolph snatched Orchid. But it seemed to be over very quickly. We all yelled for attention—which, in fact, is what we intended to do anyway to nip the duel in the bud. Anyway, apparently Illsworth, who lost, took the opportunity to bolt. Lord Sanderly seems to think he is ruined and will not trouble you again.”

“He was more likely to trouble you. It was your fortune he could get his grubby hands on. Or thought he could. How delicious that you were betrothed to Snake all along. I must write and tell Illsworth...”

“Don’t,” Harriet said urgently. “Lord Sanderly didn’t mean it.”

Bab’s face fell. “Then he’s still going to Africa?”

Harriet was saved from answering by the children who were playing all around them, running back and forth with almost delirious happiness that Randolph had been routed and that Harriet was to marry “Lord Snake.”

By the time they arrived at Grand Court, Randolph had already been bundled into his carriage.

“And don’t stop within ten miles,” Sanderly told the coachman, who was Randolph’s own servant, not one of her father’s. “Or the law will take you both up. Understood?”

The coach moved forward with the children jumping up and down beside it, until Harriet called them off and swept them into the house. Suddenly, she was afraid to face Sanderly, afraid of her own emotions.

She had told him publicly that she was his, and she was in any way that mattered. But what if that appalled him, disgusted him, when he was only trying to be a friend and ensure her safety from Randolph...

“Harriet.” His voice stayed her when she was halfway toward the stairs. She turned slowly to meet him. A footman by the front door stared woodenly into space. “Perhaps here?” He indicated the small salon where she and the children had first awaited Lady Grandison.

She swallowed and addressed the children. “Go up to Lily and if she’s awake, tell her all. Otherwise, go straight to the nursery.”

“Very well!” said Rose happily and they were soon racing each other to the top of the stairs with Orchid objecting vociferously to being left behind.

Her heart beating like a drum, Harriet walked toward Sanderly.

He opened the door of the small salon and stood aside for her to precede him. She had just stepped over the threshold when Bab and James breezed in from the front door.

“Oh, Snake, I’ve just realized!” she exclaimed, quite careless of the footman’s presence. “Now that you’ve frightened Illsworth off—which is an excellent thing, of course—we’ll never get my pin back!”

James grasped her by the arm and marched her toward the salon. Harriet moved further in to make way. For an instant Sanderly looked as if he would walk away, then he sighed, followed them inside and closed the door.

“Illsworth doesn’t have the cravat pin,” James said.

“That’s what Snake thinks,” Bab said, “but neither of you can possibly know for sure.”

“I can,” James said, and took something from his pocket. Opening his fingers he revealed a gold pin with a small, winking sapphire nestled in his palm.

Bab pounced on it in delight. “Why James! Where on earth did you find it?”

James shifted uncomfortably. “In Illsworth’s room. I took it during tea the day he arrived.”

Bab stared at him, stunned.

Sanderly began to laugh. “Welcome to the family, dear James. You shall do well after all. Bab, he’s one step ahead of you, so no more tricks. Miss Cole, perhaps the library would suit us better. Yes, definitely.”

Since the married couple were kissing with enthusiasm, Harriet hastened from the room.

They walked briskly across the hall and upstairs to the gallery and along to the library. There was no sign of Sir John or the doctor or anyone else, and despite their hurry, it still left too much time for nerves to blossom and anxieties to multiply.

She all but bolted into the library, sweeping it with one cursory glance to be sure they were the only occupants, then swung around to face him.

“I know you did not mean it and you have no earthly desire to marry me,” she blurted, before he had even properly closed the door. Nor did she even register that he should not have done so at all while alone with an unmarried young lady. “Of course you know that I shall not hold you to it.”

He leaned his back against the door, regarding her from eyes that were not remotely bored or sleepy, but on the contrary, glittered in a way that caught at her breath.

“You don’t need to. You said you were mine.”

Heat rushed into her face. “I said I was your betrothed. We can break it later.”

“Do you want to?”

“I would die rather than force you to—”

“No one forces me to anything,” Sanderly said, pacing slowly toward her. “You like me. You don’t care two hoots about my reputation. The question is, could you love me? And if the answer to that is no , then run. Now.”

Harriet’s legs did not seem capable of holding her up, let alone running. She clutched the nearest table to steady herself.

“That is not the question at all,” she said shakily. “It’s whether or not you could love—”

The rest was lost as he snaked an arm around her waist, pulled her hard against him and kissed her.

It went on a long, long time, until only he was holding her up and she was utterly lost in a sea of delight and awakening desires.

“God help us both, it is simple,” he whispered against her lips. “I love you now and always will.”

“You cannot know—”

“I can,” he said, and kissed her again, even more deeply, as though to be sure she understood. “Are you truly mine?”

“There are my sisters and Alex—”

“Their home will be with us, of course.”

“And Randolph has probably stolen my modest inheritance.”

“I don’t want your damned inheritance. Though we’ll let the lawyers pursue him for it.”

“Will you go to Africa?”

“Not without you. There are probably better places to take you. Are you mine?”

“Oh God, yes,” she said brokenly. “I have always been yours.” This time it was she who kissed him, with such aching enthusiasm that she did not even hear the door open.

“Good grief!” exclaimed Lady Grandison, stopping dead and then slamming the door hastily. “Explain yourself, my lord!”

“With pleasure, ma’am,” Sanderly said, his voice only a little unsteady. He might even have been blushing. “Miss Cole has just agreed to be my wife.”

“Oh,” Lady Grandison said, peering from him to Harriet. She turned on her heel. “Carry on, then. You have two more minutes!”

As it turned out, they had considerably more, but it was a fine beginning.

The ESCAPE Series