Page 118 of Rogue of My Heart

“Both of us?” Lady Aoife balked. Of course she would.

“Yes. You can ride on the handlebars.”

For a moment, Marie thought Lady Aoife’s eyes would pop clean out of her head. “How is that even possible?”

“It’s easy,” Marie told her. “I rode on the handlebars last week while Christian pedaled.”

Her careless remark earned a look of shock and suspicion from Lady Aoife. A light of understanding came into the woman’s eyes, but before she could come close to saying anything about it, Marie growled and said, “Hurry. Time is wasting. It’s a simple matter of climbing up, sitting here—” she patted the cross-section of the handlebars, “—and keeping your skirts out of the way.”

Lady Aoife didn’t look at all convinced, but she followed Marie’s instructions and climbed onto the handlebars all the same. As it turned out, it was neither simple nor easy to ride a bicycle with someone sitting on the handlebars. Christian must have been some sort of miracle worker to make it look as easy as he had. It took Lady Aoife several attempts to balance and Marie several more to propel the bicycle forward before they were on their way down the drive.

Even then, the journey proved a thousand times more arduous than Marie had accounted for. Every time she pedaled fast enough to help balance the bicycle and its load, Lady Aoife began to scream in panic. In doing so, she shifted her weight on the handlebar, making Marie fight to maintain balance and momentum. They nearly crashed four times, but Marie was fiercely determined to keep going.

In the end, the difficulty of the ride aided the overall deception Marie had planned.

“That’s it. We cannot go on like this,” she panted with genuine frustration as they reached a portion of the road that was within sight of the springhouse. “I need to rest.”

“I don’t think I could go on either,” Lady Aoife agreed, pressing a shaking hand to her chest as she slipped off the handlebars and staggered to one side.

Marie scrambled for something to say, scanning the area around the springhouse to see if Christian had followed through with his part in the deception. She nearly shouted for joy when she spotted him and Lord Garvagh striding toward the springhouse from a hill closer to Lord Garvagh’s property. Her relief was quickly eclipsed by alarm, though. Lady Aoife couldn’t see Lord Garvagh before they were ready to spring the trap.

“Good Lord, have you ripped your skirt?” she asked, nudging Lady Aoife to turn so that her back was toward the springhouse and the men.

“I don’t think so,” Lady Aoife said. “I was sure to be careful and held my skirts as close as I could.”

“I’m certain I heard a tear, though.” Marie bent to grab the hem of Lady Aoife’s skirt, then proceeded to check every inch of the fabric of both the skirt and the petticoat underneath.

She plucked and fussed and did whatever she could to keep Lady Aoife distracted. When she had the woman vexed to the point of madness, Marie glanced toward the springhouse. She was just in time to see Christian open the door and invite Lord Garvagh to enter ahead of him. Christian glanced in Marie’s direction as he did, but the distance was too great for Marie to see what sort of expression he wore.

Once Christian followed Lord Garvagh into the springhouse and shut the door behind them, Marie stepped away from Lady Aoife. “I must have been mistaken,” she said. She wiped her brow with the back of her hand. “Would you mind if we stopped at the springhouse for a drink of cool water? I could use it.”

“Yes, I believe I could use some refreshment as well,” Lady Aoife said, fanning herself, lips pursed. “As long as it won’t delay us from reaching Lady Kilrea’s bedside as swiftly as possible.”

“It won’t,” Marie lied. She picked up her bicycle from where she’d let it drop by the side of the road and wheeled it toward the nearest stand of bushes. “I think I’ll just leave Lucifer here for the moment.”

“Lucifer?” Lady Aoife’s brow shot up in alarm. “I was riding on a contraption named Lucifer?”

“It’s a fitting name, no?” Marie teased her as they walked through the grass following the path of the spring.

Lady Aoife didn’t answer. Or rather, her wary, sideways look was all the answer Marie needed.

The closer they drew to the springhouse, the more anxious Marie grew about her plan. As she’d detailed it to Christian briefly before leaving him the night before, they would trap Lady Aoife and Lord Garvagh in the old stone structure together for as long as it took them to declare their love. The details of that plan, however, were sketchy at best, now that Marie was faced with the moment of truth. Getting Lady Aoife to enter the springhouse might not be that hard, but getting Christian out without being seen, so that Lady Aoife and Lord Garvagh could be alone and believe they were not being spied upon was another entirely.

There didn’t seem to be any way to proceed but to charge on once they reached the springhouse.

“Oh, dear.” Marie stopped within a few yards of the door. “My lace seems to have come loose.” She crouched and pretended to fiddle with her boot. “Go on in without me.” She gestured for Lady Aoife to proceed.

To Marie’s surprise, Lady Aoife only hesitated for a moment before shaking her head as though she were supremely perturbed and pulling open the springhouse door.

Marie held her breath, waiting and hoping everything would go to plan, as Lady Aoife stepped over the threshold.

“Oh! Ned! What are you doing here?” Lady Aoife’s voice sounded from the echoing inside of the old building.

At the same time, Christian popped his head around the edge of the stone wall. His expression was neutral and his face was still paler than it should have been, but his eyes sparkled with curiosity.

That was all the provocation Marie needed. She leapt into action, lunging for the springhouse door and shutting it with a loud thunk. “Oh, no!” she called out with as much feigned distress as she could. “I seem to have stumbled into the door. I think it’s wedged shut.”

Marie gestured for Christian. He sped forward, joining her at the door and throwing his weight against it. When someone on the other side tried to push it open, Christian held it shut.