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“You weren’t going to return the letters for a ransom.

There was something in there that the Prince Regent wanted contained, wasn’t there?

Why else would a Yeoman of the Guard dare such an act?

” She moved beside him, picking up a framed miniature of a gentleman from the fireplace mantel, stroking the painting with a thoughtful expression before setting it back.

“If it was for the Prince Regent, it must have been something grave indeed to cause you to take such drastic measures and potentially ruin your family’s good name, your career, and your family’s legacy, which I know is everything to you, given the measures you took to see your grandmother happy. ”

He sighed. “It was difficult but worth the chance I took. My allegiance is not to titles but to the royal family. If I can serve the Crown with honor, even if no one else knows but me, it is enough.”

She studied him, the weighted silence stretching between them. “I suppose if the Prince Regent puts such trust in you, I should as well if you can provide proof of your allegiance to him.”

“I thought you might ask.” He reached into his waistcoat pocket and extended the folded letter to her.

“You will see the Prince Regent’s seal on the bottom, declaring me a knight.

I have brought a second letter, where he calls me his closest knight—his most trusted man.

I cannot provide proof of his request that I act the highwayman.

He asked in person, and if he should’ve provided anything written regarding it, I would’ve promptly burned it. ”

She crossed the room and lifted the papers to the taper, studying them. As she read, the lines in her forehead smoothed, and then she returned them. “I see. It appears that truth is at long last on your side. You can at least answer me this.”

“Anything—as long as I keep the Prince Regent out of our conversation. Agreed?”

She nodded, folding her hands before her skirts. “Do you care for me at all? Why did you offer your name?”

“You know the answer to both of those questions.”

“Do I?” she whispered. “I thought I did, until this afternoon.”

He closed the distance between them and took her hand in both of his, caressing it.

He wished to take her in his arms. My lady, do you not know that I have been thinking of you since the moment I met you?

How could he tell her that now when she’d looked at him with mistrust only moments before?

It would take time to heal the wound of his misdirection.

He should have told her his identity before, but his vow to protect George bound him to silence.

“You do know, my lady. Would I have married you if I did not care?”

“We both care for Grandmother Larkby. It was enough to marry to please her.”

He lifted his hand to her cheek, brushing back a curl. “A man would do most anything to please a lady—but actual marriage?” He smiled. “That is far indeed.”

She took a step back from him and crossed her arms over her stomach, as if protecting herself from him. He fought back a wince.

“What do you wish to do from here, Sir Sebastian?”

“Please, call me Bash as you once did. Will you return to the manor house?” At her hesitation, he added, “I know you probably weren’t expecting to stay beyond a fortnight. I cannot express my gratitude. You single-handedly have brought my grandmother back to life, Evie.”

Her mien softened at the name. “That power lies in Christ’s hands alone, sir.”

“Yes, but He often sends His angels to do His will, and I have no doubt that He sent you.” He wished to tell her how she affected him.

How since she’d come into his life, he’d been thinking of a life beyond the Yeoman of the Guard, but he had a long road to travel yet.

And he knew her. She wanted nothing to do with a true marriage.

Why else would she risk everything to pretend to be his bride?

And here, he had entrapped her. No, she would be much better off without him.

She had waited too long for her freedom to surrender it now.

No matter what it cost him, he would see that her best laid plans were realized—even if it meant that he was to stay away from the women he loved and Lark Manor for the rest of his days.

“Tell me what you wish and it is done, my lady. You have only to command me.”

Command him? Vivienne’s heart stirred under his gaze as glimmers of their time on the road made her body relax now that she was certain he was telling the truth.

She did know this man. He was kind and courageous and yet possessed that hint of danger that she could not help finding appealing.

If only I could command him to court me—to treasure me as I have begun to hold him in affection.

“What I wish for is impossible, I fear,” she whispered.

He dropped his hands. “Because I have taken your choice of whom to marry away.”

It was a statement, not a question. Before she corrected him, the door flew open and Charlotte hurried in, her eyes wide. She gasped at the sight of him. She dropped a letter and snatched the porcelain vase from the basin and held it aloft.

“You both think a porcelain vase is a good weapon?” Bash chuckled, which brought a shadow of confusion to Charlotte’s expression.

Vivienne lifted her hands. “It is fine. There was a misunderstanding.”

“He is not the highwayman?” She matched Vivienne’s breathless whisper, keeping the porcelain aloft.

“He is, but he is, for certain, also a Yeoman of the Guard. I’ll explain all later.” She motioned to the letter on the floor. “Did you receive some news?”

Charlotte eyed Bash once more, then slowly lowered the vase and scooped up the letter. Weariness filled her eyes, her shoulders sagging under the weight of the news. “My mother is ill. I need to attend her.”

“Charlotte! Please go at once. I shall be fine on my own.”

“That is the other thing. You won’t have to be alone. The letter was brought by Miss Tess Hale. She is in the parlor with her dog.”

“Tess?” Vivienne tossed on her shawl and, leaving Bash behind, raced down the stairs, where Brexton was bringing a tray of tea into the parlor with his wig askew, betraying the fastidious servant’s exhaustion in running the entire household in a moment’s notice.

Tess Hale rose from the fire she had been stoking, her mottled pointer lying before the hearth. She flew to Vivienne’s side, her cape billowing out and her gaze roving over Vivienne. “You are here. Thank goodness.”

She grasped Vivienne’s wrist and pulled her to the settee, calling over her shoulder to Brexton. “Do send some hot biscuits. I am half-frozen and famished.” She crossed her arms, staring at Vivienne.

Tess had always been the most sensible of the three friends. Vivienne worried her bottom lip under Tess’s scrutiny.

“I am happy to see you, Tess, but I am wondering why you are here.”

“I received your letter, and I hardly believe the contents. In truth, Muriel and I had half decided that it was a novel plot you were working through and had forgotten to include that part in your letter, as you regularly seek our input. We both recalled the time you had one character stabbed in the hand and wrote to Dr. Madden asking how to best mend the wound and forgot to include that it was for a novel—and he went racing along the countryside, despite his towering years, to make certain you were not bleeding to death. You sent the village doctor into early retirement.”

That had not been a good day. Her secret had nearly come to light, but the doctor had kept her confidence and was most helpful in providing information for her to write the scene with accuracy. “What I wrote was not for a novel.”

“I was afraid of that.” Tess groaned. “Vivienne! You cannot be in seriousness? You are parading about as Lady Larkby, the wife of some knight? This is ten times worse than Muriel’s faux pas.

In fact, you are making her seem quite saintly in comparison—falling for your abductor, breaking every rule of propriety, and lying to a dying woman? ”

The door creaked open to reveal Bash. He had left his cloak in her room. He wore the dark clothes of the highwayman and cut a dangerous figure. Gazing, he assessed the situation.

Tess threw off her cape and reached for the dagger in her boot, sending Wolfie to his paws with a growl in his throat and his hackles raising. “You better have a good reason for being here, Sir Sebastian. If that even is your title.” She scowled as her eyes roved over his highwayman’s attire.

“It is and I do.” He lifted his palms out, a smile playing at his lips.

“Tess. Please.” Vivienne rested her hand on her friend’s shoulder, her eye on Wolfie. As an animal rescued from a fighting den, he was not to be crossed. “Call off your hound and allow Bash to explain.”

Tess snapped her fingers at her dog and motioned for him to stand down. She sank beside Vivienne, twirling the dagger through her fingers from hand to hand. “Talk.”

Bash lowered his hands, marked respect in his gaze. “Evie and I had a mutual need. I am only disclosing this to you as Vivienne trusts you. My position as Yeoman of the Guard is unique, as I carry out clandestine missions for the Crown while disguised as a highwayman.”

Tess’s brow twitched. “And you have proof of this?”

Vivienne nodded. “He does. And if anyone was selfish in their need, it was I, but Bash’s request was that I make his dying grandmother happy by pretending to be his bride,” Vivienne rushed to add, explaining how she met Bash as the highwayman, how he took her funds and left her with precious little before returning the money with interest, his finding her at the masquerade, their mutual need, Bash’s position, and the fix they found themselves in.

She refrained from mentioning all the kissing though.

Tess pinched the space between her brows, grunting. “And did no one think of the consequences of bringing the truth to light regarding such a lie to an already weakened elderly woman?”

“Not until it was too late,” Vivienne admitted and twisted her hands. “In the short time I have spent with Grandmother Larkby, I have come to respect and love her. And the very thought of paining her rent my heart in two.”

“If you, Sir Sebastian, are as honorable as all that, then why not marry my friend and repair this foolishness?” Tess snorted. “It seems by far the simplest solution.”

“It is.” Bash nodded. “We were about to mention that part of the story. We have wed.”

“What?” Tess whirled to Vivienne. “Is this true?”

“Sir Josiah found us out at the Sydney Hotel. We had little choice but to marry.”

Tess’s gaze flitted to each of them before a satisfied smirk settled into place. “So you wed the knight and still managed to secure the hand of the dreamy rogue? I underestimated your attraction for the man.”

Vivienne gaped at her friend’s betrayal of her confidence.

“Tess!” Tess’s smirk fell. “You have not professed your love to each other?”

“No!” they said at the same time.

“Such an ardent refusal. Interesting.” She twirled the knife again. “I think that someone here is still telling a falsehood, given that you each have surrendered much for the sake of the other. If such selfless sacrifice is not love, I know not what is.”

Vivienne refused to look at Bash. He could not know of her heart.

It was one thing for him to offer for her hand out of duty, but it was another matter entirely for him to think she had any sort of marital love for him.

It complicated their understanding. In truth, she had never felt such passion toward any man, but Bash had single-handedly destroyed every barrier she had set up around her heart.

Before him, no gentleman had caught her attention enough to consider marriage.

They had always fallen short of the memory of her father—a picture of what a gentleman ought to be.

He grasped her hand, and she looked up to him to find a question in his gaze.

She had not dared to imagine that he might come to feel affection toward her.

His kisses certainly sent her head to spinning.

Of course, she had never actually been kissed by anyone other than him, so she did not know if the act of kissing caused such flappings and flutterings in her heart or if it was Bash doing the kissing that led to such feelings.

In any case, she would need to do more research to determine that fact if she was to continue writing romantic scenes with accuracy.

But the very idea of kissing someone other than Bash made all the swirling feelings fall flat.

It was Bash and Bash alone who made her heart stir.

I love him. She lifted her eyes, studying him. She loved Sir Sebastian Larkby.

Tess clapped her hands together. “As touching as all these fabrications being brought to light have been, I am exhausted from traveling without resting in a posthouse and need to retire, and since Charlotte’s dear mother is gravely ill, I shall be attending you tonight, Lady Larkby .

As you are married, I have no qualms in allowing Sir Sebastian the room adjoining yours, Vivienne, while Wolfie and I take the guest room.

You mentioned in your letter that it was on the second floor, yes? ”

“Indeed. The sheets should be clean enough.”

Tess pressed a hand to Vivienne’s lower back, moving her to the door as her dog followed close to her skirts.

“Lead the way, Lady Larkby, but for payment of my services, I’m going to have all the hot biscuits sent to my room and eat them under the covers.

Tomorrow, I’d like to do a bit of shopping before we return to your new manor, where I’d like to be introduced to the woman who unknowingly set this all in motion. ”

Vivienne cast a glance over her shoulder to Bash. To her delight, his smile mirrored what was in her heart—hope.