The Rake's Proposal. Sarah Elliott

turned to Frederick to plead, “Can you make them stop?”

      “Why would I want to do that? Seems justified if you ask me.”

      “Charlotte?” Kate’s face was desperate as she turned to her brother’s fiancée, not fathoming how the petite girl could possibly stop the two large men from maiming each other. “Charlotte, please make them stop, if you can. Ben did nothing wrong—he saved my life.”

      Charlotte considered this for a moment, and then nodded and turned to Robert. Without raising her voice, she said, “Robert…Robert…you have to stop. Kate needs you to listen.”

      He looked up at her, giving Ben enough time to shove him off and pin him down to the ground.

      “Oh, no! Don’t you start being unreasonable, Benjamin Sinclair! Get off him!” Charlotte was truly angry now and added emphasis to her words by grabbing the nearest object, a book, and hurling it at Ben’s head with all her might. Luckily for his already tender head, she missed, but the noise of the book hitting the ground was deafening.

      Kate was the first to break the stunned silence. “Well, Charlotte, I didn’t suppose that you really would be able to stop them. Appears I underestimated you.”

      Charlotte smoothed her gown and tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear, serenity, dignity and composure restored. “Yes, you did. Now first things first—are you all right, Kate? Tell us what happened. And you,” she said, fixing Ben with an imperious glare as he rose from the ground, “don’t interrupt.”

      Ben nodded curtly, although he and Robert continued to glower at each other, and Kate began to answer questions.

       Chapter Six

       I t was about two o’clock in the afternoon when Kate finally awoke and made her way downstairs. Only Robert was in the breakfast room, drinking a cup of tea and perusing the paper. Upon seeing his sister, he put the paper down, smiling gently. Clearly he’d been waiting for her.

      “How are you doing this morning…er, afternoon?”

      “Well as can be expected,” she replied briefly, feeling deeply uncomfortable. She didn’t want to discuss her late-night activities again, so rather than answering Robert’s question in detail, she walked to the side table and began heaping her plate with more food than she could possibly eat. She stretched this activity out for over a minute, hoping the topic of conversation would have passed into more pleasant territory by the time she sat down.

      But when she finally turned around, her brother was still looking at her. He was simply too perceptive. “Do you want to tell me what happened between you two? And don’t try to tell me that nothing happened—I know Ben too well to believe that. Only a fool would miss the way you two were looking at each other.”

      “Nothing happened, really,” she mumbled, coloring intensely as she took her seat.

      “Listen, Katie, you have nothing to feel ashamed about. You hardly asked to be carried off. It wasn’t your fault that you ended up…where you ended up. Sinclair should never have brought you in there. He should have taken you home right away.”

      “Well, he did, all right? I…I fainted and had to recover.”

      Kate was being evasive, and she knew that Robert was well aware of that fact. She didn’t care. She was not going to go into any details with her brother. She had some pride left.

      He just shrugged, knowing he wouldn’t be able to get any more out of her than that. “Would you like to know what I’ve been doing this morning?”

      She nodded eagerly, hoping he had good news to report.

      “I found Owens…well, one of the grooms found him anyway. Poor chap was trussed up and locked in a closet in the carriage house. Don’t worry,” he held up his hand to still her questions, “he’s fine. Just a little bit bruised.”

      “Why, that’s brilliant news! I’ve been so worried!”

      “It’s good news for Owens, but it complicates things. You see, if he’d been found at the Bannisters’, or in their vicinity, then we could safely assume that this was a random crime. Thieves have been known to prey on the carriages at ton parties, so this wouldn’t be that unusual. The thief would have given Owens a good rap on the head, hid him in the bushes and got on with it.”

      “But because Owens was found in our carriage house, that means that whoever did this was near our house, and might know where we live. He must have driven me to the party, too…is it possible I wouldn’t have noticed?”

      “Well, it would seem so. Your mind was probably on other things. But I don’t want to alarm you, Katie. I don’t think anyone is trying to hurt you, or us, specifically. He probably saw our carriages getting ready for an evening out and assumed that we had well-lined pockets.”

      “Surely he would have robbed me en route rather than waiting around all night?”

      “Well…there weren’t many people around to witness the abduction so early in the morning, were there? That wouldn’t have been the case if he’d tried to rob you on the way to the ball.”

      “I suppose.”

      “Still, though, it’s a bit chilling to think of someone lurking about my carriage house like that. Unfortunately, Owens didn’t get a look at his face.”

      Kate nodded, her own flesh crawling at the thought. She’d definitely been distracted when she’d left for the party, fretting about whether she would see Ben and how to react if she did. It was perfectly conceivable that she simply hadn’t noticed who was driving the carriage. “We should notify the authorities, I suppose.”

      He nodded his head. “Yes, I will…but I think I should do it alone. I want your name to stay out of this ordeal. The damage it could do to your reputation, especially if your…um, late-night excursion became known, would be irreparable. I’m certain it was no more than a misconceived robbery. We’ll tell them only what we must and be very careful with ourselves for the next few days.”

      She nodded slowly, wondering if she should confess her suspicions about Andrew Hilton. In the end, she held back, hoping that Robert was right. His explanation seemed reasonable enough, and if she weren’t already suspicious, she’d assume no more herself. Mentally laying the subject to rest, she said, “Well, I suppose there’s little else we can do. No sense in dwelling on it.”

      “Said like a true Sutcliff.”

      “What are your plans for the day?”

      “Thought I’d try out my new curricle…I’ve been meaning to take Charlotte for a drive in the park, but the weather’s been so abysmal lately. Did you notice the sun?”

      Kate looked out the window. The sky was blue and cloudless, and sunlight streamed into the breakfast room. It looked glorious, and frankly, no, she hadn’t even noticed.

      “It does look beautiful,” she said wistfully.

      “I’d invite you along, sister dear, but…well, you understand. It’s bad enough that her lady’s maid has to come along.” He paused and grinned unabashedly when Kate sniffed in distaste. She had no problem understanding her brother. “Perhaps you can dredge up a suitor to take you out,” he suggested mischievously.

      “I have correspondence to attend to, thank you, and I don’t have any suitors,” she gritted out through her teeth. Her brother was being altogether too cheerful.

      “I suppose, then, that you wouldn’t be interested in the roses you received just this morning—”

      “No.”

      “Don’t you even want to see who they’re from?”

      “Hang him, whoever he is.” They could only be from Philip Bannister, and she just couldn’t get excited about that prospect.

      “I see. Mind if I give them to