The Rake's Proposal. Sarah Barnwell Elliott

hell have you been?” Robert barked.

      Kate had never heard her jovial brother speak in such a tone—not even when, at the tender age of eight, she’d glued the soles of his riding boots to his bedroom floor. She felt immediately guilty. It wasn’t her fault that she’d nearly been abducted, but she had taken her sweet time getting back home. She opened her mouth to reassure him of her safety, but it was at this moment that he spotted Ben standing beside her.

      “You bloody bastard!”

      Before Kate knew what was happening, Robert leaped out the door to tackle Ben, and the two of them ended up rolling round in the front lawn, fists flying.

      “Robert! Robbie! Stop—you don’t understand!” Her pleas had no effect as Robert took another swing at Ben, who retaliated by planting his fist in her brother’s stomach.

      She 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.