“It was Damien,” she said, burying her face against his shoulder and wrapping her arms about his back. “I thought it was you. But he wasn’t at all tanned. There was something else about him, but I don’t know what it was. He tried to force me in his curricle. There were so many men about, but none of them would help me. Frances came along just in time.” She raised her face and tried for a smile. “I don’t see why Frances would ever have any need of a former mistress to help her.”
“Ah, but I did,” Frances said easily. “That is a story I will tell you one cold winter’s night.”
“She told him she would shoot his ear off if he didn’t let me go.”
But Rafael wasn’t amused. “You went to the solicitor’s office, didn’t you? And Damien was there as well?”
“Yes, outside. I had already spoken to Mr. Westover. I learned the provisions of my inheritance.”
He wanted to shake her and to hold her very close. It was an unsettling dilemma. He compromised, saying harshly, “I trust you have learned your lesson, Victoria. You will do as I tell you in the future, do you understand me?”
He felt her stiffen, but didn’t release her. He said over her head to Frances, “Thank you. As for you, Victoria, you will go upstairs now and bathe. I don’t want you to catch a chill.” He remembered belatedly that Frances was also a bit frayed and damp.
Frances, who wasn’t at all remiss in her faculties, said, “Don’t worry about me, Rafael. I shall take myself back to Hawksbury House. Victoria, I will see you later today. All right?”
Victoria nodded.
She was still held close to Rafael. She felt his warmth and his strength and wondered how it could be that he was so very different from his twin. Didier gently closed the door behind Frances. It was only then that Rafael roused himself. “I’ll help you,” he said. “Come along now.”
She allowed herself to be led upstairs to her bedchamber. Grumber was waiting stoically, no discernible surprise on her face at the sight of the young miss.
“You look grubby as hell,” Rafa
el said, flicking his fingertip over a slash of mud on her cheek. “Clean her up, Grumber. I’ll be downstairs with Lady Lucia.”
“It will take a while,” said Grumber.
“Keep her warm.”
With those words, and one final searching look at Victoria, Rafael took himself back downstairs to Lucia, who was in close conversation with Didier.
“I gather you now know as much as I do,” he said to Lucia.
“I’m not certain, Captain,” said Lucia, as bland as Cook’s giblet soup. “I did gather that it was your brother, Baron Drago, who came upon Victoria?”
“Yes,” Rafael said in a savage voice. “She went to the solicitor, by herself, I might add, and Damien came upon her when she was leaving. She thought at first that he was I, but he wasn’t tanned, you see, and he was forcing her.”
“Yes, my dear boy. Oh, dear, here I thought Victoria was still in her bed, with the headache.”
“In any case, Frances saved her hide. Damnation—pardon me, ma’am—but it is too much. I told her I would handle everything. Why couldn’t she have simply left things alone?”
Lucia walked to the sideboard and calmly poured Rafael a snifter of brandy. “Very good for temper,” she said, handing it to him.
“You know,” she said after a moment, “I suppose I should tell you why Victoria went to Mr. Westover’s office. She isn’t a child, Rafael, and it is her right to know about her inheritance. You were high-handed, you know, all with the best intentions, I’m sure, but the result was the same. Now, as for your twin, it appears that he isn’t at all stupid. I doubt it will take long to find out that Victoria is here. And he is her guardian, with the law on his side. He could force her removal, could he not?”
“No, I won’t let him.”
“But he has the law on his side.”
“I know.” Rafael sighed. Well, he might as well get it over with. He would propose to Victoria. Marriage would protect her, and there was no reasonable way Damien could refuse permission to his own brother. She would have to obey him, high-handed or not, once she was his wife. His mind made up, Rafael was impatient to get it over with. He trusted that Victoria was at least somewhat fond of him.
He knew his own feelings tipped the scales to beyond mere fondness.
He was to find himself thwarted. Hawk and Frances arrived shortly after Victoria emerged from her bedchamber, over an hour later, bathed and changed. He couldn’t prevent a frown. She looked sweet and fresh and utterly guileless, not at all the same girl who’d come into the house looking a sodden mess with her face as white as January snow.
The entire matter was rehashed over luncheon for Hawk’s benefit. And the Marquess of Chandos arrived just after luncheon and demanded an equal hearing.
To Rafael’s surprise, Victoria asked him quietly if she could drive with him in the park.