“I fear it is the other way around, Colin,” Penny admitted with a wince. “I am not supposed to know of it, but I overheard the conversation quite by accident.”
“What did you hear?”
“I think…I think Fanny has kidnapped someone.”
“What?” Colin all but roared.
“Yes. It’s Simon Gracely. I think he is the new Viscount of Havisham. That is all I know of it,” Penny said fretfully.
Her brother kissed her forehead and reassured her before escorting her out. He closed the door softly, resting his forehead against it.
“Bloody hell—” he muttered.
Mina hurried over to him and touched his shoulders consolingly. “We will hide it and find a way to recover Fanny and find out—”
His shaking shoulders cut off her words.
“You are laughing,” she said in astonishment.
“Yes,” he said, turning to face her.
“Do you doubt Penny’s tale?”
“No. I assure you, wife, all of it is true. If Fanny plotted to kidnap that arse, she did.”
Mina’s jaw slackened. “It is my turn to assure you, husband, that humor is not the appropriate reaction here and certainly not the time to live up to the very bad Fairbanks’s moniker.”
With a devilish grin, he swooped her up against his body. “Fanny can be a right hellion when she wants to, and I hope she gives him hell. Now my wife, where were we?”
Mina spluttered in outrage. Only a few seconds later, she was softly moaning as her husband distracted her with exquisite passion.