Dangerous in Diamonds - Madeline Hunter [88]
“This chair is a superb place. I promise there are at least five ways to have you here without any discomfort. I will show you.” His hand teased at her skirt, making it inch up her leg. “If you smother your cries of ecstasy, no one will be the wiser.”
She slapped his hand. “We need to leave here.”
“I agree. An inn far away is in order. I will send for Summerhays’s coach, and we will be off.”
“I meant that we all need to leave here.”
He glanced toward the dining room. “You and I need to leave, and go to an inn, then travel back to London. Where do they need to go to after they leave here?”
“I am taking them back to The Rarest Blooms until the consequences of this day are known and the region is safe for them.”
He closed his eyes. “May I ask why all those women need such sanctuary?” His expression indicated he was already guessing.
“Since you are part of the government, it might be better if you did not ask. I am very sure it would be better if I did not answer such a question, should you pose it.”
“Hell.” He shook his head and glanced up, asking heaven to bestow patience. “Daphne—”
“Here is my plan. There is not enough room in Summerhays’s coach for all of us. I suggest that you hire another carriage for the women and we send them off in it. Then you and I will travel in the coach that brought me.”
He brightened at that solution, as she guessed he would. Then he scrutinized her closely. “You do realize that I will have you alone in that carriage, and at the inns, and all the way back to London? That is suspiciously accommodating of you, after the way you have dodged me these last weeks.”
“As long as you are in fact accommodated, what do you care about the how or why of it?”
Another long gaze. “Well put. What do I care, indeed? Off you go.” He helped her to stand. “I will go for a ride and make sure it is quiet out there. If it is, I will find another carriage. There is usually one to be had in a village of this size, even if the cattle that pull it are not the best.”
The horses certainly were not the best, but they would do. Daphne helped all the women into the hired coach that Castleford had procured. The young woman he had rescued would ride along into the village and send word from there to her family to come and help her. The others would make the long journey to Middlesex.
Margaret was the last to enter.
“Do you have the maps and directions?” Daphne said.
“Of course. Do not worry about anything. I know what to do.” She embraced Daphne. “I will see you again soon. You will reach your destination before we reach ours, however. I do not expect this coach to travel very quickly. It is not a lord’s carriage or pair.”
“All will be waiting for you. Perhaps I will have news too. You may all stay with me as long as you like, however. Even after we are sure that the magistrates are not searching for your friends and you. There is room at The Rarest Blooms for more sisters.”
Margaret looked to where Castleford spoke with Summerhays’s coachman. “He was generous to give us the money to pay for inns on the way. Does he know all that you are up to with these plans?”
“He knows enough.”
“By your journey’s end, that may not be sufficient. Will he still be generous if he knows it all, do you think?”
“He will be good to his word about the property, no matter what happens.”
Margaret climbed in with the others. Daphne watched the carriage roll away, then walked toward the duke, whose curiosity about her had led him to ride a horse across England.
He watched her come, and it was all there in his eyes, the reasons he had followed her. Lights of desire and fascination sparked in them, and a warm familiarity born of what they had shared in that tent and today. She saw something else, however, something new, and it made her breath catch in her throat.
Pity. Pity and sorrow and maybe some anger. That was what she saw, for an instant, before he took her hand and guided her inside the coach.
A long carriage ride gives a man a lot of time to search his soul. Since Castleford did not fancy perusing deserts, he