Page 83 of His Sinful Touch

Sabrina looked up at Alex, trying to gauge whether that prospect made him feel as bereft as it did her. The truth was she had no desire to leave Broughton House—or rather, she had no desire to leave Alex. “I... That’s wonderful,” she said with a distinct lack of enthusiasm.

Was it all over now? Would she move back to her estate? Much as she had always loved her home, that seemed a dismal prospect. For the past several weeks, she had been bent only on discovering her past. She hadn’t thought about the future.

“What will we do now?” she asked.

“Take the train back to London,” he answered. “I’ll have the gig and horse returned to The Blind Ox.” He glanced down at her, his eyes warming. “Though I think, given our adventures, we deserve a bit of rest first. We can take the train tomorrow morning.” He linked his fingers through hers. “And spend the night here.”

“That sounds like a lovely idea.” Sabrina smiled.

* * *

WHEN THEY RETURNED to Broughton House the following afternoon, Alex and Sabrina were greeted with cries of delight. “Alex! Sabrina!” his mother greeted them. “Back so soon? We thought you would be gone a week at least.”

To Alex’s surprise, Lilah Holcutt followed the duchess out of the sultan room and hastened toward them. “Sabrina! Are you all right? What did you find out?”

“Yes, come tell us. I’ll ring for tea.” The duchess swept them all before her.

Alex began their very expurgated story, then had to start over again when Con joined them a few minutes later. Unsurprisingly, Lilah was appalled and irate at the Dearborns’ actions, and the duchess wanted to take the fight to them.

“I plan to, Mother, never fear,” Alex told her with a smile. He glanced toward Con, who gave him a barely perceptible nod. “If you’ll excuse me, I will leave Sabrina in your capable hands. Con and I have something to discuss.”

The two brothers headed for their sitting room, where, after an enthusiastic and noisy greeting from Wellington, they settled down, drinks in hand.

“I was surprised to see Miss Holcutt here,” Alex began.

Con snorted. “She and the duchess are grand chums now.”

“Mother? And Miss Holcutt? I thought they were going at it hammer and tongs the other day.”

“Yes, but apparently they enjoy it. Lilah stayed the other day after you scarpered. Mother decided that if Lilah left as herself right afterward, the Dearborns might catch on to her impersonation of Miss Blair and deduce that she was no longer here. I expected Miss Holcutt to recoil in horror at the prospect, but amazingly she agreed to stay. I’m beginning to think she intends to take up residence.”

“It’s only been three days.”

“Seems like a month. But I’ve managed to avoid her presence most of the time. Stayed in the flat above the agency.”

Alex laughed. “I never thought to see you so frightened of a woman.”

“Are you joking? Mother’s always scared me.” Con grinned. “Frankly, I’m afraid I’ll be driven to say something rude to Miss Holcutt eventually, and then I’ll hear it from Mother.”

“But haven’t the Dearborns given up watching the house? I didn’t see anyone lurking around.”

“No, they simply got smarter and posted their man at the little park down the street.”

“That far? Seems iffy.”

“He uses a spyglass.” Con tossed back the rest of his drink. “Now...tell me what you didn’t want to say in front of Mother.”

“Actually, I told her most of it.” Alex wasn’t about to get into what had happened between him and Sabrina. He realized, with a bit of surprise, that it was the first time he remembered keeping anything from his brother. “But I did skim over the details of the Dearborns’ plan. I think Peter meant to rape Sabrina at some point. It’s possible he was only counting on the scandal to make her agree to the marriage. But getting her pregnant would have cemented it.”

“But the marriage wasn’t legal. He wouldn’t really be entitled to take over her fortune.”

“After a time, when she was resigned to the marriage and the scandal would be too great, I suspect he would have told her that something had gone wrong at the ceremony, and they would have gotten married again, for real this time.”

“He’s a right bastard.”

“He is that,” Alex agreed. “But what I want to talk to you about is what you discovered while I was gone.”

Con grinned wickedly. “For one thing, our friends the Dearborns have some expensive habits. The son spends a lot of time in London, runs with Cartwell and that lot.”