Page 87 of Again, Scoundrel

“No, sir. I do not.” Williams’ face remained inscrutable as he spoke. “Miss Goodwin will go in my stead.”

“I do hope that’s alright,” Violet added, making her way out of the shadows where she’d just finished changing out of her ballgown and into a pair of borrowed buckskin breeches.

They were Williams’s and they fit her a far sight better than Alistair’s had. His body noticed, even if he didn’t want it to. Even when there were other, more important matters at hand.

His brother. Her safety.

Bloody hell.

“You’ll need me with you,” she said, her voice faltering a little at whatever his face was doing. “I am a nurse.”

“It’s too dangerous, Violet. It’s an overnight ride, for Christ’s sake.”

He glared at her. “You ought to know more than most why that isn’t a good idea.”

He felt like an utter arse, calling to mind her dead brother. But he wouldn’t have her on this journey. The idea was ludicrous.

“James’s death doesn’t mean I shouldn’t go. It means I should go all the more.”

Violet’s eyes blazed in a shade Alistair had not seen before. They were nearly turquoise.

The color of obstinance.

“You’ll need me there,” she went on. “I have a great deal of experience with fevers. They’re common in Manhattan.”

“So will the surgeon in Kent. And he’ll be a far sight better equipped to handle my brother than you will be.”

He knew the words would hurt her. It was why he said them. He couldn’t let her take this risk. He didn’t know what illness his brother suffered from or if it was contagious. He knew only that his family would not have sent word had it not been fatal.

“I’m the better choice,” she said quietly, her spine stiff, her chin tilted up.

“Quite right you are,” Williams agreed, looking from one to the other. “You’ll be of great help.”

He turned briskly to Alistair and handed him the reins to the bay and the saddle bag that had been packed with a few rations.

“Best be off, my lord. It’s seven hours if you ride through the night and the weather holds.”

Both men instinctively glanced up at the sky. Clouds had rolled in since Alistair stood on the balcony with Violet. It might very well rain, another risk to Violet’s safety. They were piling up, and no one seemed to care but him.

“Thank you, Williams,” Violet said. “A hand please, and we’ll be off.”

Bollocks.

The two were in collusion, Williams already moving to get Violet atop her mount. And he could waste no more time arguing in the stable. He had to get to Kent. His brother was dying, and his future was crumbling.

Alistair mounted his own horse, staring grimly ahead.

Hell’s teeth, this was a poor idea.

But he urged his mount out of the stable and began to wind his way into the dark night of the country anyway, ignoring Violet behind him in the hopes that she might change her mind.

Chapter

34

Violet considered turning back. The road ahead was long and hard and made all the more difficult by the stone-faced man in front of her. She knew he didn’t want her there. But she also knew she could help his brother.

She’d seen and treated her share of fevers in New York, and they wouldn’t be different here. She hadn’t been able to save her own brother, but she would damn well save Alistair’s if she could. She’d seen the grief and worry in his eyes, and she couldn’t stand it. The way he looked like a lost little boy, afraid and angry about it, made her heart ache.