The brunette sat forward. “Perhaps because my father suspected I might run away and wanted to keep an eye on me.”
“You’re Lord Castleigh’s daughter?”
The brunette gave him a quick nod. “I’m the frump’s daughter. Lady Madeleine.”
Brilliant. He finally met a woman who took his breath away, and he began by insulting her father. Not that it mattered.
She was eloping and would never be his. Which was a good thing.
He didn’t want her.
Very much.
“So let me get this straight,” Jack said. “You, Lady Madeleine, only daughter of the Earl of Castleigh, are eloping with him?”
The professor bristled. “I’m Conlan Dover, and I happen to be the world’s foremost expert on dog breeds and—”
Jack waved a hand and addressed Lady Madeleine. “And this is your . . . ?” He glanced at Ashley Brittany.
“Cousin,” Miss Brittany supplied. “Well, actually, I’m her cousin’s cousin.”
“I see.” He didn’t, but no matter. “Your cousin’s cousin is coming along as well because . . . ?”
“We need a chaperone,” Lady Madeleine supplied.
“Of course,” Jack said. Who didn’t need a chaperone when they eloped? “You’re right. I don’t want to be in this carriage. I’ll order my brother to stop immediately.”
A quick look out the window confirmed that they were well away from the center of London and should be free of Bleven’s thugs.
Jack rapped on the coach’s roof.
“Your brother?” Miss Brittany asked, her voice sounding strained.
Jack raised a brow as the hatch opened and Nicholas poked his head inside. “Have you met Lord Nicholas Martingale?”
Maddie stared at the dark-haired man with his head through her carriage hatch, taking up the space where her coachman should have been.
“What have you done with my coachman?”
Lord Nicholas looked taken aback. “Your coachman? Never touched the man. He abandoned his post. Blackthorne and I simply filled a need.”
“No you didn’t,” Ashley said. “We had a coachman, and therefore had no need of one. You stole our coach!”
“I resent that imputation of my character,” Lord Nicholas said.
“What character?” Ashley cried. “You’re a rogue.”
MADDIE BLINKED AT THIS new information. She told herself she had to start reading the papers on a regular basis. First, she had no idea who the notorious Lord Blackthorne was, and by Ashley’s reaction to the revelation of his name, Maddie knew he must be very wicked. And now, apparently, this Blackthorne’s brother was equally scandalous.
Lord Nicholas bristled. “You’d better be careful with your unfounded accusations, Miss Brittany. You, of all people, shouldn’t be the first to throw stones.”
Ashley reddened, and Maddie’s mouth fell open. Ashley was never embarrassed. Had something happened between Lord Nicholas and Ashley that she was unaware of?
“It’s not unfounded, Lord Nicholas,” Ashley said.
“Do you have proof?” he demanded.
“You know I do.”
