“Then, by all means, expose me for the scoundrel I am.”
Maddie watched as the two locked gazes.
Amazingly, Ashley was the first to look away. Lord Nicholas disappeared for a moment, presumably to check on the horses—an action for which Maddie was profoundly grateful, as careening along London’s streets without a driver was not her notion of an ideal elopement—then reappeared.
“So where are we going?” he asked his brother.
“We are going no further,” Lord Blackthorne told him. “Stop the coach.”
“Done.” He disappeared again.
Maddie peered out the window and didn’t recognize a single building. She had no idea where they were, but by the looks of their surroundings, it wasn’t Mayfair. And the smell . . .
“Oh, no,” she said. As much as she wanted these crazed men out and her calm, adventure-free elopement back, this wouldn’t do. “We’re not stopping here.”
“Not my concern,” Blackthorne said, without taking his eyes from the dingy gray shacks they passed.
She glared at Blackthorne. “It should be. You cannot think to abandon us here without a coachman.”
He frowned at her. “As I said, that’s not my concern.”
“Take us back to our coachman,” Maddie said, but Mr. Dover was already shaking his head.
He consulted his trusty pocket watch. “According to my calculations, we are now twenty-two minutes behind schedule. We haven’t time to go all the way back, find the coachman, and then start again. That would put us approximately . . . ” He looked as though he were tabulating in his head.
“Your point, sir?” Ashley said impatiently.
“Lord Castleigh might already be looking for us.”
Maddie knew he was right, and poor Mr. Dover had more cause to worry than anyone else.
If her father caught them, he was well within his rights to shoot Mr. Dover for absconding with his daughter.
She didn’t want to believe that her father would act so monstrously, but undoubtedly he would take a different view of the situation. He wouldn’t hesitate to shoot Mr. Dover.
Maddie sighed and stared at her clenched hands. All she had wanted was to marry and then pursue her charitable causes unfettered, as she and Mr. Dover had agreed. And now it seemed she couldn’t even elope without trouble. She was a failure at adventure. A miserable failure.
She glanced up. Everyone was looking to her expectantly. She couldn’t afford to be pessimistic now. The coach was slowing, and her friends needed her.
Her gaze locked with Lord Blackthorne’s, and she steeled herself for opposition. “I am afraid, my lord, that I have to insist you drive us to Gretna Green. At least until such time as we can acquire another coachman.”
Blackthorne raised a black eyebrow. “You can insist all you want, Lady Madeleine, but I’m not going anywhere close to Gretna Green. Especially not with two unattached females in tow.”
Ashley snorted. “As though either of us would marry you!”
“Oh, the feeling’s mutual, Miss Brittany. But I’m not taking any chances. You know my reputation. Throw Gretna Green into the mix, and you would be compromised. And don’t think I’ll marry you out of some misguided sense of honor.”
“Obviously, you don’t know the meaning of the word,” Maddie shot back.
To her surprise, Blackthorne didn’t grow angry at her impudence. Instead, he leaned forward, so close that she caught the scent of coffee and soap on his skin. His dark eyes bore into hers, their intensity making her insides heat. “Remember that, sweetheart,” he said, voice dark and low.
Maddie didn’t know why she was reacting to him. She couldn’t stop her gaze from traveling to his mouth and wondering what it would be like if he whispered other, more scandalous words in her ear. She wondered what that blue-black hair would feel like under her fingertips. She wondered . . . Jiminy, she wondered what he’d look like with his shirt off!
“Lord Blackthorne,” Dover interjected. “I must ask you to refrain from taking a familiar attitude with either of these ladies. I will defend them.”
Ashley laughed. “With what? Your pocket watch?”
“Ashley!” Maddie said reprovingly. Poor Mr. Dover. He was trying. Blackthorne would probably beat him senseless for it, but at least her fiancé had honor.
