Harriet lost her temper and started struggling against the rope. The bindings weren’t tight enough to hurt her, but not lose enough for her to struggle free. “When my husband finds you, you will not be spared! If you let me go now, he might be merciful!Might.A big, fat might!”
“Your husband is the reason you are here, darling.”
Harriet froze.
That voice.
The bag that covered her vision was ripped off her head, and a big, red-haired man with a cocky grin stared down at her.
“Hello, darling.”
“Rohan Ingrid Graves! What is the meaning of this?”
“Tsk.” He crossed his arms over his chest with a deep scowl. “There you go again using my middle name. You know how I hate it.”
“I use it exactly because I know how much you loathe that sweet, feminine middle name! What is the meaning of this? Do you know you almost scared me half to death? I thought Cromby kidnapped me!”
“That little coward? He is too afraid to incur the wrath of your husband.”
“And you are not?” Harriet glared. “He will not forgive you for this.”
“He will warm up to me in no time. After all, I only have your best interests at heart.”
Hah! Don’t count on it. Leeds was one of the most protective, devoted men she knew. He would not let Rohan off lightly. Confound it! Why did her friend have to do something so ludicrous?
“My interestsarehis interests!”
“That’s true. I know you probably won’t believe me, but it was necessary to do this.”
Harriet blinked up at her friend wide-eyed. “You are right, I don’t believe you. How was this necessary? You have finally lost your mind. Untie me! Right. Now.”
He shrugged. “It’s all part of the plan. Granted, I only had a few hours to pull it together, so it might be a bit rough around the edges.”
“Whatplan?” Harriet shouted. “If you don’t release me now, I shall have Leeds skin your hide.” She paused. “AndI shall tell the whole of London your middle name!”
“Tut-tut. Before you do all that...” He pulled a folded newspaper from his inner coat pocket. “Have you read the news lately? Your husband has been quite busy according to the rags.”
Harriet blinked.
Dear Lord.
Was this about Leeds and his so-called mistress at the fictional gaming hell? And like that, the bulk of her temper lost its fervor. Has the whole of London lost the plot? Her husband was not that sort of man.
“Is that why you are doing this? You kidnapped me because my husband has a rumoredmistress?” Harriet scowled at her friend. “I thought you put no stock in gossip rags. And if you say anything about smoke and fires I shall scream your ears off.”
“You are the one who usually speaks of smoke and fires. I’m merely trying to help you.”
“How is this helping me? If you want to kidnap someone, go kidnap the author of the article.”
“That would have served no purpose.”
Harriet glared. “Rohan, I am only going to say this once. I am happily married.”
“Yes, yes, I saw as much at the Stewart ball.”
Her eyes went wide. “You saw as much, but you are still doing this? You crazy man, you are interfering in my marriage. Do you find me so weak that I cannot confront my husband if I have a grievance with him?”
“This isn’tjustabout your husband.”
