Page 30 of A Rake's Revenge


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Do not worry, Brice had said. Easier said than done, she was finding out.


Since he had not had to go all the way back to Whitstable, Stephan was able to return to Brighton late in the evening of the second day. He had met Eric at Rye Bay near Winchelsea to discuss the raiding of a French ship due in Hastings in a few days. Eric’s crew intended to waylay them near Dungeness Point. They didn’t anticipate a problem, but Eric always liked to run things by Stephan first.

Stephan made his way toLady of Fortuneto spend the night aboard rather than arrive at the Pavilion this late at night. Hopefully, Brice was not entertaining a paramour.

Luckily, he was not. Even better, he was up and enjoying a snifter of the purloinedA de Fussignycognac Eric had gotten on the last raid.

“I was not expecting to see you for another day or two,” Brice said as he undid the latch of the small liquor cabinet and took out another snifter to pour Stephan a drink. “Did you decide not to go to Whitstable after all?”

Stephan swirled the brandy and inhaled the aroma to give himself a moment to compose a suitable alibi. Brice was unaware of his participation in the piracy raids, and he needed to stay unaware. On the other hand, Stephan didn’t like lying, either.

“One of my men met me at Winchelsea since going all the way home would keep me from participating in the regular sea trials. He needed my approval on a couple of things.”

Brice nodded, apparently satisfied with the answer. He pointed to the bottle of cognac. “This is extremely good. Rather rare to find in England. Where did you get it?”

Stephan almost choked on his first swallow. Damn it. He should have told Eric to take the bottle with him after they’d raidedLa Mer Esprit. TheFussignywas hard to come by, which was why Tisdale had wanted to impress the prince regent with it. “Taken from a Frenchman in a game of chance.”

“Interesting ante,” Brice said, “but we have had some interesting antes in the past, have we not?”

“Well, Alex’s winning his future wife in a game of cards was certainly unusual,” Stephan replied, referring to their friend to turn the tide of the conversation.

Brice laughed. “That is true, especially since Alex thought he was procuring the indentured services of a stableboy.”

Stephan chuckled, too. “Finding out Inis was the niece of the Duke of Kildare was a surprise, too.”

“It certainly was,” Brice answered. “Speaking of such, I was more than surprised that Prinny apparently agreed to the switch of seating arrangements at the dinner. I thought he was looking forward to the rivalry between you and Tisdale for Caroline.”

Stephan had thought the prince was, too. Moving Caroline away from him, but allowing Tisdale to sit next to her, did not bode well. Stephan had not been able to hear a damn thing the earl said to her since Lady Ann had kept up constant chatter. Worse, she seemed to think everything Stephan said was hilariously funny. Stephan shook his head. “I am not sure why the prince agreed to it, either.”

“I told Caroline as much when I waited for her at breakfast,” Brice said. “Although, since the footman’s ears were practically standing up, I could only say I did not expect ‘a certain person’ instead of mentioning the prince regent.”

“Well done,” Stephan replied and took another sip of cognac. “Did Caroline have any questions about my leaving so abruptly?”

Brice raised an eyebrow. “She wanted to know if you were planning to return.”

Stephan gave him a startled look. “Why would I not return?”

“Do not worry. I assured her you had a race to win. With the footman present, I could not exactly spell it out, but I think she understood that I meant both the battle with Tisdale and the regatta.”

“The regatta is not the only…” Stephan stopped himself. He didn’t need to lay bare his emotions. “Did you not tell Caroline I got a message in the middle of the night?”

“I did.” Brice held up a hand. “Do not shoot the messenger. She wanted you to tell her in person or at least leave a note.”

Caroline wasn’t like most women. He’d thought she’d understand once Brice explained. He hadn’t wanted to entrust a note to one of the servants to deliver. And, as much as the idea appealed to him, he couldn’t simply visit her bedchamber in the middle of the night.

“I should apologize for that.” Stephan grinned. “Maybe a walk in the gardens and a discreet moment behind a rose trellis and a stolen kiss might do the trick.”

Brice grinned, too. “It might.”


Because they decided to take theLadyout for practice maneuvers, Stephan didn’t have a chance to see Caroline until the evening meal. Unfortunately, he’d gotten there too late to do any switching of place cards, which meant Ann was still seated beside him and Caroline several seats down.

She gave him a rather cool look as he entered, and he frowned as he sat down. Was Caroline actually angry at him because he hadn’t left a note? He’d sent Brice to inform her, but maybe she expected more. Hell, what did he know about courting women? He’d never actually attempted such a thing. The mothers of eligible debutantes had always shunned him, first because his mother was low-born and he’d barely missed being a bastard and the past two years because of the suspicion that hung over him due to Devon’s drowning. His status might be changing, though, given the way the girls had fluttered around him at the garden party and no mama-hawk had swooped down. Not that he particularly cared. Caroline Nash was the woman he wanted.

“Is something wrong, my lord?” Ann asked from beside him.