In the meanwhile, this would give his cousins a few minutes to ask their questions.
He hoped Florence would join them, for he liked being with her. However, she was taking his efforts to keep her close the wrong way. She thought he was doing it on purpose in order to keep watch over her.
Therewasa little of that. He needed to guard her from Frampton.
But he enjoyed her company, too.
Florence marched upstairs along with them and then parted from them to look in on her aunt. She went one way while he led his cousins the other way, toward his wing of the house. His cousins were to be placed in the rooms next to his.
Once they had washed and changed into dry clothes, they met him in the dining room. Florence had not come down yet, and Trajan wondered whether she would join them at all. Perhaps she wished to leave them to themselves.
“Lady Florence seems nice,” Andrew said, regarding Trajan thoughtfully. “But what is really going on between you?”
Trajan frowned. “What do you mean? You know I have gotten over Eden.”
Andrew nodded. “Yes, I suppose. So you’ve told us. But we weren’t quite sure.”
“And now?”
“Yes, we believe you,” he said. “Florence is beautiful.”
His brothers nodded.
“But, Trajan,” Andrew continued, his tone suddenly uncertain, “I was referring to the menacing-looking gentleman poised with ahunting rifle we encountered at your front gate.”
“What gentleman?” Trajan said, leaping to his feet.
“More like a ruffian off the London docks,” Sebastian said, motioning for him to sit back down. “The man is probably long gone by now. But we were immediately wary and asked what he was doing there.”
“And?”
“He claimed he was just passing by and asked us to bid Lady Florence a good day. Those were his exact words.”
“Blessed saints,” Trajan muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.
“He did not give us his name,” Nathan said. “Frankly, he does not seem to be anyone she would know or ever acknowledge.”
“Did he say anything else to you?”
Andrew nodded. “He mentioned that Lady Florence is accident prone, and cautions her to tread carefully, lest she suffer a serious injury.”
“What in blazes did he mean by that?” Sebastian asked. “It sounded like a threat to me.”
Trajan frowned. “Because itwasa threat.”
Nathan set down his coffee cup. “What does this ruffian have against your Florence? She seems very nice.”
Trajan wasn’t certain how much to tell them, but they had come here to help him out, albeit with the expectation of assisting with his Weymouth holdings. But why not enlist them in protecting Florence, too?
There was danger associated with this task, so he resolved to tell them the truth about what was going on and let them decide whether to accept the challenge or not.
Florence would not be happy about his revealing her mission, but this was no game, and he could not leave his cousins ignorant of the peril. If they agreed to help, she would then have four Aubreys to protect her.
He would take on the most burdensome responsibilities, of course.His cousins would remain in the shadows, watching his back while he watched over her.
“Then your betrothal is merely a ruse?” Andrew asked once Trajan had finished relating yesterday’s adventures.
“Yes… Well, no. That is…” Trajan sighed. “It feels real.”
