Chapter 12

12

A lbright had no idea what to say.

No idea what to do .

He had the most urgent sense that he had to do something. Say something. But all he could manage was a gruff, “After you,” when Marlin’s driver brought the carriage around. He helped her in, and while he supposed he ought to wait for Marlin, it seemed far more urgent that he take Felicity as far away from this wretched alley as possible, and quickly.

He felt certain Marlin would agree, and once he’d returned Felicity to her home, he’d send the carriage back for Marlin and the others.

“You can say it, you know.” Felicity sat across from him with her hands folded in her lap. Her expression was difficult to make out in the dark shadows of this carriage, but her chin was notched up in that way he’d become so familiar with, and her eyes held a glint of challenge.

“Say what?” He was honestly curious. And some part of him might have even welcomed a cue on what he was meant to say. He was filled to bursting with emotions, but for the life of him he couldn’t pick one to convey. It was maddening.

“You’re angry,” she said.

He nodded. Yes. He was angry she’d put herself in danger, and irrationally hurt that she hadn’t come to him directly with this scheme, but most of all…

“I am relieved,” he said.

She regarded him in silence.

“I am relieved that you are unharmed.” His voice was mild, his features placid, but inside he was a blasted mess.

Relieved? That did not begin to cover it. Watching Everson hold a weapon to her had made his whole world come to a halt. His very life had rested on what happened next.

He scrubbed a hand over his face. It had been that same powerless feeling he’d felt with his wife, but worse. So much worse. Because then there’d been nothing he could do. But today he’d been in a position to do something and hadn’t been able to. Not for too long, at least.

And worst of all, he could have stopped this from the start if he’d just listened to her the other night. He dropped his hand. “Marry me.”

Her brows arched, and her lips parted. But she said nothing.

He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees as he repeated himself. “Marry me.”

Not the most eloquent of proposals but the moment the words were out there, that urgent desperate sensation settled. For the first time in years he felt…at peace. Content.

No, more than content. He felt the flickering flames of happiness he hadn’t felt in years—a happiness he hadn’t expected to feel again.

“No.”

He blinked, straightening in his seat at the abrupt rejection. He blinked again, trying to see her more clearly, but her face was half covered in shadows. The jostling of the carriage and the click clack of horse hooves filled the silence.

“I…pardon?” he said.

She let out a huff of amusement, but the sound held a hint of bitterness that made his stomach sour. “No,” she said again. With a slight bend of her neck, she added, “Though I thank you for the charitable offer.”

Charitable. He opened his mouth and…nothing came out.

Charitable?

He was proposing marriage, not offering her a donation.

“I appreciate the offer,” she continued, apparently sensing his distress. “But I’m afraid that is out of the question.”

“But…” He cleared his throat and tried again. “Felicity…”

“Albright.” She mimicked his serious tone and he frowned.

“Less than twenty minutes ago you proposed marriage to Everson .”

“I did, yes.”

He shifted. Her own calm tone was making it difficult for him to maintain his. He took a deep breath and forged ahead. “You could not have been certain we would arrive in time.”

“No,” she said simply. “I knew he’d be at the warehouse—I heard him say as much to my uncle,” she added before he could ask.“He’d said he had business to attend to, and it’s become clear that the warehouse is what he considers his place of work.”

“We had little notice,” he said. Lud, his patience was wearing thin. “You could have been trapped in a marriage with?—”

“Not trapped,” she said. At his blank stare, she lifted a shoulder. “I’d hardly say I was trapped when I was the one to make the offer.”

“So you actually intended to go through with it then.”

“Of course. I would not have hatched such a scheme if I was not willing to see it through.”

“Of course,” he echoed. His tone was dry but she didn’t seem to notice. His mind was reeling as he tried to make sense of it. She’d been willing to marry a no-good thief but she’d just rejected his proposal without so much as a second thought?

“I…I…” He found himself recalling Everson’s question to her. The last thing he said before being taken into custody, and Albright found himself repeating it now. “But…why?”

“Why not?” Her tone was flippant but it did not ring true. “I need a husband, and…” She trailed off with a shrug, as if the rest was obvious.

I need a husband. The word husband from Felicity’s lips was enough to be his undoing. A wave of hot anger rushed through him?—

No. Not anger. It was jealousy. Possessiveness. Not just the thought of Everson as her husband but of any man who was not him.

But before he could so much as utter a word, she was hurrying on. “Anyhow, it’s all for the best that you received the message when you did.” She gave him a smile. “Truth be told, he was not the ideal candidate for husband.”

“Not the ideal—” He stared in horror.

“But I could hardly focus on my own problems while my uncle’s fortune and reputation were still at stake. And while I might have merely told my uncle to avoid Everson’s investment, that would have led to questions, wouldn’t it? Questions that might have hindered your investigation?—”

“Hang my investigation, you?—”

“That wouldn’t do. And even if my uncle believed me—and really, why would he listen to his silly niece—there would still be other gentlemen in the same predicament as my uncle. So, you see, I had to be sure that part of this sordid business was handled. To my way of thinking, my scheme accomplished this neatly.”

Albright could only stare. She was babbling, hardly pausing to breathe let alone let him speak.

“While I am relieved you arrived when you did—well done, by the way,” she said with a bright smile. “I must confess, my mission would have been accomplished either way.”

“Your mission,” he started.

But once again she overrode his interjection with more long winded babbling, all about how a suspected criminal on the run was hardly her first choice for a husband, but it all worked out in the end, and?—

Albright could hardly keep up with her reasoning, and there was no room for questions with all her talking.

Then…the carriage stopped.

And so did Felicity’s incessant chatter. She let out a loud exhale and this smile she aimed his way seemed far more genuine. Which was how he realized…

She hadn’t been babbling. Or, she had , but she’d been doing so to stall just like she’d done with Everson back at the warehouse.

The moment the carriage stopped, she threw the door open and leapt out before he or the driver could lend her a hand.

Once on the ground, she turned back to him with a smile. “I do appreciate your haste in responding to my message this evening, but as I would not wish for my uncle to become aware that I am not in my bed…”

She didn’t finish. She merely shut the carriage door.

And with that little snick of a door closing, Felicity disappeared from his life. Two days passed without a word from her and he was…unmoored.

There was so much left to say.

So much he really should have said before he’d proposed. Before he’d left her that night under the tree, for that matter. And now…

He paced Carver’s parlor like a caged animal.

Now he feared it was too late. And with Kal’s latest news, he was certain of it. He stopped his pacing to fix the unflappable Marquess with a glare—though on some level he knew it was not polite to shoot the messenger. “What do you mean she is to marry?”

Kal looked to Carver as if to say, would you care to step in?

Carver was known to be better with people who were in a temper, and it was alarming to realize that Albright was now that man in a temper.

He never lost his temper. Never lost his wits.

Until lately.

Until Felicity.

Albright scrubbed a hand over his face, his heart pounding out the words too late . Felicity was to marry another, and he was too late. He took a deep breath and gave Carver an expectant look. “Well?”

Carver exchanged looks with Kal, Rodrick, and Marlin.

All four of them had been tasked with ferreting out information from their fiancées—Felicity’s friends. And what they’d returned with was nothing short of unbearable.

Carver winced. “Perhaps you should speak to her directly?—”

“I’ve tried!” Lud, now he was shouting. He aimed for calm as he explained. “I’ve been to see her so many times her great uncle threatened to have me removed physically if I showed up on her doorstep again.”

This earned four shocked expressions.

“Oh dear,” Rodrick murmured.

“Indeed.” Albright straightened his spine. His pride did not relish this admission, and he could only imagine how much more shocked they’d be if he told them how he’d also visited her home unannounced after dark when everyone in the house would be asleep.

He’d been so certain he’d find her in that tree. He’d even taken a midnight tour of the garden. It would have been romantic indeed…if Felicity had been out there.

He resumed pacing as he worked through what little his friends had told him. “Who is she to marry? And when?”

“Well, this is the unpleasant part, you see…” Carver said.

Albright turned to face them with wide eyes. They hadn’t even gotten to the unpleasant part yet?

“It seems her parents are…forcing a match. At least, that’s how Meg put it.” Carver turned to the others and all three of them nodded in unison.

“Forcing a match,” he echoed. But as he spoke his mind was elsewhere. It was back under that tree. He was seeing that awful panic that she’d tried to hide with her smiles and her laughter.

His heart felt like it was breaking in two. She’d seemed desperate because she was desperate. “Who?” he snapped.

“Lord Bargedale.” Kal’s tone was grim. Well, it was always grim, but now it was grimmer than usual and a heavy silence fell.

Albright felt sick. “He’s old enough to be her grandfather.”

“And a mean old gent, if rumors are to be believed,” Carver added.

Albright started to pace and then stopped. His mind was spinning and his heart was racing, but that would not do. If he was to win Felicity’s hand he needed the use of his wits. And so he gripped the mantel until his knuckles turned white and his pulse slowed.

He found himself picturing Felicity in the carriage, replaying her words.

She’d had her reasons for confronting Everson, and saving her uncle from theft was only one part of it. He took a deep breath, certainty filling him and giving him an odd sort of reassurance.

If he knew anything, it was that Felicity would not marry Bargedale without a battle. She’d fight for her freedom, and that meant she had a plan.

And, most likely, at least three contingency plans.

He turned to the others with as much calm as he could muster. He would not shout or glare. He was cool and unwavering. “What is she up to? She must have a plan for another suitor.”

His friends exchanged looks again, but it was Kal who spoke up. “It seems she has a…” He cleared his throat. “A list.”

“A list ?”

The others flinched. His voice was admittedly still too loud. But really. A list? As in multiple contenders for the role of her husband?

Rodrick spoke up with a hesitant question. “Franny said you’d…rejected her?”

“Yes, Ann is rather put out with you for that,” Kal added most helpfully.

Carver’s brows were furrowed with confusion. “Meg said as much as well, but I didn’t believe it.”

When he didn’t respond, Marlin asked outright. “Is it true that she proposed and you rejected her?”

“Well…yes.” Blast, he hated to admit that aloud. Hated even more the rightful looks of disappointment aimed his way. There was no time to explain the jumble of emotions he’d been drowning in at that moment. But his friends continued to stare and he found himself blurting out, “But then I proposed to her.”

However, they all already knew this part and they were clearly not impressed by his belated and inept attempt to right his wrong.

“It seems Felicity believes that refusing your proposal is a kindness,” Marlin said. “According to Jane, Felicity would rather ‘buy a biddable husband than subject you to a life sentence at her side’...” Marlin flinched. “Those were her words, obviously.”

“A life sentence,” Albright echoed. He glanced at the others and they all nodded.

“But that’s not…” He swallowed hard. “That’s not the case at all.”

And there he went, understating the facts again. “I didn’t propose because I had to, I proposed because…”

Because I love her.

He let the words go unspoken. She deserved to hear them first. But he suspected his friends understood all too well by the pitying looks they were giving him.

“But she does not know that,” Carver said.

“No. Clearly not,” Kal said.

And then all four of them started talking at once, scheming and fretting and bandying about ever more ridiculous ideas of how he might propose again.

Albright appreciated their assistance, but they hadn’t made any headway at all when a ruckus at the front door interrupted them. Kal arched a brow and turned to Carver. “Are you expecting more company?”

“At this hour?” Rodrick added.

“No, of course not.” Carver headed toward the door but was cut short by the butler. He handed over a missive to the Duke.

Albright looked on warily as his friend unsealed the message. But even before Carver spoke, Albright’s stomach sank with dread.

Carver looked to Albright. “It’s from your cousin…”

He knew…he just knew…

“Everson has escaped.”

Felicity was in trouble.