CHAPTER ELEVEN

“O f all the audatious , odious, infuriating cads in Christendom,” Charlotte muttered to herself as she stomped back toward the booths, worry for the twins crawling through her veins like thousands of tiny insects.

It had taken her far longer than she’d wanted to get away from the Byron pretender. At first she’d been scared but then she’d realized that he was far more intoxicated than could be good for a person and would be easier to slip away from than she’d thought.

He’d kept hold of her arm, slurring some God awful poetry at her before he’d bizarrely started to cry, lamenting the love of his life and, if she wasn’t mistaken, something about a goat. She was too disturbed to ask for clarification. She had truly had enough though, when he’d lunged at her trying to stick his disgusting tongue down her throat.

Her arm hurt a little from where he’d had hold of her, and her clothing was utterly destroyed from putting her plan into action.

As soon as she’d spied the fountain, thankfully not fully frozen over, she’d known what she should do. It had been the work of moments steering him toward the thing but getting him to fall in? That had been decidedly more difficult and had resulted in her being completely drenched in ice-cold water and left shivering and bedraggled trying to find her way back to the twins.

Her feet and hands were numb, and try as she might, she couldn’t stop her teeth from chattering. If Mama saw her come like this she’d – “Ouch!”

Her thoughts cut off abruptly, her breath living her body as she crashed into something huge and hard and blissfully warm.

She inhaled, her senses filling with the wonderful scent of sandalwood and something else, something that made her heart soar. It took only seconds for Charlotte’s brain to catch up, seconds more for her to raise her eyes, and milliseconds for profound relief to kick in.

“Jasper,” she croaked before losing all sense and throwing herself against him.

She felt his entire body freeze just moments before his arms came around her, pressing her impossibly closer and wrapping her in blissful warmth.

His lips dropped to her head, pressing against her hair as he muttered what sounded like “thank God” over and over again. Pressed as she was against his chest, she felt his heartbeat thundering beneath her cheek.

Charlotte didn’t know how long she stood there wrapped around him, it could have been seconds or eons, but eventually she realized that she would be soaking him through.

At the same time, he seemed to notice her shivering for he pulled back slightly, one hand tipping her chin up. “Are you hurt?” he asked gruffly.

She’d never heard such darkness as what she heard in his tone, never seen such rage as she saw in the icy fire of his eyes, and suddenly she was deathly afraid that he would blame her for all of this and turn her away.

“Charlotte,” he demanded when she didn’t answer.

“N-no,” she stammered. “Well, my arm a little. But I’m mostly c-c-cold.”

If anything, his face darkened further still as his eyes dropped to her arm, not that he’d be able to see any injury past her cloak.

He frowned as he ran his eyes over the rest of her, taking stock for the first time since she’d crashed into him.

“What happened?” he asked, still in that odd tone. “Why are you soaked through and covered in mud?”

“Well, I – I had to throw him in the fountain and he was really heavy,” she explained.

Her words seemed to freeze him solid. He stared at her, unmoving, for what felt like hours. “You – what?” he finally managed.

Charlotte sighed, wishing she was explaining all this somewhere warmer. And wondering where the twins where and why he wasn’t tearing the place apart looking for them.

“Alonso the poet,” she rolled her eyes, “felt it necessary to share his work with me while staggering through the gardens. And I was worried for the girls. Besides which, his poetry was terrible and he just wouldn’t shut up. So when I saw the fountain I decided it was as good idea as any to have him trip into it leaving me free to get back to Harriet and Joanna.” She stopped like a particularly bad shiver wracked her body.

Jasper saw it and swallowed thickly before removing his coat and wrapping it around her. The heat and the scent of him surrounded her making her groan in appreciation.

“Charlotte,” Jasper bit out. “I am hanging on by a thread here.”

“Oh, right. Well, as I was saying, I walked him toward the fountain but for someone so drunk he had unfortunately good instincts and he didn’t just tip over the way I’d hoped. So when he tried to kiss me, I sort of half-pushed, half-lifted him in. And the great big oaf caused a huge splash, positively drowning me in the process. I only waited long enough to make sure he could fish himself out before I left.”

She looked up from where she’d been studying his cravat into the most furious expression he’d ever seen. “He tried to kiss you?” he repeated, deathly quiet and all the more terrifying for it. “Yes, but – Jasper.”

She called out and had to clutch him by the arm to stop him from tearing off toward the fountain. “P-please,” she said. “We n-need to get to the girls.” He didn’t seem convinced so she tried again. “A-and I’m so c-cold. Please.”

That did the trick, he went from furious to worried in the blink of an eye. “Come on,” he said softly. “Let’s get you out of here.

“Wh-what about your sisters?” she managed past her chattering teeth.

He grimaced down at her, concern stamped across his features as he navigated them through the dispersing crowd. The falling snow seemed to be too much for even the most debauched revelers and the place was emptying fast.

“My sisters are safe for now,” he replied darkly. “Which is more than I will be able to say when I get my damned hands on them.”

“But where are they?” she demanded stubbornly.

Jasper sighed, pulling her close to his side so she was pressed against him. It was almost as though he was afraid to let her out of his grip for even a moment. Not that she minded.

“I got your note when I was at the club with my friends. They saw to it that the twins got home safely. “I’m afraid I shall have to find a Hackney for us. I’m sorry for that, love, but I was half out of my mind, not thinking straight.”

“I-it’s fine,” she stammered even as her heart exploded at the endearment. It doesn’t mean anything she told herself fiercely but her heart, it seemed, was in no mood to listen to common sense. “We’ll just –“ He cut himself off with a black oath and Charlotte looked over to where he was scowling.

Standing there, the snow lashing against them, was Harriet and Joanna, two furious looking, giant men hovering by them.

Muttering under his breath, Jasper led her over to where they stood by his crested carriage. As soon as the twins spotted them, they made a dash for it, both of them throwing themselves at Charlotte and sending her staggering. Only Jasper’s strength kept her upright as the girls squeezed the life out of her.

Through their sobs and repeated apologies, she heard Jasper address his friends. “Gabe, Rafe, what the hell are they still doing here?”

“We couldn’t get them to leave,” the darker one said, sounding most put out by the fact.

“Everytime we corralled one, the other escaped. She bloody well bit me, look.” The sandy-haired gentleman thrust his hand under Jasper’s nose. “A pair of alley cats, that’s what they are.”

Jasper cursed again, prayed for patience, then turned on his sisters. “You two, get in the carriage now. Rafe, Gabe, you’ll have to get a Hackney.”

“From where?” the sandy-haired Rafe demanded. “Look around you, Fenny. It’s a damned blizzard We’re coming with you.” And with that, he grabbed hold of Joanna and hauled her gently but firmly toward the carriage.

The other one, Gabe, held out an arm for Harriet who shot a meek glimpse at Jasper’s thunderous face before she took hold of it and scurried off.

Jasper merely shook his head and started off after them. They were almost at the carriage when he abruptly stopped and turned Charlotte to face him.

“Did you say you lifted that bastard into a fountain?”

Charlotte had no idea why it had taken this long for her words to register but she was too cold to ponder it overly much. “I did,” she answered simply. “He wouldn’t stop trying to rhyme, Jasper.”

He looked at her, his face a picture of awe before he broke into the first smile she’d seen from him all evening. Lowering his head, he pressed a chaste kiss against her forehead. “Another point for the wolf,” he whispered, before bundling her into the carriage.

***

“T his isn’t cozy, isn’t it?” Jasper scowled at Rafe’s jolly comment.

His two oversized friends were squashed into one carriage seat while he, Harriet, and Joanna sat in the other.

Charlotte, despite her protests, had been placed firmly on his lap where he wrapped an arm around her and forced her to stay. He didn’t care that his sisters saw it all. Didn’t care that his friends were shooting him smugly knowing glances. He didn’t even care that her icy, soaking clothes had seeped into his own making him just as cold as she was.

She was safe, in his arms, and in one piece. Nothing else mattered to him.

Any time he let himself think of what might have happened to her, his stomach roiled. But then he’d remember her face, all heated indignation as she described hefting the bastard into a fountain and he’d get a burst of amusement so strong that he kept breaking into chuckles. He could sense that everyone thought he’d run a bit mad but he didn’t care about that either.

Once they’d set off toward Mayfair, he turned his glare on the twins and demanded that they tell him what exactly had happened. They confessed everything and he felt his anger mount with every word. But then they told him how Charlotte had tried to convince them not to see this ridiculous plan of theirs through, and how she’d gone against them to send him that note and some of the heat of his anger cooled.

He was still furious, no doubt about it. But to know she’d looked out for them, and that she’d sent for him straight away, it filled his heart so much that anger was difficult to hold on to.

After an interminable, silent journey, the carriage stopped outside White’s where he promptly kicked out his two friends. Not before thanking them sincerely for their help, though. His friends had nodded in that silent way that told him of their happiness to help him. He would do the same for them and they knew that.

The snow had them moving at a glacial pace, there were hardly any other conveyances on the road and still they crawled along. When they finally reached his townhouse, he looked at his sisters. They looked worn out and pale as the snow outside and he found he didn’t have the heart to scold them anymore. Charlotte had fallen asleep against his chest some time ago, giving him a sense of peace he never would have thought possible. It made him less intractable.

Besides, if ever there were two people who looked more contrite in all of England, he would be shocked. “Get inside and get some rest,” he told them. “I shall see Charlotte home and then be back.”

“Jasper, she can’t go home like that. Look at her.”

He glanced down seeing what his sisters saw; stains and mud, her hair out of its pins and falling around her face. She was beautiful but definitely dishevilled. And he didn’t want to imagine what her mother would think should he return her like this.

Thinking as quickly as possible, he made a decision. “Go and find her a clean nightgown. And not a word to anyone about this.”

“A nightgown ?” Harriet repeated sounding scandalized. Ironic given that she’d run off to a pleasure garden with a group of veritable strangers.

“Yes, a nightgown,” he gritted out. “You are going to find her a nightgown. And you, Joanna, are going to write a note to her mother saying that she fell ill with a headache and that you put her to bed with some laudanum. She will be returned in one piece in the morning. And be sure to mention that I was never here.”

“I don’t think her mother would care if you were,” Joanna said meekly. “In fact, she’d probably see it as an opportunity to make you marry her.”

Jasper’s heart stilled at the words. But that conversation would be had with nobody under than the woman sleeping in his arms.

“I should quite like to have her as a sister,” Harriet said softly but he was in no mood for his sisters’ shenanigans, something his face conveyed quite well if their widening eyes and hurried exit from the carriage was anything to go by.

Once they were gone, Jasper maneuvered himself into the warmth of the house, the beauty in his arms never once stirring.