The Reckless Bride Read Online Free PDF Page A

explain their traveling on the river, some purpose that would make people accept their presence and not look too closely.
    “And of course,” Lady Congreve went on, “I’m sure your brother will be pleased to know you’ve been able to extend me this small service. I will, of course, take care of all the expenses involved and reimburse you for the tickets you’ve already purchased.”
    Rafe recognized that she’d rolled out her heavy guns—his brother, no less. His gaze abstracted, distracted by a prospect he was still trying to define, he waved her last words aside. “No need for recompense. If we do as you ask …”
    Refocusing on Lady Congreve, he wondered at the wisdom—and the morality—of involving her, however much at arm’s length, in his mission. The cultists throughout Europe would be watching for him and Hassan. As a pair of men traveling together, they were easy to spot—both over six feet tall, one distinctly fair, the other distinctly dark, both with military bearing.
    But the cultists most likely would not look closely at two men traveling as part of a larger party.
    Rafe glanced briefly at Hassan. “It
might
be possible for us to act as your guide and guard. We’ll be on the same boat regardless, and as you noted, you won’t be able to add more passengers to the list….”
    Lady Congreve was clever enough to keep her lips shut and watch him vacillate.
    Rafe remembered James MacFarlane’s body.
    Remembered the scroll-holder presently strapped to his side.
    Remembered that the closer they drew to England, the more cultists they would need to slip past.
    And Lady Congreve was the sort of lady who, if she knew the details, would wholeheartedly support his mission.
    He focused on her face. Should he tell her of his mission?
    He opened his mouth, the revelation on his tongue, then remembered the other tickets she’d picked up. “Who else is traveling with you? You have four tickets.”
    “As well as myself, there’s my maid, Gibson, whom you’ve met.”
    The maid had been waiting in the suite, and had taken her mistress’s coat and cane, then gone to order the tea. Rafe judged it likely that Gibson, a woman of mature years, had served Lady Congreve for decades; there was an unspoken degree of empathy and loyalty between maid and mistress that suggested Gibson would fully support any decision her mistress made. No threat to his mission there. “And the other two tickets?”
    “Another lady and her maid.” Lady Congreve tilted her head, regarding him curiously. “They would be included among the people you would guide and guard, if that makes any difference.”
    Rafe knew that ladies of her ladyship’s generation often traveled in pairs, providing company for each other on the journey, someone to share the sights with, to converse with of an evening. He imagined that any lady Lady Congreve chose to travel with would be much like her. Which meant there was really no reason he shouldn’t explain his mission and, if subsequently Lady Congreve stood by her offer of making them her courier-guide and guard, accept.
    He drew breath, met Lady Congreve’s gray eyes. “I’m inclined to accept your offer, ma’am, but first I must tell you what has brought Hassan and me this way.” He glanced at Hassan, who raised his brows a fraction, but didn’t seem disapproving, then looked back at her ladyship. “If once you’ve heard our story you still wish us to take up the positions of your courier-guide and guard, then I believe we can accommodate you.”
    Lady Congreve’s smile was triumphant. “Excellent! Now what’s this secret—”
    She broke off as the knob on the corridor door turned. An instant later, the door opened, and a vision in a vibrant dark blue pelisse, with a fur hat with a jaunty feather perched atop swirls of lustrous dark hair, swept in.
    “Esme—” The vision broke off, stared at Rafe, then glanced at Hassan. But her gaze returned to Rafe as he came to his feet, and she