Gray wanted nothing more than to see to his mother's safety, but since there was a storm raging, he knew she would not be in any public place. So she was safe for the moment.

After a hot bath and a proper change of clothes, Gray felt like a new man. Even if the clothes didn’t fit as well as his own, the feel of the soft, clean cloth against his skin was heavenly. The chill of the rain was warded away by the crackling fire in the library hearth. It cast a rosy glow over the couple ensconced in the loveseat. Lucy leaned into her husband’s embrace, more content than Gray had ever seen her. For her sake, he tried to relax and give Alex Brackley the benefit of the doubt.

Nevertheless, the moment he found himself alone with the man, he was going to set him straight. Gray would have preferred for Lucy to find herself a staid, bookish man who shared her academic interests, rather than a notorious rake.

If he’d been at home, he might have been able to prevent the match, and he wondered why Morgan had allowed it. Given the fond looks and affectionate touches they gave one another, his interference would not be appreciated. However, since Lucy had settled on a man infamous for entertaining multiple women, Gray needed to ensure that his attention wouldn’t stray from his wife. Gray didn’t care a whit if most noblemen kept mistresses; Brackley would not.

“So you happened upon her by chance?”

Gray grounded himself in the present as he laughed and continued his tale. “I did. She was trying to hold off a French invader with a letter opener. I’d never…”

He trailed off as a shadow entered the doorway. Charlie. He stood, admiring the way the borrowed periwinkle dress molded to her figure. Her hair was still damp but pinned to the back of her head with only two strands left free to frame her face. When she saw him, she smiled. He couldn’t help but smile back.

“Never?” Lucy prompted.

His cheeks warming, he recalled that he and Charlie weren’t alone. As much as he craved holding her close the way Brackley did Lucy, Gray held himself in check. It would be unseemly. Instead, he answered as Charlie crossed the room to sit in a vacant armchair. “I’d never seen anything like it. She was barbaric.”

Charlie’s smile grew. “Oh, are you telling them of the time you interfered where you weren’t needed?” Her voice was falsely sweet, at odds with the challenging glint in her eye.

“I came just in time! He would have shot you, had I tarried but a moment.”

He waited for her to settle into the chair before he resumed his seat. Lucy and her husband exchanged a smile as the long, winding tale continued.

Charlie and Gray took turns in the telling. She held no sensitive information back from the couple and divulged her purpose and the results of their secretive mission. Once they completed the winding tale of how they’d captured his second-in-command in the act of sabotage, Gray ended by saying, “As soon as the storm passes, we mean to be on our way to Tenwick Abbey. If you have a horse to spare to speed our journey, we would be grateful. We must warn Mother at once.”

Lucy sat straighter. “Of course, we must. But she isn’t at Tenwick Abbey. After you departed, Charlie, she returned to the London townhouse.”

No. Gray’s heart skipped a beat. There were so many more opportunities for danger in London. Damn and blast, what if it was already too late? “Are you certain?”

“I am. She wrote me a letter asking me to join her, but I declined.”

Gray got to his feet. Storm or no storm, he couldn’t idle here if his mother’s life was in jeopardy. “Then I’m afraid I must depart at once. We haven’t a moment to lose.”

Brackley also stood, his expression hard. “Quite right. Monsieur V tore apart my family. I cannot sit by and watch him do the same to yours.”

Scowling, Lucy got to her feet with arms raised. “Sit down, both of you. There’s nothing to be done in this storm.”

“It’s only rain,” Gray said, even though he knew the danger to be much worse than he made it out to be. Lightning and thunder could spook the horse, if it didn’t strike him. Low visibility meant a danger on the road, which in this torrent would be as substantial as soup. And of course, there would be the danger to his health if he remained out in the cold rain overnight.

Lucy glared at him. “I won’t see either of you madmen risking your lives by galloping off tonight. When the storm passes in the morning, we’ll head out at first light.”

“But Mother—”

“She’ll survive the night. Didn’t you say the assassin meant to strike her during an engagement among friends? She cannot leave the house in a storm like this, no more than you.”

She was right. The storm had raged here for hours. It must have reached London by now and would keep Mother confined indoors for the duration. Her evening entertainments would have to be canceled.

Knowing that didn’t make waiting any easier. He chafed at yet another delay, this one beyond anyone’s power to halt. Charlie brushed his arm, a delicate touch that drew his attention to her. As she nibbled on her lower lip, his attention fastened to her mouth. Confound it, he thought, wondering why had they found themselves so close to family. The bath and change of clothes wasn’t worth having to relinquish the freedom to kiss her.

When he cleared his throat, she hastily retracted her hand. “Why don’t we have a hot meal and rest? We can push for London on the morrow. If we ride fast and change horses, we might be able to make it before nightfall.”

It would be a punishing pace, one he didn’t care to subject her to, but with his mother’s life at stake, he didn’t argue with her. They would both move heaven and earth to ensure that Mother’s would-be assassin was arrested in time.

Her stomach gurgled, rousing a blush in her cheeks. “I’m starved,” she confessed.

They’d pushed on rather than search out an eatery to break their fast. Although the innkeeper had provided them with vittles for their journey, Gray had barely nibbled on his, and Charlie hadn’t eaten much more. His appetite had shriveled with every new delay in reaching Mother.

He offered his arm to her with a smile. “Let’s eat then, my—” He cut himself off before he called her dear. “Friend.” He fought not to make a face at his hasty choice of words. Blast, his feelings for her must be as clear as day.

The corners of her mouth trembled as she pressed her lips together. She looked to be fighting off a laugh as she laid her hand on his arm once more. “Yes, let’s.”

Attempting to ignore his sister’s knowing look, he followed the lord and lady of the house to the dining room. Although he tried to focus on Charlie and the meal, he couldn’t help but combat a growing knot of foreboding in his stomach.

What if they didn’t reach Mother in time?

* * *

As Anthony set down his tumbler, still containing a lick of brandy, and made his excuses, Charlie’s stomach tightened. He was worried. She could tell by the look and tightness of his eyes, belying his smile and claims of weariness.

She worried about Lady Graylocke as well, but she’d hoped that being among family would have allowed Anthony to relax for the evening.

They’d pushed themselves so hard these past couple of days that she feared he might have one foot in the grave if they kept this up. Although she refused to complain, she felt as translucent as mist. She had to believe that they would reach London and Lady Graylocke in time to avert the disaster. She didn’t want to contemplate what might happen otherwise.

He caught her gaze. For a moment, he looked as though he wanted to say something profound, perhaps even ask to walk her to her door. After a hesitant pause, he said, “Goodnight, Miss Vale.”

She smirked. Did he think he was being discreet? His family never stood on formality. “Goodnight, Captain Graylocke.”

He held her gaze a moment longer before he left.

The moment his shadow whisked out of sight into the corridor, Lucy adjusted her position in the curve of her husband’s arm. A gleam lit her eye. “How long have you two been courting?”

Charlie fought the urge to lick her lips. “I don’t know if I’d call it courting. We’ve… grown close over the past couple days.”

A sly smile curved Lucy’s lips. “I bet you have.”

Charlie fought off a blush. Lucy’s tone brought to mind intimacies that Charlie hadn’t shared with Anthony.

Lucy added, “Did you have separate rooms at the inn?”

Her husband tightened his hold around her shoulders. “Don’t pry. I’m sure you wouldn’t have looked fondly on Charlie had she attempted to learn the intimate details of our courtship.”

“Why not? I told her everything. We keep no secrets.”

Since that statement seemed to render him speechless—and perhaps a bit alarmed—Charlie took advantage of the moment to say, “If you know your brother at all, you’ll know he was a perfect gentleman. He slept on the floor.”

Lucy appeared disappointed at the answer. At least she seemed to believe Charlie.

Meanwhile, her husband didn’t appear to be paying any attention to Charlie at all. He choked out, “Just what did you tell her?”

Lucy twisted in his arms to offer him a sweet smile. “All of it.”

Oh dear. Was the notorious rake blushing? Charlie hid a smile behind her hand.

“I thought you promised not to write about the intimate details of our life.”

“I didn’t write about it. I told it verbally to Charlie. She’s like a sister to me, Alex.”

A warmth bloomed in Charlie’s chest until Lucy added, “And soon I hope she’ll be a sister in truth.” She pinned Charlie beneath her stare. “I knew precisely how honorable my brother is. If indeed he did sleep in the same room as you, he’ll make an offer for you. I’m certain.”

An offer of marriage born of honorable instinct? How… boring. Charlie swallowed hard. “You know I don’t mean to marry quite yet.”

“So you’ll break my brother’s heart?” Lucy’s mouth puckered.

Charlie rubbed her temple. “You just said he would only propose out of honor.”

The dark-haired woman narrowed her eyes. Although her eyes were a deeper brown than Anthony’s, the family resemblance between them was never plainer than when she looked suspicious.

“Has he kissed you?”

“Once or twice.” More than that, but Charlie held her tongue.

“Then there is some affection between you.”

She didn’t know whether she would call those kisses affectionate. The way he looked at her sometimes, perhaps. But most of the kisses they’d shared had been wild.

Lord Brackley must have picked up on her unease, because he squeezed Lucy’s shoulders. “Perhaps the inclination between them is something best left for them to decide, darling.”

“But she must decide,” Lucy insisted.

“We’re in the midst of a mission,” Charlie protested, her voice weak.

Lucy’s voice lacked no conviction. “So were we. And soon that mission will be complete. What will you tell him then?”

He hasn’t asked anything. Although he’d gotten freer with his kisses, he hadn’t given her any indication that he wanted more.

“Think about it,” Lucy insisted.

Charlie forced a smile as she stood. It felt brittle. “I will. I fear it’s been a long day. I’m off to bed.”

“Whose bed?”

The last word was muffled as Lord Brackley kissed his wife soundly, silencing her. Happy to be ignored, Charlie took advantage of the distraction and slipped out of the room. She pressed her hands against her scorching cheeks as she reached the cooler air of the corridor.

When she reached the guest wing, where her bedchamber was situated, she paused. She stared at Anthony’s door. A light still glimmered from the crack beneath it. He’d seemed unsettled when he’d gone to bed. Mostly likely, he agonized over the impending danger his mother would put herself in.

Lud. She couldn’t leave him be, not when he needed comforting. She didn’t give a damn what Lucy said to her later. She was going into that room to help Anthony in whatever way she could.