Regency Seduction. Lucy Ashford
he knew it. Alec Stewart, her enemy. He looked vitally, frighteningly male, in his greatcoat and boots, his white shirt all crumpled, his neckcloth loose. His over-long hair, almost black in the rain, was all askew. His lean jaw was already dark with stubble, and his eyes were narrowed to angry slits.
The man Linette denounced on her death bed, thought Rosalie with a shudder. The man who was most likely responsible for the destruction of Helen’s house. Why was he here, with Eyepatch? Somehow she summoned up the last of her strength and lifted her head to blaze resistance. ‘How dare you interfere like this? Give me the child!’
Stephen smirked. ‘Well, well, Alec. Think you’ve really overstepped the mark this time.’
Alec, ignoring him, said curtly to Rosalie, ‘Did you let this man buy you a drink?’
‘Yes! But it was only lemonade!’
‘Only lemonade. You surely don’t intend, considering the state you’re in, to let him take you and your child to his house?’ Alec knew Stephen’s acquaintances. Their ways of passing the night-time hours made the Temple of Beauty look like a haven of respectability.
She was gazing fiercely up at him, but her face was white as a sheet. ‘I—I had no alternative.’
‘You could have made him take you to your home!’
‘I couldn’t!’ She clenched her hands. ‘The house where I stay has been burned to the ground!’
He was stunned. ‘Burned to the ground … Deliberately?’
But she’d bent over to be sick again. Alec held Katy tight—’Mama?’ the child was saying uncertainly. Dear God, this woman’s home had just been burned down. And now she was going to Stephen’s house, with her child—when Stephen had as good as poisoned her!
He couldn’t stand seeing her there, so wretched. So damned foolish as to trust his brother. Alec swung round, Katy still in his arms, to fix Stephen with a steady, burning gaze of contempt. ‘That’s it, Stephen. Take your fancy carriage and leave—now.’
Stephen glanced angrily at Rosalie. ‘You forget. Rosalie and her child are under my protection. Give me the infant—’ He reached for Katy, who began to scream and clung to Alec even tighter.
‘Your protection! That’s a joke,’ breathed Alec. ‘Do you value your inheritance, Stephen? Do you value your life? If so, then you’d best get the devil out of here!’
Stephen paled. Then he squared his shoulders and turned to a trembling Rosalie, murmuring, ‘My dear, you’ll observe that the matter is out of my hands. But I suggest you think carefully about believing anything this man says, especially if it relates to me. I’ll see you again soon, I hope. And as for you, Alec—I hope to see you in hell.’
With that Stephen barked orders to his driver, climbed back into his carriage and it rattled away down the street.
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