struggled to sit up and was promptly helped to her feet. She checked her gown and found it perfectly
tidy, bar one knot of ribbon on her sleeve which seemed to have gone missing.
Darcy, who had returned to earth long before, had been engaged in some furious thinking. But, try
as he might, he could not imagine how she would react.
Like Max, it had been a long time since young virgins had been his prey. As she stood, he tried to
catch a glimpse of her face in the dim light but she perversely kept it averted. In the end, he caught
her hands and drew her to stand before him. "Sweetheart, are you all right?"
Strangely enough, it was the note of sincerity in his voice which snapped Sarah's control. Her head
came up and, even in the darkness, her eyes flashed fire. ''Of course I'm not all right! How dare you
take advantage of me?"
She saw Darcy's face harden at her words and, in fury at his lack of comprehension, she slapped him.
For a minute, absolute silence reigned. Then a sob broke from Sarah as she turned away, her head
bent to escape the look on Darcy's face.
Darcy, slamming a door on his emotions, so turbulent that even he had no idea what he felt, moved to rescue them both. In a voice totally devoid of all feeling, he said, "We had better get back to the house."
In truth, neither had any idea how long they had been absent. In silence, they walked side by side,
careful not to touch each other, until, eventually, the terrace was reached. Sarah, crying but determined not to let the tears fall, blinked hard, then mounted the terrace steps by Darcy's side. At the top, he
turned to her. "It would be better, I think, if you went in first."
Sarah, head bowed, nodded and went.
Caroline and Max regained the ballroom and both glanced around for their party. Almost immediately, Lizzie appeared by her sister's side on the arm of one of her youthful swains. She prettily thanked him and dismissed him before turning to her sister and their guardian. "Sarah came back just after you left to look for her. She and Lady Benborough and Mrs. Alford have gone home."
Caroline and Max regained the ballroom and both glanced around for their party. Almost immediately, Lizzie appeared by her sister's side on the arm of one of her youthful swains. She prettily thanked him and dismissed him before turning to her sister and their guardian. "Sarah came back just after you left to look for her. She and Lady Benborough and Mrs. Alford have gone home."
"Oh?" It was Max's voice which answered her. "Why?"
Lizzie cast a questioning look at Caroline and received a nod in reply. "Sarah was upset about
something."
Max was already scanning the room when Lizzie's voice reached him. "Lord Darcy came in a little
while after Sarah. He's left now, too."
With a sigh, Max realized there was nothing more to be done that night. They collected Arabella and departed Overton House, Caroline silently considering Sarah's problem and Max wondering if he was going to have to wait until his friend solved his dilemma before he would be free to settle his own
affairs.
CHAPTER SIX
Max took a long sip of his brandy and savoured the smooth warmth as it slid down his throat. He stretched his legs to the fire. The book he had been trying to reach rested open, on his thighs, one
strong hand holding it still. He moved his shoulders slightly, settling them into the comfort of well
padded leather and let his head fall back against the chair.
It was the first night since the beginning of the Season that he had had a quiet evening at home. And
he needed it. Who would have thought his four wards would make such a drastic change in a hitherto well-ordered existence? Then he remembered. He had. But he had not really believed his own dire predictions. And the only reason he was at home tonight was because Sarah, still affected by her
brush with Darcy the night before, had elected to remain at home and Caroline had stayed with her.
He deemed his aunt Augusta and Miriam Alford capable of chaperoning the two younger girls between them. After the previous night, it was unlikely they would allow any liberties.
Even now, no one had had an accounting of what had actually taken place between Darcy and Sarah. But, knowing Darcy, his imagination had supplied a quantity of detail. He had left Delmere House at
noon that day with the full intention of running his lordship to earth and demanding an explanation. He had finally found him at Manton's Shooting Gallery, culping wafer after wafer with grim precision. One look at his friend's face had been enough to cool his temper. He had patiently waited until Darcy, having dispatched all the wafers currently in place, had thrown the pistol down with an oath and turned to him.
"Don't ask!"
So he had preserved a discreet silence on the subject and together they had rolled about town,
eventually ending in Cribb's back parlour, drinking Blue Ruin. Only then had Darcy reverted to the
topic occupying both their minds. "I'm leaving town."
"Oh?"
His lordship had run a hand through his perfectly cut golden locks, disarranging them completely, in
a gesture Max had never, in all their years together, seen him use. "Going to Leicestershire. I need a holiday."
Max had nodded enigmatically. Lord Darcy's principal estates lay in Leicestershire and always, due to
the large number of horses he raised, demanded attention. But in general, his lordship managed to run
his business affairs quite comfortably from town.
"No, by God! I've got a better idea. I'll go to Ireland. It's further away."
As Max knew, Lord Darcy's brother resided on the family estates in Ireland. Still, he had said nothing, patiently waiting for what he had known would come.
Darcy had rolled his glass between his hands, studying the swirling liquid with apparent interest.
"About Sarah."
"Mmm?" Max had kept his own eyes firmly fixed on his glass.
"I didn't."
"Oh?"
''No. But I'm not entirely sure she knows what happened." Darcy had drained his glass, using the opportunity to watch Max work this out.
Finally, comprehension had dawned. A glimmer of a smile had tugged at the corners of His Grace
of Twyford's mouth. "Oh."
"Precisely. I thought I'd leave it in your capable hands."
"Thank you!" Max had replied. Then he had groaned and dropped his head into his hands. "How the
hell do you imagine I'm going to find out what she believes and then explain it to her if she's wrong?"
His mind had boggled at the awful idea.
"I thought you might work through Miss Twinning," Darcy had returned, grinning for the first time
that day.
Relieved to see his friend smile, even at his expense, Max had grinned back. "I've not been pushing the pace quite as hard as you. Miss Twinning and I have some way to go before we reach the point where such intimate discussion would be permissible."
"Oh, well," Darcy had sighed. "I only hope you have better luck than I."
"Throwing in the towel?"
Darcy had shrugged. "I wish I knew." A silence had ensued which Darcy eventually broke. "I've got
to get away."
"How long will you be gone?"
Another shrug. "Who knows? As long as it takes, I suppose."
He had left Darcy packing at Hamilton House and returned to the comfort of his own home to spend a quiet evening in contemplation of his wards. Their problems should really not cause surprise. At first sight, he had known what sort of men the Twinning girls would attract. And there was no denying they responded to such men. Even Arabella seemed hellbent on tangling with rakes. Thankfully, Lizzie
seemed too quiet and gentle to take the same road- three rakes in any family should certainly be
enough.
Family? The thought sobered him. He sat, eyes on the flames leaping in the grate, and pondered the
odd notion.
His reverie was interrupted by sounds of an arrival. He glanced at the clock and frowned. Too late for callers. What now? He reached the hall in time to see Hillshaw and a footman fussing about the door.
"Yes, it's all right, Hillshaw, I'm not an invalid, you know!"
The voice brought Max forward. "Martin!"
The tousled brown head of Captain Martin Rotherbridge turned to greet his older brother. A winning
grin spread across features essentially a more boyish version of Max's own. "Hello, Max. I'm back,
as you see. Curst Frenchies put a hole in my shoulder."
Max's gaze fell to the bulk of bandaging distorting the set of his brother's coat. He clasped the hand
held out to him warmly, his eyes raking the other's face. "Come into the library. Hillshaw?"
"Yes, Your Grace. I'll see to some food."
When they were comfortably ensconced by the fire, Martin with a tray of cold meat by his side and
a large balloon of his brother's best brandy in his hand, Max asked his questions.
"No, you're right," Martin answered to one of these. "It wasn't just the wound, though that was bad enough. They tell me that with rest it'll come good in time." Max waited patiently. His brother fortified himself before continuing. "No. I sold out simply because, now the action's over, it's deuced boring over there. We sit about and play cards half the day. And the other half, we just sit and reminisce about all the females we've ever had." He grinned at his brother in a way Caroline, for one, would have recognised. "Seemed to me I was running out of anecdotes. So I decided to come home and lay in a fresh stock."
Max returned his brother's smile. Other than the shoulder wound, Martin was looking well. The difficult wound and slow convalescence had not succeeded in erasing the healthy glow from outdoor living which burnished his skin and, although there were lines present which had not been there before, these merely seemed to emphasize the fact that Martin Rotherbridge had seen more than twenty-five summers and
was an old hand in many spheres. Max was delighted to hear he had returned to civilian life. Aside from his genuine concern for a much loved sibling, Martin was now the heir to the Dukedom of Twyford. While inheriting the Delmere holdings, with which he was well-acquainted, would have proved no difficulty to Martin, the Twyford estates were a different matter. Max eyed the long, lean frame