Baron of Clubs: Lords of Scandal Page 9

  Which obviously he knew…

  She’d come to him in the middle on the night asking to elope. She’d all but admitted the elopement was for herself as much as it was for Edge.

  He winced at his own revelation. “How do I get her to talk with me?”

  Arabella shook her head. “Don’t ask me. I’ve only just gotten to know her myself and if I’m being honest, I might have threatened physical violence if I were her.”

  Colton bit back a smile. “Did you have to hurt Edge after that carriage ride?”

  “Not yet, still considering.” She smiled back, though. Then she leaned closer to the fire. “If I were to guess, though, she knows that Edge will try and stop a courtship between you. Since he caught you, he might cover up the fact that you eloped at all. Tell everyone they left the city to visit some sick aunt or something. No one knows you so your absence hasn’t been missed.”

  Damn. That was a good point. “Is Edge right not to wish me to marry his sister?”

  Arabella was silent for so long that he frowned, pressing his fingers into his eye sockets. “I don’t know you that well, either. Is he right?”

  Colton shrugged. “I want to be the man she needs, but my past…”

  “Ah,” Arabella answered. “I begin to understand, but I still am not certain I can answer your question. But…” She lifted a finger. “I’m fairly certain I know the person who can.”

  “Who is that?”

  “Elizabeth,” Arabella said with another smile. “And I think she’d appreciate being asked.”

  That was an excellent point.

  With a long breath he stood. “Thank you, Arabella.”

  She rose too and gave him a wink. “We future in-laws have to stick together.”

  He blinked. Was Arabella going to be his family? How had he not realized that sooner? He’d quickly figured out that Arabella and Edge had become engaged. Elizabeth’s plan had worked. But the idea that Arabella and Edge would, by extension, become his family… “In-laws?”

  She shrugged. “Provided you work things out with Elizabeth and I don’t kill my future husband.”

  He grinned. “When is the wedding?”

  Arabella shrugged. “We talked of also marrying at Gretna Green when we arrived. But apparently Edge changed his mind…without consulting me. It’s not a habit he’s going to develop. At least not as my husband.”

  Colton scratched his chin. “Need me to knock some sense into him? I’m your partner too. I’ll happily step in if you need me to.”

  She grinned. “Thank you. Much appreciated, but I’ll take care of him myself. It’s better that way.”

  He gave a quick nod. “In that case, if you’ll excuse me, it’s time to have a conversation I’ve been delaying.”

  Elizabeth sat in her room tapping her toe in irritation.

  She stood and began to pace, only to sit again as she attempted to decide who had angered her more.

  Colton or her brother.

  She finally gave up, declaring them both annoying.

  Return to London when they were hours from the Scottish border? Ridiculous.

  A knock sounded at her door. For a moment, her breath caught. Was it Colton? Did he wish to talk?

  But the noise had come from the hall, not the connecting door. “Who is it?”

  “It’s me,” her brother called. “I’d like to speak with you.”

  She frowned, rising. She wasn’t certain she wished to speak with him. But she crossed the room anyway, opening the door. “What do you want?”

  He shoulders were squared as he stared back. “May I come in?”

  “Fine,” she returned, opening the door wider.

  Her brother entered, moving to the window. “What a mess.”

  She started to answer but stopped. What good would it do to point out that couples eloped regularly?

  He didn’t look back at her as he continued, “He’s not right for you.”

  “How do you know?” she asked, her brow furrowing, her own spine snapping straight.

  “You’re gentle. Kind. He’s a hard man, Liz—Elizabeth.”

  “You don’t know him at all, Edge.”

  He turned to her then. “That’s exactly the point. As your guardian, I should know him before you marry him.”

  There was merit to that. “And when you do know him? Will you consent to the match, or have you made up your mind already?”

  He hesitated, and in that moment, she knew. Her brother had no intention of allowing her to wed Colton. They were not returning to London to properly court, they were going back to find her a different match.

  Her chin snapped up.

  “Even among renegade lords, he’s a wild card,” he whispered. “And his closest associates don’t really know him.”

  “I know him,” she replied. Mostly. Except for those moments he closed off. But how could she convince her brother of that?

  “A few days does not allow you to truly know a person.”

  Her fists clenched. “I’m already ruined.”

  “Not in the way that matters most,” Edge fired back.

  Her eyes widened. Had Colton shared they hadn’t been completely intimate? “How do you know?”

  “He said your…” Her brother waved his hand. “Has remained intact.”

  She nipped at her lip. She didn’t wish to lie to her brother, but she was also tired of allowing him to dictate her life. “And you believed him? We’ve been alone for days.”

  Her brother’s face went pale and then a moment later, scarlet red. He charged past Elizabeth and back out the door.

  For a moment, she stood in shock before she lifted her skirts and chased after him.

  She didn’t need to go far.

  Colton stood in the hall. She arrived just in time to see her brother throw his shoulder into Colton’s midsection.

  She screamed as the air whooshed from Colton’s lungs and he doubled over. But that didn’t last for a moment before he recovered and landed a solid punch into Edge’s side.

  “Stop!” she cried, her hands coming to cover her mouth. “Stop now!”

  Neither man heeded her as they wrestled to the ground, crashing into walls, and hitting each other with a series of grunts and groans.

  Did she become involved? Try to stop them?

  From her right, boots came thumping up the stairs and Arabella appeared. In a flash of metal, Elizabeth watched as the other woman tossed a knife, the blade striking and sticking the wall just over the two men’s heads.

  That stilled them.

  “Thank you,” she murmured as she raced to their side, pulling Colton out from under her brother.

  “You’re helping him,” Edge spit.

  “We’re to marry,” she huffed back.

  Edge stood, glaring at Colton. “Apparently so. According to my sister, you’ve ruined her completely.”

  “You told him that?” Colton said, his voice low and dangerously deep.

  A flush filled her cheeks. She’d been caught in a lie. How did she explain? “He’s not going to allow us to marry.”

  Colton pulled his hand from hers. “I’m trying to do this the correct way, Lizzie. With honor, dignity, and respect for you and your family. Not acting like children.”

  His words crushed her.

  Did he think her childish too?

  Perhaps she was, lying like that. Did that mean her brother was right and she didn’t deserve to make this decision on her own? She wasn’t ready?

  Tears welled in her eyes as she stared at him, swallowing down the burning feeling in her throat. Then, slowly pivoting on one boot, she turned and fled back to her room, closing the door behind her before the tears began to fall.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Colton regretted the words the moment they left his mouth. And he hadn’t said them correctly.

  Not at all.

  This was why he usually stayed quiet.

  He’d not been calling her a child. Her brother had just started a wrestling match, Arabella had tossed a knife at them, and he’d come up to talk to her only to end up fighting in the hall. Her lie was the smallest transgression of the bunch.

  He’d wanted to impart on her that he honored her and he wished to treat her with honor. Why was that so difficult?

  It was him who was trying to understand how to properly manage all these new relationships and feeling like a child playing at being grown up.

  He followed, knocking on her door. “Elizabeth.”

  “Get away from her door,” Edge growled.

  “If you plan to marry me, you’ll stop growling at him and come talk to me.”

  “Arabella,” Edge said, his tone instantly softening. “I’m trying to save my sister.”

  “Really? Because it seems like you’re trying to take their relationship and ours and toss them out the window.”

  “What?” Edge cried.

  Arabella looked back at Colton and gave him the tiniest wink before she walked to her fiancé, taking his hand. “We need to discuss how you keep making plans without consulting the people they involve. It’s a bad habit and I don’t like it.”

  Colton said a silent thank you to Arabella before he turned back to the door. “Elizabeth,” he called again, knocking louder. No answer.

  He sighed, leaning his face against the door. What did one do?

  Drawing in a fortifying breath, he laid a palm flat against the door. “Elizabeth.”

  Still nothing.

  His hand thumped the door softly. “I’m sorry. My words came out wrong. Please open the door. I just want to talk to you. Explain. You can tell me all the ways I’m wrong, I swear I’ll listen to every word.”

  She didn’t answer and his hand against the wood balled into a fist. “Try to understand. My fat
her never loved me and then when I failed Mary…I haven’t explained what happened, have I?”

  He stopped when another guest appeared at the top of the stairs. When the rough-looking man with a scruffy beard and wrinkled, dirty clothes gave him a look as though Colton were the unbalanced one, Colton knew he needed to gain entrance to Elizabeth’s room.

  The door was locked so he went to his own room, trying the door between the two rooms. The knob gave way and he had a moment of triumph as the door swung in.

  That triumph turned to a lump of dread in his stomach almost instantly.

  Because the room was empty.

  And the window was open.

  The curtains blew ominously in and out of the window, the candle on the nightstand having blown out, likely from the wind.

  He crossed to the window, the fear building. How had he not realized that the porch on the front of the inn stood directly under this window?

  “Elizabeth?” he yelled. Could she hear him? She hadn’t been gone more than two minutes?

  Was she on foot?

  Surely the mail carriage had already passed through for the day.

  He pushed away from the window as new thoughts plagued him. Which way had she gone?

  How was she travelling?

  Was she in danger?

  Should he rent a horse? That would take time.

  But then again, he could ride a mile in every direction and hopefully find her.

  Was she returning to London? She’d been so angry to know they’d make their way back.

  And then he stopped.

  A piece of paper blew from the bed onto the floor. Picking it up, he scanned the words, his heart dropping clean down to his toes.

  * * *

  Colton,

  Don’t be angry, but I can’t go back to London. I’m tired of being seen as a child and somehow, if I can just make it to Scotland, then I’ll know I’m capable of anything.

  Yours always,

  Lizzie

  * * *

  He crushed the sheet into a tight ball in his fist. She was on her way to Gretna Green. She’d wanted to prove herself all along, and now that Colton had turned her around, she’d determined to go on her own. Well, damned if he wouldn’t follow.

  Elizabeth walked along the road, the gravel crunching under her feet.

  The night was darker than she’d imagined.

  The cloudy sky blocked even the smallest bit of light from the moon and stars making her progress slow.

  She cupped her ears, listening for a horse or carriage. Not to find a ride but to hide. She wasn’t a fool.

  She’d decided that the only way forward was to finish the journey to Gretna Green. It might have been foolish, childish even, but she’d not pout and cry the entire journey back to London.

  She’d take charge. Now.

  What she did when she got there, she couldn’t say, but this was her journey. Her chance to prove she was an adult.

  She stopped in the gravel. How did reaching Gretna Green prove that? She’d not marry when she arrived.

  But she’d also not tucked her tail and followed her brother south.

  Squaring her shoulders, she started forward again, more determined to make it to Scotland. How long would it take on foot, travelling at night?

  She didn’t know.

  She attempted to do the math. If the carriage could travel sixty miles in a day, how far had they made it when Colton had informed her they were only a few hours from the border?

  Her feet slowed again, and lost in her thoughts, she nearly missed the sound of horses’ hooves on the road until they were close.

  Ducking off the side of the road, she tucked herself into a bush, which most unfortunately had prickers.

  They ripped at her skin and clothes as she crouched.

  The lone rider came into view and even in the very dim light, she knew it was Colton. She’d recognize his shoulders anywhere.

  Her lips pressed together.

  What was he doing here? Had he read her note and followed? Her heart slammed against her ribs. Did he mean to take her back or finish the journey with her?

  He slowed the horse some feet away. “Elizabeth!” he called. “If you can hear me, please come out. I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry?” she repeated in a whisper. Was he jesting just to get her to emerge? Was her brother right behind him?

  He sat for another moment before he kicked the horse into step again.

  He started coming closer and then passed her, clearly moving on. Before she’d even considered, she stood, raising up a hand. “Colton. Wait.”

  He reined the horse around in an instant, spinning the animal, his gaze catching hers. “Elizabeth?”

  “It’s me.”

  He swung down off the animal and in three long strides, reached the bushes and pulled her from the bramble and into his arms.

  She went willingly, her arms threading about his neck as their lips met in a scorching kiss that stole her breath.

  When he finally lifted his head, he looked down at her with a searching gaze. “How could you leave like that? I was frightened out of my wits. You could have been hurt—or worse!”

  She looked down the road, only to realize that his horse was cantering away. “Colton,” she cried, pointing. “Look.”

  He set her down again and jogged after the animal, catching him and then pulling him back to where Elizabeth stood.

  Now that they’d been reunited, she hardly knew what to say.

  He stopped in front of her, still holding the reigns. “North or south?”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “North or south?” he said with a smile. “Do we go back to the inn and face down your brother or do we stick with your plan and sneak away for Gretna Green?”

  “It’s my choice?” she asked, but something deep and strong filled her insides, an emotion that threatened to overwhelm her. In this moment, he understood what was important to her. He’d given her the choice.

  “Your choice.”

  She nodded and looked down the road, first one way and then the other. Her fingers pressed to her cheeks. Much as she wanted to make it to Gretna Green, she loved her brother even if he’d made her as mad as anything today. “I have to go back, don’t I?”

  Colton raised a shoulder. “It’s up to you.”

  “I know that but I also think that I love my family, and if I’m being honest, Reginald has a right to be angry too.”

  “Not Edge?” he said with a small smile.

  She shook her head. “No. Not Edge. Not to me.”

  Colton reached for her fingers, threading his into hers. “That’s an excellent choice and I want you to know that I appreciate how committed you are to his happiness.”

  “Really? I thought perhaps you’d hate it.”

  He chuckled. “I’m not sure I’m fond of your brother, but you have been teaching me how one loves a family member. And how, even when they make mistakes, they pick themselves up and apologize and try again. No one has ever done that for me, and I’m not sure I’ve ever done that for someone else, but I’m ready to try too.” He tugged her closer. “Which is why I’m going to tell you that I’m sorry. I should have stood up to your brother and not allowed him to turn us around.”

  Her breath caught. “Is all that really true?”

  He nodded as he leaned closer. “Every word and more.”

  “More?”

  “I was making a full confession to your door earlier this evening.”

  Her heart skipped a beat. “And I missed it?”

  “I’ll share it all when we ride back to the inn. It’s words I should have said days ago.”

  Then he lifted her and set her on his horse, swinging up behind her.

  She pressed her back into his front as her cheek came to rest on his chest.

  Somehow, she had a feeling after this ride, everything between them would change.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Colton held her tightly to his chest, his cheek dropping down to rest on top of her head. She snuggled in close to him and he said a silent prayer of thanks that he’d found her and that they’d reached some sort of equilibrium.