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There was so much to explain, he wasn’t sure where to begin. Which meant it would have to wait. “I’ll tell you along the way.”
She shrank back. “The way to where?”
He sighed. “To Gretna Green.”
“For what purpose?” Her voice had grown high and tight with fear. Was she afraid she’d have to marry him?
Ash had to confess, that was a new one. As an earl—and a reasonably handsome one if he did say so himself—he was used to females attempting to catch him in marriage and not the other way around.
Honestly, if he were her, marrying an earl seemed like the smallest of problems compared with the others she faced. Not that he was any great catch. As a known rake and a general ne’er-do-well, he’d not blame a woman from shying away from a match with him. But Lily didn’t know all that about him.
“Arabella is there.”
“Arabella?” she asked, confusion clouding her face. Voice too.
“Your sister. Arabella.”
“My sister?”
Bollocks. “Didn’t your brothers tell you?”
She shook her head. He cursed again. “Might I explain on the way? I’ve no idea how long we have until our friend Ox finds his other men and returns.”
That made her eyes go wide again and suddenly she scrambled the rest of the way from the carriage. “You don’t need to take me anywhere. I can take care of myself.”
He looked down at her. “I’ve no doubt you can.”
Her chin pulled back as her lips parted in surprise. “Really? Most men don’t say such things.”
“Most men haven’t been friends with your sister since childhood. No woman scares me more than her, and she is completely capable of caring for herself.” He took a tentative step closer to her, slowly reaching out his hand. She appeared ready to flee, and he hated to leave a woman in need. Call it habit. A reflex. “But all the same, I’d like to see you safely delivered wherever it is you wish to go.”
“And what is it you want in return?”
His mouth dropped open. “I’ve been chasing you since London. Your brothers went east, two more men west, another south, and me and Lockton north to find you. What I want is what I’ve spent days attempting to accomplish: I want to see you safely returned to London.”
She didn’t shy away but she didn’t move closer, either. “Everyone wants something. Perhaps what you want is from Bash and Baxter and you don’t wish anything from me, but you chased after me for a reason. Of that I am certain.”
She was right.
He did have a reason. But it required nothing from her other than allowing him to save her. “My reason is that I love your sister like a sister. And every time I look at you, I see her. I could never allow harm to come to her, and you benefit by—”
“Appearance?”
“I suppose so.”
“And after Gretna Green, where will we go then? London, did you say?”
He shook his head. “We can talk about it when we’ve a much larger party and you are safe.”
With a tentative nod, she finally accepted his outstretched hand. As quick as he could, he placed her on his horse and then climbed behind her. Snapping the reins, they started back the way he’d just come. He’d parted with Lockton just that morning as the man had taken the road to Gretna Green to find reinforcements. If they hurried, they could reach the fork by nightfall.
From there, they’d be a day from the Scottish border.
As Lily settled against his front, her head slipped under his chin, and he caught a whiff of her unbound hair.
She smelled like the flower whose name she bore, sweet and intoxicating.
He drew in a deep breath, closing his eyes even as a beat of desire pounded through him. Her delicate body, dwarfed by his, seemed to fit in him as he wrapped a protective arm about her waist.
Had he just thought her like Arabella?
His reaction to Lily could not be more different. But he tamped the feeling back down. This was a brotherly rescue and he, earl or not, was not in the market for marriage.
Not if he could help it.
