Redemption for the Rakish Earl

by Jilian Rouge

  This time with Rue leading the way, the three of them found the opening to the “room” Ben described. As Alex looked inside, there was nothing there, only an empty room. Rue called out, “Ben? We’re here to get you out.”

  “Help me, Lady Rue. I can’t lift myself up or I would have already gotten myself out,” Ben grumbled.

  Rue wasted no time in squeezing through the craggy entrance and knelt at the ledge to look down. She smiled widely down at the dirty face turned up at her that revealed a gap-toothed grin. Scanning down his thin, small frame, she noticed that his left ankle was grossly swollen, which explained his inability to get out on his own steam.

  Swiveling her head towards both men behind her, Rue stated, “I can get down there, but I won’t be able to pull the both of us out.” Before either man could make a move, Rue proceeded to scramble into the hole feet first.

  To Rafe, Alex said, “Would you fetch a length of rope? I brought some with me on Ulysses, but I’m going to make sure Rue gets down there safely. Between the two of us, she’s the only one experienced enough to get in and out of there.”

  Rafe didn’t hesitate to comply, and Alex made an impatient noise as he got down on his stomach to hand Rue slowly down the side. “If you would wait but a moment I can grab your hands while you find your feet.”

  “No need,” Rue called back. The ledge, though steep, was just as she remembered, and she easily slipped down unscathed; however, her dress would not be the same as she heard a few tears of stitching. And she was sure that her front was as dirty as it was unforgivably wrinkled to pass muster. She landed smartly on both feet in a crouch, and once she straightened, she looked up to see Alex’s face frowning down at her.

  Ben exclaimed, “But Lady Rue, how will the both of us get out now?”

  Crouching down once more to inspect the little boy for further injury, Rue said confidently, “Don’t you worry. My friends will help us get out of here in a trice. As for you, are you hurt anywhere else?”

  “No, it’s just my foot.”

  “While we wait for Captain Griffiths to come back with the rope, how did you come to be stuck down here?”

  “It was a silly game. The stablemaster’s son, Johnnie, didn’t think I was brave enough to come here at night. I had a lantern with me and Johnnie dared me to go farther in the mine than we’ve ever gone before. I didn’t watch my step and fell down this hole, hurting my foot when I fell badly on it.”

  “And Johnnie didn’t help you out?”

  “I called and called for him to help me, but I think he had run off. I smashed my lantern during my fall, but I had my papa’s cloak to keep me warm when I realized no one was coming for me.”

  Rue looked up at Alex with a disdainful look, telling Alex silently of what she thought of the cowardly actions of Johnnie. Soon, Rafe arrived with a heavy coil of rope, and he began fashioning a large loop knotted at one end. Throwing the looped end over the edge of the hole, Rafe urged Rue, “Slide the looped end under his bottom. Ben, hold to the top of the rope above the knotted ends as we hoist you up.”

  Both Rue and Ben simply nodded in compliance with Rafe’s instructions. Once Rue had the rope secured just under Ben’s rump, Alex and Rafe began the slow, careful work of pulling the little boy up the side of the ledge. Rue helped to guide the boy’s ascent, careful to keep his injured ankle from scraping the edge. It was slow work, but the boy was soon over the side of the ledge.

  Alex handed the boy carefully to Rafe and directed, “Take the boy back to the house, and have Alistair inform the boy’s parents before fetching the doctor. I’m sure they have worried enough and would like to see with their own eyes that he’s all right.”

  Rafe nodded, catching the little boy in his arms before saying, “Well, little lad, you made a fine seat in my little sling. Maybe you have the legs and balance of a seafarer in you. When you’re older, maybe you can see me about working on my ship.”

  With eyes rounded, Ben burst, “You’re a ship’s captain? You would take me on?”

  Chuckling, Rafe answered, “Of course! You proved yourself braver and sturdier than any other boy I know your age.” Their words faded as the echo of their voices distorted the rest of their words, and Alex smiled more at the wonder in the boy’s voice than he did his friend’s kind offering to the young boy.

  Turning back towards Rue, who tried unsuccessfully to pull herself out of the hole, he tutted down at her. “Just a moment, Rue, and I’ll haul you out of there,” he chided. Clambering onto his stomach, he held out his hands down into the hole, and ordered, “Grab my hands and walk up the sides.”

  Rue grunted as she jumped to catch Alex’s proffered hands, and with the effort straining her voice, she grumbled, “Getting out of here was much easier as a twelve-year-old with less billowy skirts to contend with.”

  “Or maybe you are just out of practice,” Alex ribbed. “You’re no longer the skinny, coltish version of you at twelve, and I trust that you haven’t kept up the habit of scrambling along cliff walls and edges.”

  He hauled her the rest of the way once her waist was level with the edge of the ledge, and she poked him heavily in the ribs. “Don’t be so cheeky, sir. I’d like to see you attempt the same thing.”

  “Since I’ve had the more recent experience of climbing the masts of ships, I don’t think it would be a fair contest,” he said, lightly teasing.

  Once she was safely away from the hole’s edge, Alex whisked her up and seized her in a hard kiss, wild and untamed. Only after Rue’s wits were scrambled from desire did Alex break off and whisper, “As much as I’d like to continue, my mother would have both of our heads if we missed her ball altogether.”

  “Hm, I’d rather think she might understand in this case,” Rue hummed, her eyes still closed. Alex kissed the tip of her nose in response and tugged her once more towards the mine’s exit.

  “You need to stop saying such things if we are to make it to my mother’s ball. As it is, you tempt me beyond reason, and it’s hard enough to resist you,” Alex chastised. He led her from the mouth of the mine by the hand and out into the warm morning light, but Rue continued to shoot him sultry glances that sorely tested his restraint. But truthfully, he thoroughly enjoyed Rue’s playful teasing, finding that her brand of teasing washed over him like a warm blanket, comforting in its lack of malice or scheming.

  “I suppose I can, but where’s the fun in that?” Rue asked as Alex assisted her with mounting Daisy.

  Alex waited to reply until he was atop his own horse and growled, “Stop it, Rue. Any more of your teasing will have you flat on your back in those bushes over there if you don’t.”

  “Is that a threat?” Rue asked saucily, one brow raised in challenge.

  But before Alex could utter a reply, without warning a familiar popping sounded, and a streak of heat whizzed dangerously past his left cheek, burning a short line of fire on his cheekbone. Both of the horses nickered nervously, trying to shy away, but their riders had their reins firm in hand to keep them from bolting.

  Rue, eyes wide with shock, yelled, “Alex, you’re bleeding!” Touching a hand to his cheek and coming away with blood on his fingers, belatedly, Alex realized he had just been shot, the sound registering late in his brain as that of a shot from a pistol. Rue screamed as another shot rang and the tree behind him took the bullet meant for his head. Instinctively, he had ducked at the sound, as Ulysses stamped his hooves in fear at the whistling sound that came too close.

  “Stay low and head straight for the house through the trees. Go!” he urged Rue in a commanding tone. He guessed the shooter must have had two pistols on him to have discharged two shots so close together. It would take some time for the shooter to try again with the reloading of fresh gunpowder and new lead balls, so he followed behind Rue, acting as her cover as they raced home.

  With the copse of trees acting as their cover, it also reduced their speed to reach Ravenscroft as it took skillful maneuvering of their horses around fat tree
trunks to avoid hazardous collisions. Fortunately, there were no more shots ringing from behind them, but Alex urged Rue ahead of him to keep moving.

  Neither did he hear the sounds of anyone in pursuit of their flight, but he could not relax his guard, not until they reached safety. When they both broke past the tree line, he shot past Rue, past the stable yard, and to the front lawn of the house. Still atop Ulysses, he yelled for Alistair and for footmen to attend him.

  To Rue, who followed close behind on Daisy, he ordered, “Get in the house and stay inside. Tell anyone you meet, not to come out until it is safe to do so.” She nodded, but she frantically asked, “What about you?”

  “I plan to go find our shooter,” he said in a voice dripping with cold fury. He dismounted and helped her off of Daisy and pushed her in the direction of the front door. Alistair and a good number of burly footmen came rushing outside in answer to Alex’s shouts, and Alex began issuing orders left and right. The sight of their master with a bloody cheek already told the story of the cause of Alex’s deadly ire, and everyone complied with his commands. Alistair, who had the knack of knowing what was needed before it was asked of him, had a brandy-soaked cloth ready to clean Alex’s bloody cheek.

  Rue watched from the front door of Ravenscroft as Alex assembled a party of able-bodied footmen to follow him back through the trees. Her heart still beat erratically since their frantic ride, and it now squeezed tightly inside her chest at the thought of Alex facing down danger, hunting its very source.

  Lady Edith hurried to her side from the depths of the house and asked, “What is the matter? Where is Alex? Captain Griffiths had just arrived with the gardener’s son and is now with the doctor.”

  “He is leaving to search for the person responsible for shooting at us,” she said in a small voice that was nothing like her usual tone. While she was relieved that Ben was being cared for, she supposed she was still in shock from Alex’s attempted murder and the wild ride back.

  Stunned beyond belief that someone dared to hurt her son, Lady Edith could only stare after Alex and his search party galloping away on horseback. Realizing that Rue remained silent and unmoving while volunteering no further information, Lady Edith finally looked Rue up and down and noted her shivering form was dirty and disheveled. Her maternal instincts immediately rushed to the fore, and she drew Rue close to her side, unmindful of the streaks of dirt on Rue’s face and dress. “Dearest, let’s get you inside and warm. You’re shivering hard enough to rattle the teeth out of your head. Come, and we will have you feeling better in no time.”

  Allowing Lady Edith to escort her into the house, Rue nodded numbly, but she could not shake off the cold fear for Alex’s sake. She knew the bullet only grazed his cheek, but the possibility of a truer aim resulting in his death left her cold.

  23

  Thankfully, for Lady Edith’s peace of mind, Alex had arrived back in time for the ball to begin. Their search had proved fruitless, leading Alex to believe the responsible party escaped on horseback, soon after he and Rue fled back to the house. While it was impossible to discern in which direction the shooter may have bolted, Alex only gave up searching when he realized the hour was growing late.

  Sweeping through the house while the ball was in full swing, Alex dashed up to his bedchamber, calling orders for a bath to be drawn and for his valet to be at the ready. He passed his mother on the way up the stairs, who was resplendent in her evening finery, and she raised a perfectly arched brow at his dirty appearance as well as his late arrival but said nothing. Her look was enough reproof, but it did little to make him feel guilty; his duty was to protect those he was responsible for, and he spent most of his day doing just that.

  Once Alex completed his ablutions and dressed in his evening black, he hurried downstairs, eager to talk to Rue in the hopes that she might have seen something earlier at the mine. Something he may have missed. But all the same, he was just as eager to see her dressed in her evening finery, her charms framed enticingly in Society-accepted standards.

  And when the time was right, he planned on announcing his engagement to all and sundry, and thereby, putting an official end to his search for the very partner perfect for him and Ravenscroft. Rue was everything he wanted and needed, and it was time he proclaimed that fact soon before he caused an even bigger scandal by carrying on with Rue the way they had in the past few days. It just wouldn’t do for his countess to be the cause of tomorrow’s gossip if he could help it, and with the backwards way the ton worked, all would be forgiven once he married her.

  Rather than post banns, he was willing to procure a special license from the Archbishop himself to ensure that there was no need to wait. His mother may be the only one to put up resistance with a hasty marriage, but he believed that if he hinted that there was a need for such haste, she would comply at once.

  He had only to find Rue first before all else could be put into motion.

  Not much about Lady Edith’s much-awaited ball held Rue’s interest at the moment, not when she worried about Alex and what, or rather, who he might have found out by the old mine. If it weren’t for Georgie’s insistence, she would have almost forgotten the ball, but Georgie had to remind her that she had been looking forward to this evening for some time.

  Earlier that afternoon, Lady Edith had cajoled an explanation out of her, wanting to know the events that transpired leading up to Alex’s hunt for a killer. But only after she had been warmed by the fire with a heavy sheepskin throw about her shoulders to ward off the chill brought on by shock. Lady Edith’s kind eyes and soothing voice had helped to draw the story out of her, and Rue had confessed all that had happened with Ben at the mine, ending with the shots directed at the both of them.

  Lady Edith had called Georgie to join them in hopes that her friend’s presence would thaw her from the chill of the day’s jarring events. And only when Georgie had asked Rue to prepare for the ball together did she remember that Georgie had been looking forward to the ball just as much as she. Her friend deserved to enjoy herself at the ball without any hindrance from her, especially when her friend accompanied her all this way for a bit of much-needed diversion. It wouldn’t be fair for her to keep Georgie from having fun and dancing the night away when she had invited Georgie here in the first place.

  Staring hard at the ballroom’s entrance as she was, she sighed inwardly in relief when Alex swept through it. His face, on which he bore a small, thin gash across his cheek, served as a reminder of his close brush earlier. But his eyes instinctively found hers across the room and she could not miss the intensity of his gaze boring into hers. He made a beeline for her, but his progress was soon impeded by the various people wanting to stop and say hello. For fear of being rude, he said his rudimentary greetings and compliments before finally coming to a stop before her.

  At the sight of Rue, resplendent in the most becoming evening gown he had ever seen on her person, Alex had lost the ability to draw in breath, but just for a moment. He had fought inwardly with himself to keep from dashing to her side, but he carefully made his way across the ballroom with eyes for no one else but Rue. His fiancée was absolutely breathtaking in a gown the color of midnight which only enhanced the creaminess of her skin. Although the neckline plunged lower than he would have liked, it displayed a delectable décolletage that every man in the room was bound to sit up and take notice. She was irresistible, and he counted himself lucky that she finally agreed to be his for all time.

  Ernest and Georgie flanked Rue on either side as they watched the Earl of Merrick draw closer. From the side of his mouth, Ernest whispered to Rue, “If you hadn’t already snagged the earl, that dress would have done the job for you by the looks of him.” Of course, in typical Ernest fashion, his whisper was audible enough for both Georgie and Alex to overhear.

  Rue blushed at her friend’s ribald comment and slapped him on the shoulder with her fan. “Behave,” she admonished him. Alex continued to stare at Rue with appreciation and didn’t seem to be
listening.

  Georgie giggled. “Come now, you two, make nice. Ernest, you could have just said that Rue looks beautiful and left it at that.” Eyeing the earl, Georgie was fascinated by his inability to do no more than stare at her friend.

  Giving Rue a little push towards the earl, Georgie pressed, “Go on and enjoy the next waltz. We’ll be here waiting.”

  The little shove Rue was given served to wake her from her trance. If she had thought Alex was devilishly handsome before, she was astounded to find him devastating in his evening black. Unlike some of the younger gentlemen present, Alex had no need of padding underneath his clothes to fill out his physique to match the ideals of society. Rue intimately knew that his build was hard-earned through his years at sea, and the result was a manly form that exuded strength and power.

  The tittering of multiple female voices sounded not far behind Alex, and Rue watched as the Ladies of the List drew nearer through the crowd, having spotted Alex and clearly wanting a word with him. Rue could practically see them slavering wolfishly in Alex’s direction, ready to pounce. Alex turned to look as they approached, but they were still separated by the expanse of the dance floor. And so, it was an easy thing for Alex to grab Rue by the hand and skirt the edge of the dance floor to avoid a confrontation with them.