The Rebellious Rake (The Notorious Nightingales #4)

Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

“ C ome, we will find a hackney,” he said. “It is not safe to stay still, in case they find us… or anyone associated with them.”

Flora was now inhaling deep lungfuls of smoggy London air, with her face raised to look at the dark sky.

“You are no longer in that small dark space.” Ram put a hand on her spine. “We must get home before either of us turn into icicles.” Ram took her hand again.

“The dog will come with us,” she said.

“I thought we’d just let him go about his business.”

“No” was the only reply he got.

Sighing, he walked, towing her with him while she held the dog’s lead. People stared at them but did not speak, although he was sure they looked an odd couple. The dog was filthy and wearing his necktie, and neither Ram nor Flora wore headwear or gloves.

“Mr. Hellion, Miss Thomas?”

It took a moment to realize who the large woman standing before them in a gray cap and swaddled up to her nose in a scarf was .

“Mavis,” Flora said first. “Wh-what are you doing there?”

“Taking my nightly walk,” the woman said, as if the temperatures were not plummeting toward zero and it wasn’t winter. What manner of person took a nightly walk in such conditions? he wondered. A Crabbett Close resident, of course.

“What has happened to you both?” The woman’s eyes narrowed as she focused on them. “I can see all is not well.”

“We’ve had some trouble, Mavis, and need to find a hackney. I must get Miss Thomas home at once,” Ram said.

“Is that trouble still following you?” Her eyes narrowed further as she looked over Ram’s shoulder. “Because you show me who is bothering you, and I will sort them out.”

Mavis had a way of making his manhood shrivel. She was the manliest woman he knew and had the strength of an ox.

“We are safe for now, but it is best we leave here at once,” Ram said.

“Start walking that way, and I shall get a hackney. Stay under the streetlamps,” Mavis ordered. A long-gloved finger pointed right. She then strode away.

“Well,” Ram said. “This way, then.”

“I want to be just like that woman one day,” Flora said, and Ram wondered if she realized she’d clutched his hand through that entire conversation with Mavis Johns, and still was.

“I don’t think you’re tall enough.”

Now they were out of that hell, he let his mind wander to why he had been attacked tonight. Who had been behind it, and why?

Tugging Flora with him, he walked the way Mavis had directed them.

Several minutes later, he heard the clop of hooves and stepped out into the road to flag the hackney down. Mavis was seated up beside the driver .

“Mavis, you are wonderful!” Flora cried.

“I’ve told him your direction. In you all get now,” Mavis said. “I’ll just ride beside him in case there’s trouble.”

Ram was fairly sure his manly pride should have taken a battering over Mavis’s belief he couldn’t protect them, but right then, he didn’t have it in him.

“Is that large beast getting in there with you?” the driver said, looking down at them.

Ram pulled out some notes and handed them to the driver.

“You’ll take that and not moan. These are good folk,” Mavis said.

“Very well, then, in you get. But make sure he doesn’t do anything foul.”

It’s not the dog that smells bad , he wanted to say but kept those thoughts inside his head.

Ram opened the door and lifted Flora inside. The dog jumped in with her, and he followed. The carriage lurched, and soon they were moving.

Getting a better look at the animal that was now resting against Ram’s seat, he was sure it was some kind of hound—or would be when cleaned—and he was leaning toward an Irish wolfhound.

Looking across the carriage, he focused on Flora. She looked bedraggled and vulnerable. Ram didn’t like seeing the indomitable Flora Thomas like that; it made something ache deep in his chest.

“Why were you out walking about the London streets alone, Flora?”

“Why did those men take you, Mr. Hellion?” she said instead of answering his question.

“Ram or Ramsey. After tonight, I think you can manage that, don’t you? And to answer your question, I have no idea, but I will find out,” he vowed. “Now back to my question. Why were you out after dark alone?”

“I was taking tea.” Her voice sounded almost back to normal. There was no longer a tremor, but he thought that when she was alone in her bed later, the vision of that tunnel would still be with her. An image of her in a simple white nightdress, hair loose, lying beside him as he held her, slid into his mind. He removed it at once.

I understand what it is like to have your father disappoint you. The words she’d spoken in the tunnel came back to him. What had her father done? She’d asked him not to question her further, so for now, he’d honor her wishes, but he’d find out one day.

“I saw that, but why did you not have a maid or one of your many cousins with you?”

“Tonight is Nightingale night. They all get together, and I wanted to let them have their time without me being there.”

“They would not wish you to feel that way, and you carry their blood, so you are one of them.”

“One of them? You make it sound like an unsavory group to be part of.” Her brows drew together.

“I’m not sure how you came to that conclusion from my words, and I’ll add that they are my friends and the very best of people.”

She huffed out a breath, which was a sign she was about to say something she didn’t want to. How do I know that about her too?

“I’m sorry. That was unkind.”

“You don’t like apologizing, do you, Flora?”

“It’s one of the things I like least,” she said, which had him barking out another laugh. “It means I have said or done something wrong, and I try very hard never to do that.”

This woman was far too appealing, he thought. From her honesty to her forthright ways, he liked so many things about her.

Her hair was the color of a banyan tree trunk, which he’d grown familiar with during his life in India. Ash blond with hints of brown, they were a myriad of colors, and Flora’s hair was the same. She wore it up, but he knew it was thick and tended to curl from the tendrils that often fought for freedom. She was always so rigid and controlled, but not her hair.

“Back to Nightingale night. They would rather you were in their company than wandering around London after dark, where anything could happen.”

“I know, but they are giving me lodgings, so the least I can do is let them have some time without me. Besides, I no longer need a maid and can wander where I choose, when I choose.” Her eyes were focused on the window. “And it was not me who was taken by those men but you, so I would ask you the same question.” Her chin rose in a manner that made him want to shake her.

“I don’t have a maid,” Ram drawled. “My point is, if it’s dangerous for me, then it is doubly so for you.”

Her shoulders rose and fell in a sigh.

“Contrary to what you and other men believe, I am not a fool just because I’m a woman.”

“I think you are mistaking me for that fool you were betrothed to, Miss Thomas. I happen to think many of the women of my acquaintance have far more intelligence than me.”

“I wish I hadn’t told you about that.”

“Ah, but you did, and your secret is safe.”

“Ramsey, why would someone abduct you off the street like they did tonight?”

“I don’t know.” Ram shrugged. He would be having a long discussion with his cousin shortly about the night’s events. Gray was a detective at Scotland Yard, and a man with fingers in many pies.

“You are so calm considering what you just went through,” Flora added.

“You think I seem calm?” She nodded. “I’m furious and want to go back into that sewer, find those men, and then demand answers. However, I am also nobody’s fool. To do that would put myself once again within their reach, and I would rather know what I am dealing with before that happens.”

She studied him, her soft blue eyes the color of a Scottish lake.

“I think there is something nefarious afoot. If they were intent on robbing you, then they would have done so, or they would have slit your throat and taken what they wanted.”

“Charming.”

“I’m being practical,” she said primly. She then reached out and stroked the filthy head of the dog who was smearing dirt on his trousers and coat. The animal closed his eyes and sighed.

“By all means, be practical, and yes, I have come to the same conclusion.”

She studied him. “But what did they want?”

“I have no idea.” He spoke the truth. Unless his past had followed him here, he was none the wiser as to the men’s intent tonight.

The carriage rolled through London as they lapsed into silence, and the air inside filled with the stench of wet, hairy dog and the sewer that was on their feet and the hems of their clothing.

“Ramsey, you will need to have a care.”

“Thank you, I have already come to that realization too, and I will say again that you cannot walk about London alone, Flora. ”

She waved a hand at him.

“Do not dismiss my words. This is serious. I can’t believe your cousins would allow you to wander about as you were.” If he hadn’t been watching her, he wouldn’t have seen her eyes shift to the left, but he was. “You didn’t tell them.”

She turned her head once more to look out the window.

“Let me guess. You climbed out the window? Or slipped through the front door without anyone knowing? Mind you, that Scottish behemoth always knows what’s afoot in that household, so that’s unlikely.”

“I don’t need to tell anyone where it is I go, as I am quite capable of looking after myself, thank you. Furthermore, I have explained already why I did what I did.”

“It was dangerous.”

“I am no longer in sympathy with you, and we shall forget what happened down there in that nasty, smelly tunnel. Especially my moment of… the small, insignificant fear that?—”

“Your dislike of small spaces and the dark?” Ram said.

“You dislike rodents,” she fired back.

“Let the animosity once again begin,” he drawled. The dog made a wheezing sound as Ram stroked his head.

He’d never had a dog or pet. His father didn’t like mess inside their house, and when Ram was old enough, he’d not had a place to house one.

His eyes passed over her once more as she looked out the window again.

He’d seen her come apart tonight. The woman who was always proper and correct and appeared to need little from anyone. She’d needed me as I’d needed her.

“We will never again discuss the fears or secrets with anyone,” she said. “What we spoke of was because of our situation, and nothing more. ”

“I do not hide my fear, Flora. My family and friends know about it. You, however, have told no one, have you?”

“My brother knows.” A small disdainful sniff followed these words.

“Because he shut you somewhere and you screamed?”

She didn’t answer him, but he had a feeling he was correct.

Ram felt the carriage turn and looked out the window. They were rolling along Crabbett Close, where the Nightingale family lived.

He saw a group of people standing in Mr. Greedy’s garden. Hands rose to Mavis as they rolled by.

“What are those people doing outside in the cold?” Ram asked.

“I haven’t been here long,” Flora said, “but I’ve already learned not to question what the residents of Crabbett Close do or say.”

“In that we are in complete agreement. It is a very odd place.”

“I think it wonderful,” Flora said.

Ram thought he could have said it was wonderful and she would have said odd, which seemed to be the way between them.

“Before we get out, Flora, I have one last thing to say to you.”

She looked at him. “What?”

“Thank you for saving me. I’m extremely glad you did those manly voices so well. Now what are we to do with our furry companion?”

“That’s two things.”

“You are a vexatious woman.”

“It’s my finest quality, and with regards to our furry friend, the Nightingales will know what to do with him,” she said, nodding to the redbrick house they’d stopped before .

The carriage door opened before he could reach it, and Mavis stood there.

“Out now, and get yourselves warm before you catch a chill. You’re safe.”

Ram climbed out. He then held out a hand. Flora stared and then placed hers on it. The dog followed.

“Thank you, Mavis,” Ram said, holding out a hand instead of bowing; he just had a hunch this woman would appreciate that more. His fingers were taken and squeezed. He returned the gesture.

She then walked off down the street to the Greedy garden party without another word.

“Right, then, let’s get the inquisition over with,” Ram said.

With a nod, Flora released his fingers, and then she was walking up the path away from him. Inside the large brick home, he knew they would find warmth and comfort—also food, which he found he was looking forward to very much.

Following with the dog, he marshaled himself for the enquiry that would come the minute he stepped inside the door. He looked at the sway of Flora’s skirts and thought that something had now changed between him and her, no matter how much she would deny it. He’d held her while she’d trembled, and she’d saved him. Plus, there were the confidences they’d shared.

He now owed Flora Thomas a huge debt of gratitude, and he was unsure how he would ever repay it.