The Rebellious Rake (The Notorious Nightingales #4)

Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

“ S o unlike any tutors we had, who taught us how to conjugate verbs,” Alex said.

Not as large as Leo, he was the Nightingale who saw humor in almost every situation. Flora enjoyed his company very much, and that of his wife, Harriet.

“I learned those too,” Ramsey said with a small smile. “But it was Ishaan’s hand-to-hand combat I enjoyed a great deal more.”

“We need to discuss that more,” Bramstone said. “You may have learned some techniques I don’t know.”

To anyone else, this conversation may seem odd, but not Flora. She knew what the people in this room were capable of. She’d come across Leo and Ellen being instructed by Bramstone in the arts of self-defense. Flora had asked if they would teach her. Her education had started the next day, and she’d earned every bruise she’d received in the days following.

“He was showing me something he wore around his wrist. Like yours, I think,” Alex said. “There was also a sheep. I realized instantly it had something to do with you. ”

“Ram,” Ramsey said, his eyes showing little of what he was thinking. “Aries, the first sign of the zodiac. My birth sign.” He then pulled up his cuffs, and Flora saw the band of braided leather. “It’s for protection.”

Flora had judged Ramsey—as he had her—from the first moment she’d seen him, deciding he was a man who loved himself far too much. But now she wasn’t so sure those opinions were accurate. Perhaps, like her, there were layers to Ramsey Hellion beneath the handsome facade.

“Ishaan and his wife, Kavya, used to look after me in India.”

“Were they good people?” Bram asked.

“The best,” Ram added, and she heard the sincerity in his voice.

“I had word sent to your lodgings, and when no reply came back, we were just about to go and find you,” Gray said.

“What is that stench?” Leo asked, nose wrinkling. “It’s been permeating the air since I stepped out of the parlor and nearer to you.”

“Sewer water,” Ram said. “Both Flora and I washed it off, but it appears to be lingering.”

“Perhaps cologne, then, will be a directive for anyone who gets Ram’s name?” Ellen said.

“Gets my name?” Ram asked.

“For the Christmas gift giving,” Ellen added.

“I have absolutely no idea what you speak of, Ellen. Is it due to having a child that your mind is fuddled?”

“She does not have a fuddled mind simply because she has a child,” Flora snapped.

“Thank you, Flora,” her cousin said.

“I was teasing her.” Ramsey looked annoyed.

“We have yet to explain to Ram about what the younger members of the family wish to implement this year for Christmas gift giving, Flora. Perhaps we will leave that for later, however, as clearly you and Ramsey have a story to tell,” Bram said.

“Yes, speak, Ram,” Gray demanded.

“Perhaps if you could all refrain from interrupting and talking over both me and Flora, we will get the story told in one attempt,” Ram said.

“Before that, how about Flora starts with why she wasn’t in her room reading like we believed she was?” Leo said. “We’ll clear that up first, I think.”

“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I slipped out to take a walk, then kept walking and ended up taking tea in a shop. It was wrong of me, and I will ensure not to do so again without first speaking to one of you.”

“How often have you done that?” Ellen asked.

“Not often. I have only been here a few weeks,” Flora said, which had them laughing. “I’m used to doing that at home in Willow Hill. Wednesdays are your family nights, and I had no wish to intrude.”

“You are family, and we love having you here. Never think you are intruding in any way, Flora,” Bramstone said solemnly. “You are one of us, my dear.”

She must be more exhausted than she realized because tears made her eyes itch.

“Willow Hill is not London,” Ram added. He was looking down into the fire as he spoke, and the flames showed the ridge of a cheekbone and jut of his jaw. “You must be more careful.”

“Flora is like Ellen,” Leo said. “She loathes anyone telling her what to do. Hates being censured too. In fact, give them direction of any kind, and their backs go up.”

“We are not cats, Brother,” Ellen snapped.

“Not far from it though, if we are being honest,” Alex said. The Nightingales used annoying one another as a form of sport .

“Back to Flora leaving the house,” Bramstone said.

“I used to do that,” Ellen added. Alice was slumbering in her arms, her little Cupid’s bow lips open, cheeks pink from the warmth in the room. “Slip out of the house,” she added.

“And we hated it,” Leo said. “Cousin, I beg of you, if you are to sneak out, tell one of us, and we will walk a good distance behind, and you need not know we are there.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, feeling chastened. “You have been so kind to me since I arrived on your doorstep.”

“We really do love having you here,” Ellen said. “Now you are not pulling our hair or putting slimy insects in our beds.”

“I only did that because you were snobbish,” Flora protested. “And I was but a child.”

“And yet we digress,” Gray cut in. “What has happened, Ram?”

“It is not a pretty story, I fear, but it needs to be told,” Ramsey said. “I had an altercation this evening.”

Mungo entered the room. In one hand, he held a huge tray, and the other, two thick blankets. After lowering the tray, he hurled one at Ram. The other he handed to Flora.

“You’ll sit and warm up—the both of you,” he said, glaring at Ram. Flora tucked the blanket around her knees as Mungo went to lean against a wall. She’d noted he did that a great deal. Almost like if he stood beside the door, no threat would get by him to harm the people he loved.

Ramsey lowered his blanket to the back of a chair and then made for the food. Picking up a plate of biscuits, he offered it to Flora. She took one. He then returned it to the table and grabbed two before walking back to his place before the fire.

“I was returning from an engagement?—”

“What engagement ends this early?” Ellen demanded. Her daughter’s fingers held one of hers, and Flora felt a tug of yearning to do that with her own child. They were a picture of contentment. The beautiful Ellen Fletcher, with her pretty face and lovely dark hair and her sweet little babe.

“Never mind what. Just listen without interrupting,” Ramsey said, sounding testy.

“I say, did you just censure my wife?” Gray asked, not looking at all put out.

“He raised his voice,” Ellen said, looking dazed. “One rarely hears such a thing.”

“Och, get on with the story!” Mungo thundered.

Bramstone looked like he always did when his gruff friend spoke: amused. Apparently, they’d traveled the world together and not been parted since.

“I felt anger and, at the time, did not know it came from Mr. Hellion, who was following me.”

“Because you were in the tea shop alone. I saw you there, and then I followed you after eating my cake far too fast so it formed a lump in my chest?—”

“I hate when that happens,” Alex added. “Odd that you felt him, Flora, when usually it is someone close that evokes that kind of emotion.”

“Or danger to yourself,” Ellen added.

“I was going to simply walk behind you all the way home,” Ramsey said, much to Flora’s relief, as the conversation was growing uncomfortable.

“Why not walk beside her?” Alex asked.

“I felt fear. It was so strong that I could taste it,” Flora added quickly. “What followed was a rush of anguish, but I did not know in what direction it came from. Then I heard Ramsey yelling,” Flora said. “I turned and found him being set upon by three men.”

“The words I roared at you, Flora, were ‘run, Flora,’ from memory. And yet you did not do that.” Ramsey glared at her.

“And because I did not do that, you are here to tell the tale of what transpired this evening,” she snapped back. “You should be extremely grateful I do not like to take orders from anyone.”

“You could have been abducted right along with me,” Ramsey gritted out.

“And yet there you stand, as annoying as always, because I was brave instead of fleeing.”

They stared at each other, and then slowly she became aware of the silence in the room. Looking at the other faces, she saw a mix of emotions. Surprise on Leo’s, and a knowing look on Ellen’s. She didn’t like that look one bit and wasn’t entirely sure why it was there.

“I beg your pardon?” Gray was the first to speak, wide-eyed as he looked at Ramsey.

“I had hoped to tell them in a gentler manner,” he said, looking down at Flora. The fire made his face glow, and the terrifying ordeal of fleeing through the sewer had done very little to change the fact he was a large, disturbing man who she wished she was not quite so aware of.

The door burst open then, and in galloped their shaggy savior. He stopped briefly to take a biscuit from the tray, which he swallowed in a single gulp, and then made for Ramsey.

“No!” Ramsey bellowed, but he could not stop the dog, who rose on his hind legs and placed both paws on his chest.

“Well, it seems you brought more than a terrifying tale home with you,” Alex said. “Care to tell us who this is?”

“He found us in the sewer and then led us out,” Flora said. “We decided to bring him home with us, as he appeared lost.”

“ We decided?” Ramsey said.

“I’m sure he is someone’s pet because he is so well-behaved.”

“His manners are impeccable, clearly,” Ramsey drawled, attempting to force the dog down to a sitting position.

Chester bounded in next with a joyous bark, to which the gray dog replied with a deep woof, and suddenly madness descended on the room, as the dogs decided to greet each other like old friends and run around the small space.

Flora started laughing and wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to stop. It seemed the night’s events were finally catching up with her and she’d descended into hysteria.