Page 4 of One Night of Temptation
She shook her head briskly. “I can’t go home.” Her brow furrowed. “Maisie paid them to kidnap me?”
She couldn’t go home? He’d get to that in a minute. First… “How do you know Maisie?”
The young woman replaced her bonnet atop her head and retied the ribbon beneath her chin. “I met her at your church. She was my…friend.” Her mouth curled into a deep frown.
A burst of sympathy washed over Hugh. It seemed Maisie had swindled her. “You’re Bramber’s daughter, aren’t you?”
She nodded. “Lady Penelope Wakefield.”
He realized several people were staring at them. While he would hardly draw attention, Lady Penelope most certainly would. “I really should get you home.”
She shook her head firmly. “I told you, I’m not going home. I was supposed to go to an inn with Maisie.”
An inn… There were several in St. Giles but only one where he’d take Lady Penelope. They could at least get off the street so he could fully investigate this matter. “Come, I’ll take you to an inn where we can sit and talk.” He offered her his arm as if they were taking a promenade at the park instead of in the center of London’s most notorious rookery.
“Thank you.” She placed her hand on his sleeve, and he set off to Carrier Street where they turned right toward Buckridge. The Craven Cock, St. Giles’s best-kept inn, stood on the corner.
Hugh led her into the large common room. Set with pockmarked tables and mismatched chairs, the space was almost empty of patrons. One man sat at a table near the wall, eyes closed, his head cushioned on his arms, which he’d folded atop the table. Another pair of men sat on the opposite side of the room and appeared to be deep in conversation.
Hugh guided her to a table and held her chair while she sat. He took the one on the opposite side of the small square table and set his hat on one of the two remaining chairs. “Now, if you don’t mind, please start your tale at the beginning.”
She hesitated. Just enough that Hugh wasn’t sure he was about to hear the truth. “I needed to get away from home—just for tonight. Maisie offered to help me. I paid her. Now it appears she had an altogether different scheme in mind.” She shook her head and looked down at the table. “I can’t believe I was so foolish. On second thought, yes, I can. I was desperate.” She shot him a worried glance tinged with fear.
Hugh was more confused than ever, and yet he was certain that Lady Penelope was indeed telling the truth—she’d felt cornered. He was also certain Maisie had promised her a way out and taken advantage. “Why did you need to get away from home for tonight? Is there something going on that you’re trying to avoid?”
She lifted her gaze to his and laughed. The sound was dark and hollow. It sent a chill into his bones. “Yes, I am most definitely trying to avoid something: marriage.”
Her answer didn’t entirely dispel his confusion. “You’re getting married tonight?”
“Not tonight, no, but the man my parents are forcing me to wed is coming to dinner, when our betrothal will be announced.”
Forcing. He didn’t like the sound of that. “Why are you being forced?”
She straightened, her shoulders stiffening. “Because my father wants this marriage. However, if I’m ruined, the groom won’t want to marry me. Maisie suggested I get kidnapped.”
Hugh tried to wrap his mind around such a scheme. “So you expected Joseph and Edwin to throw a bag over your head.”
“I didn’t. There wasn’t supposed to be an actual kidnapping. I slipped away from my chaperone to meet Maisie on Ivy Street. She dispatched a faux ransom note to my father and another to theTimesso that my abduction would be public knowledge. I can’t be ruined unless everyone knows about it.”
“This was all Maisie’s idea.” Anger and disappointment tore through him. “And you met her at my church.” Maisie had preyed on this young woman as surely as Joseph had meant to.
“Yes.”
“Well then, it’s up to me to make things right.”
Chapter 2
“Why is it up to you?” Penelope asked, and yet she was grateful for whatever assistance the rector might provide. She’d been concerned about his safety when he’d intervened with her kidnappers—good Lord, she’d nearly been kidnapped for real.
She suddenly felt very light-headed.
“Lady Penelope, are you all right?” Mr. Tarleton leaned forward, his gaze darkening with concern.
And what a charming gaze he had. His eyes were hazel, a captivating mix of warm brown and jade green with a golden halo encircling the pupil. Halo? Was he an angel? Perhaps not, but he’d surely been sent by one.
She blinked, as much to regain her equilibrium as to stop herself from thinking how attractive the rector was. “Yes, I’m fine. I just… This is not how I envisioned this day would proceed.”
“How did you envision it?”
