Free A Most Peculiar Circumstance by Jen Turano

suffering, and I would appreciate it if we could keep this little matter strictly between us.”
    The man looked at the bills, sent her another glare, and then nodded to Theodore before he turned and limped away without speaking another word.
    “I am not unbalanced.”
    “Oh? Do you know of any other proper young lady who would accost an innocent gentleman, especially when said lady had a private investigator at her disposal to deal with such matters?”
    She opened her mouth, but found there was absolutely nothing to say to that somewhat insightful statement, so she pursed her lips and took the arm he shoved at her. She soon found herself being nudged through a crowd of curious onlookers and felt a flicker of indignation steal over her.
    “None of this would have happened if you hadn’t put the thought of those men in my mind.”
    Theodore stopped in his tracks, leaving her no choice but to stop as well. “You cannot truly believe any of this is my fault.”
    She shrugged, the action causing a lock of hair to fall in her eyes. She pushed it out of her face with her free hand, noticing she seemed to have lost her hat. She glanced over her shoulder, saw that people were still regarding her curiously, and decided that hatless was how she was going to have to travel home.
    “. . . and granted, I did bring up the idea that those men might follow you back to New York, but they certainly weren’t on the train with us, and it’s not as if I expected them to be waiting for you at the train station.”
    She drew in a breath, let it out slowly, and prodded him into motion. “If you would have explained that more thoroughly, I wouldn’t have reacted as I did. How was I to know you didn’t believe the men would have time to meet me here, and come to think of it . . . how would they even know where to find me?”
    For some odd reason, Theodore’s hand tightened on her arm, but then he relaxed and continued moving forward without bothering to respond to her question.
    “Is there something you haven’t told me?”
    “What possessed you to hit that poor man over the head with your reticule?”
    Arabella blinked. “I think we’ve already discussed that incident to satisfaction. I thought he was the criminal who’d tried to abduct me, so hitting him about the head with the only object I had on hand seemed the logical thing to do.”
    “It wasn’t logical in the least. Ladies do not beat innocent gentlemen with their dainty reticules, and why in the world was your reticule actually causing the man serious pain?”
    “Don’t you remember? My pistol’s inside.”
    “Well, I suppose we can give thanks to God that you didn’t decide to use that pistol, or we might have had a dead man on our hands instead of a slightly bruised one.”
    “I wouldn’t have killed him,” she muttered before she stumbled when Theodore came to another abrupt stop. She glanced in the direction he was currently staring and resisted the urge to sigh.
    Gloria, Zayne, her brother, Hamilton, and a beautiful lady with red hair and sparkling blue eyes were standing before them, all with different expressions on their faces.
    Gloria looked disheartened. Zayne looked amused. Hamilton, well, he might just be smiling because he was happy to see her, and the beautiful lady she assumed was Eliza was looking exasperated.
    “Honestly, Theodore, you’re probably scaring old ladies and children with that scowl on your face,” the beautiful lady said as she stepped forward. “I told everyone it was not a good idea for you to run off and fetch Arabella, but did anyone listen to me? Of course not,” she finished before anyone had a chance to respond. She grinned, and a delightful dimple popped out on her cheek as she moved to Arabella’s side. She sent Theodore an arch look, which had him dropping his hold on Arabella, and then she pulled her into a hug.
    “I’ve been so looking forward to meeting you, my dear sister. I’m Eliza.”
    Arabella caught