Free Regency 05 - Intrigue by Jaimey Grant

and her face and hands were badly burned.”
    Shock was too mild a word to describe the feeling that went through Malvina at this disclosure. “Is she all right? Is she in any pain?”
    “I suppose she must be,” he replied thoughtfully, staring into the leaping flames in the fireplace. “She was burned over the left side of her face, both hands, and her chest.”
    “How did it happen?”
    Gideon swung around and looked at her. His eyes shuttered, his face closed, and she knew they were done talking for tonight. “A mishap,” he repeated, his look telling her accurately that she would not find out any time soon.
    She rose and gave him a tired little smile. “Good night, Lord Holt.”
    As she walked to the door, his next words stopped her, freezing her blood.
    “Mark my words well, Lady Malvina Brackney. I will know your purpose in the stables this night. Pray to God I am not displeased with what I find.”

 

    The young baronet sat in brooding silence for the majority of their long journey to Yorkshire. Gideon wondered what was going on in his head and then decided he’d rather not know. The boy would soon be under Samantha’s control. Even with the scarring, she was still a very beautiful girl and full of life. He admired her but he avoided her as much as possible.
    Gideon shoved his mind away from his sister and focused on his newest problem. Malvina. He had had the devil of a time when he questioned the head groom. The task was made more difficult by the fact that he’d had to be as vague as possible to avoid alerting the man to his real purpose. It had gotten him exactly nowhere.
    “When will we arrive, my lord?” Malvina asked days later.
    She had a vague, questioning look on her face that indicated how she was distancing herself from him and the entire situation in which she found herself. Gideon told himself he was pleased.
    He stared out the window as if something in the passing scenery would tell him. Then, in as offhand a tone as he could affect, he replied, “As it is a distance of well over one hundred and seventy-five miles, the entire journey will take a few days at least, my lady. And as we have already been traveling for just over three days, I suppose we will arrive at Moorview Park presently.”
    “Well, that would explain why you are unknown in Gloucester,” muttered Malvina, her tone just barely civil.
    Gideon gave her a long look from beneath hooded lids. “You are correct, of course. Though, I should point out, I spend most of my time in London. I haven’t visited in many months.”
    “Why not?” asked Wolf, betraying he had at least a modicum of interest in what was going on.
    Gideon smiled. “Personal reasons.”
    The young baronet resumed his silent appraisal of the passing countryside. Malvina pursed her lips and stared moodily out the other window. Gideon had to repress a smile of amusement.
    His amusement was swiftly killed when Wolf looked at him and said, “This is kidnapping, you know.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “Did I stutter? Or do you just not understand the King’s English?” queried the boy nastily, ignoring the warning pinch from his mother. “I told you, my lord earl, that you are kidnapping us. It is still illegal, I’m sure, even for a peer.”
    “Indeed it is,” agreed Gideon easily enough. His brown eyes met Wolf’s blue ones. “Unfortunately for you, young Master Beowulf, I am not kidnapping you.”
    “Just because you’re not forcing my mother to do horrible things in exchange for your silence does not make you any better than that other scoundrel!” Wolf snapped, beside himself with rage. A look of suspicious horror crossed his young face as a sudden thought occurred to him. “Or are you? Do you take your payment from her body?”
    “Wolf!” Malvina’s face heated at her son’s scandalous suggestion. “Please!”
    “What, Mother? Do you want me to apologize to him for what he’s done? Do you think he deserves it, the way he’s been treating