Free Malia Martin by Prideand Prudence

fact.”
    “I do not make light of it, Leslie. If I didn’t think it would be best for all, I would not propose this plan.”
    Tuck stuck his head through the back door. “Thought you’d want to know that the captain is standing out front, bag in hand, waiting for me to bring his horse ’round.”
    Prudence frowned. “Well, this will never do. I need him to stay for at least one more night.”
    “He can’t feel much better. You should insist on taking him to the doctor up in Brighton,” Leslie suggested.
    “That’ll take you today and tomorrow at least,” Delilah pointed out. “The boys can move the stuff from Harker’s while you’re gone.”
    “And I can start in on my new plan,” Pru said, jumping up from her chair.
    “What plan is that?” Tuck asked.
    “None of your business,” all three women said at once.
    Tuck shrugged amiably. “So you want me to hitch up the carriage then, Lady Farnsworth. Might take a while; haven’t used it in a year. It’ll need a good airing out.”
    “Thank you, Tuck,” Pru said. “I’m going to go change into my traveling clothes. Leslie, can you find Mabel and ask her to pack me a small bag?”
    “You ought to take someone with you, Lady Pru,” Delilah cautioned as she placed a cloth over her dough while she left it to rise. “It’s not right you two going off alone like that.”
    “Isn’t that the point?”
    “Pru, you do need to keep up appearances, dear,” Leslie said. “We understand, and most everyone else will as well, but they won’t if you flaunt it in their faces.”
    Prudence tsked and rolled her eyes. “Well, then Leslie, why don’t you accompany us?”
    She smiled. “I would love to, dear, especially because I am rather sure that there is no way you are going to get out of this town without Clifton going along, and you will definitely need me to keep him out of your way if that is the case.”
    With a shake of her head, Prudence laughed. “All right then, off we go. Hopefully I shall be able to outwit Clifton and crumble the captain’s defenses while the boys move our wool out of Harker’s cellar. This shall be an interesting night in Brighton, I daresay.”
    The woman had turned into a general again, and now he sat in a very badly sprung carriage sharing a torn leather seat with Lady Farnsworth and staring into the one good eye of the biggest butler in England.
    Leslie Redding sneezed, and, if possible, Clifton’s scowl deepened.
    “I’m terribly sorry,” the older woman said, her words muffled. “I can’t stop sneezing.”
    She had said the same thing after every single sneeze in the last hour. And there had been many.
    Lady Farnsworth leaned over and placed a gloved hand on her friend’s knee. “I’m sorry, Leslie. This old carriage is so musty. Do you think you ought to ride outside?”
    Mrs. Redding’s face brightened considerably. “That is a lovely idea, Lady Pru. It is warm enough, I’m sure.”
    Lady Farnsworth knocked on the roof with the handle of her parasol, and the carriage slowed, bouncing horribly. James barely contained the need to hold his head still with both hands. He felt, truly, like he had awakened to a nightmare.
    There were surely small men inside his brain with pickaxes intent upon rendering him absolutely senseless. And, obviously, they had done their job well, for here he sat in a carriage getting farther and farther from Gravesly and, more importantly, the Wolf, with every jolting movement.
    When Lady Farnsworth had come charging out the front door of Chesley House insisting he go to Brighton with her, it had felt like an attack of French proportions. And since his senses were addled, he had found himself in a coach bound for Brighton within ten minutes of the attack. Adding to that humiliation, James could have sworn he had politely refused Lady Farnsworth at least a dozen times.
    He really needed to be less polite with Lady Farnsworth, or he would never get his job done.
    The carriage came to a