Scoundrel Ever After (Secrets and Scandals) Read Online Free Page B

neck.
    She pulled the hat down more firmly on her head and notched her chin up. “I neglected to grab my wig.”
    He shook his head. He had plenty of questions of his own for later. “Keep your head down and lean on me. Can you play drunk?”
    She hesitated, then nodded.
    He doubted her. “Have you ever been drunk?”
    “No. Unless you count having two glasses of sherry at Michaelmas.”
    At any other time, he would’ve laughed. “Just stumble and make indeterminate noises now and again.”
    “I can do that.”
    He smiled at her, appreciating her pluck. He put his uninjured left arm around her and drew her against him. His right arm continued to ache, but he’d relegated the pain to the back of his mind.
    She stiffened slightly as she came against him, then relaxed. In fact, she slumped against him and he had to prop her up.
    “Perhaps you could merely try to look incapacitated instead of actually being incapacitated,” he whispered down at her. “I’m having a hard time supporting both of our weight in my wounded state.”
    She immediately corrected her posture, pulling herself away from him, but still keeping close as if she were leaning on him. “Give me a pinch or something if I’m hurting you.”
    Yes, Miss Audrey Cheswick was a most intrepid young woman.
    He moved around the corner into the courtyard. A couple of lanterns glowed, offering just enough light for him to select their quarry, though he could probably do just as well in the dark. He’d come to these mews often as a lad and knew them nearly as well as the rookeries.
    There were no stable lads about, but they wouldn’t be far off—either slumbering in an empty stall or gathered around a table drinking from a bottle of this or that.
    He led her to the first alcove, but it held a coach. And the next one contained a brougham. He paused and leaned against the brick again. Hitching up horses was complicated with two good arms. How in the hell was he going to manage it with only one? He leaned down, tucking his head beneath her hat, and spoke softly against Audrey’s ear. “I don’t suppose you know how to hitch horses to a vehicle?”
    She angled her head, trying to look at him, but he pressed her back against his shoulder. “Don’t,” he whispered. She needed to keep her head down to continue their ruse. Furthermore, turning to look at him would’ve brought her mouth dangerously close to his. It was bad enough his lips were against the delicate shell of her ear. Worse, his nose was full of her tantalizing scent—something floral, but with a bit of spice. She smelled clean, fresh, not like the women of his acquaintance who used fragrance to draw one’s attention away from their lesser attributes.
    “Not very well,” she whispered in response to his question.
    He could work with that. He pushed away from the wall, intent on finding a smaller vehicle. The sound of horses’ hooves and wheels over cobblestone drove him back against the wall. “Shhh,” he hissed as the carriage—or whatever it was—drew near to the courtyard.
    A stable lad dashed into the center of the cobblestoned area to greet the vehicle, a jaunty two-seat cabriolet.
    Perfect .
    Ethan grinned against her ear. “No need. We’ll take that one.”
    A tiger jumped out of the terribly fashionable cab, its two-person seat shielded from the elements by a dark blue cover. He exchanged words with the stable lad and then took off hastily across the courtyard back the way he came. Even better .
    The stable boy led the horse and vehicle toward the opposite side of the courtyard. Ethan pulled his arm from around Audrey’s shoulder and drew a few coins from his bag. “Wait here.”
    He set his bag and truncheon down beside her, then strode purposefully across the cobblestones to where the boy was leading the vehicle toward an empty stall. The boy would unhitch the horse, store the vehicle, and take care of the livestock. Or, he would if Ethan didn’t have other