The Reckless Bride Read Online Free Page B

Hotel, just along from the top of this street.”
    Suppressing a grimace—of course she would know his family—Rafe bowed over her hand, with the other gestured to Hassan. “We’ll escort you back once you’re ready.”
    Lady Congreve’s smile widened. “Thank you, dear boy. I’m feeling quite recovered already, but"—she gripped his hand and Rafe helped her to her feet—"before I return to thehotel, I must complete the errand that brought me this way. I have to collect tickets from an office on the embankment.”
    Rafe gave her his arm and they turned down the street. “Which company?”
    “The Excelsior Shipping Company.” Lady Congreve gestured with her cane. “I believe they’re just around the corner.”
    Half an hour later, Rafe and Hassan found themselves taking tea in the premier suite of the Imperial Hotel in the fashionable castle quarter of Buda. Lady Congreve had insisted. Rafe had discovered that his grande-dame-avoiding skills were rusty. There hadn’t seemed any way to refuse the invitation without giving offense, and as he’d learned, to his horror, that Lady Congreve and her party were among the passengers due to depart on the
Uray Princep
the following morning, trying to avoid closer acquaintance seemed pointless.
    He had to admit the array of cakes that arrived on the tea tray were the best he’d tasted in a decade.
    “So you and Mr. Hassan were with the army in India.” Lady Congreve settled back on the chaise and regarded him. “Did you ever meet Enslow?”
    “Hastings’s aide?” Rafe nodded. “Poor chap’s usually run ragged. Hastings has a finger in so many pies.”
    “So I’ve heard. So you were based in Calcutta?”
    “For the most part. In the months before I resigned and departed, a group of us were operating out of Bombay.” Rafe understood she was checking his bona fides, but he wasn’t sure why.
    “So you’ve been soldiering for all these years, and have been a captain for how long?”
    “Since before Toulouse.”
    “And you fought at Waterloo?”
    He nodded. “I was part of a compound troop—part experienced regulars, part ton volunteers. Heavy cavalry.”
    “Who of the ton fought alongside you?”
    “Mostly Cynsters—the six cousins—plus a smattering of other houses. Two Nevilles, a Percy, and one Farquar.”
    “Ah, yes, I remember hearing about the exploits of that troop. And now you’ve resigned and are heading back to England?”
    Rafe shrugged. “It was time.”
    “Excellent!” Lady Congreve beamed.
    Every instinct Rafe possessed went on high alert.
    “It seems, sir, almost as if fate has sent you to me.” Lady Congreve glanced at Hassan, including him in the comment. “I wonder if I might impose upon you—you and Mr. Hassan—to act as my party’s courier-guide and guard? We left Paris with an experienced guide, but sadly had to part with him in Trieste. Knowing we would be traveling on by riverboat once we reached here, I didn’t see any point in securing a replacement, but today’s events have demonstrated my error. It simply isn’t safe for ladies to walk these foreign streets unprotected.” Lady Congreve held Rafe’s gaze. “And as you are going the same way and, indeed, have already secured passage on the same boat, I do hope you can see your way to joining my party.”
    By sheer force of will, Rafe managed to keep all reaction from his face.
    When he didn’t immediately reply, Lady Congreve continued, “Our meeting does seem fortuitous, especially as you’ve taken the last tickets on the boat, so even if I could find any men as suitable, I wouldn’t be able to secure passage for them.”
    Rafe inwardly cursed the clerk at the shipping office, who, of course, had recognized him and commented. Racking his brains for the right form of words with which to decline, aware of Hassan looking at him, waiting for him to get them out of this trap, Rafe opened his mouth … then shut it.
    He and Hassan needed some reason that would