A Lord Rotheby's Holiday Bundle by Catherine Gayle Page A

events
on Quinton’s end.
    But he had not.
    He could never forgive himself if he’d
allowed another innocent to fall prey to Quinton’s vices. Which was
why he was here, now. If anyone could stop Quinton, it was his
grandfather.
    Griffin established his resolve and
knocked at the door. A butler ushered him inside and settled him in
a sitting room, and a pretty young maid brought in a tray with
biscuits and tea. He finished his first cup of tea and was well
into his second before Rotheby joined him.
    “ Lord Griffin. One of
Laughton’s sons, aren’t you? What do you want?” The older man had a
spring in his step that was obviously missing in his
deportment.
    Griffin jumped to his feet and started
to bow, but Rotheby waved him off impatiently.
    “ My lord, I’d hoped to
speak with you on an important matter regarding your grandson and a
certain Miss Hyatt. I assure you, it is quite
imperative.”
    The earl narrowed his eyes and took a
seat in the closest armchair. “Miss Hyatt, eh? Go on.”
    “ I was at my club yesterday
afternoon when I overheard Lord Quinton speaking with a
friend”
    “ Eavesdropping is rude,”
Rotheby interjected. “Is your father aware of your penchant for
such behavior?”
    So he wasn’t going to make this easy,
was he? Quinton had probably already started things in motion then.
Something had to be done. “My lord, your grandson has come upon
Miss Hyatt’s journal. A journal filled with sordid
stories.”
    The earl’s eyes widened,
but he shook his head. “And that should matter to me why ,
precisely?”
    Griffin threw up his hands in disgust.
“Because he is going to use this against her! He intends to trap
her in some way and force her hand. He’ll ruin her as fast as he
devastated my sister—you do remember that, do you not?”
    Rotheby gave a curt nod.
    “ Then you’ll also remember
that Phoebe was innocent in their situation. As, I’m sure, is Miss
Hyatt. You, sir, must do something to stop Quinton. You must rein
in your wayward grandson and protect this young lady before it is
too late.”
    The earl reached to a
nearby table and picked up the morning’s society papers. “Here,
take a look at this.” He tossed it to Griffin. “You’ll see
that you are too
late. I expect they’ll marry within the week.”
    Griffin scanned the story,
reading how the bastard had cornered the poor girl and kissed her
before half the ton . Thank God Phoebe had left before seeing that. Who knows what
it would have done to her.
    He left Mansfield House, kicking
himself for not acting sooner.
    Miss Hyatt must now suffer for his
inaction.
     
    ~ * ~
     
    “ I have half a mind to stop
aiding you,” Jonas said, climbing into his phaeton after Quin.
“Maybe Rotheby was on to something with his ultimatum.”
    “ Lovely to have your
support,” Quin grumbled. With the two of them seated together,
there was hardly room to breathe, let alone stretch one’s legs in
any sense of comfort. “I am perfectly capable of traveling to
Doctor’s Commons on my own, you know. You need not keep me in
leading strings.”
    “ If I’m not going to cut
you off,” Jonas said, “I intend to keep both eyes fully trained on
you until this is all settled to my satisfaction.”
    Quin had had enough. First, there was
the blistering headache from indulging a mite too much in brandy
the night before, compounded by the arguments with Jonas that had
gone well into the night. Then the meeting with Rotheby that
morning—which had been an effort, to say the least. And of course,
he’d had to handle both Hyatt and Aurora, as well.
    Some days he thought
perhaps there was something to be said for living a quiet,
predictable, honorable life. Maybe someday he would give it a try. Likely not,
though. Even though sorting out the messes he created often made
him want to toss himself inside a burning building, they were still
damned fun creating in the first place.
    “ I gave you my bloody word.
More importantly, I gave Miss