Chasing the Heiress by Rachael Miles Page B

tender wound with all. That had left Aidan to be the confidante and the accomplice, the older brother the younger ones could admire and emulate and adore.
    Crossing the room in three quick steps, Aidan clasped Colin to his breast. “The last time I was this frightened, you had challenged Aaron to a duel with pistols.”
    â€œI was nine.” Colin endured a brotherly muss of the hair.
    â€œAaron would not have cared; he still would have shot you, then blamed you for being foolish.” Fussing, Aidan helped Colin arrange his pillows. Then he looked at Colin carefully, checking his color, the temperature of his forehead, his eyes.
    â€œWould you like to inspect my teeth? I am sure they are as good as those of your horses.” Colin bared his teeth and opened his mouth wide.
    Seth laughed from the doorway. “Colin’s personality has not improved with his injuries.”
    Aidan turned serious, motioning to Seth to shut the door behind Sophia. “Fletcher says the postboy you were carrying from Wrexham to Shrewsbury was part of the robbery. He knocked Bobby from the coach, then hit Fletcher in the head to bring the horses to a stop.”
    â€œIt wasn’t a robbery. Fletcher and I took the regular precautions.” Colin turned his hand palm upward, then let it drop. “I thought I was merely an escort.”
    Aidan nodded. “Even though the infant is not of the parish, we had his birth registered in the local church.”
    â€œYour brother intimidated both the local clergy and the magistrates,” Sophia added conspiratorially. “He hasn’t yet learned that sometimes diplomacy is better than a battering ram.”
    â€œIn intimidating the local authorities, you have not also had my nurse arrested, have you?” Colin noted that Aidan would not meet his eyes.
    â€œIf that woman is a scullery maid, I’m Zeus.” Aidan colored. “But I have not had the magistrate take her in.”
    â€œWhich means what?” Colin pressed for a more direct answer.
    â€œYour brother is unused to a servant refusing him his way. I think it was good for him.” Sophia straightened Colin’s bedcovers and sat beside him.
    Colin smiled at Sophia and met Seth’s eyes over her shoulder. “I imagine that growing up in the camps made her less sympathetic to ‘great men’ ordering her about.”
    â€œI see you have talked to her a great deal.” Aidan stood at the window, staring into the courtyard.
    â€œLying in bed all day staring at the ceiling was not very interesting,” Colin averred. “But you haven’t answered: have you used your rank to bully her into a jail cell?”
    â€œAidan compromised by having her locked in her room.” Seth leaned back against the wall. Aidan turned from the window to glare at him, but Seth only grinned.
    â€œOh dear.” Colin groaned and rubbed one eyebrow with his thumb. “I would like to see her, to apologize for my brother’s arrogance.
    â€œAfter you rest,” Aidan commanded.
    â€œI will rest after I speak with Lucy.”
    * * *
    Lucy paced. She had spent the day locked in her room. Until the extra wing of the inn had been built, her room had served as a small upstairs sitting room for wealthier visitors or a bedroom when the inn was especially full. Since morning, she had likely paced five miles. It was foolish, but the exertion kept her heart from racing, though it did nothing to keep her mind from considering the various threats she faced.
    Ten steps from the door to the window. There, she surveyed the carriage yard for her cousin’s men. If they returned, and Colin’s family unknowingly revealed where she was, she would have no way to escape. Before the duke had arrived, she had played with the idea of throwing herself on Colin’s protection, even offering a part of her fortune for his aid. But the prominence of his family worried her. Did they know her cousin?