With This Ring by Celeste Bradley

difficulty.
    Hastings, usually irrepressible on the topic of carnal prospects, changed the subject.“Are ye goin’ on to the estate now?”
    Aaron wished he could reply in the affirmative, but he couldn’t.He wished he could run for his life and leave the young ladies here to await their family!
    When would that be?A day?A week?The two young ladies in question—one simply mad, the other decidedly contrarian—had already proved that they could not be trusted to the care and feeding of a pebble, much less take proper heed of their own safety.Aaron shuddered to think what mischief the two of them could concoct in a matter of hours, much less possibly days!
    Stay here with them until help arrives.
    Help in the form of the demented soldier and assistant highwayman brother, who ought not to have let his sister out of his sight in the first place?Thank you, no.Aaron didn’t need help like that.
    He’d be better off taking them back to London by himself.
    Oh, hell.Aaron ran one hand through his hair.
    London.
    Hellfire and damnation.
    London on the way to his destination had been visited as swiftly and silently as possible.They’d scarcely left the docks.Hastings had purchased the carriage and team while Aaron had watched from the background.The fine clothing had been had from a secondhand stall in the market, again with Hastings as the front man.
    Aaron had always known that he would have to face the city again someday, but he had hoped it would not happen until he was rightfully the Earl of Arbodean—and even then, he wouldn’t have minded giving matters a few more years to die down.
    Then, of course, his plans were struck by the cannonball that was Miss Elektra Worthington!
    Hastings choked on his broth when he heard.“London?Are ye mad?If anyone recognizes ye—”
    Aaron shrugged helplessly.“There’s no other choice.Besides, I’m just an irascible manservant named Hastings, remember?Beneath anyone’s notice, right?Isn’t that how you slide past close scrutiny?”
    Hastings smirked.“So ye have been payin’ attention to me lessons.What about yer grandpapa, then?”
    Aaron thought it through for a moment.Casting his gaze about the room, he saw a small stack of foolscap and a bottle of ink that had been provided for “his lordship.”Swiftly, he inked a quill and in his finest handwriting delivered a nicely worded apology for his “indisposition” and tardiness, along with the inn’s address.
    He did not seal it.“Let the innkeeper see it before he posts it for you.”
    He also wrote out the address of Worthington House in London.“Here is where you’ll find me if you need to.I don’t expect to be more than a few days away.”With a very Hastings-like tip of his hat, he climbed back through the window.
    He thought his urgent schedule might encounter some argument from the young ladies, but he discovered they had already returned to the pony cart.
    “Of course.”Miss Bliss blinked uncommonly blue eyes at him.“I should like to begin my Season as soon as possible.If I am any later,” she told him earnestly, “the best matches will already be made.”
    “I had already decided so.”Miss Elektra scarcely bothered to look at him.“You’ll ride alongside, of course.Bliss’s silly little pony can’t pull three.”She turned away, muttering something about “men, always needing to state the obvious!”
    Once Aaron had given in to the winds of fate, it was surprising how quickly the three of them were once more upon the road.Miss Bliss set a brisk pace with her pony.Bonnet ribbons flying in the breeze, the two ladies looked very much alike from Aaron’s position behind and properly to one side.Cousins indeed.
    Except there was a lissomeness to Miss Elektra Worthington’s figure—although most would probably find Miss Bliss Worthington’s charms more impressive.And Miss Bliss had a sweetly modulated voice—yet Miss Elektra seemed rather more interesting to listen to.
    They were both very pretty young