Page 69 of The Untamed Heart

Eustacia tried once again to change his mind. “It will work, and there is very little risk, Marcus.”

Marcus folded his arms. “Absolutely not,” he said stubbornly.

Eustacia sighed. It was far too late to pretend there was nothing between them, so she crossed the room and sat beside him, taking his hand. “I want to do this to help you,” she said, searching his gaze.

He stared back at her, and her breath caught at the terror she saw there, the dread. He shook his head.

“Please understand. I can’t… I couldn’t bear it. Things go wrong, Eustacia. The best-laid plans—”

“I’ll do it.”

All eyes turned to Lord Darenth.

Hawkney frowned. “Do what?”

“Be Eustacia,” he said with a shrug.

There was an awkward silence.

Sheringham cleared his throat. “Er, Lucius. You are about a foot taller, a good deal wider at the shoulders, and… and I say this as a friend, but you’d make a bloody awful woman.”

Lucius scowled. “I disagree. I excel at disguises, I’ll have you know. But that is beside the point. I do not need to pass scrutiny. All Keller needs to see is a figure in the carriage wearing a black veil. If the rest of you do your job sufficiently well, it won’t occur to Keller that it is anyone but Eustacia.”

“That’s true,” Sheringham agreed. “If she leaves early in the morning, the sun won’t be fully up either. He’d only see a silhouette at most.”

Eustacia saw the tension leave Marcus’s shoulders and he let out a breath. He truly cares for me, she thought, her heart aching with joy and with fear for what they might lose if things went wrong.

After all, Marcus was right. No one could predict every outcome, and no plan was entirely foolproof. These four men were intelligent, resilient, brave. They ought to be more than sufficient to capture Keller, but life didn’t always play along. Marcus might still get hurt. Any of them might.

Though she knew she ought not, she reached out and took his hand.

He turned to look at her and smiled, and the look in his eyes, oh, that look contained such passion, such adoration that her breath hitched.

He loves me.

She smiled back at him, wanting to laugh, to fling her arms about his neck and kiss him, but even she wasn’t that bold. Instead, she gazed back at him, praying he could see in her eyes everything she had just glimpsed in his.

“Ahem.”

They both jumped slightly at the duke’s polite cough and returned their attention reluctantly to proceedings.

“Very well. We have the beginnings of a plan,” his grace said, his expression serious. “We will put it about that Miss Foxworthy has received news of the sudden death of her aunt. She is leaving on Thursday morning to be with her family.”

“But I don’t have any family. I certainly don’t have an aunt,” Eustacia pointed out.

“Is that widely known?” Marcus asked.

She considered this. “No, I suppose not.”

“Very well. I do not think we need worry about anyone contradicting the story,” Hawkney replied. “Then the carriage will leave early in the morning, apparently containing Eustacia, but the driver—that’s me—will pull up halfway down the hill on the pretext of the horse having lost a shoe or some such. If Keller is the man Lucius believes him to be, this ought to be too good an opportunity to miss.”

Darenth nodded. “I believe it is worth the effort to draw him out. If he does not take the bait, we can take a different approach next time, but I believe capturing Eustacia will rank high on Keller’s list of preferred ways to make Marcus suffer. However, we might need to make it plain that Eustacia is of importance to him, just so Keller has no doubt, so I suggest we announce their engagement at once. The prospect of Marcus not only hailed as a hero, but living happily with the woman he loves ought to be enough to tip the man over the edge.” Darenth stopped, frowning as he noticed the looks of astonishment being sent in his direction. “What?” he asked in confusion.

The duke rubbed a hand over his face, looking as if he was struggling to find words. Eustacia didn’t blame him; she was utterly speechless.

Sheringham gazed at Lord Darenth with a sort of bewildered fascination. “Bloody hell, Lucius. Have you no concept of tact? No. Why do I ask? I know very well you do not.”

“What did I do?” Darenth demanded in frustration. “She loves him, he loves her. They get married. Isn’t that what normal people do?”