Sometimes a Rogue (LL5) by Putney Mary Jo

Author:Putney, Mary Jo [Putney, Mary Jo]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Romance, Regency, General, Historical, Fiction
ISBN: 9781420127157
Publisher: Zebra
Published: 2013-03-15T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

The letters Rob and Sarah sent from Kellington made their way across England by swift mail coach. The first arrived at Ralston Abbey the evening of the day it was sent. Eager for news, Adam had given orders for all letters to be brought to him immediately, but he wasn’t expecting a missive with “Kellington” franked across the corner.

He frowned. That title belonged to Rob Carmichael’s older brother. Could something dreadful have happened to Rob and his brother was writing to inform Rob’s friends? That seemed unlikely from what he knew of Edmund Carmichael.

Adam broke the wax seal and scanned the contents, his brows arching. Then he sought out his wife, who was reading in the nursery with their son in a cradle beside her.

“Good news!” Adam announced. “Rob Carmichael has rescued Sarah and they’re back in England.”

“Thank God!” Mariah’s expression turned incandescent. “Where is she?”

“In Somerset, at Kellington Castle. Rob just inherited the Kellington earldom,” Adam said with interest. “I’ve been so busy down here I missed the news that his older brother died in an accident a couple of weeks ago.”

“Just when Sarah was abducted and I was inefficiently delivering your heir.” Mariah bent and tenderly touched the tiny clenched fist of her sleeping son. “I think you can be forgiven being behind with the news this time.”

Adam consulted the letter. “Rob says the kidnappers wanted to hold Sarah—or rather, you—for ransom. After he retrieved her, they sailed home. When they arrived in England, he learned of his inheritance, so he’s taking a bit of time to study the situation.”

“Is there a note from Sarah?”

“Yes, addressed to you.” Adam removed the smaller paper enclosed in Rob’s letter and handed it over.

Mariah broke the seal eagerly, then frowned over the contents. “Her handwriting is too much like mine, which means it’s hard to read. Her tale is much more colorful than Rob’s. Apparently he extracted her from the middle of a house full of radicals and they were chased across Ireland, sleeping in barns and the like. I trust Rob is discreet? Sarah is the twin with the unblemished reputation, and it would be nice to see that preserved.”

“Rob is so discreet that he doesn’t even tell himself what happened,” Adam assured her. “What else does Sarah say? She really is all right?” He hesitated, hating to put his fears into words. “She wasn’t assaulted by her captors?”

“She assures me she’s fine, apart from bruises received when their yawl was wrecked on the Somerset coast during that big storm. Rob said nothing about that?”

“His reports are generally just the facts.”

Mariah held the letter next to the light so she could see the words better. “After their yawl was wrecked, they fetched up at his family estate and she told people on the estate that she and Rob were betrothed to make things simpler.” She frowned. “She doesn’t say they’re not betrothed. What does that mean?”

She glanced at Adam questioningly. “I know Rob is one of your oldest friends, and he’s therefore fearless, honest, utterly reliable, and generally above reproach.

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