“Oh, thank you, but no. I couldn’t do that.”
“You can if your belly stays empty long enough.” The maid sniffed and walked off.
Sabrina wanted to disagree, but there was a frightening truth to that. Perhaps she had to go to London after all. By the time she collected her things and was in the stables seeing to Celeste, she already feared what the coming days would bring. She should have been worrying about the here and now.
“Well now, ain’t you a pretty piece!” a gruff voice said from behind her.
Sabrina whirled to see a massive, meaty man who smelled of spirits. His bloodshot eyes were fixed on her. She held Celeste’s reins, but the man blocked her path to freedom.
“Excuse me, sir, please step aside so that I may pass.”
“Now, now, no need to be so ’asty,” he said with a leer. “I overheard what ye were sayin’ back inside. Why don’t we ’ave a bit of fun, and I can send ye on yer way with a bit of coin. What d’ye say?”
She straightened herself and glared at him. “Move, or I will have my horse tread over you.”
Fury lit the man’s dark eyes. “So it’s like that, is it?” He lunged for her, and she screeched and swung a fist at him. Celeste reared back, pulling free of Sabrina’s tenuous hold on the reins. It gave the man time to grab her.
“Let go of me!”
He pulled her off her feet, and she was thrown onto a bed of hay in an empty stall. When he knelt to grab her, she savagely clawed his face.
He touched his cheek and found blood on his hand. “Oh, ye’ll pay for that.” He removed his belt, formed a loop, and snapped the leather against his palm. Terror overcame Sabrina as he advanced on her.
“I say—this doesn’t look the least bit consenting,” a voice drawled from behind her attacker. “Though I could be mistaken. Some ladies do like a bit of danger in their love life. Spices things up.”
Her attacker turned to stare at Rafe Lennox, who leaned casually against a wooden beam just beyond the stall Sabrina was trapped in.
“Sod off. The bitch is mine,” the man growled.
“Really, now? I had thought Miss Talleyrand had better taste.” Rafe glanced at her. “Tell me, are you consenting to this, Miss Talleyrand?”
“To this? Of course I’m not consenting to this!”
“Well then, there you have it,” Rafe told the man. “Off you go now.”
“What?” the man huffed. “Who the ’ell do ye think ye are?”
“I am the man telling you to go. Politely. I may not be a saint, but I’m still a gentleman, and as such I am duty bound to intercede and free this woman from you.”
“Oh, bugger off, ye puff dandy.”
Rafe rolled his eyes. “I can see words are of little use here. I had better make it quick, shall I? Miss Talleyrand, please watch yourself.” It was her only warning.
Sabrina scrambled back just as Rafe launched himself at the man. The flat sounds of fists striking flesh over and over and the snapping of bone made her flinch and close her eyes. The stable floor shook as the man hit the ground beside her in the stall and didn’t move.
“There. It’s all right, Miss Talleyrand. Our friend here is out for now,” Rafe said. She opened her eyes to see Rafe holding a hand out to her. She accepted it, and he pulled her to her feet. “Perhaps when he sobers up, he’ll have learned the importance of obtaining a woman’s consent.”
“Oh, Celeste!” Sabrina gasped.
Rafe glanced about, as though expecting to see somebody else. “Who?”
She rushed past him to grab the reins of her mare. “My horse.”
“Ah, well, that’s a fine bit of horseflesh,” Rafe said as he joined her.
“Thank you. She was all I could take with me when I left home.” She hadn’t meant to say it, but it slipped out.
“And where is home?” Rafe inquired.
“It doesn’t matter. Not anymore.”
“Oh, so that’s the way of it? Very well, we all have our secrets. Now, have you decided where you are to go?”
“London.”
He offered her a grin. “Splendid. You will travel with Isla and me, then. And no, I insist upon it. Consider it your way of thanking me for saving you in such heroic fashion.”
Sabrina was too tired to argue. “Thank you, Mr. Lennox. Could we tie Celeste to the back of your coach?”
“Easily arranged. My coach is ready. Now, is that your valise?” He bent to pick up her luggage.
“Yes, thank you, but I can carry it.”
“You do remember I said I was a gentleman?” Rafe continued on walking, her valise secured under one arm. “This is what we do.”
Sabrina followed him out of the stables, leading Celeste toward his coach. The stable lad then tied Celeste to the back of the coach. Rafe handed Sabrina’s valise to the footman who was securing their luggage.
“Isla, my dear, we have a guest.” A cherubic face peered out of the open coach door, and the little girl waved at Sabrina.
“Hello, Isla,” she greeted as Rafe helped her inside. “Nice to see you again.”
Once Sabrina was settled, Rafe sat across from her. “See, Miss Talleyrand? That was not so difficult, was it?” She stared at him in confusion, so he added, “Accepting help.”
A blush reddened her cheeks. “No, my lord, it was not.”
“Rafe, please. My brother is a lord, not me.”
“Rafe. Then please, call me Sabrina.”
“Sabrina.” Rafe smiled again, and though there was the cunning of a wolf behind his smile, she did not feel threatened. Perhaps it was the adorable child next to him, but she felt she could trust him.
She spent much of the coach ride answering questions that Isla posed to her, then spoke to Rafe about all manner of topics that were very safe and quite boring.
An hour later, they reached London. When she requested to be let out on Bond Street, Rafe put a hand on the door.
“Sabrina . . . Let me ask you a question, and please know that it comes with no expectations of an amorous nature.”
She tensed at the mention of the word amorous.
“Isla is in need of a governess. I’m new to this business of being a father, and I interviewed a dozen women in the last week, none of whom I would trust with my child. But something tells me you would do well with her. I will pay above the average rate for governesses, and I will advance your first wages to pay for a full wardrobe. I can’t imagine that valise holds very much. I will also not charge room and board for you or Celeste—that will be provided in addition to your wages.”
“But . . .” Sabrina tried to think of any reason to say no, and there simply was not one.
“Excellent. Now, we will proceed straight to my home, and then you will go out and purchase a wardrobe at once.”
Sabrina was still stunned later that evening as she returned to Rafe’s house from the modiste. She’d purchased a dozen new gowns at his insistence. Each of the gowns were serviceable and could be put on without assistance, but they were still pretty. Rafe had warned her not to return with anything drab and went so far as to threaten to burn such gowns if she did. She would have laughed, but there was a strange seriousness in his eyes as he’d replied to her giggling.