A Chaotic Courtship (Rough Draft)

Chapter Sixteen

First thing after breakfast the next day, I followed Will out to the stables. I had to get him away from James because I knew my older brother wanted nothing more to do with the situation. Given what had happened, I could understand and respect his decision, but it wasn't going to stop me from enlisting Will's help.

"What do you want?" Will asked when I stepped in. He was in one of the stalls where a cat had given birth to a litter of kittens several weeks ago. Given how much my brother loved animals, it did not surprise me he had gone straight to them.

"I want you to help me prove Mr. Richfield isn't the highwayman."

Nothing like putting things simply and to the point. "Shouldn't you have worried about that before you became engaged to the man?" Will asked, raising an eyebrow at me. "I thought you were certain he wasn't the highwayman."

"I was! I am!" I hesitated and decided to be completely honest with Will. "All I want is to find a way to silence Sarah once and for all. The only way to do that is for me to have irrefutable evidence."

He laughed. My brother laughed at me. If I hadn't wanted him to help me, I might have gotten mad at him. "Sarah finally got to you, didn't she?" he asked in delight. He set a kitten back with its littermates and got to his feet. "What do I get out of this?"

"An adventure. Maybe the prestige of learning the highwayman's true identity."

Dragging the decision out as long as possible, Will considered my answer with a frown. "I suppose that will have to be good enough," he finally said. "So, how do you want to prove who the highwayman is?"

"Well, you and Sarah had plots and plans to prove the opposite not so long ago. What were you going to do?"

Shrugging, Will started walking towards the stable doors. "You're talking to the wrong person, Diana," he said. "Sarah was the one with the big plans, not me. She worked them all out with Miss Sandwood, you know. She never told me what they were going to do."

That was what I was afraid of. I knew getting Sarah to agree to my scheme would not be easy. "Would you help me get her on my side? Please?"

"No."

"Of course you won't." I breathed out a sigh and started back to the house. Will fell into step next to me. I decided it was a good opportunity to find out what he thought on something else. "Are you surprised I'm engaged?"

The look my brother gave me was filled with sarcasm and disdain. "Diana, anyone who didn't know you would have known you and Richfield would be getting married. I'm with Father. It took you two long enough to get around to it."

"Sarah wanted to make him interested in another lady."

"Sometimes I wonder if our sister thinks," Will said with a sigh. "I could have told her there was no possible way any other lady would have Richfield's attention."

Will's casual use of my betrothed's last name amused me. "You just want him to teach you more piquet tricks."

Will didn't deny it, and we parted company just inside the house. He went to his studies in the library, and I went to find my sister. She was out in the garden, reading and not practicing her archery as I had expected.

I spent a moment just watching her. She seemed completely relaxed, and again, she had my book. As often as it was missing when I went to find it, I still hadn't finished reading it.

"Is there something you want?" Sarah asked without looking up. How had she known I was here?

"Can we talk for a minute?" She shrugged. I walked over to her chair and crouched down by her. "Sarah, I wanted to talk to you about John. You are so certain he's the one robbing our friends and relatives—."