There were only three pages in the folder, so they each took a page and hastily copied it down onto a new sheet of paper. The results weren't terribly neat, with more than one ink splotch marring the effort, but they were legible, and that was all that mattered.
James carefully replaced the file in the drawer and relocked it.
"Is the room in order?" Blake asked.
James nodded. "I straightened everything while you were gone."
"Excellent. Let's be off."
Caroline turned to the marquis. "Did you remember to take an older file as evidence?"
"I am certain he knows how to do his job," Blake said curtly. Then he turned to James and asked, "Did you?"
"Good God!" James said in a disgusted voice. "The two of you are worse than a pair of toddlers. Yes, of course I have the file, and if you don't stop arguing with one another, I'm going to lock the both of you in here and leave you to Prewitt and his sharpshooting butler."
Caroline's jaw dropped at the outburst from the normally even-tempered marquis. She stole a glance at Blake and noticed that he looked rather surprised as well-and perhaps a touch embarrassed.
James scowled at both of them before pinning his stare on Caroline and asking, "How the hell do we get out of here?"
"We can't go out the window for the same reason we couldn't go in that way. If Farnsworth is still
awake he would certainly hear us. But we can leave the way we came."
"Won't someone be suspicious tomorrow when the door isn't locked?" Blake asked.
Caroline shook her head. "I know how to shut the door so that the latch fastens itself. No one will ever know."
"Good," James said. "Let's be off."
The trio moved silently through the house, pausing outside the south drawing room so that James could relock the door, and then exited into the side yard. A few minutes later they reached the men's horses.
"My mount is over mere," Caroline said, pointing to a small collection of trees across the garden.
"I suppose you mean my mount," Blake snapped, "which you conveniently borrowed."
She snorted. "Pray forgive my use of imprecise English, Mr. Ravenscroft. I-"
But whatever she was going to say-and Caroline wasn't even certain herself what that would be- was lost under the sound of James's cursing. Before she or Blake could say another word, he'd called them both baconbrains, idiots, and something else entirely, which Caroline didn't quite understand. She was fairly certain, however, that it was an insult. And then, before either one of them had a chance to respond, James had hopped onto his horse and ridden off over the hill.
Caroline blinked and turned to Blake. "He's rather irritated with us, isn't he?"
Blake's response was to heave her up onto his horse and hop up behind her. They rode the perimeter of Prewitt Hall's property until they reached the tree where she'd tied her horse. Soon Caroline was atop her own mount
"Follow me," Blake instructed, and he took off at a canter.
An hour or so later Caroline followed Blake through the front door of Seacrest Manor. She was tired and sore and wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed, but before she could dash up the stairs he took her by the elbow and steered her into his study.
Or perhaps propelled would be a more accurate term.
"Can't this wait until morning?" Caroline asked, yawning. .
"No."
"I'm terribly sleepy.""
No response.
Caroline decided to try a different tactic. "What do you suppose happened to the marquis?"
"I don't particularly care."
She blinked. How odd. Then she yawned again, unable to help herself. "Is it your intention to scold me?" she asked. "Because if it is, I might as well warn you that I'm really not up to it, and-"
"You're not up to it?!" he fairly roared.
She shook her head and headed for the door. There was no use trying to reason with him when he was in such a mood. "I'll see you in the morning. I'm certain whatever it is that has you so upset will keep until then."
Blake caught a handful of the fabric of her skirt and hauled her back to the center of the room. "You are not going anywhere," he growled.
"I beg your pardon."
"Just what the hell did you think you were doing tonight?"
"Saving your life?" she quipped.
"Don't make jokes."
"I wasn't. I did save your life. And I don't recall hearing one word of thanks for it."
He muttered something under his breath, followed by, "You didn't save my life. All you did was endanger your own."
"I won't quibble with the latter sentence, but I certainly did save your life this evening. If I hadn't rushed out to Prewitt Hall to warn you about Farns-worth and his ten o'clock tea, he would surely have shot you."
"That's a moot point, Caroline."
"Of course it is," she replied with a disdainful sniff. "I saved your miserable life, and Farnsworth was never given the opportunity to shoot at you."
He stared at her long and hard. "I am going to say this only once. You are not to get involved with our work bringing your former guardian to justice."
Caroline remained silent.
After a moment Blake clearly lost patience with her lack of response, so he demanded, "Well? Don't you have a reply?"
"I do, but you wouldn't like it."
"Goddamn it, Caroline!" he exploded. "Don't you give even a thought to your own safety?"
"Of course I do. Do you think I had fun risking my neck for you this evening? I could have been killed. Or worse, you could have been killed. Or Oliver could have captured me and forced me to marry Percy." She shuddered. "Good God, I'll probably have nightmares about that last scenario for weeks."
"You certainly seemed to be enjoying yourself."
"Well, I wasn't. I felt sick the entire time, knowing that we were in danger."
"If you were so petrified, why weren't you crying and carrying on like a normal woman?"
"A normal woman? Sir, you insult me. You insult my entire gender."
"You must admit that most women would have needed smelling salts tonight."
She glared at him, her entire body shaking with fury. "Am I expected to apologize because I didn't fall apart and simper and cry and ruin the entire operation? I was scared -no,.I was petrified, but what good would I have been if I hadn't kept up a brave front? Besides," she added, her expression growing sullen, "I was so angry with you most of the time I forgot how scared I was."
Blake looked away. Hearing her admit her fear made him feel even worse. If anything had happened to her that night it would have been his fault. "Caroline," he said in a low voice, "I won't have you endangering yourself. I forbid it."
"You have no right to forbid me anything."
A muscle started to twitch in his neck. "As long as you are living in my house-"
"Oh, for goodness sake, you sound like one of my guardians."
"Now you insult me."
She let out a frustrated exhale. "I don't know how you bear it, living constantly in such danger. I don't know how your family bears it. They must worry terribly about you."
"My family doesn't know."
"What?" she screeched. "How is that possible?"
"I've never told them."
"That is abominable," she said with great feeling. 'Truly abominable. If I had a family I should never treat them with such disrespect."
"We are not here to discuss my family," he ground out. "We are here to discuss your foolhardy behavior."