A Matter of Circumstance and Celludrones (5 page)

“Yes, that’s exactly…” He seemed to forget he was talking, simply
looking at her for the longest moment. He put a hand to his throat, as if to
loosen the neck cloth that was already loose. “No, that’s not it at all. I came
to talk to you about something altogether different, but that will hold until
the morrow.”

Her stomach lurched. How many tomorrows did she have?

“Do you have somewhere else to stay for a while?” he asked. “I’d be
happier if that woman didn’t know where to find you.”

“What of Halver?” Panic tightened her throat. “He’s still at the
house. What of the housemaids?”

“They are of no consequence.”

The hairs on Lily’s neck bristled. She’d temporarily forgotten how
much she disliked Lord Adair’s nature. “They matter to me.”

“Allow me to rephrase,” he muttered. “I believe they’re of little
consequence to the woman bent on killing you. If you’re not there, they cannot
get in her way and therefore will not be in any danger.”

Lily wasn’t entirely convinced, but what else could she do? She’d
already seen the outcome when they engaged that woman in battle. Her only
choice was to stay as far away as possible and hope Lord Adair’s assumption was
correct. “My aunt left for Bath this afternoon and I’m already packed to spend
the duration of the season with Lady Harchings at their Belgrave Square
residence.”

“I’d prefer somewhere further away, but it’ll do for now.” Lord Adair
glanced up at his driver. “I’ll take you directly to Lady Harchings and send my
man to collect and deliver your trunks later.” He turned a warm smile on her.
“Is Ana joining you?”

“Yes, please bring her as well.” Lily returned the smile. Perhaps he
wasn’t quite as intolerable as all that. “Thank you, Lord Adair.”

“Greyston.” He grinned. “My friends call me Grey.”

“We’re hardly friends, Lord Adair,” she reminded him primly. “We’re
barely acquaintances.”

“Ah, propriety must be observed, no matter how dire the
circumstances.”

“Especially then,” Lily said.

Lord Adair was far too roguish and attractive.

There was a hardness to him, layered from the rigid line of his jaw
right through to his uncivil heart. And yet, even before the fleeting warmth of
that smile and the odd softly spoken word, there was something about the man
that weakened her defences and fed tingles to her pulse.

He was dangerous, and he was a stranger.

She certainly didn’t know enough about Lord Adair to warrant the seed
of trust that seemed to have bloomed within her.

“Address me however you wish,” he said, “but spare me your
self-righteous outrage next time I’m more concerned with saving your life than
attending to social norms.”

“You needn’t trouble yourself at all next time.” She glared at him and
had a revelation. “No one was trying to kill me until you came along. Why would
anyone want me dead? The same, I’m quite sure, cannot be said of you.”

“You’d not be wrong, but I know my enemies better than I know my
friends and I’ve never seen that woman before, not until she accosted me
outside your house.”

“Neither have I.”

“And then, today, again at
your
home.”

She shrank away as he reached out. “After you’d already arrived. For
all I know, she was following you.”

“I’m not trying to cast blame here. I don’t know that woman’s agenda.
I don’t know whether she wants me or you or both of us. I don’t know what she
wants.” His hand came out again, landing lightly on her shoulder. “The only
thing we do know is what she’s capable of and I intend to ensure she doesn’t
get another chance.”

The weight of his hand was comforting, an anchor when the ground
seemed to be falling away from beneath her. The deep, concerned look in his
eyes drew her in. She fought against it with cold facts. “You dragged me from
my home. You shoved me into your carriage and brought me here. That’s what I
know.”

She shrugged free and slipped past him. She was at the carriage before
she stopped and turned. Lord Adair was following at a sedate pace, his brows
drawn into a frown as he watched her. She wasn’t afraid of him. Perhaps she
should be.

She really shouldn’t trust him.

Nothing about this day made any sense.

“You saw what Lady Ostrich did,” Lord Adair said.

“Lady Ostrich?” Lily closed her eyes and an image of the tall woman
with her plume of ostrich feathers bled across her lids. A nightmare straight
from hell and Lord Adair had given it a pet name. Lily almost smiled. “I’ve
seen plenty of arbitrary scenes inside my head that never meant a thing.”

Dr. Ragon had finally concluded she was subconsciously compensating
the loss of her mother. The timing was right. And in each scene, her mother was
likely present as the one person who was blurred around the edges, not fully
tethered to Lily’s reality. She was pretending a lifetime of memories that
would never in actuality be shared with her mother.

“Open your eyes, Lily. Open your eyes, look at me, and tell me you
don’t believe this is different.”

Lily opened her eyes and looked at him.

Death hurts.

She’d never forget the pain as her body desperately tried to cling to
life, that final breath burning through her, never making it to her lungs.

I’ve finally lost my mind completely.

Then she remembered. Lord Adair had had a similar vision, at the same
time. He hadn’t hesitated to act on it.

Perhaps we both belong in Bedlam.

“At least allow me to take you directly to Lady Harchings as planned,”
he said when she remained silent. “For my own peace of mind.”

Lily nodded her consent and it had little to do with Lord Adair’s
peace of mind. She was in no hurry to return to the devastation they’d run from
at Grosvenor Square, imaginary or otherwise.

Chapter Four

T
o all
the world, Evelyn looked as if she’d just returned from a brisk walk in Hyde
Park as she stepped down from the carriage. Although some might question the
full-length jaconet cloak when it was a perfectly mild May afternoon.

William went before her, opening the gate and ringing the bell, so by
the time she reached the top step, the door opened.

“Once you’ve collected Lady Lily, you may stable the horses.” She met
his gaze and held it for a mischievous moment before she slipped passed. “I’ve
no engagements tonight.”

“Lady Harchings,” greeted Mr. Bryns, the stout, grey-haired steward of
Harchings House. “Will you be taking tea in the drawing room?”

“Yes, but not before Lady Lily arrives. William has just left to fetch
her.” She ignored the hands that came up to take her cloak and walked briskly
toward the staircase instead, pulling at her gloves as she went. “Is Lord
Harchings home?”

“Not yet, m’lady.”

Thank the stars for small mercies.
She hurried up the two
flights of stairs and into her bedroom, had already removed her cloak and
ruined slippers by the time Alice entered on a soft knock.

The maid didn’t bat an eyelid at the discarded slippers or the
mud-splattered skirts as she came forward to help strip Evelyn from her dress.
“Did you have a pleasant walk, m’lady?”

Evelyn met her gaze in the mirror. They both knew there’d been no
afternoon stroll. “Exhilarating.”

Once Evelyn was down to her corset, bloomers and silk stockings, Alice
bundled the dress and slippers in her arms and suggested, “Should I take these
down to the laundry room first?”

“What would I do without you?” Evelyn gave her a wink and a smile.

After pumping her curls in front of the mirror and adding a dash of
powder to her flushed cheeks, she selected a fresh day dress of yellow and pale
blue stripes from her wardrobe. The creator was Marcus Dallerton, an innovative
designer whose fashions were all the rage in New York at the moment. The fluted
petticoat lay flat on the stomach and flared down from the thighs to kick up
around her ankles.

But what she loved most about Dallerton was his genius in stitching
the petticoat directly into the gown’s waistline and panels. Without any fuss,
she stepped into the dress and pulled it up, sliding her arms into the long,
narrow sleeves. The rows of buttons at the back, however, had to wait.

Alice returned with news that Lady Lily was downstairs.

“But I only just sent the carriage for her,” Evelyn exclaimed.

“Lady Lily is with a gentleman, m’lady.” Alice moved in behind Evelyn
to do up the row of tiny buttons. “Mr. Bryns has shown them to the drawing
room.”

“How curious.”

Evelyn was even more intrigued when she entered the drawing room. Not
only was Lily’s mysterious gentleman the scrumptious Lord Adair from the
previous night, but the two of them looked as if they’d been caught
in
flagrante.
Lord Adair’s neck cloth looked as if it had been tied in
unseemly haste—by a blind man. Lily’s skirts were scuffed and wrinkled and her
bodice wasn’t sitting quite straight.

Lily left his side to meet Evelyn halfway across the room.

“If I’d known you were being ravished by Lord Dashing down here,”
Evelyn declared in a whisper, “I would have stayed up there—” she raised her
eyes to the ceiling “—another twenty minutes.”

“Don’t be absurd.” Lily’s hands flew to her hair.

“It’s your skirts that need patting down.” She linked her arm in
Lily’s and strolled in the direction of Lord Adair, keeping her voice low.
“What did he do? Drag you into the woods and toss you over a log?”

Lily went white in the face.

“By God.” Evelyn surged forward. “I’ll deal with the bloody Scotsman.”

“Evie, no, wait.” Lily dug her heels in. “Nothing happened. Must you
always latch onto the most preposterous conclusions?”

Evelyn’s brows drew tight. Something felt wrong, but her friend made a
valid point. She
was
rash and brash, a fact she’d never denied. She kept
her sharp tongue on a leash and turned a smile on the man instead as they drew
close. “How charming, Lord Adair, I was hoping we’d see more of you.”

“Lady Harchings.” He inclined his head in greeting.

Clearly not trusting her to keep the peace, Lily inserted
breathlessly, “I was just telling Lady Harchings that we were riding in the
park—”

“And your horses tossed both of you?” Evelyn couldn’t resist.

Lily rewarded her with a glare. “We were in Lord Adair’s carriage,
but, um, yes, a rabbit or fox must have run across the path because one of the
horses took fright—”

“You really should train them better,” Evelyn told him.

“The rabbits or the horses?” Lord Adair riposted dryly, his eyes never
leaving Lily and a grin tugging at his mouth.

“Since Lord Adair knew I was staying with you as of tonight,” Lily
went on doggedly, “and Harchings House was en route—”

Evelyn couldn’t let that go. “From Hyde Park?”

“We were riding in Green Park.”

“Of course.”

“And as I was a little shaken from the ordeal, he offered to bring me
directly here so I could recuperate from the shock.”

“Then we are entirely in Lord Adair’s debt.”

Lord Adair finally brought his gaze to her. He was not a man to miss
the mocking edge to her tone, and yet it hadn’t chased the laughter from his
eyes. “Not at all, Lady Harchings, I’m always happy to oblige.”

 
“I have no doubt of that.”

“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” he said, “I promised to return for Lady
Lily’s belongings…”

Evelyn’s attention drifted as the door opened to admit the steward. He
caught her eye and managed, as only Mr. Bryns could, to convey an entire
conversation in that one look.

“One moment, please,” she murmured, moving swiftly across the room. Up
close, she saw the worry in Mr. Bryn’s eyes. The rest of him, naturally, was an
impassive wall of austere fortitude. “What is it, Mr. Bryns? Whatever has
happened?”

“It’s William, m’lady.” He stepped from the room after her and closed
the door behind them. “He says it’s urgent and concerns Lady Lily, otherwise I
wouldn’t have interrupted. Now,” he went on as he led the way along a narrow
passage, “I did inform him that Lady Lily had arrived shortly after he’d left
to fetch her, but William still insisted he must speak with you.”

William waited by a set of doors at the top of the kitchen’s service
stairs. His lopsided smile was noticeably absent.

“William, I’m sorry I sent you on a wasted journey.” Suspecting she
was about to learn something of the puzzle of Lily’s odd day, she prompted with
a smile, “What’s so important that it couldn’t wait?”

His gaze flickered to Mr. Bryns and back.

“I’ll take it from here, thank you, Mr. Bryns,” Evelyn said.

As soon as the steward was out of hearing, William started talking.
“I’ve just returned from Grosvenor Square, Lady Eve, and Mr. Halver is beside
himself. He believes Lady Lily has been abducted and Lady Beatrice has already
departed for Bath and he—”

“Lady Lily is here and safe.” Evelyn took a deep breath as she
absorbed the shock. “Abducted?”

William nodded. “By a Lord Adair, if the gentleman’s calling card is
to be trusted.”

“Lord Adair is here as well.” Evelyn breathed easy again. “This must
all be a big misunderstanding.”

“I thought as much after speaking to Mr. Bryns, but there’s the matter
of Mr. Halver. He hasn’t raised the alarm yet—”

“He knows there’ll be no stopping a scandal once he does.” Was that
Lord Adair’s game? Lily had a substantial fortune left for her in trust by her
late father, enough to make her husband a rich man. If so, Lord Adair had
either changed his mind or Lily had thwarted his master plan. Evelyn was
willing to bet it was the latter. Part of Lord Adair’s
almost
irresistible charm was his uncivilised Scottish blood. “You must apprise Halver
of the situation at once, William. Tell him all is well, that he must have been
mistaken about whatever he thought he’d heard or seen.”