The girls jumped and looked up at her. “We’ve come to help you,” Maddie said. “Come down.”
“I don’t need help,” Catherine whisper-shouted back. “Go home and go to bed.”
Maddie nodded and began to pull her cousins away, but Ashley looked up and hissed, “What about Valentine? Did he really give up the Cabinet position? That’s what people were saying when you left.”
Catherine shrugged and shook her head sadly. “He did.”
“Then come down. We want to help,” Josie called.
Catherine did not see how her cousins could help. They had not made a scene at the ball; they were not going to be the subject of a resignation article in the Times. They had not absconded with the prime minister’s coach.
She should close the window and go back to bed. Quint needed her now. He didn’t need her three cousins’ misguided attempts at patching up a hopeless situation. She dressed quickly, choosing the men’s clothing Maddie had sent weeks ago because she did not need assistance to put it on. Then she tiptoed down the steps, past the sleeping footman in the foyer, and opened the door.
Her cousins were waiting for her on the front stoop.
Ashley took her hand. “Quick, let’s go.”
“Go where? I’m not going anywhere dressed like this.”
“We have a plan to help your husband,” Josie said. “We’re going to see that he gets the nod for the Cabinet post.”
Catherine looked at Josie and then Ashley and finally Maddie. All three girls were wearing trousers and men’s shirts. Their hair was tucked under their collars or, in Ashley’s case, she’d stuffed it under a farmer’s cap.
“But I don’t even know if he wants the position.”
“Of course, he wants the position,” Ashley said. “He doesn’t want you to get hurt.”
Catie bit her lip. “You’re right. I can’t let him give this up.”
“That’s the spirit,” Josie said.
“What did you have in mind?” Catie asked. “Are we to scale the walls of Parliament? Break into Mr. Perceval’s office?”
“Don’t be silly,” Josie said. “We won’t have to break in. I have the key.” And she held up a shiny gold key.
“I don’t even want to know how you came into possession of that,” Catherine said, “but I fail to see how breaking—”
“I told you that I have the key.”
“Very well, I fail to see how entering the prime minister’s office without permission in the middle of the night will secure Valentine the Cabinet post.”
“That’s because you have no imagination,” Ashley said. “And it’s not the middle of the night. It’s almost dawn. By the time we reach Perceval’s office and let ourselves in, he will be on his way. When he arrives, he’ll have no choice but to see us. Then we can convince him that he’ll do the country a grievous wrong if he does not appoint Lord Valentine.”
Catherine looked at Maddie, usually her most sensible cousin. “And you agree with this plan?”
Maddie shrugged. “What other choice is there? If Valentine does not receive the post, then it’s as though Elizabeth and your father and everyone who wishes you ill has won.”
“It’s time we reversed fortunes,” Ashley said.
Catherine had no illusions that this plan would work. Why, they looked like a bunch of vagabonds. The night watchmen would probably arrest them before they made it two blocks. But she looked back at Valentine’s dark town house, thought of him sleeping inside, and knew she had to try. Besides, her cousins were right. It was time for a reversal of fortune.
“After we see the prime minister, we have to find the reporter from the Times who was at the ball,” she said, moving forward to take the lead. Her cousins followed as she started down the walk. “We may have to persuade him to change his story.”
“He’ll change it,” Josie said, patting her hip. “You leave that to me.”
Lord, Catherine hoped that was not a cutlass at Josie’s hip, though for once, she could use the help of a pirate.
QUINT WAS DREAMING about his wife. He was dreaming about pulling her warm body to his and sinking into her. Groggily, he reached for her. And felt empty space.
