The morning prior, Baron Faversham had come to visit. Margaret had guessed from his miserable expression what decision he had reached. Her mother had tried to convince him to change his mind, but the baron was unyielding. He would not marry Margaret while thetonpulsed with rumors of her scandal. Margaret’s response had been curt, a quickthank you for the consideration,anda wish for all the best. But a war had been waging inside her ever since, relief battling with panic. Katherine had started scrambling, already trying to sell back the things she had purchased, seeking help from Lady Jane in matchmaking Margaret to someone new. And Eliza...
She couldn’t even think about Eliza.
Lucy wrapped an arm consolingly around Margaret’s waist, tearing her from her thoughts.
“I didn’t mean to upset you, Margaret. I only meant that Sophia was making things sound simpler than they are – probably because she’s jealous that another one of her friends is involved with a duke.”
Sophia scoffed, turning halfway from The Serpentine. A lock of blonde hair escaped her disguise, and she quickly tucked it back into place. Being seen with Margaret in public would have been unacceptable, but once her friends had learned of the scandal, they organized a secret meeting to show their support. They had gathered in a quiet corner of the park, away from the main footpath. The trees rustled gently overhead, the air carrying with it the scent of damp grass and smoke from the city. Lucy had come alone, having snuck out without a word to her guardians. Sophia’s maid was waiting nearby, keeping watch in case a rider came past.
“I’m not jealous. I’ve beenbetrayed,” Sophia argued, marching back over to them. “I agreed to join this mad league out of support for you and the others. Then Anna finds herself a duke, and now you are entangled with one too. Meanwhile, I have neglected my own dreams, having likely sabotaged myself forevermore.”
“You’re such a liar,” Lucy said through a laugh. “You say you are part of the league, but your dance card is full at every ball we attend, and you’re an open and obvious flirt. The league is notthe reason you have not married, Sophia. Your own impossible expectations are to blame.”
“Oh, now you sound just like Anna. I won’t apologize for having high standards,” Sophia replied. “Just because Margaret is satisfied with a misguided dalliance?—”
“There has been no dalliance, and I am far from satisfied,” Margaret protested, stopping the argument before it could escalate. “That is precisely the issue at hand, which you are both forgetting. You speak of the Duke of Langley as though he is a prospect worth considering. I should pay him no mind at all. He has no interest in me and never will.”
The girls were quiet for a moment. The only sound to be heard was the clatter of carriage wheels somewhere in the distance, until Lucy made an unconvinced noise.
“But how can you be so sure?” Lucy asked. “He invited you to Somerstead Hall when he could have let you die. He rushed to Grosvenor Square just as the article was hot off the press. That shows some interest.”
Margaret mistakenly glanced at Sophia, who was looking down at her knowingly.
“Did something happen at Somerstead?” Sophia asked. “Something more than you are willing to admit? You do not seem yourself, Margaret. If there is something we should know?—”
“There is nothing.” Margaret hated lying. “He is solely interested in protecting himself. That is all you need to know. All I can do is wait for...” She sighed. “I’m not even sure what, at this point.”
“Such is the fate of a woman.” Sophia looked up at the trees. “Always waiting.”
Lucy leaned forward and picked a piece of clover from the ground. Three leaves, not four. She plucked them off one by one. “The duke might be more conflicted than you give him credit. I’ve seen His Grace a few times at gatherings back home, and he never struck me as a cruel gentleman. He might surprise you yet.”
Margaret laughed softly. “Might surprise me as one is surprised by typhus when their skin starts to itch.” She took the naked stalk from Lucy and cast it aside. “No, ladies. I fear we are alone.”
A comfortable silence followed as a softer breeze ruffled Margaret’s skirt. In that moment, she thought a prayer of gratitude for her friends, silently wishing that their own futures would be easy, or whatever they dreamed them to be. Her heart ached with longing for Anna. She loved her friends equally, but only gentle Anna would have known how to help.
“We should not linger,” Margaret said, searching for Lucy’s hand and squeezing it. She took Sophia’s too, gratified by the warm smile that graced her friend’s face. “Thank you both for meeting with me today.”
The girls departed one by one, Margaret waiting to leave last. She watched Lucy hurry around the lake until she disappeared, Sophia scurrying off with her maid, while she sat on the bench with her thoughts now that she was alone.
The Serpentine glittered in the daylight, and she was reminded of the view of the Avon River from Somerstead Hall – and then from Pembroke House.
She rose with thoughts of home in mind, looking toward the gravel path that would lead to the park’s exit. As she lifted herself from the bench, something caught her eye. It was Lucy’s handkerchief, embroidered with her initials. It must have fallen from her pocket as she left. Margaret collected it, the tips of her gloves becoming slightly damp from the grass. She adjusted them as she made her way back to the footpath...
And that was when she felt it: the sense that someone was watching her.
The air shifted as she turned around. She surveyed her surroundings to make sure she was alone, expecting to find nothing.
But between the trees behind her, which had so perfectly concealed her friends from sight, concealed him – she saw a figure watching her, standing beside an unmarked carriage. Her breath caught in her throat as he nodded, begging her toward him.
CHAPTER 11
“Alittle clandestine, don’t you think?” Miss Pembroke said as she marched toward him. “When last you wished to speak with me, you barged into my home without an invitation. Why the need for all this cloak-and-dagger nonsense now?”
“Of the two of us, you look far more suspicious than I,” Alexander suggested, looking her from head to toe. She was wrapped in a dark, hooded coat. Despite the drabness of the garment, she looked no less beautiful than usual. “I saw the way you snuck out of your home and convened with these women in the park. Does the Viscountess know that you slipped out? She seemed the type of woman who would have forbidden you to leave after what had transpired.”
Margaret’s mouth dropped open. “Were you watching me?”
“Not watching but waiting.”
