He did not think that it would be any of his friends - he knew that none of them could be so cruel. Besides which, some of them were still at their estates and had been so since they had discovered their poverty - which meant that someone else involved in these wicked schemes had threatened this man. Perhaps they had taken for granted that a poorer establishment such as this would be all the more willing to allow various, and occasionally dangerous, interests and activities to take place within. Perhaps the proprietor had set them right about such expectations, only to then be threatened by whoever it was that had come with them in the first place, to the point that he’d had no choice but to accept.
“I shall certainly return this evening,” Gideon murmured to himself as he stepped outside. No longer unsettled, he lifted his chin and walked at a brisk pace, making his way back down the steps and around the corner.
A sudden yelp took him by surprise as he walked directly into somebody. He fell backward as he lifted his hands in a sincere apology, only for them to fall to his side as his mouth dropped open.
For there stood none other than Lady Sara.
Chapter Five
There was nothing for her to say, no excuses she could give as to why she was now standing in the very place that Lord Stoneleigh had gone to. The shock flared in his eyes, like lightning bolts shattering through their darkness. For some moments they did nothing but stare at each other, and even when he said her name, she could not find her voice to reply.
“Whatever are you doing here?”
Still, she could say nothing. What could be her excuse? She had seen him marching through town, ignoring everyone in sight, and then he had been unresponsive when she had called his name. Her curiosity had overwhelmed her and driven her to follow him, hurrying her maid back into the carriage and urging the driver to go after the cab which Lord Stoneleigh had hailed. In hindsight, she had acted in a very foolish manner, for she certainly ought not to be here. She ought not to have allowed her inquisitiveness to get the better of her, but she had done so, and now here she was, without any sort of excuse for her to give the gentleman she had followed.
“Lady Sara.” Lord Stoneleigh’s voice was darker now. “What is it that you are doing here?”
A stammering stutter came from her lips, her words broken by embarrassment and shame.
“I… I saw you in town. I called out to you, but you did not answer.”
His eyes flared.
“Called to me? Here? You were in this part of London already?”
She shook her head.
“No, Lord Stoneleigh. I was on my way to purchase another ribbon and….”
She fell silent mid-explanation when she saw the shock which washed across his expression. His eyes went wider still, and he folded his arms across his chest, before shaking his head in evident disbelief.
“Do you mean to say that you followed me, Lady Sara?” Swallowing hard, she nodded, unable to keep his gaze. The shame of it had almost overwhelmed her, the horror in his expression more than she could bear. Dropping her head as a shiver ran over her skin, she let out a slow breath. “Of all the foolish things to have done!” Lord Stoneleigh hissed, coming closer to her. “Lady Sara, you were-”
“Foolish? Yes, I am well aware of that. But I have felt such a strangeness between us that I could not help but come after you in the hope that you would–” Breaking off, she squeezed her eyes closed. It was time to be entirely truthful. “I could make my excuses, Lord Stoneleigh, but none of them would be adequate. The truth is that I have found myself more than a little intrigued by you – I do not know why – but that interest has caused me to act in a most ridiculous manner on more than one occasion. I stand here before you, embarrassed by my previous shortcomings, fully aware that it seems now that I have decided to add to them.”
Lord Stoneleigh scowled, closing his eyes for a moment, and blowing out a breath from his nostrils.
“Indeed you have. I must return you to your father’s house at once. This will not do! You cannot be seen here alone - do you not know how much you could be taken advantage of here? Lady Sara, this is not a place for respectable young ladies, particularly when they have no chaperone.”
This last sentence was said with such a pointed look that Sara flushed with embarrassment, and red darkened furiously across her cheeks.
“I did not intend to be discovered.”
Even that response sounded weak, and seeing the way that his eyebrows shot towards his hairline, she quickly realized that she had made a further misstep by speaking so.
“Then you did not come to only follow me but to spy on me.”
She shook her head.
“That is not the word I would choose to use, Lord Stoneleigh, but…” Her excuse faded away as his eyebrows knitted together. “I suppose I could understand why you should think so.”
Lord Stoneleigh threw up his hands.
“That is because it is precisely what you have done! Why am I of such interest to you? Why do I engage your curiosity in such a way that you would follow me here?” His hands fell to his sides, and his lips twisted, as he looked at her with obvious confusion written into every gentle line of his face. “My life is dull, Lady Sara. I am known to be quiet, to keep very little company, and to even withdraw from society a little. What possible interest could I be to you?”
Sara found that she could not give him any particular answer. Try as she might, she could not find a single, comprehensible reason within her own heart and mind to explain what she was doing. For whatever reason, Lord Stoneleigh had suddenly caught her interest, to the point that she had thrown aside all sense and come after him. To say that she had been frustrated with his lack of awareness of her would sound utterly ridiculous.
“Lady Sara.”
