“You and I must speak, Coatbridge.” Without giving him a single moment to respond, Sara lifted her chin and gazed directly into his face. “We must do so at once.”
Lord Coatbridge blinked, but then recovered himself quickly.
“Good evening, Lady Sara. I did not think that we would –”
“I said that we are to speak at once,” she interrupted, refusing to permit him even the smallest opportunity for banal conversation. “And in private, if you please, although I will have Miss Cartwright with me.”
Lord Coatbridge blinked but then held up both hands.
“I shall not be ensnared by you,” he stated, his voice almost a growl. “I shall not go anywhere with you alone, even with your friend.”
Sara narrowed her eyes.
“If you truly believe that I would wish to have any further interest in continuing my acquaintance with you, after all that you have done, then you are even more arrogant and inconsiderate than I thought,” she stated, watching as rage began to flush his cheeks. “No, Lord Coatbridge, I have no desire to entrap you into anything. As far as I am concerned, Lady Nora can be your wife and be most contented with it, whereas I find myself grateful for the escape!” Aware that her words were biting, Sara did not hold herself back. “No, Lord Coatbridge, you are mistaken. The only thing I wish to speak with you about is the matter of your fortune. Or should I say the fortunes of others?”
Her eyes remained fixed on his and he looked back at her, no trace of understanding in his expression.
“I am afraid I do not know of what you speak.” After some moments, Lord Coatbridge shrugged and turned his head away. “I do not think that there is anything for us to discuss, much less in private.”
“The gentleman in the East End, whose fortune you have stolen, would beg to disagree,” she stated outright only for Lord Coatbridge to catch his breath audibly. There was no denying it to her now. He could not say anything which would explain such a reaction other than to tell her the truth. Sara lifted one eyebrow at the way his eyes rounded, knowing that she had found a way in through the armor he had placed around himself.
Lord Coatbridge sniffed, looking away from her.
“I know... I know nothing of what you speak.”
Sara laughed harshly.
“Save me your pretenses. I have been taken in by you before, do you not recall? I have no intention of being taken in again. You are not the only one who can have spies in the East End, Lord Coatbridge. You know howinquisitiveI can be. After your sudden, strange behavior in betrothing yourself to Lady Nora, I could not help but wonder why you had chosen to treat me so callously. I was determined to find out – only to discover more than I had ever imagined!”
“Why ever should you do such a thing?” he hissed, coming closer to her now, his face only a few inches away as he dropped his head. “What right have you to talk to me about such things? They are not for you!”
He was not denying it, she noted, smiling quietly to herself as she looked back at him.
“What right have you to court a lady and promise her both affection and marriage only to pull yourself away to another, the dayaftersuch a confession?” she retorted, her hands on her hips. “Did you think that I would simply accept the situation? Did you truly believe that I would simply leave things as they were, that I would step aside and ignore all that I felt, and all of the confusion which surrounded me thereafter? No, Lord Coatbridge, I am not that sort of young lady, which you might soon have discovered for yourself had you any willingness to know me truly as I am. So I shall ask you again. Will you come and speak with me about your current wealth? Or am I to speak of it with you here? I can assure you that I have no concern about doing so. But speak of it, we shall, one way or the other.”
A small triumphant smile crossed her lips as she caught the way his eyes shifted around the room, darting furiously from one place to the next, as though he was only just realizing how many could overhear their conversation should they remain in the drawing room.
“I am sure you can have nothing to say which cannot be said here.”
His response surprised her somewhat, but Sara did not allow that surprise to express itself in her face. Rather, she shrugged, nodded, and then tilted her head.
“Very well. Perhaps you might like to begin by telling me what exactly it is that you place in the drinks of the gentlemen who come to the gambling den with the red door.” Lord Coatbridge hushed her at the very next moment, but Sara stepped back from his grasping hand, her eyebrow lifting again. “I believe it was you who stated that you wished to speak here, Lord Coatbridge,” she continued, not making any effort to lower her voice. “I shall ask you again. What–”
“Very well,” he interrupted, holding up both hands as if in defense. “We shall step out of this room. But this must be brief.”
Sara nodded, her lip curling at the gentleman’s eagerness to protect himself. Relieved that she had been set free from any real attachment to him, and recognizing just how grateful she was now for Lord Stoneleigh, Sara turned and began to make her way from the drawing room. Compared to Lord Coatbridge, Lord Stoneleigh was a paragon of gentlemanly conduct.
Slowly, both she and Miss Cartwright walked out of Lord Millwood’s drawing room. They walked arm in arm, having no doubt that Lord Coatbridge was behind them. Pushing open one door and peering inside as if she did not know what room it was, Sara nodded to herself and then made her way in. Of course, she had already walked this way with Miss Cartwright and knew exactly what this room provided. She knew exactly where she was, and exactly where she was going – and who would be hiding in the next room, behind the disguised door.
Lord Coatbridge came into the room and closed the door, his arms folded across his chest.
“Well, we are here,” he stated shortly, walking ahead of them and further into the room before turning to face them again as his chin lifted and his eyes narrowed. “What is it you wish to say to me?”
Sara glared at him.
“You pretend to be a gentleman, but you are nothing other than a scoundrel,” she stated, finding the response coming to her lips without even a thought as to what would be best to say. “I know what you have done. I have discovered it.”
Lord Coatbridge flung out both hands as Miss Cartwright sank down into a seat beside where Sara stood.
