A hawker had set up farther down the street, roasting nuts over a portable brazier. Gerald’s stomach rumbled. He’d missed breakfast, and the smell was enticing. He gavethe street another sweeping glance, then hurried down and ordered some roasted almonds.
The hawker filled a cone of newspaper with hot nuts and handed them to Gerald. “No sign of him yet, m’lord.”
Gerald nearly dropped the nuts. “Good God, it’s you.” Heffernan looked nothing like himself. He looked shorter, fatter, grayer and hairier, not to mention scruffier.
“Don’t be talking to me now, m’lord. Just take yourself off, casual-like. I have three men watching for Bamber. Don’t worry. If he shows up, we’ll get ’im.”
“Three men?” Gerald could see no sign of them.
“Aye. All Radcliffe’s men, so leave it all to us. There’s no tellin’ when Bamber will show—could take him all day. Might even be tomorrow, or later, depending on where he’s been hiding himself. The minute he shows, we’ll let you know. That lad over there, the one sweeping the street, he’s my runner. He’ll bring you any news quick as a flash.”
Munching on the hot nuts, Gerald walked away. It went against the grain for him to leave the scene, but Heffernan was right—there was no telling how long Bamber would take to get here. And he couldn’t very well turn up at Aunt Alice’s house at this hour and then hang around all day without an excuse—because who knew when Bamber would come? Even a newly betrothed man couldn’t get away with that.
And Alice wasn’t to know that the betrothal was a ruse.
A newly betrothed man. He was betrothed to Lucy Bamber.
He smiled to himself. In her own way, Lucy was as elusive as her father. Not that there was any comparison.
***
Lucy and Alice had just finished breakfast and had taken a pot of tea into the drawing room when the front doorbell jangled.
“That’ll be her. Are you sure you don’t want to go out into the garden?” Alice asked Lucy for the third time. Thefact that she was obviously dreading the encounter made Lucy feel even warmer toward her.
Lucy laughed. “Not in the least. Are you sure you won’t let me deal with her by myself? I’m quite happy to.” In fact she would prefer to, but Alice was determined to stay and protect her.
Moments later Almeria, Countess of Charlton, swept into the room and came to an abrupt stop. She shot a vitriolic glance at Lucy. “You!” she said in a voice of loathing.
Lucy curtsied. “Good morning, Lady Charlton,” she said in a cheery voice. “What a vision you are—fifty shades of puce?”
Alice hurriedly rose, saying, “Almeria, what a surprise.”
“Hah! Surprise indeed. What do you have to say for yourself, eh? Eh?” She glared at Alice.
“Would you like a cup of tea?” Alice asked and, without waiting for an answer, rang for Tweed—who appeared so quickly he must have been listening at the door—and ordered fresh tea.
“Tea!” Almeria said with loathing, seating herself in a flurry of silk and velvet. “This is not the time for tea.”
“Coffee then for Lady Charlton please, Tweed,” Alice said and returned to her place on the sofa.
“I want nothing! No. Refreshments. Whatsoever!”
Lucy hid a smile. Alice wasn’t doing it deliberately but her attempt at soothing the savage breast—or was it a savage beast? Beastess?—was having the opposite effect.
“Well?” Almeria snapped the instant Tweed had departed. “Explain yourself, Alice. I told you most specifically that I did not wish my son to become acquainted with this... this... creature.” She waved a disdainful hand in Lucy’s direction.
A “creature,” was she? Any intention Lucy had of being polite and conciliatory flew out the window.
“ ‘Creature’?” Lucy looked ostentatiously around. “Oh,you mean me? Of course you do. But you mustn’t blame Alice. She was as surprised as you were.”
Almeria turned a baleful glare on her. “Surprisedis not the word.”
“Delighted?” Lucy prompted brightly. “Thrilled? Jubilant?”
“I am appalled! I don’t know how you managed to convince my son—”
“Oh, there was no convincing necessary. Not at all. In fact, it was all his idea.”
