“I don’t want you to be frightened,” he went on gently. “I won’t let him hurt either of you, or Miss Greene. Do you trust me?”
Slowly Lucy nodded.
“If he comes around here, or you spy him in the park, stay close to James. I’ve also asked Rudy and Jock, who went with us to Dorset, to spend some time here as well, and you can trust them as much as you trust me.”
“Can’t you stay here?” she whispered. “I trust you, Mr. Dashwood, better than anyone but Millie.”
Something flickered over Nick’s face. “I will be here as much as I can,” he replied. “I give you my word, Lucy.”
Emilia tried to smile reassuringly at Charlotte, who was tense and silent. “We only want you to be aware. I feel dreadful that you were both so frightened when this man stopped me in the street. Mr. Dashwood has taken careful steps to protect us all.”
“I give you my word, Lucy,” repeated Nick.
Emilia realized it was the first time he’d said Lucy instead of Lucinda.
“What’s his name?” asked Charlotte.
“Baron Fitchley.” Nick said it without hesitation. Emilia tried to hide her flinch.
Lucy inhaled. “What?” asked Emilia quickly.
Lucy shook her head. Her eyes were so wide, Emilia could see white all around the brown, and her face was pale. “Is he going to come here?” she whispered.
“I doubt it,” Nick told her. “And if he does, Pearce will be ready for him. I daresay he’ll slice the man right to bits with that little silver tray of his.”
Lucy’s lips trembled. “Millie?” she appealed. “Are you afraid?”
“No,” said Emilia firmly. “Mr. Dashwood has made every arrangement.”
Charlotte sat up straight. “Will you leave me your pistol, Nick?”
“I will not,” he said at once. “James has one, and that’s enough. Neither of you will need to fight him off. I only want you to be wary. If James or Miss Greene says it’s time to go home, or not a good day to walk in the park, you must listen, and not quarrel with them.” He sat back, his tone lightening. “I expect in a few days he’ll have worn himself out and gone away to sulk somewhere else. As Miss Greene said, we don’t want you to be frightened, only aware.”
There was a very long silence. Emilia already regretted telling them; they should have made up another story to explain Jock and Rudy being around.
“I promise,” said Lucy softly.
“I promise,” echoed Charlotte.
Later, after Nick had gone to bed, Charlotte tugged Emilia aside. “Who is that man? Lucy went pale when she heard his name.”
Emilia hesitated. Lucy had been in the room when Mr. Bennet read her father’s will; she might have remembered his name. She wished she’d remembered that, and asked Nick not to mention it.
But what lie could Emilia tell? None. And she didn’t want to lie to Charlotte at all. “Her father named him as Lucy’s guardian,” she said quietly. “But he’s horribly unsuited. Nick and I will never let him take her.”
Charlotte set her mouth and nodded once. “I understand. Thank you for telling me. I promise to help keep Lucy safe from him.” She marched into the dining room without another word, and Emilia followed after a moment, barely able to focus on the music lesson.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-FIVE
Pearce sent Henry out to get the first copies of theLondon Intelligencerthat afternoon. Emilia paced the entry hall, waiting for it. Signor Giacomo was leading the girls in a giddy dance lesson in the dining room. Emilia had told him they were both to participate, and that he was to teach them the most boisterous dance he knew. He had brought an extra assistant, and the sounds of laughter rang over the tinkling of the pianoforte.
When Henry finally returned, she all but pounced on him, seizing the copy he handed her. It was right there on the front page:Craven Murder at the Craven Meeting!
Nick came down the stairs as she was reading, dressed in his usual evening wear. “MacGregor did his part well,” he remarked, taking the other copy Henry offered him.
“When Lord F won a tidy fortune at the Craven Meeting this April last on Agamemnon, who placed well above the highly favored Etonian, it seemed naught but proof of that gentleman’s infallible prescience in contests of the turf,” Emilia read in a quiet rush. “But it has come to this columnist’s attention that there is in truth a far more sinister explanation—that Lord F not only had prior awareness of a malady afflicting Etonian but in fact played a role in causing it. TheIntelligencerhas learned...” Her voice trailed off as her eyes scanned the page faster than she could speak.
“Mr. Kinson told several people he thought the horse had been tampered with.” Nick turned the page of his own copy. “And the groom kept a receipt when he was asked to procure arsenic.”
