“Oh, my. I certainly hope that he doesn’t find her, then. Is there nothing further we can do?”
“Mr. Garner—that is the man whom I hired—says that he will try to track down this friend of Mary Chilton’s, Winny something-or-other. The housekeeper did know that she moved to London, though no one had any idea where she lived. Another one of the maids was friends with her but told Garner that she did not know where this Winny was now—even after Garner offered her money. But even if he finds the friend, I hold little hope that she will know where Mary Chilton is. After all, it has been over nine years since Mary left the Quartermaine house.”
None of what she had told them sounded good, Penelope thought, but she tried to put the best face on it that she could. She patted her grandmother’s hand. “Don’t worry, Grandmama. I am sure she will turn up just as Alexandra did. We Montfords are a trifle hard to do away with, you know.”
Lady Exmoor smiled at her. “Thank you, dear. I am sure you are right. We will find her.”
“Let us only hope it is before Richard does.” Lady Ursula, as always, had to have the last word.
MARIANNE LAID DOWN HER CARDS WITH a sigh. “You win—as usual, Betsy.”
“Hmmph.” The old lady narrowed her eyes. “It was easy enough. What’s bothering you, child? You played even more poorly than you normally do.”
Marianne smiled a little ruefully. “Nothing. It is just anxiety…not knowing, you see, whether Lord Lambeth will forget about me or go to the authorities. I don’t like this inactivity.”
In truth, she knew it was more than that, though she did not want to tell Betsy about her vague insecurities. The odd letter from Winny’s friend had disturbed her more than she cared to admit. Over the past few days, her thoughts had kept returning to it. What could this stranger want with her? It had stirred up memories, too, things from her days at the orphanage and at the Hall that she would just as soon forget. She kept thinking of that day when Daniel Quartermaine had cornered her in his bedroom as she was dusting his room, of the way he had begun to kiss and caress her, not letting her go when she told him no. She had finally begun to struggle, frightened, and it was then that he had slapped her and thrown her down on the floor beside the bed. His eyes had lit with a fierce, wild glow that she had not seen there before, and it had terrified her. She remembered the fear and disgust as his hands had moved over her and his tongue had thrust deeply into her mouth.
She could not help but think how differently she had felt the other night when Lord Lambeth kissed her, how her whole insides had turned to melting wax and her blood had hummed in her veins. Lambeth would have turned to force, too, if he had had the chance, she told herself. He was, after all, even more arrogant than young Quartermaine. No doubt he, too, thought that all women ought to feel honored to receive his advances. It did not mean anything that he had released her when she pulled away, or that he had not made a move toward her when she slapped him. It had been merely surprise that she would oppose him that had kept him rooted to the spot.
She remembered his golden eyes darkened with lust, his well-cut lips sensually full and soft, and she felt again that clenching deep in her loins that was both delightful and dissatisfying. It annoyed her that she continued to think about him.
Worse than the thoughts that had been plaguing her, however, was the strange sensation she had felt yesterday as she was walking home from the lending library, where she had gone to return the book she had borrowed two days earlier. As she strolled along, she had begun to have the oddest feeling at the base of her neck. She had stopped and turned, but she saw nothing out of the ordinary, just another person or two walking along as she was. All the way home, she had been unable to get rid of the impression that someone was watching her. Feeling foolish, she had looked around again, but this time there had been no one on the block but her. Still, thinking about the tingling along her spine made her want to shiver.
“Mrs. Cotterwood.” One of their two maids stood hesitantly at the door. “There’s someone here to see you. I—he’s in the foyer.”
Marianne looked at her, surprised. No one ever came to visit her. She eschewed any sort of intimacy with the Society flats. It occurred to her now that a visitor was so rare that the maid wasn’t even sure what she should do with the fellow.
“Thank you, Nettie.” She rose, glancing over at Betsy, who looked back at her with as much puzzlement as Marianne felt. Had the man who had been inquiring after her at the Hall managed to find her? Was it he watching her yesterday when she had felt those odd sensations?
Suppressing her fears as best she could, Marianne rose and went out into the hallway. She stopped cold when she saw the man standing in the foyer, hat in hand, smiling down at her daughter.
Lord Lambeth had found her.
CHAPTER FIVE
“MY LORD,” MARIANNE SAID FAINTLY.
Lambeth looked up at Marianne and smiled, a faintly vulpine curving of his lips that seemed as much a warning of danger as a greeting. “Mrs. Cotterwood.”
“Rosalind, what are you doing here? I thought you were in the kitchen with Winny, working on your studies.”
“I came out to see who was here, Mama,” Rosalind replied pragmatically. “Nettie came into the kitchen and said, ‘Lor’ but there’s a ‘andsome devil out there.’ So I wanted to see.”
Lambeth chuckled. Marianne couldn’t see that the disclosure discomfited him much. He probably expected everyone to find him handsome.
“But he doesn’t look like a devil to me,” Rosalind went on seriously.
“Bless you, child.” Lambeth grinned. “Just for that, I’ll take you up with me one of these days in my curricle.”
“Would you?” Rosalind turned to him, eyes sparkling. “Where everybody could see?”
“Indeed. What would be the point otherwise?”
A sunny smile spread across her daughter’s face. “I’d enjoy that ever so much.”
“Rosalind, I think it’s time you went back to your studies, don’t you?”
“Yes, Mama.” She turned and started away, then turned, asking Lambeth gravely, “You won’t forget, will you?”
“I swear it.” Lambeth laid his hand over his heart dramatically.
Rosalind grinned and skipped away. Marianne watched the child leave, then turned back to Lambeth, irritated at the easy way he had won her daughter over.
“How did you find me?” she asked bluntly.
His eyes lit with laughter. “Were you hiding from me?”
“Of course not.” Irritation stiffened her spine. “But I gave you no permission to call on me.”
“I know. I am far too bold. I’ve been told so before. However, I felt sure that if we had not been so rudely interrupted, you would have given me your direction.”
“You take rather a lot upon yourself.” This was an awkward situation. If they were to stay in London, as the others wanted, she needed somehow to deflect this man’s suspicions. She could not simply turn him away, for that would only increase his doubts about her. But she knew that if he were to meet any of her supposed family, it would likely do the same thing. While most of them spoke rather genteelly, she knew from being around the ton that they would not pass any discerning eye—and this man’s eyes were more discerning than most.
“I felt sure I could depend on your good nature.” Lambeth’s eyes were laughing at her again,