Page 52

Cordelia agreed. “His brother’s affairs were quite tangled I understand, and his debts, staggering.”

“You said he had friends with him, did you not, Lucy?” Margaret asked.

Lucy nodded. She did not trust herself to speak. The sisters’ words cast a shadow of doubt on her happiness. She hoped it would be a fleeting one.

Cassandra changed the subject. “We might have been overly sanguine about your prospects, but you are now established here with a circle of friends and may return at any time. We’ll see you betrothed yet.”

“Thank you, Cassandra.”

“We have been so glad to have you with us, dear girl,” Cordelia seconded her sister. “You must come again, later in the Season, when you feel that you can. Then we shall see who offers for you.”

Lucy promised she would. Then perhaps she would have glad news of a betrothal to share. For a few minutes they had little else to say.

Late as the hour was, the bell rang, and the butler, waiting up to see Margaret off, came a few minutes later to announce that the Earl of Mountjoy was below and wishful of a word with Miss Holbrook.

Lucy descended, her spirits rising, instantly glad that he could think of her at all in such a time. The butler had shown him into the morning room. A branch of candles on the table made a circle of light that just illuminated him in a sober suit of mourning.

It might be the light or the shock he was under, but she had never seen him look so distant from her, not even early in their acquaintance. The sisters’ words about his situation now seemed ominous. “What is it? Have you had more bad news?”

“Miss Holbrook,” he began, and she reached out a hand, but when he made no move to take it, she placed it on the table to steady herself at the formality of it. “The change in my circumstances means I will be weeks if not months trying to sort out Richard’s affairs.”

She nodded. Apparently, they were not to touch tonight.

“You will return to the inn?”

“You needn’t worry. Cassandra and Cordelia will take me tomorrow. Only I must trouble you for one favor.” She lifted her chin to face him squarely.

“Yes.”

“You’ve kept Adam safe, but now I must ask you to bring him to me.”

“As you wish, but I must ask a favor in return.”

She waited with no idea of what he could mean. He was grieving and troubled, but he’d changed toward her in some way she could not understand.

“Will you consent to try to unlock Adam’s memory?”

“Now?”

“He may be able to identify his enemy.”

“And you suspect that Adam’s enemy will act against him?”

“You cannot protect yourself...or Adam against the man if you do not know who he is.”

And you will not be there to protect me, she thought. “I will not be alone,” she said.

“I have a second motive for asking this of you. Two young friends of mine are missing. They were taken during the most recent robbery of one of Radcliffe’s Rockets.”

“Taken?”

“The guard wounded my friend.”

“The youth with the teeth and ears?”

“Nate Wilde.”

Lucy sat down. “What can that have to do with Adam?”