The waiter’s face reddened at her reaction.
“I would like a flavored ice of jasmine and rose,” Mrs. Petersham told the young man.
“And may I try the orange flower?” Meredith added.
The young man accepted Mrs. Petersham’s payment and told them to find a table and he would bring the ices to them in a moment. There was a single empty table in the center of the room and Meredith hated how she felt like she was on display. Meredith sat down and placed her reticule on her lap.
Her chaperone leaned forward to whisper. “So we must get your note to Warren, that is our next task.”
Meredith nodded. She had been thinking the same thing. But her eyes caught two men looking her way and whispering as they ate their desserts. There were gentlemen, judging by their dress, but Meredith didn’t like the way there looking at her as though they knew something intimate about her. One of them smirked at her.
“Meredith?” Mrs. Petersham spoke her name in a quiet question.
“Two men are watching me,” Meredith whispered as calmly as she could to her chaperone. “Do not look.”
The waiter came to deliver their ices. Meredith tried hers, wishing she could enjoy it more without worrying. Several women started whispering nearby. It was hard for Meredith not to overhear some of their conversations.
“… some by-blow, I heard …”
“… likely entrap Tiverton in marriage…”
“…well, who wouldn’t? I heard…”
“…Nonsense. No gentleman would take…”
“…except as a mistress, I suppose…”The men who had eyed her before stood and came to her table. They stopped directly in front of her and Mrs. Petersham.
“Good afternoon, Miss Montague,” one of them greeted her, his lascivious grin twisting her stomach sharply in apprehension.
It was appropriate for single men and women to meet at Gunter’s for ice cream, but a man was not supposed to approach a woman without an introduction. These two men were breaking the rules of propriety, and Meredith dreaded discovering the reason that made them so confident in doing so.
“Sir, we do not know you,” Mrs. Petersham said sharply, though she kept her voice down. “Kindly walk away.”
“Ahh, but I wish to know the young lady,” the man said, his eyes still locked on Meredith.
His companion chuckled and added, “As do I.”
Meredith’s mouth fell open at what these men were suggesting about her.
“I believe I said walk away,” Mrs. Petersham’s tone was as cold as the northernmost sea.
Meredith glanced around, all too aware of the people now watching this encounter, but desperate not to show how much it upset her.
“Oh hush, you old dragon,” the first man said his voice a little louder as he snapped at her. “Your charge needs no protecting, not when it comes to sharing her favors.”
“Oh, I am a dragon … but old?” Mrs. Petersham set her flavored ice down on the little table and stood up, glaring at the two men. Neither of them seemed to be the least bit frightened by her.
“Come now, Miss Montague. Why don’t you join us outside in our carriage? We can make it worth your while.”
Meredith gasped as she rose to her feet as well, abandoning her orange flower ice in its little glass cup. “How dare you!”
“Come now. You do yourself no service by playing coy,” the second man said. “We know you are willing to keep us company.”
“I am most certainly not!” She turned to Mrs. Petersham. “I believe it’s time we left.”
“Agreed,” Mrs. Petersham reached for Meredith’s arm, but one of the men stepped between them and grabbed Meredith’s arm with a gloved hand. Mrs. Petersham swung her reticule at the second man who tried to block her from getting to Meredith. He grunted as whatever she had in her small bag obviously hurt when it made contact with his skull.
“Let go—” Meredith wrenched her arm free of the one who’d grabbed her. The man scowled and reached for her again, this time more forcefully.
