And then the question Col had dreaded popped out of his daughter’s mouth. “Were you in a sword fight? Did it hurt really bad? What happened to the person who did that to you?”
El threw back her head and laughed until she was breathless. “Yes, yes, and the other person is now in a prison out in the middle of a desert where he has to cut and shape huge boulders every day under the boiling sun.”
Dee had the good sense to suck in a sharp breath and remain silent after that answer.
El turned toward Col. “Here is what I recommend. Lady Camilla Bowles Attington Carrington Whitby and her nephew CB have a veritable pack of brats they shelter at her townhouse. I’ll lend you my carriage tonight so that you can smuggle Dee out of your rooms on Great Queen Street and deposit her at their havey cavey household of orphans. Even if someone suspects she might be there, they’d have a devil of a time separating her out from the rest of CB’s wards.
“Are you sure she and CB won’t mind taking on another child?” Col frowned at the whole idea which seemed a little wild to him.
“Leave it to me. Lady Camilla and I have been through a lot together.”
At Col’s quizzical look, she added. “Believe me, it’s better you don’t know any of the details. All you have to do is deliver Dee there around midnight tonight. I’ll have Obadiah and some of the other footmen bring the carriage around to the back alley behind your boarding house. Hide in the boot with Dee and have your valet ride inside with Charlotte and your landlady.”
She looked toward Charlotte. “You and Madame Nouvelle should wear heavy veils and accompany George, so he doesn’t arouse any suspicion by riding alone.”
Col was grateful but perplexed. “Thank you for offering to help protect Dee, but how do you know so much about us? My address…and my landlady?”
“Lady Camilla takes care of her nephew’s friends as if they were her own children. How do you suppose you found suitable lodgings so quickly when you decided to have your daughter come live with you?”
* * *
The Marquessof Wisenberry had not entertained at his townhouse on Grosvenor Square in so long that his entire household staff was buzzing about the chess match to which he’d challenged his old nemesis. The Earl of Cleveden would be arriving at eight o’clock sharp that evening to take up the challenge and settle an old score between the two men.
Very few people in thetonrealized that years before, both aristos had loved the same woman. Cleveden’s countess, the beautiful, elegant Maria, had agreed to marry the earl whom she didn’t love because of a lie he told her about Wisenberry’s wealth. He’d made her believe his rival had bankrupted himself at the card tables of the worst gambling hells in London.
Maria, of course, loved comfort and security more than anything. She and Cleveden had been married unhappily for ten years when she died mysteriously while supposedly visiting family in Edinburgh. Wisenberry had known Maria’s family, and, to his knowledge, none of them lived in Edinburgh.
The marquess’s cook was preparing an evening supper for the two men for after the match, but she was puzzled by a mysterious tin of lavender biscuits he’d brought home and had insisted should be served with coffee while he and the earl were engrossed in the match.
Wisenberry had never married, had never had to. He had a fine, healthy nephew to whom the title would go when he was no longer around. The young man would inherit the title and everything he owned…except for one small bequeath, which he’d already warned him to expect when the will was read.
He set up the chess pieces on the board, thinking he’d let Cleveden have the advantage with the white side. He could afford to be magnanimous this one time, he thought, and ran a finger over the lid on the tin containing Charlotte’s cook’s lavender biscuits.
* * *
Col had dressedDee in her warmest clothes with woolen stockings and a heavy coat. He’d also brought along her favorite blanket for the carriage trip over to CB’s townhouse. His heart was in his mouth when George carefully covered the two of them with the blanket and then locked the lid of the carriage boot over them.
Dee flinched when the lid shut out all the light and clung to Col like a kitten afraid of drowning. “How about a story?” he whispered in the dark, and could feel her head nod.
In a land filled with elephants, far across the sea, a princess lived in a palace where all of the walls and doors were made of spun sugar. If you couldn’t unlock a door, you could eat your way through to the other side.
All the fountains ran with lemonade, and there were trees with chocolate biscuits on their branches, instead of fruit…
* * *
Charlotte sat stiffly,barely able to see inside El’s carriage in spite of the candle lanterns to the side of each door. She and Eugenie might have overdone the black veils a bit.
George sat across from them, staring straight ahead and clutching his versatile cane. She’d noticed earlier back in Col’s rooms when his valet was practicing his defensive moves with the cane, there was a sharp blade that could be flicked open at the bottom of the sturdy stick. For a retired navy man with a limp, George was much more lethal than he looked.
Eugenie reached over and touched her with her gloved hand. “Everything will work out. They’ll be fine.”
Charlotte agreed and made a similar, comforting gesture, but felt the words were more to convince each other than anything else. She wouldn’t breathe easily until they were inside this Lady Camilla’s house surrounded by Obadiah and his men, with Col and Dee safely out of the boot. She imagined improbable disasters where something hit the boot or they had a carriage accident and the two of them were trapped inside.
Rolling through London in the Covent Garden environs did not inspire a great feeling of confidence, either. She knew from her years of working the streets and coffee shops what evil lurked here.
The carriage suddenly picked up speed and began to hurtle through the sparsely inhabited streets. After having feared the worst for so long, now Charlotte frantically tried to conjure safe, sane reasons for why Obadiah was whipping El’s team of horses to such a frenzy. Then the sound of gunshots echoed in the street behind them.
George swooped across to their side of the carriage and pulled both Charlotte and Eugenie to the floor with him before flinging his body atop theirs.Charlotte refused to think about how frightened Dee would be, how angry Col would be at not being able to defend against whatever monster was out there trying to harm his child.
