"See for yourself," his companion suggested.
A curse split the air as St. James emerged from the library. "She has to be there!"
Elyse pulled back against the wall, closing her eyes. He was just as she remembered—the soft gold of his hair and the sharp planes of his face now tense with anger.
Both men raced up the stairway, St. James’ longer stride taking the steps two at a time. Elyse didn't have time to consider what had happened the night before. As soon as both men were out of sight at the top of the stairs, she quickly crossed the entry to the front door and escaped.
She found a hansom cab only a half-block from Lord Vale's home. The driver looked at her strangely but said nothing. He easily found the address for Lucy's house.
Andrew Maitland was punctual to a fault. Unless she missed her guess, he had already left their fashionable home at Bainbridge Square for his office. That is, unless he was still angry with Lucy about the previous evening at White's.
She had the driver pull into the circular driveway. She was met at the door by their butler and asked to see Lucy. She waited in the front parlor then whirled around at the sound of rustling skirts as her friend joined her.
"Good heavens!" Lucy flew into the parlor. Glancing quickly about, she discreetly shut the cream white doors, then immediately crossed the room and took Elyse's hands in hers.
"I couldn't believe it when the butler announced you. I've been frantic since last night. What happened after Andrew and I left? How did you get out of there?"
How indeed, she thought. She couldn't tell Lucy the truth about what had happened.
"I was able to find a cab and left." She could tell by her friend's expression that she didn't believe that was all of it, but she had the good grace not to ask. At least not for now.
"You have every right to be angry with me," Elyse was determined to clear the air.
"You're right, I should be," Lucy admitted. "But it was my own fault for letting you talk me into such a ridiculous scheme, and it was exciting. It's good that Andrew left earlier. I don't think he's ready to see you just yet."
Elyse confessed. "I had hoped that he'd already left for his office. Do you think he'll ever speak to me again?"
"Maybe in forty or fifty years." Lucy shook her head and then burst out laughing. "I tried to convince him we should go back for you last night, but he thought being left was just what you deserved." Lucy pulled her to a nearby settee.
"I argued until I was in tears. Finally, he turned the carriage around, but when we returned there were police everywhere."
"I don't know how I would have explained it to Grandmother if we'd been caught." She wasn't certain how to explain what had happened afterward to herself.
"Was Jerrold terribly angry?" Lucy asked.
"I didn't see Jerrold last night after the police arrived."
"Oh. Well, I suppose he was able to leave discreetly," Lucy replied. "You're looking a bit wan. Are you feeling all right after our little adventure?"
She needed an excuse, any excuse. "I left before breakfast this morning, perhaps some coffee or tea?" She simply didn't elaborate where she had left from.
"Brunch," Lucy decided." Then you can tell me about all the excitement after Andrew and I left."
Excitement, Elyse thought. That was one word for what had happened afterward. She had deliberately left out any mention of what had happened after St. James had taken her to Lord Vale's residence.
“What about St. James?” Lucy asked about the previous evening over biscuits and assorted cheeses. “According to Andrew, he is such a blackguard. I can’t imagine that he would allow himself to be caught in such a situation.”
“What’s he like? I mean really like? He seems so overbearing, impossibly rude, but impossibly handsome with that eye-patch!”
“I suppose one might think that,” Elyse replied vaguely.
“It’s just that, in all the time you’ve been engaged to Jerrold, you’ve never—well you know what I mean. Now this man comes along and in a matter of a few weeks... “
“Lucy, please!” Of course she couldn't keep the secret from Lucy for too long.
Her friend wasn’t about to be put off. “I saw it the first time you met him,” she said. “There was something between you. Have you met him before?”
“Of course, not. I never met him before the night of the party.”
