He lost interest in the letter. Seeing Lady Ridlington so panicked, he threw it down on the nearest table and moved toward her, gently placing his hands on her upper arms and holding her there. She seemed to soften instantly at his touch.
“There is no need to fear,” he assured her. “If that is not what you wish to do, then we will find another way.”
“Cannot the solicitor come here?” Diana asked from nearby.
“He’d be seen by the staff,” Lady Ridlington answered.
“Exactly,” Francis agreed with a slow nod.
“Then I have to go into the city?” she asked, her spine going rigid. He brushed one hand down her arm a little more, desperate to comfort her, then was relieved when her spine softened a little.
“There may be another way, we’ll think about it,” he assured her.
“That’s right, we’ll think of something,” Diana said decisively. As Francis looked to his sister and brother-in-law, he noticed the way that Josiah was looking at him. The eyes almost calculating as he glanced between Francis and Lady Ridlington a few times.
Francis snatched his hands away from Lady Ridlington, so fast, it was as though the touch had burned him, before retreating to pick up the letter again. He tried not to connect his gaze with Josiah’s, fearful of what he read in his friend’s expression.
“Where is the solicitor based?” Diana asked, moving straight back to business.
“Fleet Street,” Francis said, walking away from Lady Ridlington and putting a little distance between the two of them, before taking the armchair opposite where his guests sat.
“Right in the center,” Josiah said, shaking his head. “It’s no use, even if you went late at night, with the carriage windows darkened, she could still be seen going from the carriage to the office. If constables are out searching the city for you as well, Lady Ridlington, I fear it could be a way that they would find you.”
She was looking more and more despondent as she placed her hands on her hips and turned away from them, evidently deep in thought. Francis longed to return to her and comfort her again, but the memory of the way Josiah had watched the two of them together made him keep his focus on the letter in his hand instead.
“What if she couldn’t be recognized?” Diana asked, sitting forward in her chair.
“Have you developed some magical skills whilst I have been away on the continent, Diana?” Francis asked with a smile. “For if you can transform the way someone looks, I think that would be quite the most miraculous thing I had ever seen.”
“Such a thing is accomplishable without magic, you fool,” she said, waving her hands in his direction. “What if we were to disguise her in different clothes?”
“She stills looks like herself,” Francis said distractedly. “Those green eyes anyone can spot too easily. They’re too…”
“Noticed them, did you?” Josiah said, his tone teasing. Francis looked up from his letter, offering one glare at Josiah, realizing he had almost just confessed to the hold that Lady Ridlington’s beauty had over him.
“You’re not listening to me,” Diana said, waving her hands again. “Lady Ridlington, tell me what you think of my idea?”
“What exactly is the idea?” she asked.
“What if we disguised you…as a boy?”
Chapter 13
“Iam not sure about this,” Phoebe muttered, wringing her hands together as she paced up and down the chamber.
“I think it’s a wonderful idea!” Louisa declared as she turned back to the door.
“I agree,” Hayward said, proffering forward a bundle of clothes from where he was standing in the doorway. “Here, these should fit I think.”
“Thank you, Your Grace,” Louisa took the clothes from him and retreated across the room, showing them to Phoebe.
Phoebe was aware of Hayward hovering for a minute in the doorway, leaning on the doorframe and watching her closely. She tried to ignore the feeling of those eyes on her as she looked down at the clothes Louisa was showing her. There was a crisp white shirt in the bundle, along with a smart black jacket and a pair of boots.
“Whose clothes are these?” Phoebe asked.
“My valet’s. He doesn’t know. I’m hoping he’ll just think the laundry maids are taking a little too long with his washing this week,” Hayward said with a smile as he continued to watch her.
“I’m struggling to remember how you and Lady Dodge managed to talk me into this,” Phoebe said, turning away from the bundle and pacing up and down the chamber again for a few minutes, with her hands on her hips.
