For a minute, silence descended in the room as Lord Dodge moved to the window, looking out of it to watch the Constable’s retreat, and Francis rubbed his hands across his face in stress.
Phoebe couldn’t bear the silence. She had to ask the question that was burning in her mind, making her palms sweat with fear.
“Was it the Viscount?” she asked, making both men snap their gazes toward her.
“I saw nothing to indicate it could be him.” Francis assured her with a smile. She felt the tension soften from her shoulders and she breathed a sigh of relief.
He has not found me after all.
* * *
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Josiah asked as Francis started walking toward the door.
“Completely,” Francis said, hesitating on his feet a little as the dizziness swept in. “I am one hundred percent well.”
“Tell your feet that, because they look like they’re trying to plait themselves together.”
Francis planted his feet onto the rug beneath him, attempting to stand perfectly still.
“That better?” he said, gesturing to his body.
“A little,” Josiah winced with the words.
Francis turned a little to see his reflection in the mirror. He was tired of staying in bed, and with the red clover and violet tonic solution the physician had given him, his headache was gone, and he did not see the point in laying still anymore. He’d been in bed for two days straight and was determined to join Phoebe and his family for dinner, even if he had to sit in one chair and barely move all evening.
“I will be fine,” Francis said with conviction as he adjusted his jacket and cravat one last time. “Though I might borrow your arm to walk downstairs with.”
“I’m giving it to you now before you fall flat on your face.”
“You’re exaggerating.”
“Oh, if only you could see yourself from where I’m standing,” Josiah said with exasperation as he reached Francis’ side and helped him to walk out of the room. “Before we reach dinner, tell me this. Why were you so keen to hide the fact from Lady Ridlington that your attacker may have been the Viscount?”
“Firstly, we do not know that for sure. He is hardly the only man in London to wear his hair in a ponytail,” Francis said as they walked through the corridor, toward the landing above the stairs.
“Agreed, but it is a suspicion. You lied to her and said there was nothing to suspect it was him.”
“Sadly, I did.” Francis grimaced, hating the idea that he had lied to Phoebe about anything. “How many times now have we seen Phoebe say that she intends to go back to the Viscount in order to keep us all safe?”
“Too many times,” Josiah agreed with a sigh.
“Exactly.” Francis pulled Josiah to a stop above the stairs, still clinging onto his arm for the dizziness was a little stronger than he thought it might have been. “What do you think she would have done if I had told her that the Viscount could have been the man that tried to kill me?”
“Ah…” Josiah paused, his jaw slackening in realization. “She would have packed her bags and gone back to him instantly, just to keep you safe.”
“See?” Francis said as the two of them set off again, walking down the stairs much slower than he could usually do. “You know it as well as I. Quite frankly, I am not going to let that happen. I will keep her here where she is safe, far away from that monster. There is another thing as well that bothers me.”
“Which is?”
“If it were the Viscount, why has he not come for her already?” Francis asked as they reached the bottom of the stairs. “He could have done. He could have stormed the door and demanded I send her back, but he hasn’t yet.”
“Maybe he’s biding his time?” Josiah said, lowering his voice to a whisper as they walked through the entrance hall and got closer to the dining room. “Waiting for the right moment to come?”
“Perhaps. Or perhaps it was not him at all that hit me, and he was just a thief after all.”
“Maybe,” Josiah said, though he chewed the side of his mouth and looked distinctly unconvinced. “So, you’re going to keep this a secret from her?”
“Sadly, yes,” Francis whispered as they hovered on their side of the closed door to the dining room. “I cannot lose her now.”
