The curtain that led to the corridor was pushed back. An elderly couple swept into the box. In the next moment, Trudy turned, with a sharp jerk of her head, beckoned them. He and Lucy dutifully walked over.
“Good evening, Lord Bartleby, Lady Bartleby.” Hart greeted the couple.
“Good evening, Your Grace. Are you all enjoying the show?”
Trudy grasped Lady Bartleby’s hand warmly. “Yes, indeed. Now that Lord Hartwick is back in town, he will be escorting our dear Miss Middleton to events this season. It was his father’s wish that the duke see Miss Middleton safely settled in a good marriage.”
“I see, yes, of course.” Lady Bartleby replied. “Well, we just stopped by to say hello as we make our rounds. Please, enjoy your evening.”
“Thank you.” Trudy dipped her head. “You as well.”
The couple exited as quickly as they arrived.
“That was laying it on a bit thick, wasn’t it?” Hart said softly out the side of his mouth.
“There can be no subtlety when we are refuting rumors,” Trudy replied in a firm tone.
Several more sets of elegantly dressed patrons filtered in and out of the box. Always with wide smiles and shrewd gazes skimming over the scars on his face, assessing his suitability to be allowed back into society. Hart rolled his right shoulder again and gripped the head of his walking stick, just barely stopping himself from pulling out his watch fob to check how many more minutes until intermission was over.
“Adeline, how nice to see you,” Lucy exclaimed from next to him as Viscount Danby escorted his sister into the box. She took a step forward and kissed her friend’s cheek.
“Good evening, Your Grace. May I present my sister, Lady Adeline Amberley.” The viscount turned to the ladies. “Lady Weatherby, Miss Middleton, a pleasure as always.”
“Please come in,” Trudy replied. “There is perhaps more room at the front for you young people to converse.” She waved her hand, shooing them. The curtain moved aside, and yet another grey-haired couple came through to greet his great aunt.
Lucy and her friend walked toward the railing at the front of the box. As he and Lord Danby stepped up beside them, Hart felt positively old and creaky standing next to the three younger people. They chatted about the latest race in which their friend had a horse entered. It felt like forever since he had attended an event at Ascot just to watch the race and have fun. Fun, what was that?
Lucy had increasingly overtaken his thoughts the past few days. He wondered what those plush pink lips would taste like. How her curves would fit up against him. Would she be soft and pliant in his arms? Her sapphire earrings swung to-and-fro as she laughed at something her friends said. Hart stared at the smooth column of her throat, imagining licking his way up to her ear and whispering, in great detail, all the things he wished to do to her. His cock twitched and Hart ruthlessly leashed his runaway thoughts. What was he doing?Focus on the conversation, you filthy bastard.
Lady Amberley glanced over at him through the round spectacles she wore before her gaze flitted back to Lucy. “I was able to look up the symbol that you showed me. It is indeed Egyptian. It’s called the Knot of Isis. Isis was said to protect people from their enemies.”
Lucy turned to him. “This was what I wanted to tell you. The symbol we found is for protection.” Lucy smiled at her friend. “Adeline is quite the scholar of ancient civilizations.”
“It stems from my interest in astronomy. Did you know that many of the constellations are named for ancient Greek and Roman stories about the gods?” Adeline said.
“I did not,” Hart replied. “I had wondered about the symbol. I found it on a stamp among my father’s correspondence supplies.”
“Our friend Lady Blakely recognized the Knot of Isis as well. Her father has the symbol hanging on the wall in his study,” Lucy said.
That was interesting. Lord Blackpool had been a close friend of his father’s when Hart was younger, but the two men had a falling out and hadn’t been friendly in years. How did the Knot of Isis connect the two of them?
“Lord Danby, you attended Oxford, yes?” Lucy asked.
“I did.”
“Do you know any of the school’s student societies that use the Knot of Isis as their symbol?”
“What does it look like?”
“It’s a bit like a cross, except the top is a loop, and the arms turn down at right angles.”
Adeline took hold of her brother’s hand and drew what Lucy described on his palm with her finger.
“Ahh yes, I have seen that before, but not at Oxford.”
Lucy tilted her head to one side. “Where?”
“At a hel—um a gaming establishment just east of Drury Lane in Holburn. It’s carved into the stone above the entrance.”
