“That’s jolly good of you. I may take you up on that.”
“Excellent. I’ll inform Basil that you’ll be joining us. I’m sure he’ll be pleased. It will give us a chance to catch up.”
Lex held out his hand again, and the two men shook.
As he stepped back out into the gray morning, the cool air bit through his coat like the sting of disappointment. His thoughts churned as he walked. Edwina was gone. Again. And he had no idea what it meant.
Had she left because of him? Because of Hammond? Because something deeper had been stirred in her, and she didn’t know how to face it.
He didn’t know. And that uncertainty gnawed at him.
Tomorrow, he would leave London. He had obligations—an estate to salvage, lives depending on his decisions. But as he walked through the misty streets of Mayfair, one truth echoed in his mind:
He couldn’t let her go without a fight.
He knew where to find her—but he just had to figure out how to win her, how to convince her that everything he wanted, everything he needed, began and ended with her.
Chapter Fifteen
Middlesex
Felicia held ahandkerchief and delicately blew her nose. “Although your description of what occurred at Bess’s dinner party is disturbing, I don’t understand why we needed to leave London in such a rush. We left Charles without a satisfactory explanation. Your poor cousin must now find his way back to Middlesex on his own, and we are without an escort.”
“Grandmama, I just couldn’t bear to delay. This Hammond character frightened me with his inappropriate behavior and his shouted threats. I thought it better to leave and wait for him to get over my rejection. This is a man we want nowhere near the baronetcy.”
That wasn’t the real reason. Winnie was not afraid of Hammond’s threats, not in the way he had intended. But she was worried that Hammond would find out who she really was. When he’d cornered her in the hallway, his eyes had seemed to bore into her head. He’d looked at her as though he could see what she’d hidden from Society for the past year. That she was the Lace Bandit.
But her real reason was avoiding Lex. She’d developed deep feelings for him, and, fool that she was, she didn’t think ahead. She hadn’t considered that marrying him would mean putting him in danger, forshe could not tell him who she was and what she had done, holding up carriages at gunpoint on the various highways and roads to London.
Nor could she bear to have him think badly of her.
If only she had never gone to London. If only she had stood up to her grandmother and put off the dowager’s infernal quest to marry her off, she would have inherited her title in a matter of months, and then she could have quietly retired the Lace Bandit and gone on with her life.
“I agree completely, but Bess can and will handle this miscreant,” Grandmama said. “She has dealt with his kind before and has many powerful connections to keep him in line. You need not fear his retribution for turning down his suit. Bess wields a great deal of power in London and can make it impossible for him to find a wife if he crosses her. I am sure he learned a lesson after taking a beating from the earl. Speaking of which, tell me more about the Earl of Capel, this knight who stood up for your honor? In my day, a man who fought for the woman he loved was considered a dashing gent, yet you seem vexed with him.”
“What is there to tell?”
Felicia’s probing gaze pierced through her deception, and it was all Winnie could do not to fidget in her seat. Her wizened grandmother brimmed with questions that Winnie wasn’t sure she could answer truthfully, and lying was an unsavory behavior that she abhorred sinking to.
“Is he handsome?”
“He is certainly not hard on the eyes.”Oh my, what an understatement, if ever there was one!
“And why did he choose to intercede? Is he interested in you?”
“I-I believe he is an impetuous sort of man, eager to right wrongs when he sees them.” Of course, he was not impetuous. He was an honorable man who’d fought for her honor. There was nothing impetuous about that. And he was far from being weak.
“As far as his interest in me…” Winnie’s gaze slid to the passing scenery as the carriage rolled along. “I suppose he may be interested, but I cannot speak to what is in his heart.”
Liar! You are shilly-shallying, and you know it.
Oh, Lord, what was she to do? She wanted to be with Lex more than she wanted her next breath. But she could not risk putting him in jeopardy, nor risk everything she’d worked so hard for in her quest to help the living conditions of the people in the rookeries.
“Then why in God’s name are we not in London, where the man can properly court you? I know he sent you at least two notes asking to meet with you.”
Winnie’s eyes widened. “How do you know that?”
“I know everything, my dear.”
