Because Sophie was right. If she could only see Benedict, speak to him, they could clear up this nightmare.
Perhaps he was not confident inherfeelings—he did not know that she wished desperately to be with him.
If only she could see him…
An hour later, the notion refused to leave her. The house was quiet. Her father’s reluctance to attend theton’s balls usually did not extend to the theater.
Quietly, Eliza rose and donned the same dress she’d worn to the boxing match, then tucked her hair back in a plain style. She snuck out through the music room, just as she had the other night.
The moon was absent, leaving her to navigate the familiar gardens from memory and dim starlight alone. She padded along the graveled path toward the gate, tripping only once over a small stone.
Their gate was well maintained and silent as she slipped through it. She paused on the pavement and glanced in both directions before starting past the house in the direction of Benedict’s townhouse.
She had reached the other side of the stoop before a cool voice drifted over her.
“I know you’re not sneaking out, Eliza Wayland.”
She whirled around to find Sebastian Kincade leaning against the wall with one leg propped over the other. With his dark skin and clothing, he should have stood out against the white facade of her house, but he’d made the shadows his home.
“Bash…”
“I’m here, minding my business—wasting my time—making sure your suitor doesn’t try anything. Best part of my week spent twiddling my thumbs. And hereyouare, sneaking out looking for trouble.”
“Please, Bash. I need to see him.”
His laugh landed somewhere in the vicinity of a derisive snort. “Knew a Wayland girl’s mischief was going to be the end of my employment. Never imagined it would be yours.”
“But—”
“He’s gone, Lizzie. Saw him board the coach myself. I’m just here—as I said, wasting my time—out of an abundance of caution.”
Her heart sank. “No, you must be mistaken. He wouldn’t leave?—”
“Don’t rightly know what he’s done. But, Lizzie, I never saw your pa like that. Whatever it is… you’d best stay away from Sinclair.”
Her mind rebelled at that very notion. Bash was operating under the same misapprehension as her father.
“How did he learn whatever it was?” Eliza pressed.
“Some barkeep. But you’re not entering into some foolhardy investigation, neither.”
“I wasn’t?—”
“You were fixing to.”
“Bash, please. I need to understand.”
He strode forward, coming to stand before her. “Youwantto understand. Youneedto stay here, snug in your feather bed. If it’s any comfort, he looked properly shattered to leave. But leave he did.”
“It’s all a misunderstanding!”
“Then he’ll find a way to straighten it out.”
“But what if he doesn’t?”
“You’re worth the effort, Lizzie.”
“But he cannot?—”
