Louisa’s mouth snapped shut. Of course, she knew that she wouldn’t be able to just stroll through the front door of a gambling house, particularly one as infamous as the Lyon’s Den without some sort of resistance. Still, the decisiveness of this man’s single word shook her.
“W-what do you mean no?”
“Exactly that,” he said as he nodded at the well-dressed gentlemen who moved around her to enter the building. “You’ve no business here.”
“How?” She paused as a group of rambunctious men pushed past her, barely acknowledging her. “How can you know that?”
“Because you’re as green as a meadow. Go home, little girl. There’s nothing here for you but trouble.”
He looked past her as Louisa’s conviction began to drain. She was not a brave woman, or even a woman who was good at confrontation. Most times when she found herself in an argument, she’d become quiet and introspective, only producing a clever retort or critical point hours after the conflict.
But she didn’t have hours. She needed to get inside immediately.
“Please. I-I have business with Mrs. Dove-Lyon.”
The man scoffed.
“Is that so?” he asked, sarcasm dripping from his words. “And what sort of business would a lady of… twenty? Twenty-one?” He looked her up and down and sneered at her gown. “From a modest upbringing have with the lady?”
Louisa dug her hand into her coat pocket, took out the black velvet pouch, and handed it to the man. His brow lifted as he took it and turned it upside down. The gold pinchbeck brooch, no larger than a skipping stone, was designed to look like a gold rope wrapped around three garnet stones, which lay diagonally across the entwined metal.
He glanced up.
“What is this?”
“It belongs to Mrs. Dove-Lyon, and I intend to make sure it goes directly into her hands.”
“Where did you get it?”
“I… Well, you see, I inherited the piece.”
“From?”
“My mother.” She paused. “And she, um, she inherited it from her mother.”
“So why exactly would Mrs. Dove-Lyon want it?”
“Because, well, um… My grandmother, you see, she um, she stole it from Mrs. Dove-Lyon’s mother.”
The man stared at her for a moment longer, before replacing the piece of jewelry back into the velvet pouch and handing it back to her.
“Wait here,” he said as he turned. “Snug!”
A short man with thin black hair and glasses came towards him.
“Yes, Titan?”
“The lady requires an audience with the madam.”
“Oh? But this isn’t the lady’s entrance and Mrs. Dove-Lyon isn’t seeing anyone—”
“She is now.”
The bespectacled man’s brow lifted as he glanced at Louisa. Obviously, whoever this Mr. Titan was knew what it meant to cross Mrs. Dove-Lyon and while his face remained unreadable, Louisa sensed his pity for her.
Dear Lord, this was the stupidest thing she had ever decided to do. Snug escorted her through the front doors of the gambling club, despite that the women were supposed to enter at a different door. Louisa was curious about that, but since she only intended to return the brooch and leave at once, she doubted she’d even be noticed. Perhaps she would have had better luck throwing the blasted thing into the Thames—
Oh.
