The events referenced so far took place over ten years. Had this person been watching her the entire time and finally got up the nerve to write? Has it been an infatuation that he has held on to all this time and it took him this long to approach?
We both enjoyed the walk in the garden that night. Did you enjoy the moon?Lucian looked over at Eliza and all she did was shrug.
“How many gardens have you walked in at night this past Season?”
“None,” she answered. “I cannot remember the last time that I did. Well, other than my parents’ home in London, or at the family estate, but those are too numerous to count.”
Someone was watching from the shadows. Lucian set the letter aside and took a drink of his lemonade as he scanned the portion of the estate he could see from the terrace. Were they being watched now?
He would need to remind his staff to be more alert than ever.
Lucian read the next missive.That was a beautiful petticoat you wore yesterday. “I assume, as with the garden, this could have been at any time.”
“If I knew which petticoat he referred to, I might be able to determine where and when he may have seen it, but as you can see, he did not say.
The next letter offered no further clue as to the identity of the sender.Do you think of me as often as I think of you?
“By the time this letter was received, they had been arriving regularly, at least once a sennight, and that was when I decided to take rooms at the Pulteney Hotel and dress and shield my face as a widow when coming and going.”
“You were frightened?” Lucian asked. At least she was showing some sense, but Lucian still feared that Eliza did not fully appreciate the potential threat.
“I was disturbed and did not like that someone knew where I was. Not necessarily fear.”
Of course she wouldn’t admit to fear. “How long before you received another letter?”
“It was at least a sennight, so I grew more comfortable that my ploy had worked.”
Lucian read the next two missives.I miss seeing you. Where have you gone?was the first.
“The second was received a sennight after the first.”
My dear, I hope you are not ill, and will await your return to Society.
“Another sennight later, he sent this one.”
You may have hidden yourself away, but I will not be deterred in finding you.
“The next was received in the same post with Rosemary’s invitation to the wedding.”
There is no place you can hide from me.
“The wedding gave me a reason to vacate London and that is when my brother insisted on finding a cottage in the country, which he rented in his name.”
“The missive you received the day I called, was that the first since settling into Greenhaven Cottage?”
“Yes.”
Lucian set that one aside and looked at the next.The earl did not look happy when he left. “When did you receive that one?”
Eliza frowned and picked it up and read. “I have no idea. I have not seen it before.”
Lucian turned to the footman who waited beside the terrace doors that led into the parlor where Eliza wrote. “Please tell Stella that I need to see her.”
“I will be quite cross if my servants are now hiding these letters from me.”
Lucian agreed. Eliza needed to be made aware of each letter—threat—no matter how uncomfortable it may make her.
“Yes, Lord Garretson,” Stella said as she stepped outside.
