“One piece of advice I will impart now we are to be working together to find Jackson is, don’t be suspicious of everyone, Lady Alice; it will drive you mad. Sometimes a man is just out walking with a woman, or enjoying a solo jaunt around the park.”
Her eyes went back to the man, who was now bent at the waist speaking with a young boy. Why had she believed he was looking at her? Why had she felt that prickle of awareness?Was he right? Was she just being suspicious?
“Are you all right, Alice?” Thaddeus asked.
“Of course, but if you are ready to leave, then I am.”
Thaddeus studied her, but whatever he saw in her face had him not questioning her need to leave.
“Jamie!”
Everyone in their party turned at the shriek, but it was Lord Stafford who started forward. In fact, he was nearly running by the time he reached the two women walking toward him.
“His sisters,” Lady Hamilton said. “Lovely ladies. They do not spend a great deal of time in London, but Jamie is always happy when they do.
Alice watched him kiss his sisters’ cheeks and give a bark of laughter when they said something.
“Come along. You will love them,” Lord Hamilton said to Alice and the twins. “They are not grumpy and aloof like their brother.”
Alice thought most peers were aloof but kept that to herself. She could just leave, taking Thaddeus and Eloise with her, but then Lady Hamilton took her arm, urging her in the direction of Lord Stafford and his sisters.
She kept a polite expression on her face as they reached them. However, she did not look at him. Alice was unsettled; there was no getting around that. First, there was the conversation they’d shared today, and then that man, who Alice thought had been watching them.
“This is Lady Alice,” Lord Stafford said to his sisters.
She dropped into a curtsy and smiled at the two women. Something in their eyes made the hair on the back of her neck rise. Calculating, she thought. But why? Until today, she’d never met either woman.
“How lovely to meet you, Lady Alice,” the sister closest to her said.
She opened her mouth to say something further, but her brother cut her off with a question about his nieces and nephews. After a few more minutes of general chatter, Alice sent Thaddeus a look, which he clearly understood.
“Well,” Thaddeus said. “It is time for us to take our leave.”
They said their goodbyes, and were soon heading back to her townhouse.
“I found it interesting that Lord Stafford singled you out, Alice.”
“Not interesting, Eloise. He also singled out Miss Devlin.”
“Yes, but—”
“No buts. There is nothing between Lord Stafford and me, so we will leave it there if you please.”
Surprisingly, the twins complied with her request, and the rest of the journey was conducted in comfortable silence, even if inside Alice was feeling far from that.
After arriving home, Alice went straight to her room and opened her journal. She wrote, in careful, deliberate strokes, everything that had happened that day. When she finished, she lay back on the bed and let the room grow quiet around her. The thought of the man who had killed her brother filled her mind as it always did. She had lived with him in her thoughts for so long that she wondered, for a moment, what it would be like to wake and not think of him.
“I’ll find you,” she whispered into the dark. “And you will pay.”
For now, she told herself, nothing else mattered. Her purpose was set, and she would not deviate. Lord Stafford would not hinder but help her to achieve that. From this point on, she would keep her dealings with him strictly professional. Alice was certain he could be dangerous to her in more ways than one otherwise.
Chapter Twelve
The note Alicehad received that afternoon contained only five words:I will meet you there.It had been signed with anLand anS, written in large, sweeping black loops, bold, confident, and entirely like Lord Stafford.
Relief had followed her initial apprehension. She would not have to endure a nighttime carriage ride alone with him after all. Still, she couldn’t help but wonder why he had changed his mind. Had he discovered something? Or perhaps he simply wished to keep control of the meeting on his own terms. With that man, it was difficult to tell.
Alice dressed with care for her trip, in a dark bonnet, cloak, and sturdy boots laced high. Lastly, she buttoned black gloves to her wrists. Ezra’s disapproval was clear as he followed her out the door and down to the carriage which awaited them.
