“Don’t worry about them. Just make sure you do your part. There’s some fellow sniffing around her here, and I’m not taking any chances. I’ve worked too hard and spent too much blunt trying to gain the chit’s affections, only to have some stranger whisk her away.”
That confused Heywood. Had Malet seen him somehow? But then why talk as if he didn’t know who the “fellow” was?
“Shall I assume we’re not returning to the Nickman estate, master?”
“You’re correct,” Malet said. “But don’t worry. You’ll be paid amply for transporting me and my fiancée to Gretna Green in record time.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Fiancée? Gretna Green? Had it progressed as far as that?
Heywood peered over the railing in time to see Malet stalk back into the house and a coachman hurry along the line of carriages parked along the drive until he came to the one that must be Malet’s.
Damn it all to hell. Malet and Miss Nickman were eloping. Heywood may have arrived too late. Either that or he was arriving just in time.
Regardless, Douglas would never forgive him if he did not find a way to keep Miss Nickman from marrying this blackguard. So that’s what Heywood must do.
* * *
It took Cass longer than she’d expected to find Kitty. First she looked for her in the card room. There Aunt Virginia was so intent on winning at whist that she merely waved her hand in a shooing motion when Cass approached her.
Next Cass passed through the supper room, but neither Captain Malet nor Kitty was there, which alarmed her. If that dratted fellow had coaxed Kitty into being alone with him, Cass would have his head! The longer Cass peeked into the other rooms without finding Kitty, the more worried she got.
Then she glimpsed the young woman marching down a hallway and muttering to herself, obviously in a temper—Kitty, who so rarely got angry at anything.
“Are you all right?” Cass asked.
Kitty blinked. “I’m fine. I was just . . . having an argument with a friend.”
“Is it anyone I know?”
A panicked expression crossed Kitty’s face. “Certainly not. Whywouldyou? Know them, I mean.”
Kitty was behaving oddly, to be sure. “Where did this argument take place?” Cass demanded.
“In . . . um . . . the retiring room.”
“I was just in the retiring room,” Cass said. “You weren’t there.”
Wrapping her arms about her waist, Kitty murmured, “I left there, andI . . .decided to see what the rest of the manor looked like.”
When she followed that outrageous remark with a weak smile, Cass rolled her eyes heavenward. Kitty had always been terrible at lying. Normally, Cass would wait her cousin out until she admitted the truth, but after traipsing up and down Welbourne Place, Cass didn’t have the patience for that. And did it really matter who the friend was? Kitty had a number of casual female friends.
“Well,” Cass said, “right now I need you to come with me.” Taking Kitty by the arm, Cass stalked toward the ballroom. “Colonel Lord Heywood Wolfe is here with an important message from Douglas, so I told him I’d bring you onto the terrace to talk to him.”
“Why in heaven’s name is he outside?”
While they headed for the terrace doors, Cass explained. But as they neared them, she pulled Kitty to a halt. “Promise me you won’t tell him that I too am an heiress.”
“Why would that come up in a conversation about a message from Douglas? I mean, it’s not as if—” Kitty halted as the significance of Cass’s words apparently hit her. “Wait. I thought youlikedthe colonel! You’ve said it many times—that you think he’s as clever as a bear.”
“Not a bear, dearest. A fox. Clever as a fox.”
Kitty had a tendency to mangle well-known phrases. But she never took offense when anyone corrected her. It was one of her most endearing qualities. Because Kitty was corrected alot.
“ ‘Bear,’ ‘fox,’ ” Kitty said with a wave of her hand. “What difference does it make?”
“Well, foxes are known for being crafty whereas bears—” Cass shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. The point is, it’s preciselybecauseI like him that I don’t want you to tell him I’m an heiress.”
