“Besides,” Christian continued, “Sarah says the way to get the unmarried ladies to notice you is to capture the eye of the most popular unmarried lady. Matrons won’t do.”
Lucy laughed outright at that. “Well, I can’t say she’s wrong about that. And shewasthe belle of the Season. It wassucha scandal when she left. Of course if I’d known she would end up with you, I would have kept quiet, but I fear I participated in the gossip and conjecture.”
Cass sighed. “It’s a pity that lovely Lady Sarah must marry Lord Branford if she doesn’t love him. Perhaps her parents will listen to reason after she informs them why she left so precipitously.”
“First things first,” Lucy replied. “We must get Sarah back to London and convince everyone that absolutely nothing scandalous happened.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Cass agreed.
Christian twirled the brown liquid in his glass. “There’s only one problem with the current plan.”
“Which is?” Lucy asked.
“I promised Mrs. Goatsocks that the moment you two arrived, you would be officially chaperoning Lady Sarah.”
“Oh!” Cass exclaimed.
“I doubt Mrs. Goatsocks—I like that name, by the by—would mind if she remains in your company a bit longer, Berkeley. You did promise the lady you would do everything you could to restore her to her family in London while causing the least amount of gossip, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” he agreed.
“If she were here now, Mrs. Goatsocks would see the logic in this plan and agree with me.”
“Oh, Lucy, you’re always so confident,” Cass said.
“We don’t have time to write to the woman,” Lucy continued. “But believe me when I tell you, she’d agree with me. Besides, Sarah is officially in Mrs. Bunbury’s care in Bath at the moment, at any rate. She’s not unchaperoned at all.”
Cass pulled her fur shrug closer around her shoulders. “Oh, Lucy, I do so adore how you think.”
Christian shook his head. “I doubt even the Prince Regent could disagree with you once you set about making your point, Lucy.”
Cass bit her lip. “But a misunderstanding? You really think telling everyone that will work, Lucy?”
Lucy crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re talking to the same person who has hidden behind bushes and thrown my voice so that my future husband would think I was speaking for you, Cass.”
“You’re also talking to the same person who invented a fictitious person and then proceeded to conduct a house party in her honor and convinced half thetonto attend,” Christian added.
“How could I forget?” Cass replied. “SinceIwas the one pretending to be that fictitious person.”
“I, for one, trust you completely, of course,” Christian said to Lucy.
Lucy reached over and patted him on the arm. “That’s why I like you so well, Berkeley. You’ve always had faith in me.”
Christian lifted his glass again. “Your schemes tend to work. There’s evidence. Of course if this one works, Sarah will still be back in London, engaged to Lord Branford.”
Lucy smiled and her different-colored eyes sparkled. “Why don’t I leave that little problem foryouto solve, Berkeley?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
There was little time to waste. The very next morning, two traveling chaises set out in different directions from Berkeley Hall. The one containing Sarah (who was filled with nerves) and Lord Berkeley (who had still not shaved) traveled via the western road to Bath. The other coach containing a confident Lucy and a hopeful Cass traveled via the southern road to London. Each had a distinct mission to accomplish.
Lucy had written a letter to Jane that she’d handed to Sarah just before they departed. “See that Jane receives this as soon as you arrive. It explains everything.”
Sarah was sorely tempted to read it. She didn’t, of course, but kept it sealed in her pocket. Lucy’s clothing was a bit tight and short on her, but it would do better than a maid’s dress. She didn’t want to arrive on Jane Upton’s doorstep in Bath looking squalid, letter or no. Sarah had given the maid’s washed and pressed clothing to Lucy to return to the poor maid at her mother’s house in London. Lucy had told Sarah not to worry about a thing, and Cass had given her a warm, friendly, encouraging hug.
Mrs. Hamilton had provided each set of passengers with a basket of food, additional blankets, and hot bricks with which to warm their feet until their first stop. They would get new bricks at each inn along the way. The rented hack from Scotland had been well paid and sent back north, so this time Sarah and Lord Berkeley traveled in one of the viscount’s coaches.
“Take care, my lady,” Mrs. Hamilton whispered to Sarah as she alighted into the well-sprung vehicle.
