Emma pressed her fingers into the hard, wooden door behind her, eyes squeezed closed, willing away the dread threatening to engulf her. She couldn’t lose her wits now. They had one chance at this—a single chance to find out what had happened to Amy and Kitty, and discover who’d been responsible for theirdisappearances.
She drew in a deep breath, andtried to think.
One thing was certain. Lord Lymington would go to the Pink Pearl in search of Caroline again, and soon. He’d demand to see her, and Madame Marchand…well, Madame Marchand would do what she always did with every powerful, wealthy aristocrat.
She’d give him what he wanted. She’d hand Caroline over without hesitation, and without a qualm. But Caroline wasn’t the only lady at the Pink Pearl who knew Lord Lovell’s secrets.
Helena knewthem, as well.
That made her as much a target for Lord Lymington as Caroline herself, and it wasn’t as if Madame Marchand would lift a finger todefend Helena.
Emma let her head drop back against the door. What couldshedo to protect Helena? How she could possibly undo the damage she’d…
She raised her head, her scattered thoughts ceasing their frenzy.
She’d never spoken Helena’s full name. That night, in the library at the Pink Pearl, she’d only ever referred to Helena as “Letty.” It was a private nickname, known only to the two of them. No one else at the Pink Pearl would recognize it. When Lord Lymington went back to the Pink Pearl looking for “Letty,” he wouldn’t find her.
Not right away but he wasn’t, alas, a fool.
It wouldn’t be long before he’d work out that Letty was Helena, but aside from warning Helena to stay away from Lord Lymington for as long as possible, there wasn’t much Emma could do for her. Helena was their only source of information to the goings-on at the Pink Pearl, and they needed her to remainwhere she was.
Emma would simply have to continue to deny knowing Helena, and trust that when the time came, Helena could hold her own withLord Lymington—
“Emma?” A knock vibrated against Emma’s back, and Lady Crosby’s voice drifted through the door. “Emma, my dear child, why are you hidingin the closet?”
Emma let out a silent groan, but there was no use in delaying the inevitable. She had to tell Lady Crosby and Daniel about the mess she’d made, and hope Daniel wouldn’t insist on tellingLady Clifford.
Good Lord, whata mess it was.
Another not-so-silent groan fell from Emma’s lips as she threwopen the door.
Lady Crosby’s startled face was on the other side. “Emma, what are you…” She paused to take in Emma’s agitated appearance. “Oh, dear. It doesn’t look as if Lord Lymington’s call went well.”
“It did not. I, ah…I’ve made a terrible mistake, my lady.”
“Oh, well, I’m certain it’s not as bad as you imagine, dear.” Lady Crosby gave Emma’s hand acomforting pat.
“The night before Almack’s ball I sneaked into the Pink Pearl at night, alone, so I could speak to Caroline Francis about Lord Lovell, but she wasn’t there, so I spoke to Helena, and I’ve just found out Lord Lymington was lurking in the library that night like a thief, and he both heard andsaw me there.”
Lady Crosby blinked. “Well, thatisratherbad, isn’t it?”
“It’s bad enough, yes, but perhaps not quite as badas I thought.”
“Thatisa relief, dear. But perhaps you’d better tell me over tea in the drawing room. You look atrifle…peaked.”
Emma followed obediently after Lady Crosby. “We’d better summon Daniel, as well. He needs to hear this, too.”
Once Emma and Lady Crosby were tucked into a settee with the tea tray on the table before them, and Daniel had taken up his usual place in front of the fireplace, Emma blurted out the humiliating truth about her misadventures atthe Pink Pearl.
As she’d expected, Daniel wasn’t pleased about it.
“What did ye think ye were doing, lass, sneaking about that bawdy house at night, alone? Ye might have been hurt. Ye know better than that, Miss Emma.”
Emma grimaced. “I do, and I regret it. I wanted to hear Caroline’s story for myself, but I never even got a chance to speak to her. She was away at a private engagement that night, which I suppose turned out to be a good thing, because if she had been there, Lord Lymington would have gottenahold of her.”
Daniel grunted. “Aye, that’s so.”
“Did Lord Lymington overhear what you and Helena discussed?” Lady Crosby asked. “If so, he must know of Caroline’s accusations against his cousin, mustn’t he?”
