Her.
He rose from his chair and hurried after her, and if it hadn’t been such a bloody crush tonight he would have caught her in the outer salon, but he lost sight of her amongst the crowd.
He pushed his way past the dozens of perspiring gentlemen, searching for that absurd hat and earning himself quite a few surprised glances as he knocked shoulders with his patrons.
Damn it, where had she gone? She was small, yes, but unless she was a magician as well as a mathematical prodigy she couldn’t have simply vanished into?—
Ah, there she was! Curse it, she was two paces away from slipping out the door and into the night. If he lost her now, he might never find her again. No one in Brighton seemed to know who she was, and he didn’t know her name.
He rushed for the door—one step, then another. He’d nearly caught up to her, but when he was only ten paces from the door, the strangest thing happened.
Suddenly she hesitated, and then, almost as if she could feel the weight of his gaze on her, she turned.
Their gazes locked, gray eyes clashing with green.
Not an emerald green, and not forest green, but a soft, pale green, the same tender green as spring plants newly emerged from the soil.
Never, in all his life, had he seen eyes like hers.
“Wait.” Had he said the word aloud? Or only mouthed it?
In the end, it made no difference, because she didn’t wait. She hovered for one instant, like a bird about to burst into flight, her cheeks as pale as moonlight.
Then she whirled around and ran out the door without a backward glance.
4
Lottie bolted out the front door of Hart’s Ace, her heart in her throat.
She ducked around a corner and fell back against the wall of the building next door, her every limb shaking. God above, was there a lady alive who had worse luck than she did?
Why, oh why, of all the gentleman she might have stumbled across, did it have to be him? The one gentleman in all of Brighton she most wished to avoid had just witnessed her fleeing the scene of a crime!
He’d known her at once. Of course, he had. He’d gotten a good, long look at her on the beach two days ago. To be fair, she’d got an eyeful of him as well, but the less time she spent thinking about what she’d seen, the better.
A lady didn’t dwell on such things. At least, she didn’t right now, while she was executing a dramatic escape.
Would he come after her?
She peeked around the edge of the building, her heart racing, but there was no sign of him or anyone else, only darkness.
There, see? She was panicking over nothing when instead she should be celebrating the twelve pounds tucked safely into the pocket of Percy’s old cloak.
She’d done it! She’d wagered, and she’d won, and soon enough Hart’s Ace with its sparkling chandeliers, velvet upholstery and unruly patrons would be a distant memory.
It was over.
She sagged against the wall at her back, her legs still shaking. Thank goodness it was done. Her nerves couldn’t take another foray into Hart’s Ace. She hadn’t been inside the club for more than an hour, but it felt like an eternity. As it turned out, cheating a wealthy, powerful gentleman like Armitage Hart was a trifle nerve-wracking.
Her head thumped against the brick, the breeze coming off the channel cooling her hot cheeks. She couldn’t linger here. It was far too risky, but her lungs were on fire, and her heart was threatening to gallop out of her chest.
Once she caught her breath she’d be on her way.
Inhale, exhale, inhale again… Yes, that was much better. It was a wonder what a few deep, cleansing breaths could do to stave off a panic.
Slowly, her lungs calmed, and the ringing in her head dissipated. There! Now all she had to do was make her way back to North Laines, and no one would be the wiser?—
Crash!
