“No.” The word came too fast. She softened it. “No. This is an arrangement. He is helping me restore my reputation so that I can secure a suitable match. That is all.”
Sophia studied her with an expression that said she believed none of this but would press the point.
It was worse than an interrogation. An interrogation could be deflected. Sophia’s patience was a trap that closed around Lily while she was busy congratulating herself on her escape.
“The investigation is progressing,” Sophia said, changing course with the strategic grace of a woman who knew when to retreat and when to advance. “Edward spoke with Mr. Colborne yesterday. The Bow Street Runner Hugo hired has traced the ink to a Continental printshop. German, apparently.”
“Hugo mentioned something similar.” Lily seized the new subject with both hands. “Someone with resources and connections abroad. Someone who understands thetonwell enough to weaponize Lady Fairhart’s name.”
“Which narrows the field considerably.” Sophia’s brow furrowed. “Edward and I have been compiling a list of people with both the motive and the means. It is shorter than you might think.”
“How short?”
“Short enough to be concerning.” Sophia pressed a kiss on Jane’s downy head. “We will discuss it soon. For now, focus on the engagement and the performance. Hugo seems to manage it well.”
“He manages everything well.” Lily heard the admiration in her own voice and wished she could retrieve it. “He is more capable than I expected.”
Sophia’s mouth curved. She said nothing, which was, as always, worse.
The following morning, a knock came at Brimsey House at half-past eleven.
Lily was in the morning room, reading a volume of Herodotus that she had been attempting to finish for three days and that she kept abandoning because her mind refused to remain on the page. Every time she settled into a passage about Persian customs or Greek naval strategy, her thoughts slid sideways to the balcony, to the lamplight, to the taste of champagne on someone else’s mouth.
She closed the book when the footman appeared.
“The Duke of Thornwaite, my lady. He is asking to see the family.”
Lily’s stomach tightened. She had not seen Hugo since the opera. Two days of silence that had felt like two weeks, during which she had composed and discarded fourteen different versions of what she would say to him when they next spoke. None of them had been adequate. Most of them had involved the wordboundaries.
She found Hugo in the parlor with her parents and Aunt Margaret. He stood near the mantel in a coat of deep green thatmade his amber eyes warm… warmer than the Mediterranean sun. His fair hair was neatly combed, his cravat tied with precision.
He was just as composed as ever.
He met her eyes when she entered. The contact lasted half a second, and in that half second, something passed between them that was neither acknowledgment nor apology.
It was a question, asked and answered in silence.
We are not going to discuss it.
No. We are not.
“Lady Lily.” He bowed. “I was just telling your parents that the weather is uncommonly fine this morning and suggested a carriage ride through Hyde Park.”
“A carriage ride,” Lily repeated.
“The fresh air would do us all good, I think.” He turned to Lady Brimsey with the warm, disarming smile that Lily recognized as his most effective social instrument. “I would be honored to have your family join me.”
Lady Brimsey brightened. Lord Brimsey looked as though he would have preferred to remain in his study with his newspaper, but he knew it was a battle he could not win.
Aunt Margaret regarded Hugo from her chair with the unblinking assessment of a woman who had not yet lowered her guard and did not intend to.
“A ride through Hyde Park.” Margaret’s tone was neutral, but her eyes were sharp. “How very wholesome, Your Grace.”
“I have my moments, Lady Oldbarrow.”
Margaret’s brow twitched. Lily suspected it was the closest thing to amusement her aunt had allowed herself in Hugo’s presence.
They departed within the hour. Hugo’s open carriage was handsome, drawn by a matched pair of bays, and large enough to accommodate the family without crowding. The drive to Hyde Park was pleasant, the sunshine warm on Lily’s shoulders, and the streets full of the languid bustle of a London morning in full bloom.
