“It is all right if you admit it,” he teased. “I won’t tell anyone.”
Taking a step back, Simone said, “I feel bad for you that you need such validation.”
“Only with you,” Caleb remarked, his smirk showing no signs of dimming. “One day, you will admit it. I know it.”
“Good day, Caleb.”
Caleb’s eyes held amusement. “Good day, Simone.” He bowed. “I will come to your townhouse at midnight.”
“Do ensure you go undetected.”
“I am a spy. That goes without saying,” Caleb said.
Simone held his gaze a moment longer than would be considered proper before she started down the pavement. Not that there was anything proper about their situation. She would be ruined if anyone from thetonsaw her, but that was highly unlikely. People in high Society would never frequent a place like this.
She lifted her hand and hailed a hackney. The coach came to a stop in front of her. The heavy-set driver shouted down from his perch, “Where to, little lady?”
“Mayfair,” she replied.
“Do ye want to be more specific?”
She reached into the reticule that was around her wrist and removed a few coins. “No. Just drop me off in Mayfair.”
After she extended the driver a few coins, she cautiously entered the foul-smelling cab, making a conscious effort to disregard the unpleasant sounds of her boots adhering to the sticky floor.
A short time later, she arrived in Mayfair and exited the coach. She kept her head down as she traveled the few blocks to her townhouse. Once she arrived, she went around to the servants’ entrance and opened the door.
Felicity jumped up from the round table in the corner. “Good, you are back.”
Simone closed the door behind her as she asked, “Have you been waiting for me this whole time?”
“No, but I started getting worried,” Felicity replied. “You aren’t normally gone for so long.”
“Did Mrs. Fernsby notice my absence?”
Felicity shook her head. “No, I convinced her that you were taking a nap, albeit longer than normal.”
Simone sat down at the table and glanced around at the servants who were going about their tasks. In a low voice, she said, “You will never guess who I saw.”
Felicity gave her an expectant look. “I don’t know. Perhaps you should just tell me.”
“Lucy,” Simone said.
Her lady’s maid sucked in a breath. “Lucy?” she asked. “No one has heard from her since she quit two years ago.”
“I know, but I saw her in a disreputable part of Town, appearing down on her luck,” Simone shared.
“She isn’t working as a lady’s maid anymore?”
Simone shrugged. “I don’t know,” she replied. “She seemed rather unnerved when she saw me and told me not to trust my father.”
With a stunned expression, Felicity inquired, “Why not?”
“She wouldn’t elaborate, despite my many attempts at getting her to do so,” Simone said. “She seemed panicked that we were even speaking to one another.”
“Lucy was not one to be frazzled easily,” Felicity remarked.
Simone bobbed her head. “I agree, but the whole situation was rather odd.”
