Page 45 of Captivating the Earl (Lords and Ladies in Love 5)

“Yes. That would be best. What I want to know is how well the townhouse is guarded. If it is watched, when is the best time to enter the premises unseen? Without raising suspicion, see if you can check records and uncover the layout of the place.”

“My lord?”

“Since Lady Elizabeth remembers nothing telling, it’s my theory that there are papers somewhere among Loverly’s belongings that tie his partner to the selling of Crown secrets during the Napoleonic Wars. If we can obtain those papers, it would clear Lady Elizabeth and put the true culprit behind bars.”

“Then I assume it is your intention to break into the townhouse?”

Hawk hesitated for only a moment. “It is. Lady Elizabeth and I will perform the deed.”

…

“Break into Father’s townhouse? Are you addlebrained?” Lizzie regarded him with shock when he told her of his plan for them both to travel to London and search Loverly Townhouse to retrieve she knew not what.

Hawk reached out and took her hand in his. “Listen to me. Someone wants you dead. I think after the saddle incident, and the attack at the inn, we can agree on that. Since you cannot remember anything that incriminates anyone else, there must be papers, notes, even a journal, perhaps, that belonged to your father that this person thinks you either have in your possession or have access to. We have to find it, and Loverly Townhouse is the only place it would be, since Bedford told the authorities he had done a search of his residence in America and there were no incriminating papers there.”

She chewed on her lip and watched him the entire time he spoke. This had to be the worst idea, ever. Trying to prove her innocence by breaking the law was not the best way to go about it. Supposed they were caught? She would be in even deeper trouble.

“Did you not tell me that the last years of your father’s life, before he left for America, he resided in London? That he did not spend any time at his estate?”

She nodded.

“Then London is where the incriminating evidence is.”

“What if there isn’t any? What if this person just believes I know him?”

Hawk ran his hand down his face. “There is that possibility. However, the easiest step is to search the townhouse and see if we can come up with a name.”

It was after dinner, and they sat side by side on a settee in the library. Lady Hawkins and Lady Honora had a dinner engagement elsewhere, so she and Hawk were alone. Since Lizzie had taken a nap after the light luncheon they’d had, she’d missed speaking with Hawk’s mother and sister, as they had left for the party before she’d come down for dinner.

Lizzie stood, wrapped her arms around her middle, and walked to the window. “Frankly, I am afraid to go to London.” She turned back and looked at Hawk. “The Home Office is looking for me. Why would I go right to their front steps?”

Hawk joined her and placed his hands on her shoulders, then bent his head so he could look her in the eyes. “I swore to you I would protect you and keep you safe. That includes not handing you over to the Home Office while I believe someone in there wants you dead.”

“You said we were coming here to Hawkins Manor to protect me. Now you want me to travel to London.” She moved away from him and turned her back. “No. I don’t want to do that. I feel safe here.”

“Lizzie, that puts us at a stalemate. I cannot turn you over, and I cannot continue to disobey orders. We must find out who your father’s cohort was, and we needs do it fast. Time is running out.”

“I need some time to think about it.”

Hawk walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her middle, resting his chin on her shoulder. “I can give you perhaps a day or two. But then we must leave. When the person we are searching for doesn’t hear from the man he sent after you, he will send someone else.”

“But I am no longer at Wycliff. He won’t know I’m here.”

He placed his lips on the back of her head and gave her a light kiss. “There aren’t a lot of places you would be. Since the Home Office—and everyone connected to it—knows I’m the one assigned to bring you in, they would assume you are either here or in my London Townhouse.”

“You see.” She looked at him over her shoulder. “We can’t go to London to your townhouse anyway.”

“We aren’t going to my townhouse. Lord Campbell is a close friend, and he will be more than happy to put us up.”

Lizzie whirled around. “The marquess? Please tell me you won’t bring me to a house with two bachelors? Not only will I be ruined, but I will be chased out of Town by the keepers of the virtue gates.”

He took her hand and walked her back to the settee. “This is the perfect time to once again bring up what you did not want to discuss in the carriage.”

Marriage.

“Hawk, I do not want to be someone’s ‘duty.’ And how could you possibly want me for a wife with all of this hanging over my head?”

He lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles. “That should prove to you that I have absolute faith in your innocence.”