My Fair Lily (28 page)

To his surprise, instead of casting daggers at him, she tossed him a look of smug triumph. Like a cat who had swallowed a bird.

What had she done?

Suddenly concerned that she might have said something to hurt
Lily, Ewan made his way to the dining room. He spotted George, Meggie, and Evie. All three were smiling and engaged in lively
conversation. He interrupted them. “Where’s Lily?”

George appeared confused. “Isn’t she with you?”

“No, she left me a while ago to join you. She cut through the
garden to avoid the crowd.”

The smile on George’s face faltered. “We haven’t seen her. She never made it here.”

Meggie rolled her eyes and laughed. “You know how easily Lily can be distracted. Someone must have caught her attention. I’m sure you’ll find her in the music room discussing her theories on baboon colonies with one of Eloise’s professor friends.”

Ewan’s heart began to pound a little faster. Meggie was probably right. Still, Lily was missing and Callie had a smug look on her face. Those hairs at the nape of his neck were iron-hard spikes again. But Callie couldn’t have seen her. She’d gone into the garden long after Lily had been there. “I’ll be right back.”

“I’ll help you look for her.” Though George kept his tone light, Ewan knew he was worried too. “Perhaps she went home. After all, we live right next door.”

Ewan nodded. “I’ll search the music room, then the rest of
Eloise’s house.”

Meggie began to wring her hands. “What’s going on? Do you think something’s happened to Lily?”

He assured her that he didn’t, but he spoke with little conviction.
His instincts were on alert. Lily was in trouble. “As you said, she becomes so lost in her thoughts that she forgets what’s going on around her. I’m sure she’s chatting with one of her scholarly
acquaintances, or hiding in Eloise’s library reading a musty book.”

However, a quick inspection of every room, including the library, turned up nothing. Dillie hadn’t seen her either. Ewan’s
heart was now firmly lodged in his throat.

The garden? He’d already looked out there. But she wasn’t anywhere else. She had to be there. Had Callie encountered her and
said something to make Lily run off to a quiet corner in tears? He blamed himself for insisting that Lily attend the party, and fervently hoped George would find her at home.

But he didn’t. “She isn’t there, Ewan. Pruitt hasn’t seen her since she left the house with you. I don’t like this. We all know she
occasionally walks with her head in the clouds, but never like this. She wouldn’t simply wander off.”

Ewan ran a hand across the nape of his neck. Lily had a way of perplexing him. If he wasn’t careful, he’d rub his neck raw worrying about the girl. “I think Callie might have seen her.”

He went in search of the cold beauty and found her in the entry
hall standing beside her uncle. They had on their capes and were waiting for their carriage to draw up. “Leaving early?”

Callie shot him another smug look.

“Callie wasn’t feeling well,” said Archie MacCorkindale. “In truth, she’s homesick and has decided to join me when I return to
Scotland in
a few days’ time. I have business to attend to up there, so we’re
cutting short our London stay.”

“Awfully sudden, isn’t it, Callie? I thought you’d come down
here for the season.”

She tipped her chin up and shot him an indignant glare. “A
woman has the right to change her mind. Not that I wouldn’t mind staying around to see you humiliated.”

Archie frowned. “What do you mean? What’s going on here?”

“His precious Lily.” She shrugged her shoulders. “I suppose you’ll find out soon enough, Ewan. She doesn’t love you. You stupid
fool. I saw her in the garden in the arms of another man.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“As I said, men are stupid. She’s obviously taken on a lover. They were intimately wrapped in each other’s arms, then he lifted
her into his arms and carried her away. She made no protest.”

“Show me.” He grabbed Callie by the arm and led her to the
garden, darting and weaving through the crowd, which thankfully paid them little notice. George and Archie followed close behind. The four of them were alone once outdoors since the night had turned chill, and Eloise had sumptuous food and elegant
entertainments to keep her guests enjoyably occupied indoors. “Where did you see them, Callie?”

“I don’t recall.”

He was too angry and frustrated to be politely accepting of her lies. “Where! I vow I’ll wring your neck if you don’t tell me now.”

“Ouch! You’re squeezing my arm.”

“I’ll do worse if you continue to play games with me. Tell me!”

“Now, see here Ewan. I—”

“Shut up, Archie.” He turned his glower back on Callie, realizing in that moment just how capable he was of murder.

Callie must have sensed it as well, for she suddenly didn’t seem quite so certain of herself. “All right, I’ll tell you. It was over there, by the hedgerows.”

Ewan and George raced over to where she’d pointed, Archie
close on their heels. “Och, Ewan. What’s that odd smell?”

Ewan picked up a damp handkerchief lying on the ground. It was a man’s handkerchief, plain, no initials or crest embroidered on it. He held it a good distance from his nose, yet still coughed and felt its foul, potent reach when his head began to lightly spin. “Lily’s been drugged.”

Callie, now beside them, cast him a malicious smile.

He was incredulous. “Damn it, you knew she was struggling. Didn’t you? Yet you left her to fend on her own. You knew she was in danger and did nothing to help her.”

“You can’t prove it. If asked, I’ll say I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.”

George let out a low growl. “There’s a special place in hell for people like you. That’s my niece in trouble. If anything happens to her—”

“You ought to have watched her more closely. She isn’t my problem.” She turned away from Lily’s uncle. “Come on, Archie. This party is a crushing bore. Take me home.”

“Not on your life, lass. We dinna leave here until ye’ve told them all you know. The girl’s life could be at stake. I’ll not have that on my conscience. Tell them everything you saw.”

But Callie was of little help. She refused to describe Lily’s assailant or tell them in which direction he was headed, claiming she
was too
overset to recall. Ewan knew she was lying, that her distress and tears were all a pretense. And he had once considered marrying this witch!

They were wasting precious time here. He cursed inwardly,
blaming himself for Lily’s peril. Still, none of this made sense. If he had an enemy, why was his enemy so intent on harming Lily? No one knew how deeply he felt about her. Hell, he hadn’t realized it until tonight. The flurry of gossip several weeks ago about him and
Lily being an
“item” had quickly been dismissed once word got out that he’d only been protecting her from Jasper. While everyone believed Lily capable of attracting men, no one actually believed her capable of holding on to one for very long. She scared most men with her talk
of fluxions and swamp baboons. “Get her out of my sight, Archie.”

He nodded. “I’ll let you know if she remembers anything. Sorry, Ewan. I’ll pray for the lass.”

As they left, Ewan turned to George. “After the incident at Tattersalls, I hired a Bow Street runner by the name of Homer
Barrow to investigate on my behalf. I also had him put a man to watch over Lily. He must be around here someplace. Perhaps he’s following them.”

“Let’s hope so. These runners are clever. He might have left word with one of the coachmen. There are dozens of carriages lining the street. Let’s start asking questions. Even if they didn’t see the
Bow
Street runner, they might have seen something else helpful. The
blackguard
couldn’t have walked down the street carrying Lily in his arms without anyone noticing. Come to think of it, he must have had a carriage. It’s a small circle. These coachmen know each other, so even if the carriage had no markings, someone might have
recognized the driver.”

But to Ewan’s frustration, none of them had seen or heard
anything.

“There’s a mews behind Chipping Way,” George said. “That’s where he must have left his conveyance. One can slip unnoticed from the garden to the mews if one keeps to the shadows.”

“Lead the way.”

It took little time to reach the isolated structures that housed the horses, riding equipment, and carriages for the residents of Chipping Way. All was dark and silent. Since George was familiar with these structures, he lost no time in finding a lantern and lighting it. “Look, Ewan! Over there. What is it?”

There was a man sprawled unconscious on the hay-strewn floor. “Do you recognize him, George?”

“No, not one of our groomsmen. Perhaps one of the
blackguard’s men.”

“Not likely. They wouldn’t have left one of their own behind to be questioned by the authorities. He could be the runner assigned to guard Lily. Damn. He’s out cold.” Ewan rose and quickly looked around for clues. Any clue. “Stay with him. Get as much information as you can from him when he rouses.”

George nodded. “Where are you going?”

“To talk to Charles and Harry.” Earlier, Lily had complained of him spying through their parlor window. He hadn’t been, but someone obviously had, and Lily and her young cousins had seen
the man. He knew he was grasping at the thinnest ray of hope. If Lily hadn’t been able to make out the lurker’s face, the boys likely hadn’t either. Still, it was worth a try.

He raced to the Farthingale home and tore up the stairs as soon as Pruitt opened the door to let him in. “My lord! You can’t just—”

“Not now, Pruitt. Lily’s in trouble,” he shouted, already at the third floor landing. He entered the boys’ quarters and shook Charles awake first, trying not to alarm him but desperate to make up the lost time. “Son,” he said in his gentlest voice, “did you recognize the face you saw in the window this evening?”

The boy’s eyes drifted closed again. “Charles, wake up. It’s important.”

He heard a sniffle behind him. He turned and saw Dillie standing in
the doorway, tears streaming down her cheeks. “Meggie said you were looking for Lily. I know something’s wrong. I feel it in my heart.” She knelt beside him. “Let me try.” She turned her attention to Charles. “Who did you see, sweetheart? Come on. Wake up.”

“The baboon man,” the boy mumbled, falling back asleep.

Ewan stared at Dillie. “Who the hell is that?”

“He can’t mean Ashton. It makes no sense. He and Lily have been friends forever. He relies on Lily to write his papers.”

“Ashton. Are you sure?”

Dillie began to sob. Soft, gut-wrenching cries that broke his
heart. “Yes... no... I don’t know. Ewan,
please
. Find her.”

LILY AWOKE FEELING
cold and ill. That nauseating scent still
filled her nostrils and her head wouldn’t stop spinning. She tried to orient herself, but couldn’t. All was pitch black. She tried to move her
hands. With senses dulled, it took her a moment to realize they were tied behind her back. Fortunately, her legs were unbound. Her
abductors hadn’t bothered to tie them, most likely figuring she couldn’t get far in her fancy, silk evening slippers.

She tried to move her legs. They were painfully stiff and too weak to support her at the moment, but she knew they’d strengthen
as the effects of the drug wore off.

What’s happening? Where am I?

Her last memory was of encountering Ashton in the garden. Where was he now? Had he managed to escape? Or was he held captive along with her? She refused to consider that he might have
been killed by her abductors. Why had she used the plural? Yes, there had been more than one man. She vaguely recalled being caught from behind by one of those fiends and then handed over to another. She couldn’t remember anything beyond that detail.

“Ashton,” she called out softly.

No answer.

She feared to raise her voice above a whisper, for her captors might hear and know she had revived. Her chances of escaping would then decrease dramatically. But what of Ashton? She couldn’t leave without him, assuming he’d been taken as well. She had to
find out if he was held captive, needed time to formulate a plan to save both of them.

First, she had to figure out where she was. It seemed an impossible task at the moment, for her eyes had yet to adjust to the
darkness. She
guessed that she was alone in some sort of storage room. But was she in a house? A shop? A prison? She didn’t know what this place
was.

She could hear footsteps and muffled voices on the opposite side of the door, but no sound other than her own breathing in this room. If Ashton was here, they were holding him in another part of this structure.

She heard a dog bark in the distance and thought of Jasper, but the yelp was too high-pitched and sharp. Jasper’s howl was longer and
deeper. She missed that clumsy dog. She shook out of the thought and concentrated on more important matters. Did anyone realize she was missing? Ewan would eventually. He’d alert her family. Ewan and every Farthingale in London might be on her trail by now, but they wouldn’t
know where to search. There were dozens of roads out of Mayfair and
they all branched out into dozens more. It was a geometrical improbability. There weren’t enough Farthingales in London to cover every road leading out, assuming she’d even been taken out of
London.