Page 26 of Lady Isla and the Lord of Rogue (Merry Spinsters, Charming Rogues #6)

Chapter Seventeen

The following days were a flurry of activity.

There was so much to accomplish before the wedding!

The trousseau required preparation. China, silver, fabric, clothes, jewellery—the list was endless.

Teddy called daily, with a thousand questions regarding the redecoration of their home.

He did not want to undertake anything without consulting her first; he declared.

From the colour of the wallpaper in their future drawing room to the type of wood she preferred for her clothing press, the decisions that had to be made were quite endless.

One afternoon, he arrived with three massive clocks, which he set up on the drawing room table.

“I could not decide, so I purchased all three,” he explained. “But now comes the dilemma: where to put them?”

Isla examined the clocks, two of which were mantelpiece pieces, and the third designed to hang on a wall.

She reached out to touch one clock and brushed his hand, and Teddy immediately took advantage, drawing her into his arms. One thing led to another, and it was only when Falks cleared his throat loudly behind them, a good while later, that they jumped apart.

“As—as I was saying,” Teddy said sheepishly, “the clocks.”

“Yes.” They both glanced at Falks, who walked up to the cabinet to take out the silver.

“One in each drawing room,” Isla decided.

Teddy inclined his head. “We possess only one, not three, like you’re used to in Algie’s spacious townhouse. But we can put them all in there, if you wish.”

“That would be perfectly agreeable.”

They looked at each other happily.

Later that afternoon, Isla had an appointment with Catherine to visit the Foundling Hospital at Coram’s Fields, one of the charitable endeavours that was dear to Isla’s heart. She had hoped that Teddy might accompany them, but to her disappointment, he was unable to join them.

“I have a prior engagement,” he said with a rueful expression. “I shall miss you dreadfully, and I shall count every minute until we may be together again.”

Catherine arrived, and they departed at the same time. Isla waited until Teddy took his leave and waved farewell to him.

“You appear to be deeply in love,” Catherine observed later, in their carriage, as they travelled to the Foundling Hospital. “I confess I am envious. ”

Isla placed both hands against her cheeks. “Is it so very obvious?”

“Indeed. More than obvious. You have stars in your eyes. How fortunate you are to marry someone you love.” Catherine toyed with the fringes of her reticule. “The rest of us are not that lucky.”

Her own marriage to her late husband had been a union arranged by her parents.

Isla took Catherine’s hand in hers and squeezed it gently. “I wish, more than anything in this world, that you, my dearest friend, might experience this happiness as well.”

Catherine returned the pressure. “Thank you,” she whispered.

The visit occupied the entire afternoon, so by the time they departed, dusk had fallen. Their carriage waited before the iron gates of the building when a second carriage arrived, and the Dowager Countess Redgrave alighted—Catherine’s mother-in-law.

“So one must come all the way to the orphanage in order to get a glimpse of you,” Lady Redgrave said.

She was a cold, proud woman and Isla did not like her at all.

That was one trial she was to be spared: a mother-in-law.

Though she would dearly have loved having a mother, being unable to recall her own, and missing Lady Wynthorpe, who had been as a mother to her all these years.

It was evident that Lady Redgrave’s and Catherine’s relationship was strained.

Catherine turned to Isla with a pained expression. “I am sorry, Isla. But I think I need to go with my mother-in-law. We have matters to discuss. Please take my carriage home. I’ll instruct John to take you there directly.”

Isla waved her concern away. “Do not trouble yourself about me in the least. I shall go straight home and retire, for I am both tired and quite famished.”

Catherine pressed her hands, then climbed into Lady Redgrave’s carriage, while Isla climbed into Catherine’s vehicle, glad to be on her way home.

The carriage rumbled along, and Isla settled back with a smile on her face, thinking of Teddy. She composed mental lists of tasks that still had to be done, articles to be purchased, and furniture to be arranged. Her heart quickened at the thought that the day was coming soon.

Five days. She counted them on her fingers.

In five days, they would be wed.

Could there be any greater happiness?

She dozed and awoke as the carriage came to an abrupt halt.

“Begging your pardon, my lady.” John had descended and opened the door. “But there has been an accident ahead. And with Tottenham Court Road blocked as well, we must take a different route. It’ll take longer to reach Mayfair.”

“That is quite all right, John. There is no hurry,” Isla replied.

Night had fallen, and their progress was exceedingly slow.

She gazed from the window and realised they were passing through St Giles. That was indeed a detour .

There stood the Angel Inn. With a smile on her face, she remembered how she’d dragged Teddy there. How long ago that seemed!

Isla sat forward and blinked.

She’d been thinking so intently about Teddy that he appeared to have materialised before her. For there he was, striding down a side alley, his cloak billowing behind him.

Teddy.

It was his figure, his bearing, his attire, his hat.

Perhaps not his usual gait, because Teddy was inclined to amble leisurely along as he twirled his walking stick, rather than stride purposefully down a dark, squalid alley…

with everyone leaping out of his path or pressing themselves against the walls, or even halting to bow respectfully as if he were… The Lord of St Giles himself.

“I shall return presently,” Isla called to John, opened the door, and went after Teddy.

Isla was glad she’d worn sensible walking boots and a simple, dark cloak that day. She drew the hood over her head and slipped into the shadows, pretending to know exactly where she was going.

She gripped her umbrella for good measure, but she wasn’t accosted by anyone, and people paid no heed to her as they, too, hurried past. The fog was beginning to rise, and she knew that shortly it would be impossible to see anything at all in the streets .

Hurrying after Teddy, she glimpsed his coat billow as he turned into an even narrower alley, then vanish through a doorway.

Isla paused in front of the door, which bore the crude image of the wolf painted in red. Her hand lifted to knock, then fell as she pushed gently at the door, which yielded.

She found herself in a dark, narrow courtyard belonging to some manner of a warehouse. All the windows were dark save for one row on the ground floor at the far side of the courtyard.

Pressing herself against the shadowed wall, Isla pulled her hood low over her brow and crept toward the grimy windows. She raised herself just enough to peer within.

The room beyond was stripped bare, its only furnishing a single armchair positioned directly in the centre. A row of rough-looking men stood behind it, arms folded, faces hard.

And in that chair, settling himself with a flourish and a flick of his coattails, Teddy sat.

A man knelt before him, bound hand and foot with coarse rope. Behind him loomed another group of ruffians, even more brutal in appearance than the first. The stench of the rookery clung to them—filth, smoke, and blood.

Isla edged closer, straining to listen.

Teddy spoke. “Seems we’ve got ourselves a traitor.”

Merciful heavens, his voice! The same voice she’d heard in the gambling club. Colder than frostbite, and underneath the silky veneer, harsh and unrelenting and more cutting than steel.

Isla shuddered. She pressed a trembling fist to her mouth to stifle her gasp. Her heart pounded like thunder, and her knees buckled, but the wall supported her.

The bound man whimpered. “Ain’t true, sir, swear it on me mum! It’s all a bleedin’ mistake! I didn’t know they were Mudlark Skulls, I didn’t! If I’d known, I’d never ’ave touched the job. Never!”

Teddy gave the slightest nod.

One of his men stepped forward and tossed a rolled sheet onto the floor beside the bound man. It landed with a thud.

Even in the dim light, Isla recognised it. The map. The same one she’d seen back at the antiquities shop with Teddy only days ago.

Teddy’s voice dropped scarcely above a whisper, soft as smoke. “And what of this?”

The man recoiled. “Don’t know nothin’ about no map. Ain’t mine, swear on me life. Never seen it before, I ain’t.” His voice cracked, almost a sob.

Teddy leaned in, elbow resting lazily on his knee. “Is that so? How curious. Because Tobbin and Leeks—” he gestured, and two men stepped forward, one squat and broad, the other tall and lean “—they swear they witnessed you make the deal. Swear it on their lives.”

The bound man let out a wild shriek. “They’re lyin’. Dirty bleedin’ liars, the pair of ’em!”

“Are they?” Teddy barely stirred, but another man was dragged into view. His hands were bound tight behind his back.

Teddy turned to him. “Was it him?”

Silence.

A shove from behind made the man stumble. “Aye,” he muttered at last. “It were him.”

“It weren’t,” the first man cried. “He come to me, said I could earn a few coins on the side. I weren’t tryin’ to cross you, I swear on me sainted mum. I didn’t mean no harm.”

The room went still. No word from Teddy, no sign. But something must have passed between Teddy and his men, some silent form of communication.

Two of them stepped forward, seized the bound man under the arms, and dragged him away.

Isla panicked. She ducked behind a stack of crates, heart thundering.

The door creaked open. The men took him into the courtyard.

One of them drew a flintlock.

Cold horror dawned as Isla understood what would happen. She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed both hands over her ears.

But the shot still tore through the night like a thunderclap.

A considerable time passed.

When she finally dared to open her eyes, the courtyard was empty.

Her breath escaped in a strangled sob. She must compose herself. She must. She needed to leave this place, escape, find Algie.

Immediately.

Keeping low, she crept back along the wall the way she had come.

She found the main entrance, slipped through the door, and stumbled through the foggy alley, back to the road where John was waiting with the carriage.