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Mary sat at her writing desk, her hand trembling so badly the quill tip scratched across the paper leaving a spider track instead of her usual neat hand.

John had business to attend to at his main country residence. He expected to be out of town for a couple of days. His house was within a day’s travel from London so her parents had chosen to accompany him, to give the children a break from the town.

Most families left their younger children at home during the London season but her parents never had.

Mary had told her mother she was staying with Emily’s family, which of course was a lie. Emily knew about the elopement, and she’d promised to keep Mary’s secret. Emily knew everything, because Mary knew she was too timid to judge or tell anyone else. The guilt of using her friend was another burden to add to Mary’s list of sins.

Because her parents never thought Mary would lie, they accepted an invitation Emily had written as proof and not questioned Emily’s family. People would think it lapse when they found out the truth, but it was not lapse; it was love that made them trust her.

Even after her father saw her speaking with Drew, he’d assumed Drew approached her. He had not for one moment imagined she would choose to speak to Drew. Heat burned in her cheeks while he had chastised her and warned her to stay away from Drew, repeating all the reasons why Lord Framlington was unsuitable. She’d tried to tell him Drew did nothing wrong.

He would be disappointed with her when he found her gone, and her mother would be distressed and John would judge her badly.

Tears filled her eyes as she finished the note but her mind was made up. She had not seen Drew for over a week. He’d stopped attending entertainments so her father would not suspect. But he’d written, passing her letters through the stable lad.

She folded the letter and sealed it. Her heart was racing. Her emotions were like a pendulum, swinging from excitement to guilt and back again. This might tear her apart. She did not want to hurt her parents, but they would never allow her to marry Drew. This was the only way.

Mary left the letter on her desk, walked to the window and looked down at the street. Life carried on as normal, people walked by, carriages rolled over the cobbles, the sounds of the horses’ iron shoes and the iron-rimmed wheels rang on the stone cobbles.

It would be the same in five days when she had gone. The world would not change; only her life would change.

He said they would live in his rooms until he received her dowry. Then he would look for a property out of town.

Her vision clouded and a tear escaped, running through her lashes and down her cheek.

She was happy, it was just that so much was about to change.

Would his family like her? He never spoke of them. She had not even known Lady Kilbride was his sister until the other night. The butterflies took flight in her stomach.

There was a knock at the door of the sitting room that was connected to her bedchamber.

Mary returned to the writing desk, opened the top and hid the letter. ‘Come in.’

A maid entered and bobbed a curtsy. ‘Miss, Lady Marlow asked if you would come down to the sitting room. Lady Barrington and Lady Wiltshire have called.’

Two of Mary’s aunts.

‘I will come in a moment.’

As soon as the maid left, Mary turned to the desk. There would be no going back once she sent the letter. Drew would make the arrangements and in five days’ time they would elope.

Mary wrapped a paisley shawl about her and concealed the letter beneath.

She used the servants’ stairs to reach the stables and handed the letter to the boy before going to her mother.

* * *

When Drew opened the door of his apartment, his gaze dropped to a letter at his feet. It must have been pushed under the door. He bent and picked it up.

The writing was Mary’s.

The stable boy must have delivered it.

Drew had spent the day with his friends, sparring in a boxing club, then eating luncheon at White’s, before going on to Tattersall’s to look at horses.

The letter could have been lying there for hours.

He lifted his hat from his head and set it on a cabinet, broke the seal on the letter and read it as he walked across the room.

My parents are going away.

A chill swept over him even though the day was warm.

Her letter said they would be gone for two days and two nights – plenty of time to get her away and irreversibly change the course of both their lives. After that long in his company, her family would have no choice but to approve the match.

I told my parents I will stay with Miss Smithfield, but I shall not go there. She knows we are eloping and promised she will not say a word to anyone. So, you may send a carriage to collect me. I shall say it is from Mr Smithfield and leave in the morning when my parents and John leave. Send the carriage driver to collect me at 10 o’clock, then he can take me to meet you…

It was a perfect plan.

He folded the letter and slipped it into his chest pocket, his heart beating hard, a smile pulling at one corner of his lips.

A pile of bills lay on the cabinet beside his hat. They would be paid soon. There would be no more dodging the duns. He would have money and he would have Mary, and he could help Caro.