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Chapter Twenty-Seven

O f all the places in the world, this was the last one where Colin wanted to find himself.

Lord Montgomery’s house in Ellesmere Park.

He had stood outside Lily’s bedroom window for so long, throwing tiny pebbles at it, that eventually one of the maids had noticed and felt sorry enough for him to come outside.

She had been suspicious at first, but he had explained himself enough that she had finally relented and told him that the family had attended a function at Lord Montgomery’s that evening.

He was torn between wondering whether Lily really cared so little about their separation that she could attend a social event and having concerns about her walking into a place that could be more dangerous than the neighborhood where he had been raised, where she might find herself trapped by Lord Nathaniel once more without Colin there to rescue her.

Colin’s feelings for Lily won out, and with some information from the maid as to where Lord Montgomery’s residence was located, he was now lurking in the dark gardens beyond the terrace, where he could see through the window into the small ballroom within.

If anyone saw him, they would probably call the constable, believing he was trying to steal something from the place, so he would just have to stay out of sight. The true question was how he was going to find Lily.

As he watched the house, he noted that one of the windows brightened as though someone had lit a lantern. He wondered about it, as an instinct he had always trusted on the football field called him toward it.

Lily was in there.

He stealthily walked through the garden toward the ground-floor window, keeping himself out of the light.

He cursed a few times as some low-growing plants and hedgerows nearly took him out, until he finally reached the window.

When he stood on his toes high enough to see within, he was unsurprised at what awaited him.

There was Lily, rifling through what was sure to be Lord Montgomery’s desk drawer.

Beside her was her partner-in-crime, Miss Whitmore.

She should have been watching at the door, but instead, she was across the room in a cabinet, haphazardly pulling out papers that were sure to tell the earl that someone had been snooping.

It was a room that was intended to display the man’s wealth with its dark mahogany paneling, towering bookshelves lined with leather-bound volumes, and a massive, claw-footed desk.

Lily and Miss Whitmore were searching by the illumination of a brass reading lamp on top of the desk, while the expensive rug muffled their footsteps.

He grasped the window and was able to open it an inch but no further, as he didn’t have enough leverage due to its height.

“Lily,” he hissed, and her head snapped up, looking around the room.

“Colin?” she said, recognizing his voice as she still hadn’t caught sight of him.

“At the window,” he whispered, and her head swung around, her eyes meeting his in surprise and what was, if he wasn’t mistaken, pleasure at seeing him.

She placed the book she was searching through on the desk and raced to the window, reaching down and opening it the rest of the way.

“What are you doing here?” she asked incredulously.

“You asked to have a conversation.”

“Yes, but here? Now? Colin, that was two days ago!”

“I know, but it took me some time to sort through my finances and determine what was possible.”

“I’m not sure I follow.”

“I—”

Before he could say anything, Miss Whitmore interrupted.

“As much as I would love to be present for this conversation, I do believe our time before being discovered is limited. Mr. Thornton, I am happy for your presence to help us here, but I also believe that, given the circumstances, it would be most disadvantageous if you were discovered.”

She was right. This was not the time or place for him to speak to Lily about his intentions, but it would have to be soon, for he wasn’t sure how long he could go without her knowing how he felt and what he wanted.

“I will help you.”

“But, Colin?—”

“Please Lily?” He looked up at her with pleading eyes, and while she bit her lip in uncertainty, she relented.

He grasped the window ledge and hoisted himself up. He almost made it, but the window was so high off the ground that it took Lily and Miss Whitmore together to heave him in the rest of the way. He landed with a thump that he hoped was not audible beyond this room.

“Where have you searched?” he asked, and they quickly filled him in. They had managed to cover a good portion of the room in the short time they had been within.

“I just found this book,” Lily said. “I think it is what we are looking for.” She laid it on the desk and flipped it open. It was a printed diary, with a calendar at the front which appeared to include matches between all of the teams vying for the FA Cup, not just the Athletics.

“Look,” Colin said, pointing to the page. “Not only are the scores noted, but there are initials below, along with currency. It is probably the amounts Montgomery bribed various players.”

Lily continued flipping through the book until she found notes at the back that were a code to which players the initials were referring.

“This is what we need!” Lily said excitedly. “It has everything that can implicate Lord Montgomery. And nowhere on here does it say anything about you, Colin, which means we can also clear your name.”

“Don’t worry about that right now,” he said, as he tried to tame the flicker of hope that lit in his belly. “We’ve found this. We need to get you out of here. Now.”

“I would say to come with us, but you cannot be seen walking the halls of Lord Montgomery’s house, or they will know something is amiss,” Lily said urgently.

“I do not like you in here with him .”

They both knew he was referring to Lord Nathaniel.

“We will feign an illness and be gone in minutes,” Miss Whitmore promised. “My mother is here, but she will allow us to take the carriage home. We will meet you down the drive in ten minutes.”

“Very well,” he reluctantly agreed. “Ten minutes.”

His return out the window was much easier, and he waited below to make sure that they exited the study without any issue.

It wasn’t until he saw the door close behind them that he finally took a breath and started back through the gardens.

“Emmaline, I?—”

Lily had just closed the office door behind her and was about to speak to Emmaline but stopped in her tracks when she turned around and saw what awaited them.

For it wasn’t just Emmaline standing there, but Lord Montgomery, Lord Nathaniel, and two other men who she didn’t recognize but were very tall, very broad-shouldered, and appeared willing to do whatever Lord Nathaniel bid them to do.

“Miss Evans and Miss Whitmore,” Lord Montgomery said with a raised brow. “You might have been invited to this party, but you were certainly not invited into my study. Care to tell us just what you were doing within?”

Lily’s heart beat hard in her chest as the ledger she had stolen pressed against the top of her thigh where she had hidden it beneath her clothing, securing it in the band of her garter.

“We were looking for the powder room,” she lied.

“And you confused it with my study?” he scoffed.

“We were looking in each door for it.”

“Each unlocked door?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that is interesting, for my study door is always kept locked.”

Oh, yes. Emmaline had picked the lock with her hair clip. Lily really needed to learn that skill. It had proven useful on two occasions now.

“Someone must have left it unlocked, for that is how we found it,” Emmaline said cheerfully. “You have a beautiful home, Lord Montgomery. Thank you so much for having us.”

She looped her elbow through Lily’s and started leading her down the corridor, and for a moment, Lily closed her eyes, wondering if they had gotten away with it.

“Not so fast.”

Perhaps not.

Lord Nathaniel advanced on them. “How interesting is it, Miss Evans, that I have now found you inside my father’s office at his mill and his home? I wonder, whatever could you be looking for?”

“Simply misunderstandings, Lord Nathaniel,” she said, forcing a smile. “If you will excuse us, our mothers will be worried about us.”

“Would never want to see either of them come to harm, now, would we?” Lord Nathaniel said, and all he needed was a cackling laugh to make his sinister menace complete.

“Your threats are only that – threats,” Lily said, rolling her eyes. “Now, leave me be!”

She and Emmaline exchanged a glance of understanding before they turned as one, lifting their skirts and hurrying down the hall.

They were well aware that Lord Nathaniel would not ruin his father’s party, and they pushed their way through the throng of people gathered around the ballroom doors.

“You go and meet Colin,” Emmaline said, urging Lily along. “I shall make our excuses.”

“To my mother?” Lily said, lifting a brow.

“She introduced you to the gentlemen as discussed,” Emmaline said. “I’ll tell her you are feeling ill and that my mother and I will take you home in our carriage.”

“She will never believe it.”

“Does it matter?” Emmaline asked, and Lily paused as she considered Emmaline’s question.

“No,” she said with some surprise at her answer. “It does not. But Emmaline, I will not leave you, not after all that just occurred. We will go together.”

As much as she wanted to run out and meet Colin, she couldn’t leave Emmaline to face any consequences alone, especially after all Emmaline had done for her. They were as quick as possible as they entered the ballroom, found their parents, and made their excuses.

Lily could tell that her mother was suspicious, but fortunately, while she doubted Lily’s excuse of feeling ill, her only suspicion was that Lily was faking it so she could avoid dancing.

She wasn’t wrong about that, but little did she realize just what – or who – Lily was running to.

Emmaline’s mother agreed to accompany them home, which Lily’s mother obviously appreciated as she wasn’t ready to leave the festivities so early.

“I’m not sure I understand the urgency,” Lady Daughtry said as Emmaline and Lily tried to encourage her outside as quickly as possible, “but I was also becoming rather bored with that crowd. Always going on and on about the silliest things. Why, do you know—my goodness, what is happening over there?”

They turned to follow her pointed finger across the front of the manicured gardens lit by gas lamps. The two men who had previously accompanied Lord Montgomery were striding up the garden path, escorting a man between them.

“Colin!” Lily cried out, louder than she had meant, for all of their heads turned toward her. Lord Montgomery approached from the shadows, his fingertips tapping together gleefully.

“Miss Evans, I see you are acquainted with our thief.”

“Thief?” she said, her eyes widening.

“Why yes,” he said as Lord Nathaniel joined his father, his smug grin stretching across his face. “For what other reason could a man like Mr. Thornton here have for wandering around my grounds?”

“He was here for me,” Lily said, standing up straight, despite Lady Daughtry’s gasp, although it wasn’t one of shock but more surprise. “I asked him to meet me.”

“You admit you were both part of the theft?” Lord Montgomery said with a tsk. “My, my, Miss Evans. Your parents will be so disappointed.”

“She had nothing to do with this,” Colin called out. “Allow her to leave.”

“I cannot,” Lily insisted. “For no one stole anything. You are placing the blame on everyone else, Lord Montgomery, just as you have been for months now.”

“Nothing was stolen?” Lord Montgomery said. “Nothing from my study, Miss Evans?”

He fixed her with a look that told her he knew exactly what she had stolen.

“Go, Lily,” Colin called out. “I’ll be fine.”

“I cannot,” she repeated, trying to read Colin’s expression, but he was too far in the dim light for her to get any sense of what he was planning, even as Lady Daughtry prodded her in the back.

“Come, Lily,” she said with a gentle voice. “We will be no help to him here.”

“Lady Daughtry, I cannot.”

But both Emmaline and her mother pushed her along the path, away from Colin, away from the smug expressions of Lord Montgomery and Lord Nathaniel.

The ladies were almost in the carriage when they heard a shout behind them, and they turned in time to see that Colin had evaded his captors and was making a break for it.

“After him!” one man shouted to the other as they tried to chase him down, but Colin’s football training was to his advantage. He leaped over a hedgerow, pivoted around a statue, and careened down a small slope, his legs gathering speed that the other men just couldn’t match.

“Drive!” Lady Daughtry said with a cry of her own as Emmaline and Lily cheered on Colin, and the carriage started down the lane at a good clip.

By the time they had made it halfway down the drive, Colin had outrun Lord Montgomery’s men, charging back up the hill to meet up with the gravel drive, and with an impressive flying leap, hauled himself up onto the side of the carriage when Emmaline opened the door and helped him in.

He landed in a heap on the carriage floor, taking a moment to catch his breath before he flipped onto his back and looked up at them with a slightly pained expression as a curly brown lock flopped over his eye.

“’Evening, ladies,” he quipped. “And thank you ever so much for the ride.”