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He continued to gape for a long moment. He wasn’t quick to catch on, poor man. At last, he let out a breath and slumped against the squabs. “So am I.”

“But they won’t really harm your mother, will they? Surely they’re not that stupid.”

“I hope not, but I can’t bear the thought that she is frightened, and it’s all my fault.”

“Please explain to me what I must do to help you win the wager, so at least I know what to expect.”

“Accompany me to the masquerade. That’s all.”

She sat back, trying to think. She would have to play by ear, so to speak. Who was the man who had called her name? Might it be Restive’s man?

Maybe, maybe not, but Restive would come to the masquerade, and so would Davis. Somehow, she would find them and escape.

~ * ~

“T hey’ve taken her!” Jonas, the man who’d been sent to watch Lucinda, lunged into Restive’s study and halted, panting.

Restive’s heart seized. “Miss Belair?”

Davis cursed. “These fellows are damned good.” They had already received the news that Mrs. Pearce had disappeared.

After doing the daily marketing, she’d been jostled in the street and had fallen, dropping her parcels.

A passing lady had offered her a ride in her coach, but hours later, Mrs. Pearce had still not returned home.

“Yes! She hurried out of the house in the direction of the hackney stand but stopped to talk to someone in a coach, and by the look of it she was about to get in, so I called her name. The groom tossed her inside and shut the door, and they drove off. I’m sorry, sir, but I was down the street a way, to make sure she didn’t realize I was following her.

” He gulped more air. “I ran after the coach, but lost it after a mile or so. It was headed west.”

“Towards Chiswick,” Davis said, “and the masquerade?”

Restive’s first instinct was to run headlong out the door, but he forced himself to stop. And think. Running like a fool wouldn’t help her, himself, or anyone else.

“You said...she stopped to talk to someone in the coach,” Restive said. “If she was about to get in, it must have been someone she knew. Can you describe the coach? Was there a crest on the door? Or a lozenge?”

“Yes, sir—a widow’s lozenge, but I can’t say I recognized it. Dark green coach, wheels picked out in yellow. Clean and in good condition. Perfectly matched chestnuts.”

“Sounds like the same coach that took Mrs. Pearce,” Davis said. “Reluctantly, I’m impressed.”.”

“Thank you, Jonas,” Restive said. “Go join the others at Chiswick as originally planned, and if you see the same coach and/or horses, find out whose they are.”

The man left, and Davis said, “I don’t think they’ll harm Miss Belair, or at least not yet. They need her for something. We have time.”

“Easy for you to say,” snapped Restive, and got ahold of himself again.

“I understand, but if you dash in there, breathing fire, you’ll give us away.” Davis paused. “That is, if they aren’t already onto us.”

“Why else would they take her?” Restive demanded. “It would make more sense to cancel their plan, whatever it is. Taking her by force seems foolhardy.”

“Maybe they feared she would change her mind about going to the masquerade,” Davis said. “It’s one thing to talk loosely at a meeting and another to behave that way.”

“She’s not a loose woman,” Restive snarled.

“That’s what I just said.” Davis rolled his eyes. “Calm down, coz.”

How the devil was he supposed to calm down when Lucy was in peril? Even if she would never speak to him again, he was responsible for her. For her involvement in this fiasco. He had to save her.

“She defended herself against Wharton,” Davis said. “She’s not as helpless as she seems.”

“If she has her reticule with her.” Restive held himself still, remembering. “She must have, if she was heading for the shops.”

“We already have eight men in Chiswick,” Davis said. “Four temporary footmen, four outdoors helping with the carriages and preparing the bonfire by the river. They’ll take note of any arrivals, in and out of costume—and guests won’t be expected for a while yet, so they should spot her easily.”

“Good, but we have to go after her,” Restive said. “We can’t afford to wait.”

~ * ~

L ucinda took note of their route as best she could without spending every moment staring out the window.

At last—in Chiswick now, she assumed, since they had left Hammersmith behind—they pulled up before a gate in a stone wall.

A servant emerged from a nearby cottage to ask their business.

Mr. Pearce let down the window and said, “Good day, Rollins. You may let us in.”

So...the coach, and likely the coachman and groom, were unfamiliar here. Hmm...

The gatekeeper pulled his forelock. “Eh, Mr. Pearce, sir, good to see you.” He ambled over and opened the gate.

They drove on and came to a halt before an imposing Queen Anne mansion. “Here we are,” Mr. Pearce said. “This is Delworth House.”

The stone wall enclosed what she could see of the property, which might make escape difficult. On the other hand, carriages would come and go during the masquerade. “Your aunt owns it?”

“No, she has a life interest in it. Lord Delworth, her stepson, prefers his estate in Derbyshire and spends most of the year there.”

The groom let down the steps—the same man who had thrown her into the coach. Mr. Pearce got out first and handed her down, and she gazed at her surroundings, pretending to be not only reconciled but pleased. “What a charming house.”

The groom leapt up beside the coachman and they drove off. Briefly, Lucinda wondered what would happen if she turned and ran into the street, shrieking that she’d been abducted.

“Come meet my aunt,” Mr. Pearce said. “You’ll like her.”

That decided Lucinda, not that she had seriously considered running away. Causing a fuss wouldn’t deter these people—more likely, they would imprison her, or worse. They needed her for something to do with the plot. It made far more sense to wait for Restive and the others to come.

Lady Delworth was a plump little widow with a sweet smile. “Welcome, my dear. My maid will take your pelisse. Would you like some tea?”

Lucinda surrendered her pelisse to the maid but kept firm hold of her reticule, because for all she knew, the maid was involved in the plot.

“Melrose has told me so much about you.” Lady Delworth led Lucinda to a drawing room furnished in the latest style—in other words, no sign of penury here.

“Beautiful and well-read, he said, and open-minded, too! Which is difficult for a lady, for society does its best to discourage rational thought. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the masquerade. ”

“Indeed, ma’am,” Lucinda said, taking the proffered seat in a Sheraton chair with delicate inlay on the back. “There’s no reason why one can’t be both educated and fun-loving. So very kind of you to invite me.”

“I daresay you haven’t attended one before,” the widow said. “Should I have invited your mother?”

“She may come later, using Mrs. Hale’s invitation,” Lucinda said, for the sake of keeping her stories straight. “I confess, I’m a little uneasy—but excited as well.”

“You needn’t fear for your safety and honor in my house,” her ladyship said. ‘Everything is proper and above board, with only the best people in attendance.”

“Thank you for that reassurance, ma’am,” Lucinda said, not reassured at all, while at the same time finding it difficult to mistrust Lady Delworth.

Surely an elderly lady with a life interest in a charming estate not far from London had very little reason to get involved in sedition.

Either the lady was a superb actress or she had no idea what was going on in her house.

“Dear Melrose is an honorable man, but one never knows what to expect from others,” Lucinda ventured.

“Any gentleman who upsets a lady will be dealt with speedily by my footmen,” Lady Delworth said. “I hired several extras to help keep order. They’ll be dressed as Roman soldiers.”

Which was all very well, but what if the plotters knew this and wore the same costumes?

A maid came in with a tea tray and cakes. “Thank you, Dora. Ask Miss Wallace to join us.”

Miss Wallace ? Good Lord, no.

A minute later, Alfreda Wallace danced merrily in and clapped her hands at the sight of Lucinda. “You’re here! How marvelous.” She dropped into a chair. “How did you manage to escape your mother? I hear she’s in town.”

“Mr. Pearce whisked me over here,” Lucinda said. “Mother may come later.” For a moment, she almost wished her Mother really would come—which was impossible, for she didn’t even know where Lucinda had gone. “The problem is that I don’t have my costume.”

“Lady Delworth has plenty of extra costumes.” Alfreda lowered her voice to a whisper.

“I tricked Mama by saying I’m spending the night with a friend.

If she finds out it’s not true, it will be too late to stop me, because she’ll have no idea where I am.

” She raised her voice again and turned to Lady Delworth.

“The party will last most of the night, won’t it? ”

“I expect so, for the younger guests at least. You young people have so much energy.” Lady Delworth poured, and Lucinda passed a cup of tea to Alfreda and took one for herself. She passed the plate of cakes as well.

“Dear me, it’s getting late,” Lady Delworth said after they had finished all the tea and cakes. “Soon the guests will begin to arrive, and I must have a restorative nap first. Alfreda, please take Lucinda—I may call you that, mayn’t I, dear?—upstairs. Just ring for the maid to bring her a costume.”

“Do you really mean to stay up all night?” Lucinda said as they approached the stairs. “That sounds awfully risky.”

“Not really,” said Alfreda. “I know how to take care of myself.”

This bit of nonsense made Lucinda uneasy, as did Alfreda’s air of suppressed excitement. “How will you get home afterwards?” she asked. “A hack?”

After a pause, Alfreda shrugged nonchalantly. “Perhaps...but I expect someone will offer me a ride.”