Page 63 of How to Lose a Lord in Ten Days

‘Would you not rather rest, too, my dear?’ Sir Waldo asked. ‘You are looking run ragged.’

Lady Phoebe wavered.

‘I should like to see Eagleton,’ Ashford put in.

‘As would I,’ Captain von Prett said valiantly. ‘One cannot allow adversity to alter one’s path. Are you certain you will not join us, Miss Hesse? I think you would look very fine in a new ribbon hat.’

And as much as Lydia could not like the attention he was bestowing upon her, she would prefer Miss Hesse within touching distance, too – how else could she throw her and Ashford together?

‘Yes, you would,’ Lydia agreed. ‘Were you not saying the same just this morning, Ashford?’

Lady Hesse turned to regard Ashford sharply. ‘Were you?’

‘Was I?’ Ashford asked Lydia.

‘Did you?’ Mr Brandon asked Ashford rather grimly.

‘Yes,’ Lydia told the entire group of them.

‘Oh, well,’ Lady Hesse said, smile spreading across her face. ‘Far be it for us to disappoint you, my lord – Phoebe, can I leave Cynthia to your charge for the day?’

‘Yes, indeed,’ Lady Phoebe beckoned to Miss Hesse as the first barouche drew up. ‘Come along.’

They were handed into the barouche by a footman, who leapt up alongside the driver, followed quickly by Mr Brandon, and Lord Dacre was about to join them when Sir Waldo grasped his arm.

‘Do not let her ladyship out of your sight,’ he instructed.

‘Waldo lives in fear of my being stolen away,’ Lady Phoebe explained with a tinkling laugh, as she adjusted her skirts around her.

‘Do you fear bandits in Eagleton?’ Dacre quizzed him, though his smile dimmed a little under Sir Waldo’s severe frown.

‘We are ready to leave, Waldo,’ Lady Phoebe said impatiently. ‘The rest of you may take the carriage.’

‘I think you might sit beside with Miss Hesse, Lord Ashford!’ Lydia suggested. ‘There is a little space …’

‘Yes, Cynthia can shift over!’ Lady Hesse encouraged – really, Lydia’s dislike of the lady was vanishing by the second, for she was being so very helpful.

‘I am afraid I would not dare to crowd her and sadly cannot sit backwards as Mr Brandon does,’ Ashford said evenly. ‘A cursed affliction – after you, Miss Hanworth?’

He gestured towards the second carriage pulling up. Lydia scowled at him but accepted his hand into the carriage. Pip followed closely behind, taking the seat opposite her and pulling out his notebook to flick through it. Lydia frowned at him.

‘Is today not a good opportunity for the search?’ she asked, voice low and quick. ‘With so many of us away from the house?’

‘I’m lying low,’ Pip said. ‘Yesterday, I was caught trying to get a nosey in Dacre’s rooms.’

‘By whom?’ Lydia said, alarmed.

‘Reeves,’ Pip said. ‘Managed to smooth it over – said I was lost, you know – but he’s been watching me closely ever since. As if I am the suspicious one!’

‘What are you going to do?’

‘Going to have to be more careful,’ Pip said. ‘But Simmons suggested in his letter would be a good thing to have a snoop around the town, anyhow – never know what one might come across.’

‘You are writing to one another?’ Lydia whispered. ‘Is that wise?’

Private correspondence was night impossible, here. With Lord Dacre, Hesse and Ashford franking all the billets – removing the price of postage – and Reeves organizing their passage to the mail coach by way of a post-boy, there several pairs of eyes upon each letter that left the house.

‘Everyone knows he is my mentor.’ Pip’s eyes returned to his notebook, unconcerned. ‘They will not think it abnormal. Gentlemen do write to one another, you know.’