“What kind of work do you intend to allow her to do?” Ethan asked.
The conversation was still going back and forth about inviting Isabella to join them. Mason had hoped to make quick work of it, but apparently, it bothered Ethan more than he realized. Or at least more than he cared to be honest about.
Every time they seemed to come to an agreement, Ethan would bring up the subject again.
“I don’t expect her to hang around very long,” Mason explained. “I have a feeling that the moment she gets a peek into the seedy underbelly of this city, she’ll be running for the hills.”
“Surely you don’t expect to show it to her?”
Mason shrugged. “I can’t possibly ask her to write letters all day. She won’t stand for it. You saw how she tore into me on that balcony. I’d very much like to avoid experiencing that again. Just…when they arrive later, follow my lead.”
Ethan nodded. “Women can be terrifying, can’t they?”
It seemed comical to Mason that, despite all the terrifying things he’d ever done in his life, that moment on the balcony when Miss Owen was confronting him was the first time in his life he felt as if he didn’t know what to do.
It had stuck with him in unexpected ways. When he climbed into bed at night, he saw her angry eyes staring him down. Or the way her dark hair had caught the breeze, brushing over her cheek.
“A little,” Mason confessed.
He was hiding a small truth from Ethan. There was something else on his mind. Another reason why he hadn’t changed his mind about Miss Owen joining him on the case. A truth that he was far too afraid to confess in front of his friend.
He had learned, through much introspection, that he was rather fond of her. In fact, there was hardly a moment in the day when he wasn’t wondering about her. It was why it had taken him so long to invite her over to his home.
He worried that she might make him nervous. Mason didn’t know how to behave when he was nervous and it bothered him. Eventually, though, he had to do it. He could put it off no longer. She struck him as the kind of woman who might appear at his door if he took too long.
“So Miss Harper is joining us, then?” Ethan asked.
“You know she is,” Mason said. “I saw the two of you talking the other night. You seemed awfully cozy.”
“Don’t,” Ethan warned him. “She intrigues me, that’s all.”
“Intrigue is a wonderful feeling, isn’t it?”
“She’s not like other lady’s maids I’ve met,” Ethan explained. “She certainly doesn’t handle herself like one. Perhaps it’s Miss Owen’s influence. She was very well-spoken and intelligent. There was hardly a subject she didn’t have an opinion on.”
“Makes for excellent conversation, which is all you could ask for in a guest, isn’t it?” Mason asked. “I think we’re in for quite a pleasant day with them.”
Ethan took a deep breath, and Mason knew that the prospect of seeing Miss Harper again was warming him up to the idea of it all.
“Why do you think Miss Owen is not yet married?” Mason asked.
“I don’t know,” Ethan said. “Perhaps she chews out all her suitors like she did you and chased them away.”
Mason didn’t like Ethan’s attitude toward her, but he could understand it. She was precisely the kind of woman that he would avoid at all costs. Ethan had always been drawn to quieter women. Those who smiled kindly and laughed when appropriate. They didn’t scare him.
“I mean it. She’s smart, and you have to admit that she’s pretty,” Mason argued.
Ethan glanced away in thought. “She’s pretty, yes.”
“You’d think a woman like that would have men throwing themselves at her,” Mason continued. “She should have been married years ago and isn’t. Why do you think that is?”
“My mother had a friend like her once,” Ethan said. “A strongly opinionated and well-read woman. She never married because she had no interest in it. She said that men bored her, and restricted her.”
“That’s interesting.”
“It’s peculiar is what it is,” Ethan argued. “To live your entire life alone just because you don’t like the generalized idea of a certain kind of person? She never even gave men a chance.”
Mason smiled. “I wonder if Miss Owen feels the same way about men.”
“If she does, she’s going to have a hard time with you.” Ethan burst out laughing. “She has no idea what she’s signed up for.”
“I’m not that bad, am I?”
“Not bad,” Ethan said. “It’s just that most women have no space when you’re around. You’ve done so much and seen so much. It’s all you talk about. You have nothing in common with any of them, so how could they make conversation with you?”
“Miss Owen managed well enough the other night,” Mason argued.
“Why is this so important to you?” Ethan asked. “I thought you were going to try and get her to change her mind about it all. To show her the seedy underbelly of the city, remember? Why do you care why she’s not married or if she’ll enjoy your company?”
“I don’t,” Mason quickly lied. “I just get curious about the way some people are, I suppose.”
“People just are the way that they are. Let’s just leave it at that,” Ethan ended the conversation.
It was announced then that Miss Owen and Miss Harper had arrived. So, both men neatened their suits and hair and made it out to the entryway to greet their guests with bright smiles and a warm welcome.
***
Both Isabella and Eliza had dressed up a little more than usual that day. And both of them were pretending not to notice it. They were greeted warmly by Mr. Alton and Mr. Langley and led to the drawing room.
There, they were instructed to take a seat. The drawing room was light, airy, and warm. It did not go unnoticed by Isabella that Mr. Alton remained standing. Already, it didn’t seem like an ordinary tea party.
“I hope you have both rested well,” Mr. Alton said. “We have a long day ahead of us. There is much to do and little time.”
Isabella and Eliza glanced at each other. The warm greeting had come to a swift end, and Mr. Alton had become rather bossy about everything. So much that he had even instructed the women in which chairs to sit when they’d entered the room.
And no tea had arrived for them yet.
“Now, I’m afraid I have lied to you,” Mr. Alton quickly said.
Isabella swallowed. Mr. Alton was proving Eliza right. That he couldn’t be trusted. They had only just arrived, and he’d confessed that he’d lied.
“About?” Isabella asked, staring at him coldly.
He held her gaze a moment as if he enjoyed it. She hated the way it felt. She was not a spectacle to behold by making her angry.
“We’re not having tea here today,” he said.
That information seemed to take even Mr. Langley by surprise. He did a double-take at Mr. Alton and swallowed hard.
“I don’t understand,” Eliza said softly. “We were invited for tea.”
“I know, but I didn’t want to tell you what we were really doing in case it made you change your mind,” Mr. Alton said, looking in Isabella’s direction again.
Isabella took a deep breath and calmed herself down. She had only just arrived. It was not an appropriate time to lose her composure, although she wanted to. She had lied to her parents about where she was going and had gone there to help him. She had taken Eliza with her.
He was responsible for more than he knew, and he wasn’t behaving very well considering.
“Now, who do your parents think you’re visiting?” he questioned. “You did follow my instructions clearly, didn’t you?”
“Miss Drisby,” Isabella answered.
“I know the family. That’s a good choice. She’s a good and well-behaved girl. Your parents wouldn’t question anything. Excellent choice,” Mr. Alton said.
It took all of her willpower not to roll her eyes. How could she find one man so alluring and yet equally infuriating? She wanted to get up and leave since he had urged her to lie to her family and bring Eliza into the chaos with her, when he’d been lying to begin with.
“If we’re not having tea, what are we doing then?” Isabella pressed.
Mr. Alton flashed her his dashing smile and she felt all her anger and frustration toward him fade away. She wondered just how often that worked for him.
“We’re hitting the streets,” he explained. “We’re going in search of clues. There’s no time for sitting and pondering. We need to take action. The duke’s life is at risk.”
“I don’t know about this,” Eliza said nervously.
“You won’t be joining us,” Mr. Alton explained, shocking everyone else in the room. “You and Mr. Langley will stay here to keep up appearances. We need to give the impression that this is nothing more than a normal tea party.”
“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” Eliza commented. “We really shouldn’t be taking such risks. Are you sure there isn’t an agenda we need to discuss first?”
“The duke’s life is at risk. I’m afraid we can waste no time,” Mr. Alton answered.
Mr. Langley remained suspiciously quiet through it all.
Isabella caught sight of Mr. Alton’s proud smile then. Instantly, she knew what was happening. She had every right to be furious with him. He was trying to get her to back down. That much was clear.
He had asked her to lie to her parents, hoping it would make her uncomfortable. Then, he had confessed that he had lied, making him seem untrustworthy. Now, he was testing her. He was asking her to go with him, unchaperoned, into a world she didn’t know.
He thought that she was too afraid to do it.
He was wrong.
She would not refuse his idea. Only, she was in no way dressed for going out there. She was wearing one of her best day dresses, expecting to have tea with him. It was entirely inappropriate to go out the way she was dressed.
He was watching her closely, waiting for her to call it off. There was no way she could give him that satisfaction.
Isabella would make him sweat, though.
“You want me to go with you, unchaperoned?” she asked, making herself sound nervous. “To look for clues regarding an assassination?”
“That’s correct,” he said. “I completely understand if you’re not up to it. This entire thing is, of course, very dangerous, and this is just the nature of it all.”
He sounded so forced and pompous then. Mr. Alton might have been many things, but he was a poor actor, and she saw right through his façade.
Isabella stood up from her chair and straightened her skirt. He expected her to leave, she knew it. She looked at him and smiled. She held the pause in conversation for just a minute longer, giving him just a few more seconds to believe he’d won.
“In that case, I would like to borrow a cloak,” she said, holding his gaze. “The more worn, the better. It will be far more suitable for this mission.”
She saw something in his eyes shift. Break even. He had not gotten to her.
Isabella did not look in Eliza’s direction as she was certain the response she’d get from her would not be enjoyable. Isabella would deal with that later.
For now, she had a war to win against Mr. Alton, who continued to undermine her, despite her warning him not to.