Page 87 of Saved By the Belle

“Not at all,” Belle said.

Hew went to fetch a hat and greatcoat. As soon as he was gone, Galloway hissed, “You haven’t won yet.”

“I’ll be there tonight.”

“I’ll bring you a deck of cards so you might have something to do tonight, all alone in this room.”

“We’ll see about—”

Hew stepped back into the room and looked from her to Galloway. “What exactly happened at the tea warehouse last night?”

“We made a bargain. Miss Howard agreed to come back to Mivart’s.”

“And Mr. Galloway agreed to keep his opinions to himself. Now, let’s go see where my father will be tonight.”

THE EXCURSION TO HYDE Park had been uneventful. They spent the majority of their time near the park’s lake, the Serpentine. Belle had sat on the Serpentine Bridge while the two men walked across it, peered under it, and even rented a rowboat and rowed under it. Now they were back in Hew’s chamber at Mivart’s, going over their complicated plan. They’d been discussing it for hours, embellishing it, and now that it was after ten, they were almost ready to put it into motion. Belle had allowed them to plot and strategize until half past ten, and then disappeared into Hew’s bed chamber, rifled through his trunks, and reemerged just as they were finishing up.

“You’ve made an exceedingly well-thought-out plan,” she told the men, “But I have a better one.”

Galloway gave her a look that said here-we-go. “It’s far too late for a new plan,” Galloway said. “We are leaving.” He stood. “Now.”

“I think we should at least hear what she has to say,” Hew said. Then his eyes narrowed at the cape she wore—his cape—covering her clothing. “Unless it involves you somehow.”

“Of course, it involves her,” Galloway said. Hew looked at Belle.

She shrugged and smiled. “Mr. Galloway, didn’t I hear you say earlier that simpler was better?”

“Perhaps,” he said carefully.

“And yet, you have this complicated plan”—she gestured to the stack of balled-up paper where they’d tried to map out the strategy—“that requires precise timing and ambushing the ambushers and the moon behind a cloud—”

“I said it would be helpful if the moon went behind a cloud,” Galloway argued. “It’s not a prerequisite.”

“The abductors have agreed to exchange my father for Hew,” she said. “So why not just give them Hew? Force an exchange. My father starts on one side of the bridge and Hew is on the other. They meet in the middle and my father crosses to safety.”

“And as soon as they have Hew, they’ll kill him,” Galloway said.

“Maybe they’ll only think they have him.”

“We thought about having Will act in my place, but there are two problems. First of all, there’s nothing to stop them from killing Will.”

“So don’t give them Will.” She unclasped the cape and let it fall away, revealing the men’s clothing she wore beneath it.

“Bloody hell,” Galloway said. “No, just no.”

Hew’s reaction took a bit longer. His gaze traveled over her body, clad in the coat and trousers she’d pinned to make them fit. “No,” he said, slowly, shaking his head. “I won’t have you put in danger either.”

“They won’t kill me,” she said. “They’ll know they’ve been duped, and they’ll be so surprised that they have a woman, not the man they’d been after, they’ll hesitate.”

“They’ll be angry and do away with you,” Galloway said.

“Not if you jump out and overpower them first. Don’t you see? If I’m on one side of the bridge, pretending to be Hew, then you two can hide on the other side. Once my father is out of their hands, you ambush them.”

“She has a point,” Hew said. “Our main problem with the plan was that we couldn’t find a way to work together. This way, we can.”

“I cannot believe you are considering this. What about the other problem?”

“What other problem?” Belle demanded.

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