Page 94 of Lady Gambit
Lord Meldrum’s cheeks flushed. “Well, yes. He said it was the most logical solution to my problems. Indeed, why would you not want to marry a peer?”
“Because she’s marrying me,” Dorian said, resolute.
“You haven’t asked me yet, Mr Flynn.” She would marry him in a heartbeat. “I suggest you find the courage soon.” Before an accident occurred and she found herself with child.
“I’ve courage abound, madam. As you’ve recently been made aware.” Was he referring to their illicit encounter upstairs or his fight with Aaron?
Mr Daventry stood suddenly and took centre stage. “There is another solution to your problems, Meldrum. One that would persuade Aaron Chance to wipe your debts to the club and ensure this blackmail business never surfaces.”
Lord Meldrum clasped his hands together in prayer. “I’ll do anything you ask of me. I mean to clear my name and make a new life. Bertie suggests visiting India for?—”
“For goodness sake, man,” Aaron cried. “Bertram is the damn problem. He murdered Delphine’s parents. He’s the reason you’re being blackmailed. I’ll wager he’s the one who wrote to Powell.”
Lord Meldrum frowned. “It can’t be Bertie. In the absence of family, he’s to inherit my house in Mayfair along with any personal effects. Why would he encourage me to marry Miss Chance if he’d benefit from my death?”
“Because he wants you to clear your debts before he murders you and your wife,” Mr Daventry said calmly. “Allow us to prove it to you.” He waited for the peer to nod before continuing. “Do you agree to abide by the plan?”
“What is the plan?”
“You must send a note to Bertram telling him that you’re leaving London with Miss Chance. Say you’re staying at the Belle Sauvage in Ludgate Hill tonight and heading to Scotland in the morning. Say you had to act quickly before Aaron Chance changed his mind. Mention Miss Chance has her own room, but you hope to consummate your union tonight.”
Dorian turned his head sharply as if reeling from a slap.
“But I’m not really going to Scotland?”
“No!” Aaron muttered a curse. “We’ll wait for him to arrive. I assure you, he will come if he thinks Delphine is in a room alone.”
Dorian wasn’t convinced. “Someone needs to remain here and ensure Miss Chance is safe. Bertram might guess it’s a trap and come looking for her at Fortune’s Den.”
Mr Daventry looked at Dorian and gave an amused snort. “If Bertram smells a rat, he will be on the next boat to Madras. No. Miss Chance will be waiting in the room at the Belle Sauvage. We can’t risk anything going wrong.”
Aaron and Dorian jumped to attention, their protests so loud she could hardly hear herself think.
“I will do as Mr Daventry asks,” she cried, silencing the men. “I will lure Mr Bertram to the Belle Sauvage. I owe it to my parents to see this matter through to the bitter end.”
She would ensure Mr Bertram never forgot the name Caterina Chadwick. The child he tried to use so cruelly had returned to have her vengeance. Though if she survived the night, she would take a new identity. A name that was destined to be hers. She just had to pray she lived long enough to become Delphine Flynn.
Chapter Twenty-One
The Belle Sauvage Inn
Ludgate Hill
Dorian sat in the parked carriage in the outer courtyard of the Belle Sauvage Inn. Part of him wished he was still the man who ambled through the lonely corridors of his manor house, not a man so in love he was about to suffer a seizure.
“Gerald Bertram should be here by now.” Three hours had passed since Meldrum and Delphine entered the Belle Sauvage’s busy inner courtyard. They’d shared supper and retired to their respective rooms, where they remained like sitting ducks. “Why the hell did you suggest this place? It will be impossible to identify Bertram in the crowd.”
With stabling for a hundred horses and an inner courtyard large enough to accommodate ten carriages, the inn was a hive of activity, even at this late hour.
“We must be patient.” Daventry watched as more carriages trundled past and couples on foot came to drink in the taproomand rent a bed for the night. “We need Bertram to believe he can kill a woman here and escape unnoticed.”
Bile stung Dorian’s throat. “You could kill five people and no one would hear the screams. Besides, the son of a devil has done it before.”
Why the hell wasn’t Daventry panicking?
“We’ve men stationed on the street. The Chance brothers are positioned in a room on the upper gallery. Gibbs is in the yard assessing all new arrivals. He’ll give the signal once there’s a confirmed sighting.”
“Gibbs has never seen the villain and has no means of identifying him other than from the brief description I gave him.” No one had spent long enough with Bertram to point him out with any accuracy.
