Page 98 of The Pleasures of Passion
His mind made up, he emerged from the garden into the street, only to be nearly mown down by a woman walking at a brisk speed toward him.
“Margrave!” Lady Pensworth cried. “What are you doing here?” With a disapproving frown, she peered into the garden. “Is Brilliana with you?”
“I’m afraid not. She left here a few moments ago with her uncle.”
“Toby Payne? How peculiar. She told me he was in London, but I had no idea they were so friendly. Why on earth would she go off withhim? And why are you lurking about out here in the garden?”
He had no time for this. “Forgive me, Lady Pensworth, but I need to—”
“Do you know where they were going? How long she intends to be gone? Why he fetched her?” She shoved her spectacles up her nose. “This is most distressing. It’s not like Brilliana to go running off without telling me where she’s headed, if only because of Silas. I wonder if she left a note with the servant. I do not like this at all. It sounds entirely too havey-cavey.”
Her concern and outrage gave him pause. “It does indeed.”
And in that moment, he made a decision. He needed to be in two places at once, which he couldn’t manage without help. Why not enlist Lady Pensworth?
She, too, was a clever woman capable of handling herself in a difficult situation. She had Bree’s best interests at heart, and she was perfectly capable of creating a believable distraction. Not to mention that she despised Sir Oswald for what he’d done to his daughter.
And Bree had always been bothered by the necessity of keeping the truth from her. So by including Lady Pensworth in the scheme, he’d be doing Bree a favor.
Best of all, the baroness owned an equipage. “Lady Pensworth, if you’d be willing to carry me in your coach to St. George’s, I will explain exactly what’s going on with Bree and her uncle, to the extent that I know it. When I’m done, I hope you’ll agree to assist me in my attempt to save my fiancée from a criminal who may wish her ill.”
“A criminal? Hmm.” She eyed him over the top of her spectacles. “Will you also reveal the truth about why you and Brilliana are engaged to be married? And none of that fustian you told me the night of your announcement, mind you. I want the real reason.”
A clever woman, indeed. Rather scarily so. “Yes, that would be part of the explanation.”
She cast him a cool nod. “Well then, sir. Let us call for my carriage.”
Lady Pensworth’s landau halted just outside St. George’s Club. Niall had given the baroness a succinct explanation of how he and Bree had ended up betrothed as part of Fulkham’s scheme. Then he had explained that it had turned into something more. Fortunately, the harridan possessed a talent for grasping particulars and had also deduced some of the truth about him and Bree on her own.
He wasn’t able to reveal the details concerning the duel, but she’d seemed content to accept that it was none of her concern. She’d been far more interested in determining whether he and Brilliana did intend to marry. And he’d told her he hoped so, since he was in love with the blasted woman.
That had seemed to satisfy her at last, leaving him free to explain what he wanted of her. Which he’d just finished doing.
He laid his hand on the door to the carriage. “So, you understand your mission, right?”
“I’m to go to Sir Oswald’s and engage in a subterfuge to delay and thwart the gentlemen in their criminal enterprises until you arrive with reinforcements.”
“Precisely. But you mustn’t behave so obviously or outrageously that either man grows suspicious of your appearance there.”
“Of course.” The gleam in her eyes told him she was looking forward to her part in the plot. “I should hope I am perfectly capable of managing the likes of Sir Oswald and his scurrilous brother.”
Niall rather thought she was. “I shouldn’t be long. Fulkham will already be waiting for me with more information. If he won’t act on it, I will. I’ll go find what I need in that house by hook or by crook.” His heart caught in his throat. “Just make sure Bree is all right until I can do so.”
Hiding her concern for Bree behind a sniff, she opened the carriage door. “For pity’s sake, go do your part.Iwill look after my niece.”
“Thank you. You won’t regret this.”
“I’m sure I won’t. A lady needs an intricate scheme now and again to stimulate her constitution and keep her brain sharp.”
Taking her by surprise, he kissed her papery cheek before jumping out and shutting the door.
“Such a rogue,” she muttered, but a faint pink rose up her neck as she ordered her driver to go on.
Niall found Fulkham in the deserted reading room, and Fulkham immediately slid the counterfeit note across the table at him. “This is identical to the others we had. And you’re sure it came directly from Sir Oswald?”
“I am. But there have been new developments.” He explained his suspicion that Toby Payne might be involved in the scheme and why.
When Niall was done, Fulkham muttered a low curse. “That does clarify something the new French ambassador told me. It seems that our Mr. Payne has been having financial difficulties in Paris, what with the recent overthrow of the government—again—in France. The new regime isn’t as amenable to British merchants, so he’s been scrambling to pay his various creditors.”
