Three Nights with a Scoundrel (Stud Club #3)(91)

Both ladies blinked with surprise.

“I’m so sorry,” Lily said. “But come in, come in. I’ll explain.” She ushered her stunned friends through the door and shut it behind them. “Our husbands haven’t gone out for a leisurely ride. They’ve gone out to confront Leo’s killers.”

Amelia and Meredith looked to one another.

“You must believe me,” Lily said. “Julian left me a letter this morning.”

“We do believe you, dear.” Amelia put a hand on Lily’s arm. “We already knew.”

“You … You knew?”

Meredith nodded. “Our husbands told us. But Mr. Bellamy asked us not to say anything to you. I gather he didn’t want to raise your hopes or anxieties until it was all over.”

Lily went numb with anger and disbelief. She didn’t know what to think. Her husband, her friends, her friends’ husbands … Was the whole world conspiring to deceive her?

Amelia tightened her grip on Lily’s arm, guiding her into the drawing room and helping her into a chair.

Sitting down across from her, Amelia said, “There’s nothing to fear. Let me explain. Through the work of an investigator, Mr. Bellamy was able to find the two men believed to have attacked dear Leo. They’ve been imprisoned these six months for another crime, and they’re due to be released today. The men have gone to meet them, bring them to London, and swear out a new charge of murder. There is no danger, and it will all be over soon.”

“But … but that makes no sense.”

If there was no danger, why would Julian leave a letter saying he might not return? He said he’d received a threat on his life yesterday. Lily’s memory flashed back to that moment on the street, when she’d been shoved against the windowpane. Could that have been the incident? It would certainly explain Julian’s behavior of the subsequent half-hour, carrying her more than a mile home before collapsing with relief.

She reached for Amelia’s hand and clutched it tight. “I believe you, Amelia. I believe that as recently as yesterday, their plan was as you describe it. But something changed. That’s why Julian wrote me that letter. He spoke of not only confronting Leo’s killers, but identifying an unknown enemy. He spoke of violence, and the possibility he will not return. I believe our husbands may be in true peril. Or at the very least, mine is. We must do something. Do you have any idea where they’ve gone?”

Amelia and Meredith exchanged guarded looks.

“Lady Lily,” Meredith began, “I know you are anxious. But even if there is danger, our husbands are better equipped to handle it than most men.”

Lily ignored her. “If they went to meet prisoners being released … How many prisons are there? The Fleet? Newgate? Bridewell? And so many more, just in London alone. Oh, but a London jail makes no sense. Why would they ride out on horseback? It must be somewhere further away.”

Amelia touched her wrist, then waited for her attention. “Lily, my dear—”

Lily cut her off. “I know what you’re going to say, Amelia. That our husbands have the situation in hand, and we can only make a muddle of things by interfering. But I know you’re wrong. I can’t tell you how I know, but I know. Julian would not have left me that letter if there was no reason to fear.” She took a deep breath. “Now, the two of you can either help me find him … or you can leave, and I’ll do it myself.”

Meredith sighed. “Rhys gave me no details about their destination. He said only that they were riding into the country.”

“I’m afraid I don’t know any more than that,” Amelia said. “I confess, when Spencer’s talk turns to horses and riding, I don’t always listen so closely as I ought.”

“We need a list,” Lily said. “A list of prisons and jails within easy riding distance.”

“Even if we obtain such a list,” Amelia asked, “what will you do with it? We can’t possibly go searching in every direction at once.”

Lily dropped her gaze and blinked back the tears of frustration stinging her eyes. Crying wouldn’t help matters.

Her attention was jerked upward by a flurry of rainbow-hued feathers. Tartuffe swooped the length of the drawing room, circling back to perch on the chandelier.

“Damnable bird,” she cursed up at him. “How did you escape your cage?”

Amelia clapped with astonishment. “Is he yours?”

Lily nodded.

“He’s lovely,” said Meredith. “And he seems to share your distress over Mr. Bellamy’s fate. He keeps singing his name. ‘Oh, Julian,’ he says. Over and over. ‘Oh, Julian.’” She chuckled. “And now, ‘Guilty, guilty.’”

“He belonged to a barrister once,” Lily explained. “And yes, he has quite a fondness for Julian’s name.”

Something pecked at her memory. A line from Julian’s horrible, heartbreaking letter.

I’m a bastard, a scoundrel, and as you’ve said, an unmitigated ass. Even the damned bird knows it’s true.

Just what did this damned bird know about Julian? Guilty, guilty indeed.

“Don’t … you … move,” she warned the parrot, slowly backing away. Once she’d reached the room’s exit, she darted into the corridor and found two footmen standing there.