“Lady Ramsbury?”
Annabel looked up from Jasper’s correspondence, grateful for the respite. After yesterday, she was tired of numbers and thinking. “Yes, Stapleton?”
“There is a lady here insisting to see his lordship.” Stapleton looked over his shoulder as though expecting to see the guest waiting. “She is quite insistent on waiting.”
Something in his demeanor, perhaps the way he said lady, made her cap the ink pot and stand. “Speak plainly, Stapleton. Please.”
“She is not the sort who should be in polite company, and I think she should be gone before Lady Lambourn and the young misses return home.”
No matter what he thought, the visitor had already gotten her bluff in. Tongues would wag until dinner if they were seen shoving a reluctant woman out of the house and down the front stairs. “Ask her to wait in the drawing room. I’ll be just a moment.”
Stapleton nodded and left her to check her appearance in the mirror. The dark circles under her eyes were the only remainders from her late night bent over figures. It would be easy to assume they were from a night spent dancing or at a midnight supper.
Society was the perfect disguise. No wonder Jasper chose it.
Annabel descended the stairs and went to the drawing room. Waiting there was a red-headed young lady wearing far too much rouge for an afternoon in Mayfair, and a dress more suited for evenings in scandalous parts of the city.
“Good afternoon. I’m Lady Ramsbury. How can I help you?”
“Sally Howard, your ladyship.” After a curtsy, Sally handed over a calling card. “The marquess left this with me if I should ever need it.”
The card carried Jasper’s name but Sally’s perfume. Annabel recognized the scent. He’d kissed her but come home smelling of Sally. The servants had laughed.
Annabel drew a deep breath of rose-scented air. “Would you care for tea, Miss Howard?”
“No, ma’am, but thank you.” Sally clutched her reticule on her lap. The velvet was worn slick in places. “They’ll miss me soon.”
“All right, then.” Annabel sat opposite her. “Lord Ramsbury is with the prime minister this morning, and I’m unsure of when he’ll return. Is there something I can do to help, or should I give him a message?”
“He was down at the docks when we met, following a lout from Wales.”
Collins.
“He’s a nasty piece of work, that one, but he’s only in a few times a month. When his ship comes in, he says.” Sally leaned forward. “But he’s here today, and he’s got a gleam in his eye I don’t like. All us girls are staying well clear of him, but he don’t seem to notice.”
Collins is in London.
“When I went to the bar for drinks, I overheard him muttering into his whiskey about teaching a jumped-up queen’s man to keep his titled nose out of Wales.” Sally looked past Annabel to the window. “The more he drinks, the surlier he gets, your ladyship. Sends a chill down my back. Always has done.”
That description could be Kit as easily as it could be Jasper. If they were lucky, it might even mean Spencer himself.
“I got busy with work.” Sally’s gaze flicked down to her lap. “Begging your pardon, your ladyship. And when I looked up, he was gone. I knew, just knew, I needed to come warn the marquess.”
Annabel looked past the cosmetics and the low neckline and into Sally’s eyes. It would be easy to think all sorts of things. The most obvious was that the girl was devoted to Jasper for a more sordid reason, but Annabel trusted her husband.
He had never given her a reason not to.
There was also the possibility that Sally was in league with Collins and was helping him set a trap. She had Jasper’s card, after all. “Why?”
The look in Sally’s eyes hinted at hard-won wisdom of a world Annabel knew very little about. “His lordship treated me like a lady with a brain in my head. That may not be rare for you, but it is for me.”
“It is rarer than you might think.” No one had seen her worth, perhaps not even Annabel herself, like Jasper. Perhaps she and Sally knew more of the same world than Annabel had supposed. “Thank you for warning us.”
She escorted Sally into the hallway, near the table where calling cards went and where they kept money for messengers who came to the door. “Let me—”
“No, your ladyship. The marquess paid me plenty before. I won’t take more, especially not from you.” Sally leaned forward to whisper, “Your butler thinks I’m here to bring trouble. I don’t want him spreading gossip that there’s a secret you’re paying me to keep.”
Annabel pressed her lips together to keep from laughing over the image of Stapleton gossiping. “I thank you for that.”
She walked toward the front door, but Sally walked toward the back of the house. Annabel caught up to her and escorted her through the hall. Questions bubbled on her tongue, but there was no time to ask them. Perhaps after matters were settled, she could shock Society by inviting Sally to tea.
She opened the door and took Sally’s hand. “Thank you again, Miss Howard. Please look after yourself.”
“And you, your ladyship.” Sally squeezed her fingers. “Men like that won’t be choosy about who they hurt.”
Annabel watched until she left, her eyes on the red dress that had seen better days, but her mind on Sally’s last words. There was a possibility that Collins was in London to find Kit, but Kit had no one else in his life. A man intent on harm would search for the largest number of targets.
Or an easy one.
Lady Lambourn, Jane, and Johanna were due home within the hour. If Collins waited out front, he could injure or snatch one of them and disappear into London before anyone was the wiser.
Or he could push his way into the house and lie in wait for Jasper and Kit to return. After all, Frederick and Lawrence had gone with Jasper this morning. That left only Travis and Stapleton here.
Or he could carry out his plan and let Jasper come home to chaos. The best outcome would be chaos. The worst was unthinkable.
He needed to be away from the house.
Annabel hurried to her room and unboxed the first hat she set hands on. She took time to find a matching coat, ensuring she would look presentable and calm, at least from a distance. It took two attempts to find the correct gloves.
