Leticia’s gaze dropped to the tea. “It’s just that he didn’t, he doesn’t know…”
Lady Eastbury reached over and gently touched her hand. “You are not obligated to explain yourself. Not to us.”
“I know,” Leticia said. “But I think I need to say it out loud. Just once.” She paused. Breathed. Then, with great care: “He thought I was someone else.”
Mrs. Bainbridge said nothing for a long moment. “That’s the problem with masks. They only hide what people already refuse to see.”
*
Ash stood inBarrington’s study, one hand braced on the map table, the other curled loosely by his side. The windows were closed against the damp, and the fire was unlit, leaving the room cool and heavy with pipe smoke.
Barrington handed him a slim folio. “The second theft was discovered not long after the first. Retiring room. Jewels, again. No forced entry.”
Ash flipped through the brief report. “Another high-value item. Whoever this is, they’re not picking at random.”
“No. They’re escalating.” Barrington crossed to the window, the fog dulling the light against the pane. “They want attention. But not discovery.”
“This isn’t petty theft. These targets are deliberate. I want to know if the Order’s resurfacing, and if they’ve changed tactics.”
Ash exhaled slowly. He had dragged her into this. A mistake, yes, but one now printed in headlines and whispered across parlors. And if the Order had truly resurfaced, she wouldn’t just be the subject of idle gossip. She’d be a target.
“I need to speak with Lady Salisbury.”
Barrington looked over his shoulder. “Now?”
Ash didn’t answer. Not with words.
“Leticia’s likely already surrounded. And your name is printed beside hers in every drawing room across the city.”
“I know what I said,” Ash replied. “And I meant it.”
“You meant it in public,” Barrington said, more gently. “But I’d wager she’s waiting for you to say it in private.”
Ash turned away, the folio still open in his hand.
He hadn’t seen her since the garden, since her silence hadn’t matched the softness in her eyes. He had asked her to stay. She had. And now, with every thread pulling tighter, he wasn’t sure if he’d simply protected her or drawn her into something far more dangerous.
*
Leticia sat alonein the quiet after the carriage returned her home.
The house was hushed, as though holding its breath. Even Alice had the good sense not to ask any questions when she brought in the afternoon tea tray.
The paper was still there. Unfolded. Waiting.
Leticia picked it up.
Her name stared back at her from the third column, neatly printedbeneath a headline that included Ash’s. No speculation. No rumor. Just a quiet declaration of fact. The Baron of Ashcombe is engaged to Lady Leticia Salisbury.
Her fingers tightened slightly at the sight of her name, so familiar and so foreign in print. The ink didn’t blur. The news didn’t stammer. The story didn’t care who she truly was.
It was done.
Leticia read it again. And once more. Not because she couldn’t believe it, but because this was the version the world had chosen to remember. She just wasn’t certain if it was the one she could live with.
Chapter Ten
Leticia had notexpected to enjoy herself.
