Page 75 of Lady Arabella’s Reluctant Hero

But she would not cry.

She'd already committed to the path ahead. There was no world in which she could ever ask John to marry a ruined woman, let alone allow her to be a mother to Lucy.

Free or not, there was no bright future ahead of her.

"Arabella," Estella started again.

"Please don't be kind to me right now," Arabella said.

Estella's brows knit with concern and maybe a little hurt, and Arabella felt a pang of remorse. But the duchess, bless her… The duchess cut in smoothly. "Quite right. There will be time for sentiment later. At present, we have work to do."

Arabella drew a breath. Then another. Thankfully, her composure held. It would hold as long as no one was kind to her, and as long as she focused on what came next instead of what she'd left behind.

"Pierce." Her voice came out steadier than she'd expected. "I need to meet him."

Sebastian's eyebrows rose. "Meet him?"

"He's expecting me." She pulled the threatening note from her pocket and set it on the table. "He sent this to the village. He's been watching Lucy, Lord Alderton's daughter. He knows her routine. He's made it very clear what happens if I don't come to heel."

Sebastian picked up the note. His face went hard as he read it.

"He wants me compliant," Arabella continued. "He thinks I've come running back because his threat worked. I intend to let him go on thinking that. And then I intend to tell him exactly what the duchess has found, and offer him a choice."

The duchess was watching her with an expression Arabella couldn't quite read. Something between approval and caution. "What choice?"

"He cooperates. He gives you what you need on Barrington. Names, records, whatever he has. Or he faces charges for fraud and extortion." She met the duchess's eyes. "I will testify. To a magistrate, to a court, to anyone who needs to hear it. Everything I did under his direction. The information I stole, the people I hurt, the false marriage. All of it."

The room was quiet.

"You understand what that would mean," Sebastian said. "For your reputation."

"I understand perfectly." She lifted her chin. "And I came up with this plan not knowing if the marriage was real or fake. I was prepared to testify either way."

Estella looked like she might argue, so Arabella hurried on.

"I was sixteen and foolish," she said. "I let a man use me for two years. If the price of ending this is standing up and saying so in front of a magistrate, then I'll pay it."

She could feel Thea's steady gaze on her. She'd already been aware of the plan, so there was no shock there, and no judgment. If anything, Arabella thought perhaps there was a hint of approval in her expression.

"He expects to meet me," Arabella said. "At Vauxhall. The masks give us both cover, or so he thinks. I suggest we use it against him."

The duchess leaned back in her chair. "You have a plan."

Arabella exhaled audibly. "I have the beginning of one. I was rather hoping you might supply the rest."

For the first time, the duchess smiled. "My dear girl. You are brave, no one can doubt that. Whatever assistance you need from me—" She paused and gestured to Sebastian, who nodded. "From us. You have it."

.

25

He had ridden hard enough that his horse was lathered and his coat was ruined. And John did not care about either.

He went to the duchess's house first. The duchess was in her drawing room with Estella, and neither of them looked surprised to see him.

"Where is Arabella?" he said, dispensing with pleasantries entirely.

The duchess studied him. "Vauxhall Gardens. She is meeting Mr. Pierce at a supper box on the Grand Walk. Lord Blackwood and Mr. Gage are there. They have men in position."