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“I would have found someone to introduce me to her then I would ask her to dance.” Mayton laughed. “Well, I can ask her to dance with me now, and I shall once she is able to.”
“She is better. I saw her at noon when I called to discuss some business with Lord Winston.”
“Splendid. I was unable to visit today, but I sent her flowers and a poem, one of Lord Byron’s best pieces.”
“You could not write a piece for her yourself?” Rhys asked, watching his cousin carefully. He wanted to know his intentions toward Elizabeth. If Mayton ruined her, then it would be impossible for Rhys to marry her sister.
Mayton sucked in his lips and shrugged. “I am no poet, Guildford, and I need to impress a lady.”
“I thought you had no intention of taking a wife soon.” Rhys picked up a quill and idly twirled it between his fingers. He was trying to be patient as he listened to his cousin speak in an effusive manner about her. He had been able to push thoughts of her out of his mind as he worked, but now that had been undone.
“I did not,” Mayton nodded, “but now I do. And unlike a foolish gentleman that I am acquainted with, I do not have a list for her to fulfill. I only want a woman to build a good and peaceful home with.”
Rhys was somewhat relieved after hearing that. “You live a life of debauchery, yet you spout the ideals of romance. I do not understand you, Mayton.”
“You have had every woman you ever wanted, yet you have no understanding of romance,” his cousin pointed out.
“I am comfortable with my life.”
“I honestly pity the woman unfortunate enough to marry you. I hope it is not Lady Irene because she is a very pleasant woman.” He stood and walked to the door, but then he stopped and faced Rhys. “Oh, did I tell you that Lady Elizabeth reads Johnathan Myers’ reports?”
“I know she does. She told me several days ago.”
Mayton rolled his eyes. “Arrogant Corinthian,” he muttered before leaving.
Rhys chuckled at the insult. He folded the document and decided to finish reading it at home. It was time to return Brutus to Elizabeth. When Rhys returned home, he was greeted in the hall by Brutus, who circled Rhys’ legs and sniffed his boots before sitting in front of him.
“I am going to take you back to your home,” Rhys said to Brutus. Then Rhys picked the dog up and walked out to the waiting carriage. When Rhys set Brutus down on the seat, Brutus jumped out and ran back into the house. “Are you in earnest?”
Rhys picked the dog up and returned him to the carriage, but Brutus raced back into the house again once he was released. He did not want to go. “You are going to have me gain more disapproval, Brutus,” Rhys complained as he entered the house. “She will think I am keeping you to spite her.”
Brutus turned and climbed up the large stairs in the front hall, leaving Rhys to resort to writing to Winston House to explain what had happened.
* * *
Her dog had run away from her, and her only friend was preventing her from attending a very important fight.
At one o’clock in the afternoon, Elizabeth slowly turned her injured ankle to measure the pain. She barely felt it. She stood and put some weight on it, taking several steps. There was some pain, but it was not enough to prevent her from walking, and she did not limp.
She went to her dressing room and removed her pink day dress, replacing it with a dark brown one with a hem that stopped at her ankles. She wore this dress to look like a commoner every time she attended fights. Then she sat at her vanity and carefully put on her boots and laced them. Finally, she donned a black cloak.
Back in her bedchamber, she wrote a note that read:Dearest Stella, forgive me, and left it on her escritoire for her maid to find. The fight would begin at three, and Stella had told Elizabeth she would leave at two.
After ensuring there was no one in the hallway, Elizabeth slipped out and went down the back stairs, then left the house through the servants’ entrance. Elizabeth hired a hack and instructed the driver to take her to Old Ford, which was the site of the fight. An hour later, she was standing in front of the building. She took a deep breath and stepped forward.
“Lord Guildford, you are here!” someone said behind her, and she froze.
