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Lady Francesca looked at her in some surprise. “Oh. Well, that’s a relief.” The woman looked down at the ground with a blush. “I am sorry, though.”
“You didn’t know and thought yourself in love.” She shook her head with a grimace. “I think both of us know what love can do to the rational mind.”
“But, your ruined.”
“So, are you.” Kitty replied with a shrug. “I guess that makes us even in a twisted way.”
“You are a strange one, Miss Highbridge.” Francesca put a finger to her chin with a thoughtful smile. “But, it does make you quite endearing.”
“So I’ve been told,” she replied dryly. The two looked at each other a moment before sharing a smile. Kitty looked to the scene before her as they reached the bottom of the hill, letting out a playful whistle as Sophie kissed Lord Amberwood in plain view.
“Well, at least someone is amused by this whole fiasco,” a familiar voice said.
It’d been weeks since she’d seen him, and Kitty fought hard to suppress the hammering of her heart. She glanced at Sophie, who was still in heated conversation with her husband, and then at Lady Francesca, whose head was tilting curiously as she stared between her and Ashford. Deciding that some version of the truth about their friendship would come out eventually, Kitty gave the duke a winning grin. “Fancy meeting you here, Ashford.”
He gave her one of his bland, noncommittal smiles in response. “Well, it is my best friend’s life on the line, after all.”
“Apparently not, considering Wardely hasn’t shown his face.”
“I didn’t realize you were acquainted with His Grace, Miss Highbridge,” Lady Francesca said, peering at them curiously.
Kitty waved a dismissive hand. “We’ve struck up a friendship while everyone was gone.” There was no reason for the woman to know the entire truth of her rather lurid intentions towards said friendship. Kitty wasn’t even sure how much she would tell Sophie, let alone someone she had spoken all but a handful of sentences to.
“I see you have returned in good health, Lady Francesca,” Ashford said pointedly.
“These past few weeks have certainly helped me a get a better handle on myself. Thank you for your concern. Have you…” Lady Francesca paused, looking down and shuffling her feet. “Have you heard anything about him?”
“Berrington?” Ashford shook his head. “I have no idea. Barrow over there might be a better man to ask.”
It was strange, Kitty mused as Lady Francesca made her way to the mentioned gentleman a few yards away, strange how the mention of James no longer made her chest heavy. Much like Lady Francesca, the past few weeks had allowed to her to see herself clearly without the haze of infatuation, and she found that her feelings for James really may not have been anything more than just that: an infatuation. She was still furious at him for using her, but she understood his reasoning a bit more after hearing the truth of the matter from Sophie, and she imagined that if she’d had a precious sibling, Kitty might very well stoop to a similar scheme out of desperation. He didn’t deserve her sympathy in the least, but it had lightened her feelings considerably knowing that his actions hadn’t been motivated by simple callus greed. If only he had confided in her, then she might have helped him come up with a better solution and avoided this entire mess in the first place.
“You’re woolgathering again. You seem to do that a lot with me. Am I that dull of a companion?” Ashford’s playfully accusing words jolted her from her thoughts.
She almost laughed but, not wanting to ruin the atmosphere of her friend’s romantic reunion with her infamously horrid cackle, settled on a mild chuckle. “No, of course not.” She attempted her best sultry gaze. “You are far from dull, Ashford.”
He sighed with a mournful shake of his head. “Still hung up on your silly seduction plans, I see.”
She huffed in frustration. “You never took me to Vauxhall like you promised.”
He put on an air of mock confusion. “Vauxhall? Since when did I promise to do something as foolish as get myself alone with you in an infamously dark set of gardens? I genuinely cannot recall.”
“Stop teasing me.”
“Alright, alright,” he replied with an amused huff. “I do also owe you an investigation into this blackmail scheme. I asked Barrow to look into the errand boys operating in that area, but he has yet to find anything. Have you gotten any other notes?”
“To be honest, I hadn’t even thought of it since the day I made the request of you.” She’d completely forgotten about the note in wake of Sophie’s arrival and the excitement that had ensued in the weeks that followed. “I haven’t received anything else.”
“There is still a while before the deadline, perhaps they will send someone soon.”
“I still cannot fathom what they could be referring to.” The mystery was beginning to bother her.
“Perhaps a family matter that the blackmailer mistakenly believes you are privy to?”
“But then, why not just go to my father?” The thought that he hid something she was unaware of was unsettling, as the last devastating family secret had been the loss of her dowry, which she had only discovered after her first season had failed to bear fruit.
“Criminals often work in nonsensical ways. Once Barrow tracks down the boy who delivered the note, we should be able to acquire more leads.”
“I certainly hope so.”
