He’d been struck by Cupid’s arrow, but then, he’d behaved like the biggest ass in the world, so how did he beg her forgiveness? Why would he expect to receive it? Then again, perhaps she was as forlorn as he was. Might she be missing him as dreadfully as he was missing her?
He kept wondering—if he showed up at the theater and waltzed into her dressing room—how she’d react. What if she tried to shoot him again? Or . . . what if she’d been pining away, hoping he’d muster the courage to chase after her? How was a fellow to guess what a crazed female like Libby Carstairs might be thinking?
Charles interrupted his wretched reverie. “I’ll let things settle for a few weeks, then I’ll go to town and meet with Libby.”
“That’s a good plan.”
“I became a bit . . . friendly with Miss Fishburn while she was at Roland.”
Charles’s cheeks flushed, and Luke smirked. “How friendly?”
“Never you mind, but I’ll ask Fish about Libby. Fish is an excellent judge of character, and she’ll have some pertinent comments about all of this. I didn’t treat either woman very kindly, so I’m not sure they’d allow me in the door.”
“I was just contemplating the same response from them,” Luke said. “We’re a ridiculous pair, aren’t we?”
“Yes. I always hate to distress anyone, and I like both of them so much. I feel terrible.”
Luke’s butler, Mr. Hobbs, knocked once, then entered without waiting to be summoned.
“Lord Barrett!” He rushed over to Luke. “I apologize for barging in, but you have to read this immediately.” He was holding the London newspaper, and he laid it in Luke’s lap. “Miss Carstairs has been arrested!”
“What?” Luke and Charles said in unison.
Hobbs glared at Charles, his expression unusually caustic. “Evidently, Lord Roland arranged for it to occur.”
Charles frowned. “I most certainly did not. Let me see that!”
He yanked the paper away from Luke, and they perused it, their ire and astonishment spiraling.
The main headline was huge and exasperating: LITTLE HENRIETTA FOUND AT LAST!
The others were smaller, but no less infuriating: Libby Carstairs, Mystery Girl of the Caribbean, Revealed as Little Henrietta! and Lord Roland Denies His Long-Lost Daughter! and Libby Carstairs Under Arrest! Lord Roland Determined to Hide the Truth!
“I thought you discussed this with the owner,” Luke said. “I thought he agreed he wouldn’t print any articles.”
“He swore he wouldn’t! How dare he trick me like this! I’ll have that bloody rag shut down as a public nuisance!”
Hobbs bristled, being entirely too blatant with his opinions. “Miss Carstairs stayed with us, Lord Barrett. Remember? She was lovely and gracious, and the whole staff is heartsick. To think that she’s Henrietta, and she’s been scorned and disbelieved by those who should know better!”
“Hobbs!” Luke warned. “That will be all. This information is a shock to us. Please leave us so we can digest it in peace.”
Hobbs bristled again, looked as if he’d jeopardize his job with another inappropriate remark, then he marched out. Luke and Charles froze, listening as his footsteps faded away, then Luke said, “What now?”
“This is a disaster! Have you any notion of the frenzy it will generate?”
“I can imagine.”
“No, you can’t.”
“Why have her imprisoned, Charles? That’s rather harsh, isn’t it? It definitely didn’t tamp down the gossip.”
“I didn’t have her imprisoned! I have no idea what’s happening.”
Suddenly, from out at the front of the house, doors were slamming and people were shouting. Then booted strides were audible and briskly stomping toward them. He and Charles leapt to their feet, braced for any eventuality.
Hobbs hurried in. “I’m sorry, Lord Barrett, but you have a visitor, and he wouldn’t—”
Before Hobbs could finish his sentence, Simon Falcon stormed in. His appearance was so odd and startling that Luke had to blink and blink to be sure he wasn’t hallucinating.
Falcon was dashing as ever, dressed in traveling clothes: leather trousers, knee-high boots, a warm coat and jaunty red kerchief tied around his throat. His color was high, his temper visible.
He honed in on Luke and said, “Have you heard about Libby?”
“We were just reading about it in the paper.”
Falcon whipped his hot gaze to Charles and said, “You! I’ll kill you for this!”
The demented boy actually lunged for Charles as if he might physically attack the older man, and Luke jumped between them, a palm on Falcon’s chest.
“Whoa, Falcon!” Luke ordered. “Back down! Right now!”
“He had her arrested!” Falcon said. “I tried to post her bail, and he’s such an important prick that no bail is being allowed!”
Charles threw up his hands. “It wasn’t me!” When they both glowered skeptically, he insisted, “I swear! I can’t guess what’s caused it.”
“Fish has been detained with her!” Falcon said.
Charles was so flabbergasted that Luke was surprised he didn’t faint.
“On what charge?” Charles asked.
“Apparently, she stole some of your precious cufflinks. I bribed a jailer who told me she was caught in your bedchamber with the items on her person!”
“If she was in my room,” Charles admitted, “she was there at my invitation.”
Luke was stunned to have Charles confess it aloud, and if Falcon was too, he didn’t show it. He was too angry.
He whipped his irate gaze to Luke and said, “Lord Roland—being the arrogant bastard that he is—is demanding that Libby be transported to the penal colonies. Fish too! He’s requested speedy trials, so he can be shed of the matter as quickly as the courts can manage it!”
Falcon was too incensed to restrain himself, and Charles was too bewildered to defend himself. Luke pushed Falcon away and said, “Stand behind that chair and don’t move unless I give you permission.”
Falcon dithered, nearly refused, then obeyed, and Luke said to Charles, “Sit down, Charles, before you fall down. We have to figure out the best course, and I need you lucid and participating in our discussion. You can’t collapse on me.”
Charles eased onto a chair, his expression distraught. “I know what might have occurred.”
“I know what occurred,” Falcon seethed. “Libby finally announced who she really is, and you can’t bear to discover
